Little Haunters...

My kids have always coordinated their Halloween costumes. A zebra and a giraffe one year. Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion. Woody and Jessie. A fireman and his dalmation dogs.

I REALLY wanted them to coordinate again this year. We had several really good ideas. Superheroes, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Supergirl. Luke, Leia, and Yoda. Harry Potter, Hermione, and Hedwig. Dash, Violet, and Jack Jack (Incredibles). But in the end...we couldn't agree. I would have been forcing someone to be something that they didn't want to be. So...in the interest of this being about the kids...blah blah blah...I consented to let them be what they wanted to be. So, they don't match. Not at all. And I've discovered that it's just fine. And truthfully, they were all well cast.

Hannah, as Hermione Granger: the hair color may be off...but the maturity beyond her age...the necessity for "light reading" and the love for learning were all SPOT ON:
Seth, as Indiana Jones: a perfect costume for him. Seriously. He gets to be someone who gets dirty and only looks more authentic... he gets a satchel to put all sorts of random things in. (He carried around a time zone map from a day planner in that thing for two weeks straight)... and what little boy would not want a whip? (It was thankfully very light weight and didn't hurt at all.)And MaKaty, as "the NICE WITCH". Really. That's what it said on the package and everything. I wasn't super excited about this one at first. But since I'm sort of picky, and didn't want her to be a "character" or an animal...my choices were limited. And yes, I passed on the size 2T French Maids outfit...who in their right mind??? So a witch she was. And so it is. She's a little mischievous...always cooking something up...and yet she's always entertaining. And nice. Of course, she's the nice witch. Too cute for words, but too elusive to really pose for pictures. That's Katy alright!

Nope, I never got a single picture of all three of them together. Not even a bad one. Oh well. They came, they trunk-or-treated, they got high on sugar, and they passed out in the back seats of the van. Another Halloween successfully executed. Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkins tonight. The kids have definitely had in mind what they were going to carve, so it made it easy.Hannah, like any normal 6 year old girl wanted to carve hers to look like the man of her dreams...
And yes, she did actually kiss the pumpkin. It's true.

Seth originally wanted a pirate pumpkin, which I thought was going to be so cute, and I had a template downloaded for him and everything, but at the last minute he switched his to a Transformers pumpkin. So, as my Tranformer carving skills are severely lacking... I turned that one over to Rick and they worked very hard on it.
Since MaKaty was not really into the whole carving thing, we just turned her little pumpkin into a mummy pumpkin. Spooky. The final results: This is Seth saying "Eeeeewwww!" as he dug out pumpkin guts.
A necessary part of any new Fall ensemble:
Here are the pumpkins they carved at Grandma and Papa's on Sunday:
There's something about Seth's (right) that just makes my day everytime I look at it!

I promise...we do not totally neglect her:
(yes, she is in the middle of the street, reading a book and upside down, no less) Check out those feet!

And you'd think that three kids into this whole parenting thing that I would have learned that you NEVER point a camera at a kid and tell them to say "CHEESE!" Or this is what you get:
I now have to listen closely because if I hear Katy's little voice chanting "CHIZ CHIZ" (that's her way of saying "Cheese!") then I know that she's walking around the house with my camera and pretending to take pictures of everything. Cute, but a little dangerous for the camera.

The Champion: The Force Was With Him.

OK, so for the duration of this post, I want you to be thinking in the back of your minds about the scene from Chicken Little when he is singing "I am the champion!" In his cute little chicken voice, complete with his voice cracking at the end. Seriously....do you have it? Is the soundtrack playing in your mind?

Ok, we can commence.
Seth scored his first goal! It was awesome, even though I almost missed it. Well, I was watching, but I couldn't actually see who had kicked it. But Rick, being on the field, saw the whole thing and Seth did such an awesome job! He played a great game overall today and gave it his all, and I love that it paid off for him! He's been a good player. He's been mostly on task while on the field (there have been a few WWF wrestling matches to distract him), but overall he's been really into it. He just started noticing the last couple of games that even though he is kicking the ball a lot, and working really hard, that he had never made a goal.
Now every single boy on the team has scored at least one goal this season! That's pretty darn cool, if you ask me! They must have a great coach!

Go Team Jedi! The force is strong with this one!

Oh, and life is good.

Farm Fun

Before the onslaught of vacation pictures start, I wanted to share these of our FHE to Staheli Farms. We knew the pumpkin patch would be slim pickins' at this point, but the kids had fun doing it last year, so we decided to give it a shot. Let's just say that the pumpkin crop left much to be desired. Perhaps it had something to do with this:At any rate, the kids picked a pumpkin off the "cardboard" vine. And they were just as happy. Who cares if they were store bought pumpkins skattered around a bug ridden, stinky patch??? as long as you got to ride a tractor-pulled wagon to get there?My great regret is that Hannah has always chosen an odd colored pumpkin. White one year...pink another...you get the idea. But this year it was all about the orange. All good things must come to an end.

There was the usual red neck joy of the cow train, the corn slide, lassoing bulls,the mini golf course, and the petting zoo. The highlight of the evening was the new little merry go round swing thing. The tire swings looked like horses or cows and the kids loved it! MaKaty included!Hannah found an egg in the chicken coop. She promised that she would keep it warm if we would let her keep it. We didn't really know if it was fertilized or not, so we broke the news to her that the best place for it was back with the mama. She finally conceded, but not before making me promise that I would check out some books at the library about how eggs are fertilized and how they incubate and which eggs become chicks, and which become "cookie ingredients." Needless to say...we made a trip to the library yesterday. Gotta love that girl!All in all, it was a lot of fun, and the kids enjoyed it. So much, in fact, that Seth offered that it was "just as good as Disneyland!" Now THAT could have saved us a lot of money!

Are you on the edge of your seats?

I know you have all been waiting on pins and needles to find out what kind of baby we are having...(and if you haven't, you are hearing it anyway!)

so I will announce, without further ado...that we are indeed having a

























































BOY!!!!! Wahoo!
The first picture is his face...and the second picture is "the goods" You are looking from the bottom...leg, leg, and then, well, you know. Go team! We are evening things up!

We are all very happy! In fact, I'm pretty sure that I would have wept had she told me it was a girl. I was feeling boy...so it worked out. Seth was over the moon excited! He jumped up and down screaming, "That's just what we were hoping for!" and then he asked me how many weeks until his baby brother got here. When I told him about 20, he started to cry. So sweet!

So............as for what we will name the little dude...we are still working that out, but even when we do...we are keeping it a secret. So tune in...I might have some hints as things get closer!

The Shiner: a Sequence

Honestly, it should come as no surprise that Seth ended up in the First Aid Station at California Adventure Park. It really was inevitable, given his track record. Combine that with his inability to leave his friend Alex alone, and it was really just a matter of time. They had wrestled pretty much the entire day at Disneyland. They had play fought with their lunch boxes on their heads. And Seth gave as good as he got. Only Alex does not have the history that Seth has. When it comes down to it, it HAD to be Seth. It's in the stars. Plus, I blame myself really.
A. I wasn't there at the time.
B. I was not there because I was riding a roller coaster at 18 weeks pregnant.
C. I had walked past the first aid station earlier that day and thought: "I wonder what kinds of injuries they see there!?!?"

Like I said, it was really my fault.

So while Beka and I were enjoying our childless adrenaline rush called California Screamin'...Seth and Alex were wrestling at the bottom of some cement stairs near the carousel. One too many pushes, and Seth came up bleeding from the nose. Most of the blood was cleaned up by the time we got off the ride. This is how he looked immediately afterward:
After about an hour, when the swelling was really getting worse...I took him to the First Aid station to get an ice pack and some Tylenol. He seemed no worse for the wear. And it didn't stop the wrestling matches. Oh no. Only he had an ice pack to use as a weapon now. Heaven help us.

The next morning. It had had plenty of time to swell.
Later that day...it really started to get some color.
At Sea World. This was the worst day as far as swelling was concerned. And getting more color for that matter. It was at this point that every time Seth would fuss or cry, I was sure that all the people in the park were thinking that I had done this to him. Directly.
The night we got home. Day Three of the shiner. The swelling was starting to get better, but the color was awesome. Purple, blue, green, black, and yellow. Such a lovely spectrum of colors, right?
Leave it to Seth. I seriously need to make him a t-shirt titled: Captain ER!

Utah Enters Anaheim...in 12 pictures

Yep, we officially made it true. UEA truly does stand for Utah Enters Anaheim.
Disneyland:
Day 1: We lost Katy's left shoe.
Day 2: Seth ended up at the first aid station. Yes. Really.
Day 3: Rick spent most of the day throwing up in the hotel room.
Sea World:
Day 4: Nothing but good times.

This is going to be my 12 for 12 entry this month. 12 pictures of our vacation. Only I'm going to cheat and add more pictures and journaling later. I print my blog into a family history book, so I need to be a little more detailed. But for now...

This is not something you see everyday...
Dreams really do come true. Hannah met her hero. She walked around the rest of the day in a lovestruck haze. It was cute.
Hannah was the only one who would pose for me. Thanks Hannah!
The lollipop. She had been talking about getting a big lollipop for months. We got this for her on the first day at Disneyland. It is still unfinished.
So is the giant Candy Corn...
Katy was actually not a big fan of the carousel. But I took this picture before she had figured that out...
Toy Story Mania. A new ride for us. The kids loved it. Unfortunately Rick and Katy missed it. They were back at the hotel...indisposed for a time...
She was happy. And she was in the stroller. I never claimed to be above bribery.
Upon returning to the hotel after the fireworks.
Seth in the first aid room at California Adventure Park. I have better pictures of the shiner...he took a tumble onto the stairs near the carousel ride. Thats what Beka and I get for riding a roller coaster and leaving the kids in the care of the husbands for about 15 minutes. Even a couple of hours of ice packing off and on did no good. His eye was swollen nearly shut for three days.
Hannah and Daddy petting the dolphins. We paid to feed them some fish. The feeding was sort of anticlimatic, but getting to touch a dolphin...which Rick, Hannah, Seth and I all did was really cool. Definitely worth the six dollar tray of fish.
Tide Pools at Sea World. We ignored the signs requesting that the sea stars be left under the water. It was all in the name of a photo...no star fish were harmed in the taking of this photo.......................................we hope.
More later!

Ode to Ben Folds

So, I have been a fan of Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five for a long time now. It's addicting really. The guy is just brilliant. It was all cemented for me when I saw them perform at the Big Arse Show in Salt Lake. Cake was also performing that show...which I had been REALLY looking forward to...and it was awesome as well, but I had so much fun at the Ben Folds concert! I get really tired of predictable lyrics and unimaginative ideas. Ben Folds is definitely a cure for the common song. You never know what you are going to get. Plus, I love a guy who looks super nerdy and can totally sing! (probably a lot of the reason why I loved They Might Be Giants so much in concert as well).

He can be incredibly romantic. If you don't believe me...listen to "The Luckiest". I melt.
The song "Gracie" (written for his daughter) is so sweet that it almost makes me want to have a girl and name her Gracie. Almost.
And as for theme songs for a kid..."Kate" is a perfect song for my Katy...except for the lines about her smoking pot...I'm thinking the lines about "she smiles and it's a rainbow." and "there's daisies in her footsteps"
He wrote the entire soundtrack to Over the Hedge.
This song is not on my playlist, due to some language...but if you want to hear the funniest "just got dumped song" go for "Song for the Dumped". Just be aware. It drops the "F" bomb, but oh man, it's hilarious.
If you are from my high school generation, you will remember "Brick"...that one will keep you thinking.
And speaking of high school...check out "Underground." The theme of my high school career. "show me the mosh pit"
Totally love their version of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer"
The song "Trusted" has one of the funniest lines I've ever heard.
Stay humble...listen to "Cooler than you"
"One Angry Dwarf" is so funny, too...but again with the bit of language.

At any rate...Ben Folds has been running constantly in my brain lately...I just had to share.

3 Things...

I said before 8am this morning:

"No Hannah, you cannot take your Dinosaur Encyclopedia to school today to read when your teacher gets boring..."

"Seth, skateboarding while eating your oatmeal is just not a good plan."

"MaKaty, please take off your brother's underpants."

Seriously, do I make my kids weird, or do I just get all the weird ones?

Monday Night Drive

We went for a drive up Kolob Canyon last night to look at the leaves. It was a beautiful drive. Rick and I have so many memories in that area, from the numerous Subway hikes, to the West Rim Trail, to the trips to the Bracken cabin. The weather was cool, but perfect. The kids were not exactly cooperative about having their picture taken, but that is not entirely unusual. We had some snacks at an overlook, and the kids loved hiking around a bit. Katy did throw up in the car on the way home, but even that didn't ruin things. Apparently long and winding roads are not her thing. Understandable.

We did end up with a few cutie pictures. Enjoy!

Kate refused to look at the camera...But what a gorgeous view!
This one just cracked me up!
Here's her softer side...

See what I mean about Hannah not being cooperative?Hannah was freezing!
My boys.
Loved this one!
I'll leave you with my 16 week belly. The beginnings of the great eclipse! I know. I'm huge. Rick's got his sights set on twins. If that's the case, I have my sights set on an insane asylum.
Seriously. I mean it.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Words: Hannah's prayer over dinner this evening: "Please bless that this will taste better than it looks."