Valley of Fire Trip (11/1)

I have to admit that the Holidays really threw me for a loop with my blogging! I'm hoping to get more used to it to be better at it next year. In the mean time I want to highlight a few "happenings" in November and December. Then I can hopefully keep up!

On November 1st, we, and by we I mean Ryan, Me, Zach, Kaitlyn and Caleb (Will was having fun with his grandparents for a special day) headed out to the Valley of Fire. We had such a great time rock climbing at Red Rock that we wanted to try it again. We stopped at the picnic area first and had some hot dogs and goodies and then started on the hike to the Mouse Tank. I carried Caleb in the back pack and Ryan carried his camera bag (which probably weighed more than Caleb!) Here we are at the top of the Mouse Tank rock.

Zach and Kaitlyn had a good time finding holes to climb in so Ryan could take some fun shots of them peeking out. They thought it was pretty cool to hide in the rocks and Caleb thought it was fun to try eating the sand...


On the way back to the parking lot, we went a different route, off the beaten path, and came across an amazing arch. We decided to climb up and get a few shots on top of it (yes, we're crazy!)Of course Ryan was able to capture a lot of amazing shots, so I put a collage together of my favorites. Good job Rye! We had a great time and the kids want to go back soon!

Halloween 2008...

I'm finally starting to get caught up... almost. Halloween was a lot of fun this year (for me or the kids??) We had parties at school, a trunk-or-treat ward party, and of course regular trick-or-treating. William got to decorate his own cupcake in class, and Caleb had a great time going in to visit Kaitlyn and Zach. He tried taking off a few times, enjoying his freedom, but he didn't make it too far.


















Zach and Kaitlyn have always been excited to dress up for Halloween. They look forward to being able to wear their costume afterwards too, and they come up with so many different ways to wear them. This year, much to my demise (ok, not quite that bad) Zach remembered a promise I made him a long time ago. He's always wanted to be this "bloody skeleton" and I kept telling him he had to be eight first. Well, he's eight and he didn't forget (like I obviously thought he would). So here's Zach in his long awaited Bloody Skeleton costume....


I bet he's making quite the scary face to go along with is scary costume; it's just too bad that we can't see it! (We could tell from the sounds he was making). As for letting him dress up for fun in this later... no way. I don't want fake blood all over the place (even if it's an "accident"). Plus, knowing his sister (yes, sister and not brother) it will probably be used again.

Speaking of Kaitlyn, she was of course, mistaken for a boy most of the time. She had a great time in her costume and it fit her well. I have to admit that it is nice not having to do fancy hair and make-up like most girls her age want!

Kaitlyn in her "stance:"


Luckily, Will and Caleb are still too young to care what they are and are more than willing to wear whatever I tell them to. I know that's going to change one of these days, so I'm enjoying it while I can. Will was a football player (number 7 John Elway, of course) and Caleb was a "Tiny Ninja."






















After all was said and done and we were home from trick-or-treating, William and Caleb sat down on the floor with their buckets and tried to get away with eating as much as they could before getting caught. Here's our little guys living it up! Yummy!

William's 1st day of school...(Oct. 21, 2008)

William is going big time... already! I have a lot of mixed feelings about William already being in school. He is so small still and I love having his at home to play with Caleb (who is all of a sudden a lot more clingy). However, because of his late speaking and since we still have a hard time understanding him, I had him tested by the school district. He ended up qualifying to have speech therapy and goes to preschool Monday through Thursday in the mornings. He loves going and taking his backpack and loves being a "big" boy. Now if I can just get him to be a "big boy" who goes to the bathroom on the potty...

Here's William in his classroom on his first day. He walked in and didn't even care if I stayed or not. He started playing immediately and barely said goodbye - I'm the one who had a hard time!