October/November Catch-Up

Well, so much for trying to stay caught up. Here is a quick run down of things that happened in October and November.

- Alex's baby blessing: On Friday, October 14 my cousin Tara got married in the Denver Temple. My parents flew in for the event, so we decided we would bless Alex at the same time. He was 3 months old, but he hadn't really gone to church much before then because of all the colds and things going around. Daniel wasn't feeling well the morning of the blessing, so my dad gave Alex his blessing. We had a few men from the ward, as well as the bishopric, help with the blessing. Alex was great and didn't cry at all! Drew's behavior was a different story.... After church we had hamburgers and hot dogs at home with Emily and Tina. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful blessing for our sweet little boy! Thanks Dad! We really appreciate it.

-Dragon Dash at Emerald: This was Lily's first year participating in the school's Dragon Dash. The kids ran around the school one time, which is about 1/2 a mile. The kids both did their best and had a fun time. Drew kept saying he wanted to come back and run with the preschool kids. He had to miss his nap in order to do that, so by the time it was his turn he wanted no part of it. I ended up having to carry him and jog the half block to the finish line. Crazy kid. Well, at least I got some sort of exercise in that day! :)

- Halloween: We carved pumpkins a few days before Halloween. Erik and Lily had fun, designed their jack-o-lanterns and even helped carve a bit. Drew wanted nothing to do with it...again...so we ended up carving his again. He spent the evening sitting on Daniel's lap with Erik, Lily and I gutted and carved.

I was going to try to make the kids' costumes this year to save money, but I found some cheap enough at the store that I probably spent less than I would have if I had made them. Erik was a skeleton ninja, Lily was a princess and Drew was Buzz Lightyear. We went to the ward trunk or treat for chili and candy. Erik and Lily went around the loop a few times and ended up with a BUNCH of candy! Drew went around once and then decided to stay in the car with me. Daniel was at work so Alex was passed around inside while the trick or treat part of the evening was happening. Drew's preschool teacher was nice enough to let us borrow the Buzz costume from school. They had costumes out as dress-ups for the week before Halloween and Drew would wear that one everyday! He didn't even want to take it off when it was time to go home. Alex just wore his Little Monster onesie. On the night of Halloween, I took the three oldest kids trick or treating in the neighborhood across the street with Emily and her boys and Tina and her boys. We only went up a few streets, but it was enough. I ended up having to walk Drew home a bit early. Luckily Daniel was home that night so Alex was able to stay inside and keep warm. We ended up with a lot of candy at our house...even after we took out all the gum, hard candy and nasty candy. LOL

-Thanksgiving and trip to Utah: Daniel was supposed to work Thanksgiving but decided to trade with a friend so we could go to Utah for a week to see family. (He now has to work Christmas afternoon, but that's ok since we're done with presents by 9!) We spent the week at Janet's playing with cousins. The kids loved seeing everyone. We went swimming a few times and ate lots of yummy food! My parents, sister and nephew were able to come down for a few days as well. This was the first time a lot of people had seen Alex. It was also the first time a lot of them had seen Drew since he started talking more and being less shy. Thanks everyone for a fantastic week. We loved it! We also miss you guys and hope to be able to see you soon.

-Dinosaur National Monument: On the way home from Utah we decided to drive through Vernal. We stayed in Vernal Monday night and Tuesday morning saw lots of dinosaurs! We went to the Utah Field House of Natural History Museum in Vernal. We "dug" for dinosaur bones, put together a skeleton, saw lots of fossils and walked through their dinosaur "garden." It was lots of fun, and we were the only people there!

After the museum, we drove to Dinosaur National Monument and went to the Quarry to see the wall of bones. The Quarry had been closed for 5 years and just reopened in October. Since it's the off season, you have to go up to the quarry with a ranger. Once again, we were the only ones there so it was fantastic! She told us last month they had 15,000 visitors, which is what they usually get during the summer! I'm glad we waited until November to visit. Erik and Lily both thought all the bones were cool, as did I. We saw lots of vertebrae and leg bones. We also saw some stegosaurus plates, some claws, ribs, tails and even a skull! Erik thought the skull was cool. The ranger told us skulls are very rare because they are so small and light they often get "carried away" from the rest of the skeleton. Drew thought the skull was neat too...that's the one thing he talks about when we mention seeing dinosaurs.

That sums up our last few months. I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas season and is able to enjoy lots of time together with loved ones. We have a busy time coming up since Erik turns 8 a few days after Christmas and will be getting baptized. I really hope to post about upcoming events sooner than I have been in the past.