Pumpkins 2013

We carved pumpkins Monday night with my sister and her family.  Jackson was so excited about it this year and couldn't stop talking about what he wanted on his pumpkin.

When we pulled out our carving supplies we also pulled out this little gem:

Bode looks quite natural, don't you think? ;)

And Sean of course wanted in on the fun.

Wowie! Smokin'!!!

I love how the kids are so excited to carve pumpkins, but when it comes down to it, they mostly just want the adults to do it for them. I tried to get Jackson to help me pull out the pumpkin guts and he was not having it!

The finished products

Left to right: Jackson, Sean & Jenny, Bode, Adam, Hayley, Max

We're ready for Halloween!

Halloween happenings

We've been taking advantage of the the beautiful fall weather and done some fun Halloween stuff lately! 

Heber Creeper

First, we took the boys to the Pumpkin Festival on the Heber Creeper with our friends the Knights and Tiptons. We went last year and have been looking forward to going again ever since!

Frightmares

A few weeks ago Sean took the boys to Frightmares at Lagoon. It is a tradition for us all to go each fall with his sister and her daughters, but this year, at 33 weeks pregnant, I didn't think I could quite handle walking around all day not riding anything. I opted out, but it sounds like they had a really fun day. 

Jackson was a machine. He rode the white roller coaster and he even rode Wicked!! That ride scares me as an adult!

I am including this picture because it made me laugh when Sean sent it to me that day, and it still does!

I spy a photo bomber! Well played.

Snuggling with his cousin, Remi, after a long day of fun.

Haunted Train

Last week we went with our friends the Carrolls and their cute boys to the haunted train ride in Lindon. We have been to the Polor Express version they do at Christmas, but this was our first Halloween experience. We had a great time chatting in line and the train itself was a lot of fun. I think both of our boys were pretty scared, but they loved it!

The boys felt pretty cool having their own table at dinner afterward!

Caramel apples with friends

We invited our friends, the Kysers, over a few weeks ago to make caramel apples. We had all sorts of toppings and even though our apples weren't picture perfect, they were delicious! 

Gardner Village

It wouldn't be fall or Halloween without a trip to Gardner Village with my sister and her kids. We always let the kids check out the witches, browse through a few shops, and end with a treat from the bakery. 

Pumpkin patch

We were excited when we found out there is a pumpkin patch in the field behind our house. When the weather turned colder, all of the sudden we could see hundreds of pumpkins through our windows! We've had fun watching people walk through the patch each day. On Monday, we decided to take the boys and let them pick their own. 

They thought it was so cool you could see our house and were really excited to pick out their own pumpkins. Sean and Jackson ended up just walking home through the field. Loving this time of year!

A special date with dad

Sean took Jackson to a super cross event this spring, where Jackson first heard the song "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons-- it has been his favorite song ever since. I didn't think anything could take down "I Wanna Party" from the "Rio" soundtrack (also known as 'On the Pond' in our house because that is what Jackson thought the words were…), but "Radioactive" has been holding strong for months. 

When I found out Vivint's year-end party was an Imagine Dragons concert, I knew Jackson HAD to go. Being 7 months pregnant, I wasn't in much of a concert mood, so Sean and Jackson turned it into a special father/ son date. And in case you are wondering, I was assured Imagine Dragons would be a tame concert with clean language :) Jackson was SO excited. 

Eating nachos before the concert began

Vivint dropped balloons with money in them at one point. Jackson didn't grab any, but his friend Seth shared some of his :)

"Demons"

"Radioactive"

I heard nothing but rave reviews of the concert, and I think Jackson felt pretty cool he got to go.  I am so glad they got to do this together! Thank-you Vivint!

First broken bone

A few weeks ago I wanted to take the kids to do something fun. They wanted to go to the aquarium, so we headed to Sandy. Unfortunately, when we got there we learned it was closed. The kids were pretty upset so I decided to try to figure out a plan 'B'. I asked them if they wanted to go to Kangaroo Zoo or the Dinosaur Museum instead, and Kangaroo Zoo it was.  

We'd only been there for about 30 minutes when Bode got hurt. He was playing in one of the inflatable jump houses and he jumped from the top of the slide back into the main area and started screaming when he landed. Somehow he landed on his arm/wrist funny and was upset unusually long. Looking at his wrist I couldn't see anything visibly wrong and I thought maybe he had sprained it. He could still bend it, but acted like it was tender. 

We headed home and he calmed down a bit. I wasn't sure what to do, but put him down for his nap to see how he was when he woke up. When he woke up he said "ouchie" when he moved it. He didn't seem too upset though, so I didn't think anything was broken. 

That night the pain must have gotten worse. He was pretty upset and I felt SO bad I hadn't taken him in to the doctor earlier. 

I took him in first thing the next morning and X-ray confirmed he had a "buckle fracture." After a week of wrapping his wrist in an ace bandage (in case of swelling), he saw a specialist and got a hard cast.  The doctor recommended doing the cast above his elbow after seeing how active he is :) 

Bode was a champ and thought his new cast was cool. He liked choosing the color and so far hasn't complained about it at all. 

I do feel bad for him because he is right-handed and it is his right arm in the cast. He has adapted pretty well, but eating with a fork and things like that give him a little bit of trouble sometimes. I thought the cast might slow him down a bit, but he's just as active as ever-- still jumping and running everywhere. He likes to show off his cast to people when they ask him about it and he always tells them "It's blue!"

I did start noticing some weird scratches on some of our furniture and on our front door and couldn't figure out what was going on. I finally put it together that it was Bode's cast! Those things are so hard! Both Sean and I have gotten smacked in the face (accidentally) with it, and that sucker hurts. Jackson has also incurred some of its wrath on his head (not accidentally). I think we will all be happy when the cast is gone!

Until then, we are leaving a sock over it to try and spare our furniture and soften the blow! ;)