Halloween, part one.

Reasons I hate Halloween: ordered two overpriced kid costumes (2), one was too big, one was too small, stores are out, shipping new ones overnight (2) = 40 bucks and hoping they get here in time. If not, have to plan for back-up costumes (2). Had to make a work costume, a half-marathon costume and a party costume (3) and... help Scott with his costume (1). That's TEN costumes! Where is the candy, hmmm?

Funny thing? Tagg decided they should be Monsters because that was his current favorite movie but when we put his monster costume (after a bit of cajoling, mind you) it was way, way too small. So, not so funny. Now he wants to be Nemo - no, mommy, I no cowboy, I no puppy, I no (insert whatever noun, character, etc. you like here). I NEMO! So now we have a Nemo costume and a 6-mo old Squirt (the little turtle) costume are on their way, hopefully arriving before Halloween. Luckily (I think) Tagg now loves candy and cookies, especially this gift box from Nana and Papa so he'll really dig the whole trick or treating concept this year. He'll also be on a sugar high for the next month but I guess that's okay.

This is the one photo we have of Sloane in the too-big costume. She's crying because the headpiece kept falling over her eyes so she couldn't see, and the feet and hands were so big that the second she moved they would fling off in every direction. Hmmm.

This was our ivy patch making the summer to fall transition...on Sunday. Pretty, yeah?

On Wednesday morning, we woke up to this...all white. What the...!?!?! Tagg stood at the window and said, "Mommy, it not Christmas. It not." No joke, son, no joke.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch tonight. It's a tradition (meaning we did it last year with Tagg). Tagg is completely fascinated by pumpkins. Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

Our neighbors are growing some in their grass strip between the sidewalk and the road (what's that called? anyone? anyone?) and he LOVES it. If we go for a walk, he wants to run - not walk, RUN! - to the pumpkins. Cowboy boots, sandals...doesn't matter. We're running to the pumpkins!

Tagg was really good with baby Sloane. He's really starting to get this big brother thing down. He only let her tip over once and didn't try to pummel her with a pumpkin so all good! Aren't they cute?

Tagg and Sloane thought the hay bales were pretty cool. Sloane loved the straw pieces. And so did Tagg until he realized they were stuck in his pants. That wasn't so good for him. But he did like throwing bits o' straw so hopefully it all evened out.

Tagg found the littlest pumpkin in the world.
His favorite. Till he figured out
that it was a lot like a little ball.
After that, it was all about throwing pumpkins.

Tagg was having a ball riding the pumpkins, doing downward dog on them (yes, mommy is teaching him some yoga poses...whatever! he was already doing them, I just named them!). He thought stepping on the pumpkins, and rolling them and pushing them was about the coolest thing ever. You'd never know it by the facial expression but I swear...he was having fun!

Sloane was not digging her first pumpkin patch experience. She cried on the way, chilled when she had some hay to play with, and then fell asleep. So she missed some of the good stuff. But she got a good nap so that's important! I'm guessing next year will be a little different!

Family photo! October 13, 2010 at the Pumpkin Patch.

43 lbs? Not so much.
The pumpkins 32...Tagg? Maybe 30.
All of them in a wheelbarrow? Priceless!

Frogs and Teeth

We had a great breakfast with Sloane's baby family at Eggs in the City on Saturday. It was, as ever, special and amazing and completely unbelievable. If you had told me that these people would become part of our family in this weird and special way, I wouldn't have believed it.

Afterwards, we met Natalie and Alek at Red Butte Gardens. They were babysitting G (Georgiana, at least I think that's how you spell it) who is 17 months and Eliza who is 6 while her dad took a photography class. It was a kind of gloomy day but we had a ball. There was red dirt. And water fountains with frogs in them. And oversized lizards to climb on. I read the sign by the fountains to Tagg - Do not throw dirt in the fountains. About 10 minutes later, he goes over and points at the sign - "Don't throw dirt fountain!" And then he threw a handful of dirt in the fountain! Well, at least he knew the words, right?

Sunday was Kayla's blessing. She was born the day after Tagg's 2nd birthday, July 27th, so she's about 6 weeks younger than Sloane. It's amazing to see how much they grow so quickly. Like if you put Sloane in between Harper who is 5 weeks older and Kayla you can pretty much see her future and her past. I know that won't last long and pretty soon they'll be like evil girlie triplets but for now it's pretty cool.

Sloane followed in her brother's footsteps, busting out some big momentous occasions with Scott's family - and the camera. She broke through both bottom teeth on Sunday (hence the fingers in the mouth) and is super close to sitting up on her own. She's just a little too weebly to let sit on her own for too long. She's been mildly fussy but it's amazing how chill she's been considering that she's teething. She's also sleeping through the night and loves to stand up! I think she'll be walking sooner than later.

Oktoberfest

Sadly there was no chicken dancing, no brats (as in bratwursts...there were plenty of kid brats), no sauerkraut. Sometimes that's the risk (or bonus!) of taking 2 year olds to an event during nap time.

It was such a gorgeous Sunday to be in the mountains. Just a little too early for the leaves to be changing but it was sunny and warm and liberating.

Tagg didn't completely freak out when we got his face painted. The shark was cool! His mouth opened and so did the shark's! Of course, by the time he sacked out in the car on the way home half the shark was rubbed off on his car seat. That was 5 bucks well spent!

Tagg liked panning for gold with mommy and Aunt Biff but mostly because there was water and rocks. We had to leave when he started throwing them. Never found the gold. Should have known better. It was free.

Sloane is a dream in the sling. It's like baby crack. I don't know if it's the swaddle effect or the warmth or the movement but it's amazing how quickly she sacks out in the Maya sling. I highly recommend it if you need to carry the baby in a hands-free environment. It even has a little pocket for money and your phone.

We completely forgot sunscreen - duh. Luckily the Snowbird gift shop had some 55 SPF for babies - for the bargain price of 17 dollars. Yes...17 dollars. I refused to wash it off her head till Tuesday just because I wanted to get my money's worth. It kind of looked like she'd been white-washed but at least she wasn't sunburned!

Deep Fried Chocolate Covered Bacon and Other Fair Stuff

Tagg and Sloane were a little too young to really, truly appreciate their first Utah State Fair. Scott, on the other hand...he really got it! Tagg loved the cows and the pigs. Scott and I were flabbergasted by the epic line stretching in front of the "deep fried twinkies, oreos, candy bars and, yes...wait for it...deep fried chocolate covered bacon."

Sloane was all decked out for her first trip to the fair. We thought that the fall weather would have kicked in so we went a little warm and then it was 100 degrees. Woops! The hat was cute though!

We realized shortly after arriving at the carnie portion of the Fair that things have changed. Back in the day, you used to actually have to spend money and exercise some skill to get that big ol' stuffed animal. Now, they just kind of ask you how much you're willing to spend and that's what you give them. I don't think it bodes well for men who really want to provide for their family by winning oversized green stuffed crayons (made in China). I have to say, never saw Scott nail so many dart shots! And the kids love that big green crayon!

The weekend before our journey to the Fair, Scott was out of town on his "Wild Hogs" Harley ride to Jackson with Dan the bday boy and the crew. They managed to dodge a lot of nasty weather. Tagg and Sloane and I had some adventures - CostCo on Saturday morning after nearly running out of diapers the night before, a major meltdown at BFC, and then a volcanic puking event which I completely blame on McDonalds. This photo is from right before the barfing began. We (whatever, it was totally me! me, me, me!) also cured Tagg of his binky addiction which added a little stress to the single-parent weekend but was well worth it!

Birthday, Part Deux

We had to celebrate Tagg's birthday again. The rain really put a damper on party number one! Not only were we not able to use the epic blow-up waterslide (thanks Nat!) but we would have missed Tagg's bday buddies - Greer who is one day older and Porter who is one month older. When Porter, Tami and Jake are in town it's great to get the boys together and celebrate! The water slide was a huge hit with the kids and the boys had a ball with all their presents.

They were actually so busy playing that they didn't even bother to eat the cute cupcakes we had for them. Should have gone for another Lightning McQueen cake apparently. We totally missed the photo-op with the two "2" candles. Oh well, they had fun!

We also got to go see Kayla, Tagg's newest cousin. She was born on the 27th, the day after Tagg's birthday party and she's lovely! Such an adorable baby! And she makes Sloane look huge!

Lake Powell - August 2010

Last Chance Bay, that is. We headed down to Powell the first week of August with both kids, Grama and Bompa, the Seattle Harmers, Kevin and Kurt (all the way from Hawaii!). It was a smaller trip than we're used to, for sure, and we definitely missed Auntie Leese who was starting her new job and the PA family who weren't able to make it, not to mention Nicole and brand new baby Kayla. Luckily Kent and Ashley were able to come down for the last half of the trip which was awesome, especially for Tagg!

We skied every day, did some wave-runner riding, took the kids tubing, took our nets out on a hike to find lizards and seashells (better luck with the shells!). We did find some great sandstone holes that made for cute pictures with the kids.

Probably one of the highlights was water-balloon fights with the kids on top of the boat and the "boys" in the water serving as both targets and ball returners. Sandy and Lynn kept the water balloons coming and Bompa chimed in with some good aiming techniques. Brooke and Canyon were so awesome with Tagg and Sloane. They must have stacked about a million red cups so Tagg could knock them over, and inspired Tagg to go down the waterslide off the top of the houseboat. We thought he'd be freaked out but nope! Just went down it like a trooper. Of course, when we asked him if he wanted to do it again the next day, the answer was a most definite "no!"

Sloane was a little angel as usual. She just slept and gurgled and was generally a dream. She got her first sink tubbie on the houseboat, and rocked a few darling swimsuit combinations (seriously...why don't they make swimsuits with the snaps? helloooo?! so hard to get on and off! so they were all cute for about one photo and then it was back to the dud!).

Scott and I are still freaked out enough as parents that we duct-taped the door to our bedroom shut just in case Tagg woke up and went wandering. Pretty funny, I know, but at least we knew he was safe!

We had some neighbors who were a little too close for comfort but they did put on an amazing fireworks show on our last night. Their musical soundtrack was not so great (when the 7 year old is asking what a "whore" is, you know it's no good!).

The Lightning McQueen boat worked really well, as did our new ski and wakeboard. Tagg thought he wanted to drive but usually ended up completely passed out after just a few minutes. We would drizzle him with water and make sure he was shaded...and then wish we could all get the same treatment! The boats are like some kind of miracle sleep-inducer.

Continuing a Lake Powell tradition, if you napped you got painted toenails. Tagg had 5 blue fingernails, Scott had Broncos colors and Kevin? For the first time in history, Keving did not nap long enough to get painted nails! In another list of firsts, he also made Dutch Oven desserts - peach, blueberry and pineapple cobblers. MMMMMM!!! (super handy since we ran out of fudge jumbles!)

My famous potato salad did not fare so well. After forgetting it in the freezer at home, we made an emergency call to Kent. He did make a special trip to the house to retrieve and drove it all the way to the lake only to find out that potato salad frozen and then unfrozen...well, it sucks. Nasty.

















We took the ski boats for a cruise up some of the nearby canyons which was nice. Haven't done that in years! It's amazing how narrow some of those canyons can get. We found a killer tree at the end of one of the coves and the adventurous Seattle Harmers snagged what I hope is their Christmas card pictures. It's just amazing! And then Jeff jumped off the top of the tree. Gotta love 'em!

That week at the lake is probably one of my favorite things in the world. You're surrounded by amazing scenery, incredible people and all you do is enjoy each other and life for a week. No cell phones or email, no schedules or deadlines...just a week of pure relaxation and fun. Skiing the glass as the sun comes up with my babies in the boat and that spectacular scenery as a backdrop? Life just doesn't get much better. I feel so very lucky to have this family, to be part of this tradition and to share it with our next generation. It's really a special blessing. Counting the days till next year!