A Silly Halloween Costume Day

Yesterday, Derek, Ben and I had a lot of fun going through all the old Halloween costumes. Derek loved trying on everything! I put a little Woody costume on Ben (which was way too big!) and he didn't ever want to take it off.

Derek and I were laughing our heads off when he tried on the GIANT Superman costume and the afro wig. He looked so funny, he kind of reminded me of a funky "Greatest American Hero". We tried to get Ben to wear the afro, but he wasn't too fond of it. It was a fun morning.

I couldn't get Benjamin to smile or pose or anything!!! This was about the best I could get...

A Beautiful Day for a Hike

Last Saturday, we decided to take the kids for a hike. Our family loves hiking and the weather was so beautiful!!!! So, we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We found a fun hike that took us up to Dog Lake. It was a 5.2 mile round trip hike. It was pretty tough at times and I wondered if we would make it the whole way, but we did! It was pretty much uphill most of the way there and we had to hike over quite a bit of snow. It got a little icy near the end. Also, Kevin carried Benjamin the whole way in our little baby carrier (which Ben is probably too big for!) I was worried about Kevin, but he said he was fine.

When we reached Dog Lake, we rested and had a picnic lunch. Then we made our way back. It was much easier going down since it was mostly downhill. It was a beautiful hike and the kids had a great time.

At the beginning of our hike...the kids were still full of energy!

The scenery was amazing!

Dog Lake...Brooklyn's dirty bum makes me laugh...

I noticed that Derek posed in almost every picture we took...too funny...

Benjamin became attached to a little snowball and he didn't want any of us to take it away from him! He was distraught when it finally melted...

Benjamin giving Daddy "loves"

Derek never got tired the entire hike! He was usually way ahead of all of us and never complained at all...

On the way down...

The ride home...this is how we all felt. Yes, I know Benjamin is doing a fashion faux pas with his sandals and socks, but I couldn't find his tennis shoes and these were the next best thing! ;-)

Derek's "Zoo Day" at school

On Monday, Derek's Kindergarten class had a "Zoo day". Each child was assigned an animal to dress up as and learn some facts about. Derek was a Jaguar. The parents came to the school and pressed a "button" on each child and then the child would tell about their animal. It was so cute and Derek had a great day!

Derek posing as a Jaguar

Derek with some boys from his class wearing his "push me" button

Derek's Zoo Field Trip

Last week, I went with Derek's kindergarten class on a field trip to the zoo. It was a perfect day to go...the weather was beautiful and there were a ton of baby animals! I was amazed. There was the new little baby elephant, a baby giraffe, 3 baby tigers, and a baby snow leopard. I supervised Derek and a couple other boys and we had a great time.

This little baby elephant was so stinkin' cute...

This is the mom and baby giraffe, but you can't see them very well. They wouldn't move and pose for my picture!

This is a better picture of the baby giraffe...

This is two of the three baby tigers...

Sweet kids

A couple of months ago, Brooklyn decided to organize a little fundraiser. She rallied Tyler and one of her neighbor friends and they went to the field behind our house and sold some of their toys and lemonade. She wanted to donate everything to "kids who didn't have things". After a couple hours, I was very surprised and happy when they came home with over $25! I thought it was so neat that there were so many generous people out there who willingly gave money to them.

Well, the kids decided they wanted to give the money to Primary Children's Medical Center. I called the hospital and they said it would be helpful if we spent the money on some toys and then donated them to the hospital. So for Family Night one night, we took the kids to Wal-Mart and let them pick out some things. Then last weekend, we took the toys up to Primary Children's and donated them. The kids really wanted to see the kids and give the toys to them personally, but because of the Swine Flu, the hospital wouldn't let us (understandably so).

Anyway, It was such a great experience for them and I was so proud of them for orchestrating the whole thing by themselves. They can't wait to do it again!

Amoxicillin and Derek do not mix

Well, this month we found out that Derek is allergic to Amoxicillin! I took him to the Doctor because he had been majorly congested for a long time! She said it was probably a sinus infection and prescribed Amoxicillin. The Amoxicillin worked like a charm at first and completely cleared up his congestion, but after he'd been taking it for about a week, he totally broke out in hives. After talking with the doctor and after a little trial and error, we concluded that he is allergic to Amoxicillin! Who knew!?

I finally decided to take a few pictures, but these aren't too impressive. I took these after he'd been off the Amoxicillin for several days.

General Conference

Well these are pretty lame pictures (I took them with my cell phone), but I thought I would post them anyway. I LOVE and always look forward to General Conference!!! It is such a spiritual, mental, and physical (because I get to spend the weekend chillin' in my jammies with my family) renewal. We got to attend the Sunday afternoon session and it was so fun. I love being in the Conference Center, listening to the General Authorities and the Tabernacle Choir. It is so energizing and makes me so so so grateful to be a member of the church!

Random Pictures from October

Well, I always seem to have random pictures. So, here are some from October...

Derek's been playing soccer and loving it! It's finally clicked for him and it's fun to see him actually trying and actually enjoying the game. He was soooo excited to make 4 goals last game (albeit, some of them were flukes!)

I had to take this picture of Brooklyn last week because it was just so well uh....Brooklyn. She is "all-girl" through and through. She loves to mix and match her wardrobe and try different things with her hair and jewelry and things. I'm usually quite impressed with her sense of style...mainly because I don't think I had an ounce of style or even cared or even knew what style was at her age. Oh, she was also thrilled to get her new church shoes, which she insisted had to have a heel (it's still a little girl heel though.)

Well, this is a picture of the "Scary Guy", affectionately named by Benjamin. He is the greeter at Wal-Mart for the Halloween season and Benjamin HATES Wal-Mart now. He is so scared of this guy that he screams as we walk in the door. The "scary guy" also talks and his mouth moves, so he seems real. Also, whenever we get in the car to go anywhere, Benjamin says, "Scary Guy??!" I always have to assure him that the scary guy only lives at Wal-Mart. I took this picture with my cell phone so Benjamin could look at it and hopefully get used to him...no dice.