Halloween

Halloween was a highly anticipated holiday in our home this year. It seems like for a month straight, Brody would ask "Is it Halloween time yet?" So, we decorated. We put lights up, and pumpkins, and made home made decorations, and paper bats, etc. The house was decked out from the beginning of October on.

Brody was dead set on being a football player this year (after we said no to his first choice of Obama). I was just going to throw some sweats on him and a razorback jersey, and try to find a helmet. We went to Halloween Express to find a helmet, and we wound up walking past a Car's "Tow-Mater" costume. Brody was in love. So me, being the wonderful mother that I am, got him the Tow-Mater costume, and he lived in it for 2 days straight. He would take his hat off, and say "I'm Brody now." but if he was wearing his hat, he was Tow Mater, and had to be addressed accordingly.

Peyton was our little cheerleader. She is so tiny and cute, that I wouldn't doubt it if she is a real cheerleader some day. She loves all things girly, so she loved this outfit that Grandma June bought for her. She will bring me the skirt and want to wear it daily!

Nick took a nap before our Trunk-or-Treat celebration at our church, and when he woke up his hair was crazy. I told him he had "Edward hair" (as in Twilight), so I said "you should be Edward." that he was. Unfortunately, Nick has never read the books, and he wouldn't believe me that Edward doesn't have big scary nasty vampire teeth, but he insisted on wearing the big nasty scary vampire teeth anyway.

We had a great Halloween. We went to Trunk or Treat on Friday night, and then on Halloween night, we went with our good friends the Halls, the Johansons, the Binghams, and the Christensens, trick or treating in the Hall's neighborhood. Parker (see Brody's best friend post) is Jenni and Josh Hall's oldest son. The boys all had so much fun together! They kept saying stuff like "This Halloween is AWESOME!" or "This is my best Halloween EVER!" It melts my heart to see the kids having so much fun!

We have a mover and a shaker...

...and a climber, and a crawler, and a pouter, and a laugher...well, you get the point. Peyton is VERY mobile!

This one's for you Uncle Bobby

My loves.

I love it when my kids play nice together. There is nothing like the sound of the two of them laughing and playing in the play room. Except for this...

Peyton loves her doll.

Grandma June and Grandpa Shaw sent Peyton a care package before her first big visit to Children's in Little Rock. Peyton LOVES her baby! She carries her around, feeds her her bottle, and loves on her all the time. Thanks Grandma June and Grandpa Shaw!

My children love lemons.

Some may think it is strange, but I always LOVED lemons when I was little. Anything sour, in fact. Lemons, limes, sour patch kids, bring them on! Whenever we go to dinner, Nick always puts his lemon in my water because he isn't a fan. Apparently, our kids inherited my love for lemons from me.

Brody has a best friend.

His name is Parker...and we love him!

Are they not the coolest dudes around?

Trip to Utah

Wow, so this post is like 4 months overdue, but I must post about our wonderful trip to Utah this summer!

It all began when we left Arkansas, in my mother in law's Ford Taurus. Nick and I in the front, Tashya and the kids in the back. We drove straight through, trading drivers, downing cokes, and jamming out to our Mp3 players. About 2 hours outside of Salt Lake, I looked up at Nick and said "What's that noise coming from the engine?" To which he replied "it's just the car trying to accelerate uphill. It will stop as soon as we get to the top of the hill." Sure enough, it did. The whole car stopped in fact, with a big bang. The engine blew a hole through the oil pan.

To make a long story short, we rode in the Taurus behind a tow truck all the way to a ShopKo in Salt Lake. We were true Arkansan's making the journey out West.

Once safe and sound at Aunt Julee and Uncle Bobby's house, we had a blast. We were able to attend the Temple 3 times, visit various church history locations, go to the Aquarium, Cowabunga Bay, spend wonderful time with family, and I attended the Scentsy convention.

It was my first time meeting Aunt Melanee, Uncle Donny, and Darcee and Chase. We had a blast with them when they came to visit for a night. Peyton and Shaylee were so cute together!

Brody love, love, loved his cousins and Great Aunt and Uncle. He talks about Aunt Julee, Uncle Bobby, Jenn, Jordan and Justin all the time.

Utah was so beautiful. I have never been to that part of the country, and I was amazed at the beauty and serenity of all the mountains surrounding us. It is definitely a place I could live! I am hoping to be able to make it back to SLC in February for a church Women's conference, sans husband and kids. It will be some fun girl time for all!

Here are some of the pictures from our trip: