Halloween Family Fun

Heith and Haiden riding on a tire swing at Cornbelly's


Heith, Haiden, and Jordan riding in a wagon. Poor Jordan... we should have put her on top not on bottom. They play so well together, we always enjoy when they visit.


The kids all pretending to be animals.



The weekend before Halloween my Grandma Trish, Aunt Lori, Cooper, Collyn, Jazmine, and Jordan came for a visit. They try to come to Utah every Fall to join us for Witches Night Out at Gardner Village, Corn Mazes, and lots of other fun things. We ate lots of fun food as we always do, like fondue, and fajitas. Also Heith and Haiden were lucky enough to have a second birthday party, my mom even made them a scary body parts cake.

Happy Halloween

We had a Very Happy Halloween, and Hope you did too! Enjoy all the pictures!!





On Thursday Oct 30, I got the boys up and ready for the day pretty early. We needed to be at our city library by 10am, so that we could hear stories about witches and scary monsters. We had a lot of fun at the library, reading, singing halloween songs, doing crafts, and sharing treats. Brian was working long hours the week of Halloween and needed his sleep/wouldn't be able to celebrate. So when we were done at the library, we got packed up and headed down to Grammy Tamis, since she would be able to properly celebrate with us.



On Friday Oct. 31st, we woke up at Grammy Tami's to balloons and scary masks. Haiden is so cute he calls Dracula "Batman". We watched a show called Little Vampires, so he got the name from there because those vampires would turn in to bats... hence batman. Early on Halloween we did a little last minute shopping for our annual spooky dinner. When we got back to Grammy Tamis house (aka Haidens House), we put the kids to bed for a nap and got to work cooking dinner. This year we had Meat Loaf cooked in Jack-o-Lantern bell peppers (Thanks Aunt Lori for the idea!), Monster Ball (rice crispy treats made to look like monsters), Ghost Poop (bread... it really did look like it), Blood and Guts (little smokies in sauce), Tatter Tots, and Bubbling Witches Brew (Punch).





On Halloween Brian got off work an hour early which was great because it takes an hour to get to Grammy Tamis from his work. At about the same time Brian got to Grammys the kids were waking up from their nap, so Brian got them dressed in their costume while I helped finish getting dinner ready. Halloween just wouldn't be a party without inviting Adam, Nicole and their kids, and Mindi and her two little guys. So when everyone was done eating we headed out to Trick-or-Treat we hit about 10 of our favorite houses. The weather was pretty warm, but of course when we left the house it started to rain. The Boys did great and said Trick-or-Treat when the door opened and Thank You when they received candy. Heith got a little greedy at a few houses helping himself to handful after handful. By the time we got back to Grammy Tamis, Nana and Papa were there waiting to see the boys in their costumes. We had a great Halloween, the kids didn't even mind the eye patches. They are getting so big and easy going.

Pumpkin Carving

Just as luck would have it, Brian had to work twelve hour shifts at work the week of Halloween. So we carved pumpkins late one night after Brian got home from his long day. Even though we started late it was still lots of fun carving pumpkins with the kids. They love to do crafts and activities, so they thought pumpkin carving was a blast! They didn't even mind cleaning the guts out of the pumpkin. We enjoy spending time together, and doing things as a family.

Pirate Birthday Party

On Oct. 03 Heith and Haiden turned 3 years old. Wow, how time flies! I'd been seeing lots of really cute pirate things so we decided to throw them a big pirate birthday party... with lots of little friends. We invited 3 neighbor kids: Jayce, Ellie, and Greg. The Griffins and Monsons were nice enough to make the trip from Provo, so we also had Adam and Nicole their kids Nadia, and Sonata, Mindy and her two sons Carter, and Eli. Grammy Tami came up early that day to help me wrap presents, finish getting ready for the party, and cook dinner. Papa John and Nana(Grandma Kathy) were also nice enough to come. We had a surprise visit from Brians sister Priscilla and her family Eric, Caleb, Kaitlyn, Jared, and their two foster kids Destiny and Ravin all the way from Pocatello, ID. That means we had a total of 24 people at our birthday party.

It was such a fun little party!! When most of the kids had arrived we made our very own pirate maps, then we played pin the eye patch on the pirate, followed by pirate toss (oh yes there's more), playing in the bouncy house and on the pirate playhouse. When the kids were hungry enough to stop playing we ate pirate pasta with cannon balls, salad, garlic bread, and punch. I actually found pasta in the shape of pirates!! When everyone was done eating we broke open the pinata for lots of candy. We also went on a treasure hunt where the kids found their goody bags in a treasure chest. It was almost 8pm at that time so we had cake and ice cream and sent the neighbor kids home.

The last thing left for the kids to do was open presents. Heith and Haiden each got a back pack, book, bath toy, and guitar from Brian and I. My mom got them each a play dishes set. A little neighbor kid got them a pack of cars, and another one got them a box of candy. Nana Kathy got them a binder filled with pictures of their cousins. Nicole and Mindy got them each a cars back pack filled with lots of fun stuff... they like the cars one better than what Brian and I got them. They were also lucky enough to receive Birthday Cards in the mail from Grandma K, and Grandma Trisha. They have mauled the card until they were unrecognizable.

It was such a fun day!! The first birthday party the boys have had where they weren't sleepy, or sick. I hope next year is just as much fun.

Summer 2008

It's been a long time since we've added to this blog. Sorry to keep everyone out of the loop, but life just gets crazy sometimes. We've had a great summer considering we stayed pretty close to home for the majority of it, with the exception of a few trips to Colorado to visit with family. Towards the end of summer we sent Rustin, Brandi's brother, on a mission. And the event that impacted our lives the most this summer was that, Brandi's Aunt Cyndi passed away from Pancreatic Cancer on the 25th of July, which was the reason for one of the trips to Colorado. Heith and Haiden got used to being nomadic after moving back home to Clearfield, spending countless weekends in Cedar Hills, a few trips to Colorado, and a Dad in and out of the house due to training. During one of their trips to Colorado Springs the twins got to help water Papa Rusty's fruit trees, via the tractor (definitely one of their summer highlights, they still tell me that they need to go ride Papa Rusty's tractor). Another event that happened while in Colorado was a birthday party for cousin Jordan. She got a cute princess dress, and a new bike. The boys really enjoy playing with her. On our second trip to Colorado, we spent an afternoon at the Sand Dunes, and saw Dan, Verna, and Raine... which I we have no proof of due to the fact that it was the second trip to Colorado with the boys without Brian and nothing we did looked fun or cute enough to take pictures of.

There were a couple festivals we went to this summer, one was the 24th of July and the other was Steel Days in American Fork. The boys love to play on the bouncy toys and ride on all the carnival rides. Sometimes we have to meet Grammy Tami at the South Towne Mall just to ride the up-and-down-roundy-round (Merry-go-round). They're so spoiled! The boys learned so many things this summer, one of which was riding there trikes. We also attended a NICU Follow Up Clinic to track the boys development, and any problems they may have. They graduated from the program because they've never had any problems with developement, learning, or serious health problems.

Before Rustin entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC), we spent a lot of family time together. One day was spent at Utah's Hogle Zoo, where the boys loved to see all the animals. It was fun to see the Elephants and Giraffes while we were there. They also have a white alligator exhibit, which was interesting to see. After the zoo, we had a nice dinner at Rodizio Grill, which is a Brazilian Steakhouse. Rustin loved having a last meal where he could eat as much meat as he wanted. He entered the MTC on Sept. 10th, and was pretty homesick for the first couple weeks. He's progressing in learning Spanish, and is very excited and anxious to finish his time in the MTC and start serving in Columbus, Ohio. The boys pray for him every night to be safe and strong on his mission.

As of now we are potty training, which is going great (the trick is a potty jar, who wouldn't go to the bathroom for candy?)!! I don't think we will have to buy another box of diapers or pull ups!! Im so happy! We had a awesome 3rd Pirate Birthday Party (pictures coming soon). Brandi is looking for work as a Medical Assistant, and a Preschool for the boys to attend while she isworking. Brian is working hard or hardly working, it depends on the day. He's getting ready to start a week of 12 hour shifts. Family is due to arrive from Colorado sometime this week, and Halloween is just around the corner. Heith and Haiden love their Pirate costume, and are getting the hang of saying trick-or-treat. Brandi's poor Halloween decorations will never be the same, we don't even want to think about what they will do to the Christmas ones... with a little luck, a couple months will make a difference. We hope you enjoyed getting a quick recap of our summer, and we'll try to do better about updating our blog in the future.

Heiths first ride!


Haidens first ride!

A House or a ZOO?

At this time I would like to sing to all of you, The Twelve Days of Christmas... only our version, which would go something like: Parents, Twins, Dogs, Guinea Pigs, and a Kitty. So the question stands... are we still considering our home, a house or a zoo? You decide after watching this home video. Answers may vary. And just for anyone wondering, no we will not be getting another cat. The good news is that the girls in our family out number the boys by 50%. Because you see all of our animals are part of our family, and also happen to be girls. The count is 3 boys to 6 girls... we win!!

Now here is the story as to how we acquired our little Kitty, Payson. Last weekend we attended another Scottish Festival in Payson, UT. On our way home on the busiest street, a small kitten ran into the road in front of us. Everyone stopped at first, but when the other cars thought it was safe, they began to drive away. Leaving the kitty to hide under my mom's car, who was in front of us. Since my mom is a loving lady, she got out of the car and picked up the kitty that was scared, dirty, hungry, and hiding. Now holding up traffic for quite some time, and not feeling like the kitty was safe or taken care of, she being the nice grandma she is gave it to her two, two year old grandsons. Brian and I did okay it cause we knew that we would be having a yard sale this weekend and if things didn't work out ,we knew we could always sell her there. So far so good, Payson is clean, full, and having fun. And if you couldn't already tell, the boys are enjoying having her around.

Our house may now be a zoo, but at least everyone is well taken care of. Guinea Pigs cage got changed this week (as it does every 10 days or so), and our dogs even got a bath last night. We're keeping things interesting cause we've got our own food chain going on... if we were Chinese we'd eat the dogs, the dogs would love to eat the cat, and the cat would love to eat the piggys. If only the piggys would eat the spiders!

Edible Play Dough

Yesterday for snack I made edible play dough (which is equal parts peanut butter, honey, and powdered milk). After rolling it into balls, patting it out, and cutting it with cookie cutters, we ate it with animal crackers and apples. The boys had a really fun time playing with their food, plus they also thought it tasted good.

Ours was kind of runny because I used organic peanut butter that isn't very thick. Its looks really messy, but it was easy to clean up. It will definitely be something we will do again. Even Brian, after a bad day at work, ate some and it made him happy.