Halloween 2010

It all began with the picking of the perfect pumpkin from Grandma & Grandpa's garden. After cutting them open and digging out the "guts" (which Kamden thought was completley disgusing and only removed about 2 handfuls from his pumpkin) they were transformed into this:

Kamden's Triceratops 

 A picture of Owen, drawn by Ethan and carved by Mommy

Jeff's materpiece...the letter 'S' 

 Ethan's BRONCO pumpkin

As the assistant room mom for Ethan's Kindergarten class, I got to go help with their Halloween party. I think I was more excited to be able to see what Ethan does in school than he was for all of the treats!

Saturday morning we bundled up and headed to a corn maze. Luckily, we had two very capable guides to lead the way:

 Owen also helped navigate:

I don't know about you, but I'd follow these guys anywhere...

We made it to the top of the bridge to cross into the other side of the maze. The boys were impressed with the free dinosaurs more than with the view... 

Me & My Boys: 

After the thrill of wandering around in a chilly corn field had worn off, we found our way out and headed for the bouncy slides and castles: 

Owen didn't know what to think about the giant "corn box" at first, but after digging around for awhile he didn't want to get out... 

Our next stop was the Petting Zoo, though none of the animals in there were as dangerous or ferocious as the ones I live with: 

 The Llama was the scariest thing Owen has apparently ever seen...he was NOT impressed and started screaming and trying to get as far away as possible.

Kamden, however, LOVED the entire thing but the miniature pony and the camel were his favorites: 

Feeding the Guinea Pigs:

...and the sheep...

...which were obviously hillarious...

Then it was off to the swings for a ride, which Ethan was done with before they'd even gone around twice...but, he had to wait it out until the ride was over...

Owen waited patiently for his brothers, though I'm sure breaking through the fence crossed his mind a few times... 

The Stoker Express:

Then it was time for a hayride through the pumpkin patch:

And Kamden makes a new friend on the way out to the parking lot:

Then it was time to go do some TRICKS and get some TREATS. This year we had another gorilla:

The gorilla displays his trick-or-treat bag made by Grandma

We also had a cute little cow:

This is what our cow does when we say "Touchdown!"

And we had a Jedi:

You'd never know his Jedi shirt was once a tablecloth-I learned that I can actually sew! And, I must say, that I made this without a pattern :)

Don't mess with him. He has the force and he's not afraid to use it...

We TRICKED and TREATED the evening away but all the excitment proved too much for our little cow. He fell asleep with his treat in his hand...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!



The Old Witch

When the boys and I were driving down the road we passed a huge tree that has a lot of different bird houses on its branches. Ethan thought it was pretty cool and said "Wow, mom, look at that!" when I told him I had seen it before, he asked if I'd seen it when I was little. I told him yes and he said "That must've been a LONG time ago."
I guess I'm older than I thought I was...

We walked into a store that had Halloween decorations everywhere, including a big display of black cauldrons. Ethan asked what they were for and I told him they are for Witches. He said "You should get one, mom."
In my defense, I dressed as a witch for Halloween last year.

Road Trip by Numbers

7:the number of hours it took to drive to Reno, Nevada.

6:the number of friends & family whose houses the boys played at while we were gone. THANK YOU!

2:the number of years it has been since Jeff and I went anywhere without the kids.

30:the number of miles we drove in the wrong direction when we were trying to go home.

1,700+:the number of lost/forgotten items reported PER MONTH at a hotel...included among these items are Jeff's suit coat, suit pants, a dress shirt,
and a tie.

0:the number of dollars it will cost to have his clothes sent home. The hotel ships them free of charge!

3:the number of times we had to switch hotel rooms.

50:the number of minutes the Swedish massage lasted that Jeff surprised me with at the hotel spa!

1:the number of times I have been to Lake Tahoe. We drove there on Thursday and the water was crystal clear: 

 It was so nice to be able to get away for a few days and relax and we are so grateful to have wonderful family and friends who took such great care of the boys while we were gone.
Now, do any of you want to come tackle the mountain of laundry that is calling my name? I guess I'll just imagine myself here while I'm sorting, switching loads, folding, and putting away...

LiFe

Life around the Stoker household has been pretty hectic lately, though I can't seem to find a reason why it feels that way. Nothing big or eventful has been going on-just every day life. Although my sister and 2 nieces came to visit one weekend and another weekend my brother and sister-in-law were here, so those were definitley eventful things. (I don't want any complaints about me not appreciating your visits!) Some other things we have been up to:

Watching the High School Homecomeing Parade:

One last trip to the zoo before the weather turns too cold: 

We visited my sister in the hospital after she had surgery and the boys scored some awesome 'Doctor Masks' and Kamden called us each into the computer room, had us sit down, then started asking all sorts of questions while he typed away:

Kamden and Owen play at the backdoor. Owen stays inside and Kamden 'kisses' him through the glass door. It's awesome-especially when they decide to play this game right after I've cleaned the glass. Then there are slobber marks and handprints on both sides. 

Owen LOVES spaghetti:

Actually, Owen LOVES eating...he seems to have a 6th sense as to when the fridge is about to be opened and he automatically makes a mad dash toward it, then throws a fit when the door closes before he got a chance to look inside. He likes to play with the light button and see if he can get into anything. Here he found an open yogurt and managed to get a few spoonfuls before his fun came to an end.

Ethan is still loving school and is doing well with his alphabet and letter sounds and we've been practicing sounding out words because he keeps asking when he's going to get to read. He also wants to make sure that first grade is 'longer' than Kindergarten so that he'll get to stay at school more during the day. It's been a bit of an adjustment getting myself and 3 kids out the door every morning to drop him off at school and then turn around less than 3 hours later to go get him, especially when Owen decides  he wants a nap in the morning and I have to wake him up to go pick up Ethan.
Owen and Kamden both love it when the weather is nice and we can walk to the school-there is a house that a cat usually sleeps in the window and Kamden always looks for it. If the cat isn't there, he has all kinds of questions about where the cat might be and what it could be doing.
And I must admit that I'm probably going to miss out on the 'Mother-of-the-Year' award since school has only been in session for just over a month and I already forgot my kid once...Actually, in my defense, I just forgot that Wednesdays are early release and I was planning on picking him up at the normal time but they called as I was walking out the door and he'd been waiting in the office for 15 minutes. But when I walked in to get him he was coloring with 2 other kids who's parents also forgot them and he thought it was pretty funny. He keeps asking me when I drop him off in the morning 'I wonder if you'll remember to come get me today!' So hopefully I haven't scarred him for life.
Kamden will be 4 in November and he is already planning out his party. He has informed me that he wants a "Triceratop cake that has LONG, LONg, LOng, Long, long horns that go all the way to the TV room, and upstairs to Owen's room." I'm not quite sure how I'm going to pull that one off. For Halloween they both want to be the same thing they were last year, which works out great for me. Although Ethan has mentioned wanting to be a Jedi and that would mean busting out my sewing machine, so I'm trying to get out of that...but we'll see. They are both excited to be able to do soccer and tball this spring and it will be nice for Kamden to be old enough so he doesn't feel left out.
Owen is going to be 15 months old in a few weeks and he is growiNG and getting into EVERYTHING. He has 8 teeth and is working on a few more and trying to keep up with his brothers. He loves having socks on his feet but his weird obsession is with shoes-it's weird because he puts them on his HANDS and crawls around with them on there instead of on his feet.

I'm staying busy as the 2nd counselor in the Primary (which I love!) and trying to keep things under control (or at least looking like they are) around the house. I can't imagine that life is only going to get more hectic as the boys get older, I'll need to clone myself a few times.
Jeff being in the Bishopric hasn't been too big of an adjustment and Sundays so far have gone pretty smooth. Our ward has been awesome to offer help with the boys, I haven't even had to ask for help, thankfully-because that isn't something I'm good at. He has been working hard to continue providing for our family while trying to squeeze in a few more rounds of golf before the weather puts an end to that (since I don't seem to have much success:).
So, that's a little of what we've been up to...hopefully I can keep up better with my blogging. To make it up to my devoted readers (the 3 of you know who you are) here is a little video filmed by none other than the world famous Nicodemus and stars his brother Gunther. Filmed on location in the windy but beautiful valley of Declo, the hometown of my true love...enjoy! 

5K

St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration from St. Luke's on Vimeo.

For the 2nd year I did the Women's Fitness Celebration. Last year I had just given birth to a 9 pound 3 ounce (adorable) monster named Owen so I mostly just strolled along while talking with friends. This year, however, I wanted to do better so Callie and I started training with the Couch to 5k program and I finished today just under 40 minutes. I ran all but about 1/2 mile and I'm happy with my time but looking forward to improving next year!

A Fat Lip

Yesterday Owen was crawling through the house while Ethan was playing basketball...even though he knows basketball is an outside game. He said Owen "tripped" while he was crawling and the result was a fat lip for Owen since his bottom teeth cut his top lip.

I'm sure it didn't feel very good, but the faces he was making provided some great entertainment for the evening-he looked like a little turtle or a bird with his lip-beak.