Dress Up Time!

Dad was still in Austria when Halloween rolled around, so he missed out on the festivities. A lot of folks in the neighborhood sat out in front of their house to give out treats. Robby had a record haul. I think we'll be eating it until we get restocked with supplies from our Christmas stockings! Here are the cuties. Robby wanted to be a fighter pilot (after being a ninja at the ward Trunk-or-Treat) and Jenna was a beautiful fairy princess.

Cub Day Camp

Little Robby was invited to go to Cub day camp earlier this month since he was almost eight. There were lots of fun mini-classes on topics like astronomy, birds, and Indian folklore. He also wired a doorbell, learned to use some tools, and even got a shot at walking on stilts.

In the afternoon, Sharon and Jenna joined us for a little while. Jenna definitely enjoyed the festivities.

Look, Mom, I only need one hand!

Our Nursery Girl!

Two weeks ago Jenna hit her 18-month mark and had her first foray into nursery at church. She was a real pro. Off she toddled, ready to explore.

Dad checked on her a couple of times and she was happy as a clam.

Here she is, looking cuter every day!

A Night at the Farm

We took an evening trip over to a local farm that has celebrations during the month of October and for a fee you can pick pumpkins, bounce in bounce houses, ride on amusement park rides, ride a train, take a hay ride, and go through a corn maze. Andra and I had always wanted check it out so we decided to take the opportunity to go while Grandma was visiting.

I just couldn't resist getting this picture. For those of you who know my husband's family, you may know that their high school mascot is the Farmer. They call themselves the Fighting Farmers, so when I saw Flying Farmers I just had to get our real "Farmers" next to it for a picture.

And here's our little Flying Farmer.

And here we have our little smiler.

The farm had a very old carousel from the early 1900s there. Here we have a Chap face.

And here we have Jenna imitating a Chap face... Jenna thought it was funny because several times during the carousel ride the mechanics of the ride would get caught and the whole thing would jerk up and down. When it stopped she would grab on tight, grit her teeth, and bounce up and down trying to make it do it again.

I think Jenna's favorite part was wandering through the pumpkin patch (and testing the smaller pumpkins by throwing them. I guess if they bounce they are good.)

And last of all we have Chap in the corn maze. The whole time we were there Lil' Robby could not wait to go through the corn maze. We didn't get started till after dark, and it was just Lil' Robby and me. I let him lead the way. Fortunately we weren't in there very long (I don't think we made it very far into the maze, we just happen to find an alternate route from the entrance). While we were in there I thought for sure some kid was going to come jumping out of the corn to scare us because I could hear other people walking through the corn and not on the paths.

Our Practice Photo Shoot

Last weekend we were scheduled to have a family photo session with Christie (an old friend of Robby's mom who is a photographer). During the weeks and days leading up to the appointment, I had intended to go shopping to find coordinating clothes for all of us, but we didn't get to do any shopping till the day before. We had a four hour shopping trip Friday night and in the end I was just barely pulling together a complementary ensemble of outfits. When I woke Saturday morning I wasn't completely satisfied with what we had, so I made a last ditch effort by going to Kohl's. While there I called home to asked a question about a sweater in Little Robby's room, and Big Robby found a shirt that still had the tags in Little Robby's top drawer that was perfect for Little Robby. I had forgotten about it because I had bought it a month ago and he had not worn it yet.

I was so relieved to have the clothes chosen, and I figured everything would go wonderfully. That is until... Well, as we were doing the laundry and drying a few items for the photo shoot Robby checked the dryer mid cycle and chose to clean the lint tray. When he removed the lint tray a piece of paper fell in to the lint trap hole. At first we weren't going to worry about it, but then when he turned the dryer back on it made a really bad noise. We were a little concerned at this point because some of the wet items were clothing we had to have for our photos and the time was ticking away till we had to leave. Robby tried to pull the dryer out and take off the back to see what was making the noise, but only found the piece of paper and a small bead. We hoped that was the source of the noise and decided to close the dryer back up and try again.

This time the dryer made an awful noise that was much louder than before! Frustration arose, and we decided to try in desperation to find a neighbor who would let us borrow their dryer for 15 minutes. After four phone calls I was relieved to find someone home, so I rushed over to their house with our essential clothing.

Well with all of the delays we were about 15-20 minutes behind schedule when we drove off, and unfortunately when we talked to Christie on the phone she felt that if we came the sun would be too low in the horizon by the time we got there to get good photos.

So... since we were dressed up with no where to go, we decided to go and do our own photo shoot up at the university. These pictures are from our "practice photo shoot."











In the end we were glad things worked out this way because we learned a few strategies for the real shoot (like bring candy to keep Jenna happy!)

Our Little Climber

The other day while Robby and I were talking in our bedroom we could hear Jenna composing her own "music" on the piano, or so we thought... Well, when we heard other mysterious noises we decided to go check and here's what we found!

She was apparently entertaining herself with the little figurines we have sitting on the piano. I'm sure the next time I look away she will be sitting on the top of the piano because right after I took this picture she tried to stand on the keyboard!

Our September Grand Canyon Trip

At the beginning of September we had the pleasure of taking my parents to see the Grand Canyon for their first time. We had a lovely trip. Here are some of the highlights:

Jenna's ready to drive off.

While we were setting up camp for Robby and Little Robby (my parents, Jenna and I opted for the lodge room), Jenna and Little Robby romped around the campsite. Here they are "King and Queen of the Stump!"

Gazing at the canyon. We had two beautiful days to enjoy looking at this beautiful wonder.

Jenna enjoys being with Grandma.

Oooo Grandpa, your skin is so smooth when you shave!

Our little camper!

My mom and I are sitting together on the shuttle bus that takes you to the lookout points along Hermit Road.

My little koala girl.

Here we are sitting in front of the cool fireplace at Hermit's Rest.

My parents, Little Robby, and I hiked a short distance down Bright Angel Trail to see what it looked like below the rim.

Our little cutie is ready for the Sunday church service at the Grand Canyon. It was fun going to church with the branch at the Grand Canyon. The chapel of the building they attend in has a wall of floor to vaulted ceiling windows that looks out into a the woods surrounding the canyon. There were only about 15-20 people there, and they told us that if we got bored they wouldn't be offended if we gazed out the window at the beautiful scenery.

Here we all are with my parents standing at Mather point just before we left for home. We really had a great trip!

Early Warning System

I am so glad that our toddler came with the "Early Warning System!" It sounds like this, "Uh-oh! Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" Afterwhich those sitting near best take cover because that's when unsatisfying food items are then launched from the high chair tray. Fortunately for us, the "Uh-ohs" precede the flying food, otherwise we might actually think it was an accident!

Our Utah Trip

And our last trip in August... to Utah for Uncle Forrest's Graduation and Little Eli's baby blessing.

We begin with my boys' hike up Y Mountain with Aunt Summer (she's taking the picture.) Little Robby did end up with a mishap on the downward hike. Apparently, Dad said that the first one down the mountain would get ice cream, so Little Robby took of just about running down the mountain. A little ways down he tripped and fell, scrapping his knees pretty badly. But I will say that he sure had fun showing his scabbed knees off at school the next week.

Here we all are following Forrest's graduation! (In case you don't know everyone, left to right, Summer, Connie (Robby's Mom), Abbie holding Eli, Forrest, Tommy, Little Robby, Robby with Jenna on his shoulders, and me.)

Jenna's pretty particular about who she will allow to hold her. Grandma passes specs.

On Saturday we drove up to Great-grandma's farm in Northern Utah. Jenna had a great time roaming the farm.

Photo-op on the bales of hay!

Here we all are with Great-grandma! We really love to come and visit her.

On Sunday we attended Baby Eli's blessing. What a sweet face!

Here we all are after the blessing. (Left to Right, Kaci, Tom, Tommy, Bob (Robby's Dad), Connie, Summer, Forrest, Abbie, Eli, Little Robby, Jenna, Robby, and me)

After church we went to visit our other Great-grandma in her new apartment. Here Jenna is giving Great-grandma a kiss.

Little Robby really loves visiting Great-grandma!

And lastly, Great-grandma sits proudly holding her newest great-grand baby, Eli.