Stevie's First Haircut

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. But Stevie Kate had her first haircut yesterday. Katie Bollwinkel cut Jake's hair and Stevie's hair at her house last night. Jake got a little "surfer dude" cut and it looks great. When it was Stevie's turn, she gladly got up on the chair and sat still for about 2 minutes. Then the screaming, crying, and wiggling started. Katie did a great job of cutting quickly and getting the priority stragglers in the back.

Park City Moms Halloween Party

We went to our first Halloween party of the season on Friday evening, hosted by Park City Moms. Jake, aka Superman, and Stevie, aka The Sugar Plum Fairy, had fun and even left their costumes on the whole time. I really couldn't believe it...because Stevie was pretty upset when we put her costume on. She really wanted to be Superman. Side Note...all week they have been playing Superman and Batman and I think Stevie was disappointed that she had fairy wings instead of a cape flying behind her.

Anyway...the party went well and we got a final picture with Chase, Gracie, Sam, and Stella.

A Day at the Zoo

We went to the Hogle Zoo on Wednesday with the Berg family - Katrina, Carsten, and Anneclaire. The kids all watched "Finding Nemo" on the way there and on the way back while Katrina and I could have a conversation without too much interruption.

Jake was excited about seeing Mountain Lions, or "Big Cats" as he calls them. That was his favorite animal last time and he loved them this time around as well. The sign said "Cougar" and I'm not really sure if there is a difference. Anyway...Jake loved to see the two that were there.

We also saw monkeys, turkeys, peacocks, ducks, elephants, a rhinoceros, penguins, zebras, buffalo, and black bears. The boys loved to explore, so I think we only made it through about 1/3 of the zoo. I think Jake also really enjoyed watching the penguins perform and chasing peacocks with Carsten.

Stevie was pretty content to look at everything from the stroller. She had her poker face on again, but you could tell she loved the monkeys. Once we got near the zebras, she wanted out of the stroller and began the "Run as fast as possible away from Mom and see how far I can get" game. I love the smile on her face when she is playing this game...but she is seriously fast :-)

The adventure ended with a train ride. And on the way out we also played in the water. This was the highlight for Stevie. Carsten, Jake, and Stevie all had Nemo toys and they all went swimming in the little river. The clothes were soaked, but they loved it.

Winter Weekend Activities in October

Another weekend of snow...I think this is four in a row. We are starting off the winter with a bang and Steve couldn't be more excited.

The kids and I enjoyed playing outside in the snow while Steve went on his first ski run of the season. He and Todd went to Alta to hike up and do a run. They had a great time and Steve had a "permagrin" when he walked in the door. The pictures of the kids were mostly of the one worm that we found alive on the sidewalk. No grasshoppers today, but one alive worm made the walk very exciting.

This weekend we were introduced to the sport Curling by Todd & Andrea. Todd has been playing for several years and is really good. They invited us to come and try it out on Saturday. Curling is quite a bit harder than it looks and you have to really use your balance, flexibility, and groin muscles to play well. I can't say that I contributed to our Team Blackdog win, but Steve did. He must have done well enough...because Todd invited us to permanently stay on the team and play as many Saturday evenings as we can.

A few other highlights of the week:
* Jake has been deemed "very musical" by his preschool teacher Miss Sharie. They had Africa week at school and played drums and did dancing. She said Jake kept the beat really well and loved that part of the day. He gets this from Steve, who is constantly playing air drums and guitar, and scored 100% on the Draper karaoke contest (long story). During prayers last night, Jake wanted to give thanks for the snow. Yet another trait from Steve.

*Stevie went to the nursery at church last week for the first time. I didn't prepare her or anything because I wasn't really planning leaving her there until I actually got to church. She walked in with Jake and starting playing, so I decided to try it out. I kept peering in at her and she seemed happy, even eating snacks at the table and drinking out of regular paper cup. She did really well for about an hour and half until she pestered one little girl too much and the little one stepped on her hand. But not too bad for the first week.

Obsession with "Nemo"

For the last several months, Jake has been really enthralled with the movie "Finding Nemo." He asks to watch it often. Since we bought the minivan and the DVD player is a fun new feature, we have been watching the movie while driving. Now Stevie is also obsessed. She calls him "Meeo" and Jake calls him "Memo," close enough I guess :-) I am thankful that they are close enough in age to be interested in a lot of the same things right now. Very helpful recently...

Here are some pictures of them watching the movie this weekend and playing with some new bathtub toys that I bought at a yard sale. And thank you to the McClendon family (Sam) for the cute hat.

Minivan Mom

Believe it...we just bought our first minivan. I always thought that I would not go down that road...but Steve convinced me of how practical they are. My friends Caren and Brittoni also convinced me of that. It took us a while to find a used van with the specs that we wanted. Apparently the Toyota Sienna AWD models are very hard to find. But we lucked out yesterday and found one at a dealership in Provo. While we were there, 2 other families came in and wanted the van. So thank you to Steve and Grandma D for helping us get there on time. Jake jumped in it last night when we got home and went crazy. I think we will really enjoy the minivan. And I'm okay with saying I'm a Minivan Mom.

Scarecrow Festival

Friday we went on an outing to Thanksgiving Point to the Scarecrow Festival. Tracie & Taylor came with us and we met the Bergs, the Hansens, the McClellands, and the Coopers there. It was fairly quiet when we got there, and we were able to ride the train, play with bubbles, and do the Haunted House before it got too busy.

Jake loved the train (of course), along with Carsten and Jack. The next favorite was playing bubbles with Carsten. Carsten and Jake actually loves putting bubbles into the hair of Stevie and Anneclaire. Needless to say...their hair didn't move after that. The next favorite was going down the slide over and over again with Chase, Sam, and Hillary. We topped off the day for him with popcorn and the movie Cars on the drive home.

Stevie was content to walk around and explore everything. For some reason she had a "Dazed and Confused" look on her face most of the time. I think the crowds of people and stimulation of everything had her in a zone. Her favorite parts were the bubbles and the Toddler Town. Tracie took Taylor and Stevie in the "contained" area to play while Jake was running wild. Tracie said Stevie was not afraid and just roamed around playing with everything.

And one of my favorite things...the kids stayed awake in the car and took a wonderful nap when we got home :-)

Autumn Day

The last few days have been filled with great fall weather. We have spent quite a bit of time on walks around the block, playing at the park or in the backyard. I know that the weather won't be good for much longer, so we are trying to soak it in.

Stevie and Jake have both discovered grasshoppers and they love them. Luckily...we can find at least 10 or so on a walk around the block. Unfortunately...Stevie and Jake both killed one yesterday. Jake stepped on one and Stevie picked one up and squished it. We had the "Don't hurt Gods' creations," discussion, but I'm not really sure it had any sort of impact because they were back at it again with the ants. Stevie bursts into giggles when the grasshoppers hop away before she can get to them. Jake usually wants to say hello to them and ask "How are you doing?"

These pictures are from the backyard this morning. Zeke and Tippy love it when we play fetch with their favorite red frisbee. They also get food leftovers and there were many pretzels spilled onto the grass today.

Ephraim and Sunday Dinner in Heber

Quick decision making on Saturday morning let us go to Ephraim to see Carrie and watch her boyfriend Shane play football. It was a brave decision because the weather was cold and wet. There were 4 adults and 11 children. It was fun to see where Carrie lives and before we went home we played at the McDonalds playground in Ephraim. Thanks for hosting us Carrie. Good job Shane.

The other pictures are from Sunday dinner in Heber. As you can see, my Dad does not like to get his picture taken...and Makenzie does :-)

Alena June's Wedding

Congratulations Alena and Lincoln! I have always known that whoever marries Alena June Hicken is a very lucky man. It was fun to hang out with the Hicken family and Miranda, Maya, and Gavin too.

Winter is Coming

We have had several snow falls over the past 3 weeks or so. Winter is coming and Steve is very excited. I have noticed that he is watching the weather more carefully and checking the National Weather Service website as much as possible. It's coming honey, and so is your ski season. Yeah! Here are a few pictures from the mountains today.