Thanksgiving

We went up to my parent's bright and early in the morning so Aaron could play in the annual Turkey bowl with my family and me and my sister-in-law Shalee went for a 3 mile run. It was a great way to start the day off. That afternoon we went to my grandma's for dinner and had some great food. There were 16 pies there for about 40 people. I should have got a picture of it, but sometimes I'll admit I have no desire to pull the camera out. Austin and Zack had a blast playing with their cousins. My grandparents have an old camper that they all love to play in. Neal and Zack going through the secret door.
Austin, Zack, Timmy, and Neal swinging.
Zack loved playing on this swing.
After we went over to Aaron's parents. We were still too full to eat again so we just played with the kids and chatted with everyone.
By the time we left, to say that the kids were tired would be a gross understatement. They were asleep almost instantly in the car and when we got home they woke up while we were getting them in their pajamas and all 3 were crying at once. It was worth it though, we had a great day and have much to be grateful for.

Catch-up

Well I guess I'm far enough behind now that I can start blogging again.
A couple of weeks ago Aaron was taking care of the kids while I slept after working all night. They went outside to rake leaves and had a blast playing.
I LOVE this pictures!
Child labor/Austin helping daddy
Zack helping
Last Friday Aaron's sister Shelley got married. I need to get the pictures of our kids from Nate and Malinda and when I do I'll post them.
Last Saturday was cold so I didn't want to take Gavin to the Ute game, but we couldn't find anyone that could go with Aaron so he decided to take Zack and Austin. They had fun with daddy and I had fun with some one on one time with Gav.
Austin, Zack
For FHE on Monday we made turkeys and wrote on the feathers (fingers) what we were grateful for. I thought I would have to prompt the boys on what to say, but when I asked Zack what he was grateful for he said balls, family, and Jesus. Austin said family and Jesus. I was so shocked that they actually got it. They teach me so much on a daily basis and I'm so grateful to be trusted to be their mom.
After we had these turkeys for our treat. I didn't have the right frosting decorators to do the eyes so they didn't turn out as cute as her's, but they were still fun.
Gavin had cherries for the first time this week and he LOVED them which I was so shocked at. He doesn't really love most fruits, but he can down baby cereal and vegetables. I need to get some pictures of him and all of his new tricks. He has been sitting since the first of September and started army crawling around the first to middle of October. He likes to get up on his knees now and will just rock back and forth, it's so cute. He can also almost get to a sitting position from his belly. A couple of weeks ago he had a cold and was getting 3 new teeth all at once. The poor kid was miserable, but other than wanting to be held a little bit more he was still a good baby as always. He has also decided to follow in his brother's footsteps and had become quite the mama's boy. Whenever I walk in to a room he instantly starts doing this little whine and will start crawling over to me saying ma ma ma. It's nice to be so loved!

Halloween

I decided to start a new tradition this Halloween and made pumpkin pancakes with apple cider syrup for breakfast. It was so yummy! We will definitely keep making it. Then my poor boys had to endure the wicked witch that day. I was not in a good mood and Aaron had to work so my poor boys bore the brunt of mom. I've been giving them extra pieces of candy to try and make up for it since. :)

That night Aaron and my brother David went to the Utah game so me and my sister-in-law Shalee took the kids trick-or-treating. They had a lot of fun. They were very quiet at the first few houses, but started warming up. Austin and Zack had colds, but luckily they weren't whiny at all. After we had been out for about an hour we went to a couple of homes that had scary music, fog, and talking decorations which totally freaked them out and they were pretty much done. They kept saying, "I'm done, I wantta go home. I scared." So we came home and had potato soup in pumpkin bread bowls. The day ended up turning out really nice. Thank heavens for kids who forgive fast and love their mom no matter what.
My cuddly bear
Austin and Zack are still obsessed with Toy Story and they both wanted to be Woody. I debated about talking one of them in to being Buzz, but then decided I didn't want a fight Halloween night when one of them freaked out because they wanted to be what the other was. So Woody it was.
Zack
Austin
Austin, Gavin, ZackAustin and Zack kept throwing leaves on Gavin while I was trying to get these pictures and Gavin decided he had enough and threw his arms in the air. I love it because he looks like a little bear doing it.

Pack's Pumpkin Patch

For family night on Monday we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Austin and Zack were really excited at all of the pumpkins they saw. They also had fun going through the hay bale maze they have set up.
Trying to find our perfect pumpkin
Austin and Zack kept trying to lift them up and then would say, "I can't, it's too heby."
Me and my Gav
Austin's cheeser
Zack's cheeser
3 of my handsome dudes
The cutest kids ever!

Park City

We went to Park City a few weeks ago with my family and had a great time as always. We did some eating, played sand volleyball, tennis, crafts, fishing, game nights, movie nights, shopping, and enjoyed each other's company. I can't believe I didn't take more pictures, I'll have to get some from my family.
Steve and Mandy brought up pumpkins for the boys to paint and they loved it.
Austin-he really seemed to enjoy seeing how messy he could get
Zack- in serious concentration
We decided to do some finger painting with pudding one night.Austin- again messy
Thanks for the fun trip mom and dad!

And the diagnosis is in...

I have Shingles! Can you say owe!

All of a sudden last Thursday this weird rash appeared on my chest. Then Saturday it started itching and Monday it started hurting. The great thing about working where I do is it saved me the time and money of going to the doctor so I talked to some of the doctor's last night and found out I'm in for 2-4 weeks of this nerve pain. It can be brought on by stress, yeah I would say that fits. Dang canning!

Girl's Night

Saturday during conference we had a fun craft day at my mom's. We decided to make these cute fabric pumpkins. We had so much fun, but there were so many distractions with my boys and other things that we didn't get them finished so we'll be doing that this weekend. I love time with the girls!

Family Football Outing

On September 26th we took the boys to the Utes football game. It was Zack and Austin's first of the year and Gavin's first ever. Austin and Zack loved it which I wasn't surprised about at all. They all did a really good job, but I don't know that we will take them again this year. There just isn't enough room with our 2 seats. I think next year we'll definitely plan on getting 4 season tickets. I love spending time with all of my boys and it's even better when the Utes win!

Oregon Day 8

We headed out this morning around 9. It was a long drive home. We only stopped a couple of times to let the boys run around and luckily unlike our drive there they all took pretty good naps so that made it go faster.
I had a really hard time leaving the ocean, but I must say when I saw the Wasatch Back mountains it felt like home. We got home just before 7 and it was good to see our house. Now bring on the laundry!

Oregon Day 7

I love waking up to this face!
Today we headed to Yaquina Head Lighthouse. The Yaquina Bay and Yaquina Head Lighthouses are built pretty close to each other. About 70-80 years after they had built the Yaquina Bay lighthouse they realized they built it in the wrong spot so then they built Yaquina Head- it's one of the tallest lighthouses. Aaron and I were going to take turns going to the top (our kids aren't tall enough to go up and you aren't allowed to carry anyone), but then we found out it takes 30-45 minutes to go to the top and we didn't want to wait around that long so we just enjoyed the outside.
We walked down to the rocky shores and the boys had a great time throwing rocks in to the ocean. It was an overcast day and just beautiful.
Zack
Austin
Gavin
Then we said goodbye to the ocean which was so sad! I would move there in a heartbeat! Next we headed up to Portland and went to Voodoo Donuts. I wasn't very impressed, but Aaron found a new love in life with there maple bacon donuts. Portland looked like a really cool city and we would love to go back there, but I don't know if I'd take kids. The short walk we did down the street was kind of nerve wracking with the interesting people we passed.
We stopped by the temple which was just beautiful. It's hidden in the trees and was so cool how it just peaks out of them.
On our way out of Portland we stopped at Multnomah Falls. It was so pretty and so tall. These pictures only show half of it.
That night we stayed in some podunk city in the middle of nowhere. We went swimming at the hotel and got pizza for dinner. Only 9 more hours of driving and we'll be home.
All day today Zack and Austin have been saying "I want to go to the ocean."
Poor Gavin, as of yesterday all we have to do is put him in his car seat and he immediately starts crying. Thankfully he forgives easy.

Oregon Day 6

Happy Birthday to Aaron! It's hard to celebrate a birthday on vacation because it's not like I could make him his favorite food or really do anything like that, but I hope he still felt special today and knows how much me and the boys love him. I'm so grateful for what a wonderful husband and father he is and how much he blesses our lives! I'm a lucky girl.

We headed to Newport Aquarium in the morning. The boys got to see sea lions up close there and thought they were really cool. We got there just in time for their feeding which was a lot of fun to watch.
They have some neat aquariums where you basically walk through a tube that they have cut out of the aquarium. On the ground they have part of it covered by carpet, but you can also walk on the glass which totally freaked out Zack. It was really funny to watch him walk trying to not step on the glass at all.
An egg yolk jelly fish
After some coaxing they thought it was cool to stand up in an aquarium
Then we had some lunch and headed to the ocean for our sea life cruise. It's a 2 hour day cruise along the coast. They told us they had seen whales everyday for the last month so we were pretty excited.
The harbor that we left out of to go to the ocean.

There are these different buoys in the ocean and there were sea lions all over them.
We saw porpoises, sea lions, sea birds, and jelly fish, but no whales. We were bummed by that, but it was so cool that we got over it. This was one of our favorite thing of the trip.
I know the lighting in this picture is bad, but that's what you get when others are taking the pictures for you.
The crabs we caught. At the beginning of the ride we put two crabs pots in the water (Aaron and Zack got to help) and this is what we pulled up at the end. The boys thought it was so cool!
These sea lions live in the harbor basically year round with the exception of 2 months a year when they go to mate. These are all males.
By this point in the trip Austin and Zack would just randomly start making sea lion noises, it was so cute. After our cruise we went to dinner at Mo's. (Blake and Kristin- the Mo's in Newport is much better than the one in Florence.)
Enjoying daddy's birthday brownie and ice cream
Then we went back to the hotel and went swimming. That is one thing that's bad about being out numbered is that we miss out on picture opportunities. Happy birthday honey! Love you!