Trunk or Treat

We went to our neighborhood trunk or treat tonight. I made hamburger soup for the dinner which was first. There were a lot of people there and each family had brought a crockpot of soup. Needless to say there was a lot of soup leftover. I had broccoli cheese and it was so yummy. Anyway, then it was time to go trunk or treating. I decorated our trunk and won a candy bar for best decorated trunk. It was fun to do. I love decorating for holidays. I remember going trick or treating to people's houses and loving all of the decorations people did, especially the ones who went all out.





I think the trunk or treating lasted all of about 10 minutes, and then everyone was done. It went very quick which was nice because I was running out of candy and had to pull out the reserves that I was reserving for me! I gave out the stuff I didn't want first and saved the candy bars for me! Ha! I'm such a little piggie!

Boo at the Zoo

We decided to go to Boo at the Zoo again this year. I guess it's become a family tradition now. There were a ton of people there when we first arrived, but the crowds died down after 7:30 or so. Last year I think it was freezing cold and raining. This year was quite balmy. No wonder it was so busy.




Jacob was Kung Fu Panda. His favorite thing was watching the animals, especially if they moved! He would freak out and make the noise of that animal. Pretty cute. He also loved getting his own candy and trying to figure out how to open everything up all at once. He didn't like his panda bear hat so much, but I distracted him enough that he kept it on for most of the night.

Ethan was a ninja. His favorite part, of course, was getting candy and trying out his ninja moves. He did like making the crafts also. They had some craft booths there and at one of them they had some practical joke things. They had the snakes in a container that flew out when you opened the lid, and a box where a fake spider crawled out when you opened the lid. It scared Ethan even when he had opened it a few times! It was funny. He liked those tricks and was trying to figure out how to make such things at home.



Asia was a witch again this year. She can never make up her mind about what she wants to be for Halloween. I think she was a few different things last year too. For her preschool party she was a witch. For her dance party she was Little Red Riding Hood. Tomorrow for the "real" Halloween she wants to be a genie or Princess Jasmine. I guess this is partly my fault since I have all of these random costumes for her to pick from. She loves to dress up. She had fun making crafts at Boo at the Zoo and eating her candy. It was quite a sugar high night for everyone, and it's not even over yet!!! Yikes!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins for FHE this week. We grew a bunch in our garden this year and each of the kids got to pick their own pumpkin to carve. Ethan and Asia both have their own "safe" knives so they got right to it on their own. Ethan wanted a scry face and Asia just started carving and cutting away without any real plans. Ethan wasn't too sure about the removal of the gutts. He didn't want to get his hands all slimy, but Asia went right for it. Jacob was a little unsure about the sliminess too. He just wanted to take all of the lids to the pumpkins and try to fit them where they belong, like solving a puzzle. He also wanted to eat the lids. They weren't so tasty! It was pretty fun and they turned out pretty interesting!





Here are our finished products...


There's mine first, then Ethan's, then the baby's, then Jacob's, then Asia's and Mike's is last. Ethan carved his own and his new baby sister's. What a cute little pumpkin family, eh.

Fun Weekend

Last weekend was a work weekend for us. It was a beautiful day outside so we decided it was time to clean up the yard and get ready for winter. We picked all of our pumpkins and squash, we cleaned up the garden and got our lawn ready for winter. Ethan decided he wanted to try mowing the lawn. He could barely push the mower by himself, but he insisted because he wanted to earn some money. Mike had to help him push and stay straight. It was pretty cute. Ethan was very proud of himself and was having fun doing it. I think I may have a lawn mower for next year! Yaaay! Finally the kids can earn their keep around here!! Ha!

It was such a beautiful day, the kids thought they would get their swimsuits on and run through the sprinklers! I think it was only in the 60's, but I guess that felt warm enough to them! So, while Mike was blowing out our sprinklers, the kids ran through them. Craziness! They also thought they would practice their cart wheels also.


After all of that outside fun, the kids wanted to get the Halloween stuff out, finally. They couldn't wait to get all of the costumes out and try them all on. Ethan found Asia's witch tights and couldn't resist putting those on first. Hilarious!! We laughed pretty hard at that one!

Then they found the clown costumes and some costumes from a few years ago. They love to dress up. It kept us all entertained for the rest of the evening! Jacob just watched all of the craziness and wondered why everything was so funny! He laughed along with us anyway!

Spirit Week!

Last week was Spirit Week at Ethan's school. It was a pretty fun week. Monday was inside-out day, Tuesday was wear red day for DARE, Wednesday was crazy hair day, Thursday was pyjama day and Muffins with Mom, and Friday was school shirt day. They had a book fair running all week and they had a Family Fun Night centered around books and reading. It was a Reading Safari. Some of the teachers had set up tents inside the school and all the kids were able to go to each tent and have a story read to them. It was pretty fun and Asia and Ethan loved it. They are both book lovers. Then they had smores and hot chocolate for us at the end. It was a pretty fun night. Here are some pics of crazy hair day and muffins with mom. Ethan wanted a mohawk again this year, but I decided to paint polka dots all over instead of just colors all over. It was cool!


Ethan wore his Ninja Turtle pj's and I wore my heart ones. It was fun to do something with just the two of us. I think he thought it was pretty special too.

Ethan's Last Soccer Game

Ethan had his last soccer game last week. I think it was the best game he ever played. Usually he just runs alongside the other boys, not really trying to get the ball or even knowing where the ball is for that matter! He doesn't have the competitive gene in his body like his daddy and I have. This game was different for some reason. He actually ran to get the ball and tried to get the ball away from the other players. He almost scored a goal too. I wasn't sure if I was going to put him in soccer next season, but maybe he's finally getting the hang of this team sports thing. Next we are going to try basketball. Dribbling and running at the same time may be a challenge. I'll keep you updated!! :) Oh, by the way, he's number 9!

Las Vegas Trip

Well, Mike and I thought it would be a good idea to go on one last trip before the baby came. A "Babymoon" if you will. We've been looking for little cruise deals or all-inclusive resort things. Then Amy told us that they were going to go to St. George to see Les Mis. and had really cheap flights. Mike was like, why not go to Las Vegas too while you're there. So we decided to tag along and get away for the Columbus Day long weekend. Usually it's so stinkin' hot in Vegas you have to have lots of water to drink and you stay by a swimming pool or in air conditioned buildings. This time we had to make sure we had jackets and sock and shoes. No last minute tan for me! I guess it snowed back at home so we missed that.


We stayed at the Hilton just off of the strip for our first night. It was pretty nice. We tried to find a place to eat at 10pm, but everything was already closed! We were so bummed! The buffet was what we were looking forward to and everything was closed! I guess they don't want you eating, they want you gambling and drinking. We ended up walking to McDonald's and eating off of their dollar menu. I guess it was cheaper, but pretty nasty at 10pm.

The next day we got to have a free breakfast buffet, thanks to Amy. Her room was not so nice. After breakfast (a.k.a. gorging ourselves) we headed in our rental Rav 4 to St. George. We went to Les Miserables and stayed at cousin Martha's house that night. We knew it was going to be cold and rainy at the Tuacahn Theatre (it's an outdoor theatre) so we brought rain ponchos and blankets. We stayed pretty warm and the show was pretty awesome. It was cool how they incorporated the red mountain into the show. They had real animals and cannons and fireworks. A very neat experience.


The next day we drove back to Vegas and stayed at the Luxor. We had fun wandering around the strip and eating! We got show tickets to Mystere. It's one of the Cirque Du Soleil shows. There were amazing acrobatics and such. It was like a circus on drugs! Entertaining, but I probably won't go see it again. Kinda weird! Anyway, that was Vegas. We're probably good to not go there again. It's a been there, done that kind of thing. It was very fun to get away though.

New Furniture

We decided it was time to get rid of the old, hand-me-down dining room table and get a new one. We'd been wanting to do this for a while because our chairs were so uncomfortable and the table was pretty small. We bought a table that can seat 8 people with a hidden leaf inside. Hopefully that will accomodate our family for a long time.


We couldn't just stop with the dining room table. We thought a new bed would be in order too. And some bedroom furniture also. We didn't want the new bed to be lonely I guess! It's been quite an adjustment for us to move from a queen to a king. It just seems so huge! We have to roll over twice just to get out of bed! It's a lot of work when you're 8 1/2 months pregnant!



We needed a new bed for our guests to come sleep on instead of the twin beds we had. So, our old bed went downstairs and the old furniture too. Now we have a whole guest suite down there so come and visit. This is your official invitation to come stay at Hotel Taylor!

Tubed Worms and Bottled Peaches...?

You're probably wondering why I titled it this. Kinda gross, eh! Well, I wanted to condense 2 things into one post. It had rained the day we wanted to bottle peaches, so we let the kids go outside and play in the rain and puddles. It kept them pretty busy while we got some bottling done. All of a sudden there was a knock at the door. Ethan was there with a whole tube full of worms and slugs! It was so nasty! They were all squished in there like sardines. Since the tube was full, he decided to put all of the rest of the worms that they found into a plastic bag. We had to make sure that those were disposed of before they got all stinky! Oh the minds of children!
Since the kids were preoccupied with gathering worms, Mike and I were able to bottle about 50 quarts of peaches. Last year we ran out, so we made sure to bottle enough for one bottle a week. It was pretty fun. That will be probably the last thing to can for the year. I'm glad that part of harvest is over. Now on to the Halloween and Thanksgiving parts! Yaay!

Mike's Birthday

Ok, so if I'm treating this blog like my journal, I thought I'd better journal about some important things that have happened even though they were a while ago. Michael's birthday was October 1st and it was a pretty fun evening. Normally he works on Wednesdays until late, but since it was his birthday, he decided to come home early. We invited Mike's parents over and had a yummy dinner; marinated BBQ steaks, twice baked potatoes, fresh garden veggies and a jell-o salad. Side note: We also picked all of the peaches off of our tree. We actually picked quite a bit (3 ice cream buckets full). We made jam with those tasty little morsels. Anyway, after dinner Mike opened his presents and then we had cake and played games with his parents after putting the kids to bed. I made chocolate melting cakes for his cake. If you've been on a Carnival cruise, you know about the scrumptious chocolate melting cakes. They were delicious, fun, and easy to make. I think we all had fun, especially Michael. Happy Birthday to the best husband and father in the world!! :)

Lowe's Day

Lowe's does these little construction projects for kids once a month that are pretty fun to do. We've gone to do the Home Depot projects before, but this was the first time we'd been to do the Lowe's projects. This time we were to make little fire engines. The kids had a great time pounding in the nails and trying to figure out which piece went where. I helped Asia and Michael helped Ethan. It was a good team effort with no smacked thumbs and no claws in the eyes! They turned out pretty cute and they actually played with them the whole rest of that day. They even made a little garage for them out of a box and collected bugs to go with the engines. Fun times!

Hair do's

My sister-in-law led me to this new hair-do blog that is so cute! I never knew there were so many things you could do with hair, even growing up with 4 sisters. Crazy! Anyway, I checked it out and have been trying a few styles on Asia. She doesn't really like me to do her hair because she says it either hurts her or it's just not right. I have to tell her I'm doing it like a particular princess or like Hannah Montana. She's never even seen Hannah Montana, but all of her friends rave about her so now she thinks she's the coolest too. Anyway, one Friday we didn't really have anything planned so I showed her the hair-do first. She loved it and actually sat very well through it all. I had to have cartoons on and treats for her, but I didn't hear a peep from her! It turned out pretty cute and stayed in for a few days! We'll see how adventurous I get next time I have time!