Carnival Fun

Been keeping these kids busy and in the Halloween spirit by hitting up some carnivals around town this week!  Last Friday we went into St. George for the Spooky Town Fair.  It was crazy busy!  The kids didn't care much for trick-or-treating at the booths because the lines were so long; all they wanted to do was play on the bounce houses!  So we went on a few bounce houses and then played some games and won some prizes.  Overall the kids had lots of fun and were definitely worn out from the evening and all the candy they ate!

Saturday Brandon dropped by after his trip this week with a surprise for Kylie and Hayden:  Rocks!  He got them some pretty colorful rocks from Bryce Canyon which the kids really liked.  Then he took them to the dinosaur park to play.  Later that afternoon we did a craft: spiders!  Hayden made sure to take my picture too, because I was only getting some of him and Kylie apparently!  After we made our spiders we hung them from the ceiling, much to the kids excitement.

On Monday we hit up another carnival here in Washington.  When we first arrived Hayden was saying "I'm scared!  Let's go home!" because they had you go through this little tunnel engulfed in fog.  Luckily that was the only scary part!  First we did the bounce houses, before they got too busy.  Always a favorite!  Unfortunately, one of the bounce houses collapses while the kids were inside.  All the kids got out safe except for Hayden, who managed to tangle his foot in the netting.  Poor kid was super terrified, but we got him out ok.  I wonder if that incident will scar him for life against bounce houses...

Then we did some trick-or-treating at the vendor booths before heading to the dance room.  My first impression?  Lame.  Let's go home.  Luckily my kids are not like me and immediatley embraced the loud music, dancing lights and runway.  They both danced for a good hour before we went home!  Hayden would only dance with others... Kylie or Sophia... while Kylie found some friends from school that she danced with!

There are a few more 'Halloween Carnivals' before actual Halloween, but after attending these two I am beat.  We need a little break before celebrating Halloween for real! Plus keeping track of these two kids by myself in these crowded events is exhausting in itself!!

Fall Break

With Fall Break this week I decided to be brave and take the kids solo up north to visit with family.  We needed a little break from our house and routine.  Plus the kids just love to visit their grandparents!

I took Kylie out of school on Wednesday (because I didn't want to arrive late at night), and the kids were so great on the way up.  We stopped and played at Beaver for an hour, after which Hayden zonked out for the rest of the ride.  We arrived with plenty of time to play and visit!  Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary were kind enough to let us stay with them.

For dinner we went on their usual date night - the food trucks!  We had never really experienced food trucks before, but it was yummy and the kids didn't mind the playground they were parked next to!

Thursday we wanted to hit Cornbelly's up early to avoid the crowds, but after getting over there we found out that they weren't open until that evening.  So we decided to go to the Museum of Natural Curiosity instead.  The kids always have so much fun there!  Aunt Kelsey even met us there and they all had so much fun together!

Afterwards we came home exhausted.  Hayden and I took a nap while Kylie played with Kelsey (she has boundless energy!).  When we woke up we decided to walk to the park and feed the ducks.  Always a favorite!  Then they played on the playground until it was dark!

Friday was another big day.  In the morning we went park hopping, first to one in Alpine, and then to the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove.  Kylie and Hayden just LOVE parks.  They always have the energy to play!  That afternoon we made it to Cornbelly's for reals this time.  Aunt Kendra and her boyfriend Jake met us there for some fun.  Hayden never really warmed up to Jake, but he was really nice and Kylie took to him almost instantly!  We had lots of fun on the hay rides, slides, jumping, and other activities that we never even made it to the corn maze before the kids were burned out!  There was one activity where you walk through a giant monster and go through his stomach, heart, and intestines.  It was really loud and there were lots of flashing lights.  Hayden did NOT appreciate it, and even by the end Kylie was crying!  Guess we shouldn't have gone on that one!

Saturday was our third big eventful day!  We really kept these kids hopping on this trip!  Saturday morning we got picked up by Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete and went to the Hogle Zoo!  Hayden and Kylie were so excited for the zoo and that is seriously all they talked about all week.  Kylie was our leader with the map.  We had lots of fun running from one animal to the next!  Kylie's favorite was the giraffe and Hayden like the bears best (especially the polar bear!).  They even got to go on a carousel ride and Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete bought them souvenirs of their favorite animal!

We picked up some lunch on the way back and then went to Grandma Tess' and Grandpa Pete's house for the afternoon.  Grandpa Pete's band had a gig, so we said goodbye to him and then had a crafty afternoon with Grandma Tess!  The kids loved having their own books and putting stamps in them and coloring them.  (I think I enjoyed it the most, haha!).  We had popcorn for dinner and then had to leave at 7 so we could catch Uncle Dallan before he went home.  Uncle Dallan is always super fun and he even brought his girlfriend Jessica to visit.  Hayden actually warmed up to Jessica, which was a surprise!

On Sunday we headed back home.  Brandon was glad to spend some time with the kids again, though Kylie and Hayden were sad to leave their grandma's.  They slept most of the trip back (catching up on what they missed out on the past few days!), so I didn't even stop and drove straight home!

Thanks to everyone for all the fun this week!  We enjoyed seeing everyone and seriously had the best time!!

More Halloween Fun!

These kids are just super excited for Halloween!  Every day Kylie asks if it is Halloween yet, and we got a Halloween video from the library, and we are doing lots of Halloween crafts!  Keeping these little ones busy!

On Saturday Brandon took them to the grand opening of Thunder Junction - a new park that is dinosaur themed and has a little train that goes around it.  The kids had so much fun, even though it was super crowded.

Later Saturday I took them to pick out their Halloween costumes before everything got too picked over.  Hayden didn't even make it in the door of the Halloween store - too scared!  So I had to hold him the whole time.  At one point one of the motion sensor decorations went off and Hayden was absolutely terrified and I kept trying to turn him around and shield his eyes but he would not stop staring and screaming at the decoration!  Poor little guy!  In the end Hayden chose to be a cowboy (Woody), and Kylie chose to be Tinkerbell.  I am going to be a cowgirl (Jesse) to match Hayden!  We are super excited!

Also I got Kylie's school picture back a few weeks ago and I keep forgetting to post it!  So here is our cute little kindergartener!

October Fun

The kids were sick on and off all week (probably thanks to all that puddle jumping last week and the cooler camp out Sunday night.).  Luckily it was just a fever and didn't develop into anything worse.

On Saturday I got out the Halloween boxes.  That provided hours of fun!  The kids loved playing witch and creating new buggy brews in their pumpkin cauldrons!

During our quiet time Angela called me and invited us to Staheli Farms with them.  So I went to get the kids ready and to my surprise Kylie had fallen asleep!  That was a surprise! Happily she woke up without an attitude and was super excited to go to the farm.

When we arrived Kylie just LOVED the pink tractor and pink pumpkins.

Then they started requesting pictures at every little thing...

We met up with Sophia and Riley and then they played at the corn slide forever.  Kylie loved the corn so much that she put handfuls of it in her shoes, and she only emptied them out halfway through the corn maze (about an hour and a half later...)  and there was seriously A LOT of kernels tucked into her shoes.  Before hitting the corn maze, though, we played on all the little games, looked at the farm animals, had some ice cream, and played in a club house.

We didn't spend too long in the corn maze, but Hayden was a good guide.  He was always in front and waited just long enough at a fork in the road to see someone catch up to him before yelling "This way!" and bolting off again.

After the corn maze Kylie met a witch (Hayden literally hung on to me hiding the entire time he saw the witch) and wanted to show the witch her baby witch that she was carrying everywhere!

Then we went to the pumpkin patch!  Kylie scoured the entire patch before finding one small enough for her to lift.  Hayden just wanted a perfectly round one.  After pumpkin picking they went down a big slippy slide for 30 minutes before I was starving and ready to go home.  All in all we spent 4 hours at the farm and had a blast!  Kylie and Hayden could've stayed there all night long!

On Sunday we enjoyed some General Conference, and on the break Brandon came and took the kids on a hike.  Apparently Kylie kept requesting her picture taken, so Brandon sent me some of the pictures.