Santa vs. The Dentist

Santa Claus showed up at our ward Christmas party yesterday, and both of the kids were excited to sit on his lap. Brooklyn just sat there looking sweet, and didn't say a word.
Ethan was excited to talk to the big guy, and asked for his own set of (Disney) Cars Lego's.

Their experience with Santa was in stark contrast to their experience at the dentist the day before. Ethan got upset because he wanted Brooklyn to go first (so he could play with the dentist's train set in the lobby for just a little bit longer). Brooklyn was doing fine until half-way through the check-up, when she starting getting upset and ended up sobbing uncontrollably. It wasn't until after we got home that we were able to figure out what she was so upset about - she didn't want to get new teeth. We recalled that Brooklyn started getting upset after the dental hygienist observed that Brooklyn had such pretty, new, white teeth. Brooklyn must have thought she was going to be getting a new set of teeth.
So, now we know that the dentist is scarier than Santa Claus.

Jen and Brooklyn went to a friend's house earlier this week to make gingerbread houses (thanks, Kate). They turned out cute. When Ethan saw them after he got home from school, he decided they would make good houses for his Lego people, and shoved one in the front door, taking a few icicles out in the process.

Brooklyn put candy on her own graham cracker house. Surprisingly, most of it is still there!

Brooklyn has been doing really well with her potty training, and hasn't had an accident in weeks. When she's doing #1, she'll often get things rolling by chanting, "Come out, come out, wherever you are, pee pee."

Getting ready for Christmas

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving up in Logan last weekend. We were even able to spend time with both sides of the family and eat two Thanksgiving dinners. One of the highlights for the kids was meeting Grandpa Morrey's new colt, which Brooklyn has name "Baby Bullseye." The adult horse's name is already Bullseye. Brooklyn rode the horse for close to an hour, and cried when it was time to get off. Ethan was excited to dress up as Woody, but never did muster up the courage to ride the horse while we were there (although he has in the past).

Kyle and I managed to have one last birthday celebration before my free meal coupon expired. We had a lovely lunch at Benihana with Brooklyn while Ethan was at school. I recommend the Mango shrimp. I encouraged Kyle to order the lunch boat which included a couple of things he hadn't tried before: sashimi (raw fish) and edamame (soy beans). I also recommend that you sign up on their website for their birthday club. The free meal is up to $30 value. Brooklyn wasn't so excited about getting her picture taken.

We got our tree up early this week. It was fun to have the kids help decorate it and show their excitement for Christmas. It seems to get more fun and magical for them each year. We finally got some stockings up too. I've been planning on making some for the last few years but never could find fabric I was crazy about so I just went to Hobby Lobby and bought the stockings. Oh well, for the price I couldn't make them so fancy.

Three Million, One Hundred Fifty-Five Thousand, Six Hundred Ninety-Two Minutes

This Friday we celebrated six wonderful years together. We had a nice date going to the Salt Lake Temple and doing sealings. We did the work for one of Jen's ancestors, which was neat. Then we had a lovely dinner at The Garden restaurant, overlooking the temple. We ended our romantic escapade by going to Best Buy to demo a potential Christmas present.
Ethan is really good at making the most out a bad situation. The other day, he lost the privilege of playing with his Lego's. He was pretty upset at not being able to play with them, until, being the innovative boy that he is, he asked to print off these Toy Story Lego pictures from the Lego website and cut them out. He spent the rest of the afternoon playing with his homemade toys.

Birthday Girl

Brooklyn turned 3 on Saturday! She was so excited to have a Sleeping Beauty Cake (she sometimes calls her the Owie Princess because she gets an owie on her finger in the movie).
We've been asking her for months what she wanted for her birthday, and the usual response was "a Princess cake."

Brooklyn had a really fun birthday. She had a special birthday breakfast of Belgian waffles, opened her presents, played with them, watched Sleeping Beauty with Dad, went to the toy store and picked out new doll stroller, ate dinner at Pei Wei, and came home for cake and ice cream. She also gave us a very special present in return - she FINALLY pooped in the potty for the very first time (she's been out of diapers for going on three weeks, so this was a big deal)!

We gave her a Rapunzel toddler doll, and Grandma Taylor gave her a Little Mermaid that swims in the bathtub. Immediately after opening it, she had to have a bath to test it out.

Ethan was just about as excited as she was to get the new dolls. She was really nice about sharing her new toys with him.

Throughout the day, we'd say "Happy Birthday, Brooklyn!" She'd reply "Happy Birthday!" (similar to saying Happy Halloween, or Merry Christmas).

Happy Birthday sweetie. We love you!

Meet the newest member of our household

Yesterday morning, we woke up with four inches of snow on the ground. The kids were dying to get out and make the year's first snowman. Ethan decided that his name would be Snowball Snowflake. Jen did not approve of the corncob pipe, but Kyle liked it.
Last Wednesday was Jen's 30th birthday. She got a nice food processor a few months early so she could use it for canning salsa. She wasn't really expecting anything else, but Kyle surprised her with a dozen roses, an appointment for a 90-minute massage, and dinner out. He also made a delicious carrot cake from scratch (we continue our tradition of using binary candles). Thanks to Kate for watching the kids (especially since Brooklyn pooped in her underwear twice--she is doing very well with her potty training except for # 2's).

On Halloween, the kids were so excited to go Trick-Or-Treating that they wouldn't hold still for their pre-Trick-or-Treat picture. This is the best one we got. After changing his mind several times - from Spider-man to Toy Soldier to Lightning McQueen to Word Girl - Ethan finally decided he'd be Woody. So we dug out his vest from a few years ago and Jen sewed him a belt and holster (or "pocket," as he used to call it). Brooklyn was excited to be Ariel. It was such a nice night and both kids had a lot of fun going door to door.

Here comes Halloween!

We've been busy with several Halloween parties this week. Ethan had his school party on Thursday. They sang songs, played games, and had lots of treats. Ethan loved having Mommy and Brooklyn at school with him. He says his favorite part was when his teacher said Brooklyn's name, and his other favorite part was when both he and Brooklyn got flashlights from his teacher to keep them safe while Trick-or-Treating. Ethan dressed up as Woody, and Brooklyn was Jessie.
Friday night we went to a costume party with some friends. The kids played lots of games and got all sorts of prizes. Due to the fact that we couldn't find enough cardboard to create the costumes we had envisioned, Kyle went as Woody, Jen went as Mater (borrowing the kids' Mater costume), Ethan was Lightning McQueen, and Brooklyn went as Ariel.
We had a ward Halloween party last night. There were lots of fun games for the kids, and dinner was yummy. Jen entered the cake making contest for our ward Halloween party last night. She won "Best of Show."
Today we made some Halloween decorations with the kids. Ethan and Brooklyn both colored faces on a paper pumpkin and then cut them out. Ethan also made a ghost, witch, and bat at school.

This year for Halloween, Brooklyn is going to dress up as the Little Mermaid. Jen made this costume for her a week ago, and she's wanted to wear it pretty much every day since. She likes to lie on the floor and pretend she's swimming.

Jen's made this cute little apron as part of her cousin's wedding gift last week.

The other day, Ethan approached Kyle and complained, "Dad, Brooklyn thinks everything in the house is hers." Kyle responded, "Do you think everything in the house is yours?" Ethan confidently replied, "Yes!"

Primary Program

The Disneyland Halloween costume contest is over, and alas, we didn't win. Looking at the winners, the contest was obviously a popularity contest since the winning photos were quite mediocre. Oh well. We'll just have to pay for a trip some other time.

Today was Ethan's first Primary Program in our ward. Ethan did a really good job saying his line - "Saying my prayers." We think we saw him singing one of the songs too. We're proud that he did as well as he did.
During Conference weekend, Brooklyn loved seeing all of the babies. She and cousin Owen had some good cousin bonding time at Grandma Taylor's house.
Brooklyn always loves riding Bullseye at Grandpa Morrey's house.
This afternoon, Kyle and Ethan made some movies with some of Ethan's toys. Here's what we did:

Brooklyn and Jen had the following conversation earlier today:
Jen: I'm going to eat your fingers... (num, num, num) I'm going to eat your nose... (num, num, num)
Brooklyn: Not my boogers...I'm going to eat those myself!

Disneyland Contest

We entered this photo in a radio contest for a chance to win one of four trips to Disneyland. There are lots of great entries so we'd really appreciate any votes. Voting starts today and goes through Thursday, Oct 13. You can even vote everyday if you'd like.

Follow this link and vote for #96.

FYI, Jen is the only one who has been to Disneyland and that was nearly 20 years ago so winning would be a big deal for us.

Thanks!!

Work Party and Park City

Yesterday was the annual summer work party for Kyle's work. It was once again held at This is the Place Heritage Park. It wasn't nearly as hot as it was last year and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves as much if not more so than last year riding trains around and playing in the little houses.

The grilled corn was yummy.
Just after we got off one of the trains, there was an attempted train robbery. Luckily, the town sherrif was nearby to get the would-be robbers. The kids thought it was pretty fun at first, but then the loud gunfire made them scared.

Ethan loved playing in this "pirate ship," (named the Brooklyn).

Ethan dressed up as Woody, and Brooklyn dressed as Jessie. It was fun hearing other people commenting on how cute our kids were.

The kids got to pan for gold.

This miniature train ride was a big hit as well. Last year, we had to get on the train with the kids, but this year, they were brave enough to do it all by themselves.

Last weekend Kyle and I had a little getaway to Park City while the kids spent a few days with their Morrey grandparents. We enjoyed beautiful weather, hiking, artwork, eating, and shopping (though Kyle didn't enjoy the shopping part as much as I did). During our trip, we also finally went to see the movie, The Help, which we really enjoyed. I couldn't wait to get back to my little Brooklyn to give her lots of kisses and hugs since the little girl in the movie reminded me so much of her.

Kyle and I picked up the kids in Logan. After Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's house, Uncle Rob (Bobo) blew bubbles for the kids. They sure had fun chasing those bubbles all over the yard.

Our garden is really at a peak right now, which we are really enjoying. Our peaches, corn, and beans are all gone, but we are really being spoined by our raspberries. This week I canned several batches of salsa and will be canning lots of tomatoes this week. We picked and ate our first eggplant tonight. We've had lots of cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, and herbs. (If anyone is in need of basil, mint, or zucchini, let me know). We also have probably twenty butternut squash almost ready and a few pumpkins for the kids. We've been very blessed this year, especially considering the cold, wet spring we had. As much as we've enjoyed the cooler weather these last few weeks, it is hard to admit that it won't be long before the frost takes away all this goodness.

First Day of School

After months of waiting, Ethan's first day of school finally arrived. He was very excited to go to preschool and he loves already loves his teacher, Miss Holly. Before he met her, he told us that he was going to be "shy with her." After meeting Miss Holly at the orientation, he warmed right up and told us "I'm not going to shy with her." The excitment of going to school lasted a whole day. He still has fun, but he's already complaining about how long it takes before Mom picks him up (a whole 3 hours).

Brooklyn was almost as excited as Ethan about going to school. It was hard to keep her out of the pictures.

Brooklyn has been very sad when she discovered that she wasn't invited to go into to school with Ethan. She's gotten sad when eery day Ethan gets dropped off. While Ethan was at school, Brooklyn wanted to have some "Mommy time" and watch a movie. They watched Sleeping Beauty. Jen explained what was happening throughout the movie to help Brooklyn comprehend. When Aurora pricked her finger on the spinning wheel, Brooklyn got very concerned that the princess had an owie. But finally the princess woke up when the prince kissed her owie better. Now Brooklyn loves to watch what she calls "the Owie Movie" with Mom whenever she gets the chance.

Our garden is really starting to produce lately. It makes us happy.

We're starting to get a lot of unusual cucumbers as well. It's like they're trying to send us some kind of cosmic message about the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything (Kyle couldn't resist the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference).
Or maybe they're just trying to communicate something more simple.
Ethan has been going through a phase where he's been telling us that he wants to marry Brooklyn or Mom when he grows up. Yesterday, he informed us that when he grows up he wants to marry Dad. We made sure to explain how that idea was wrong on so many levels.

Catching up

We've had a busy few weeks.

Jen made this dress for Brooklyn this week.
She and Ethan had fun posing for the camera.

Kyle's Grandma Morrey passed away on July 29, so we traveled to Richland, Washington for the funeral last weekend. Jen's parents were kind enough to watch the kids for the weekend, which made the 1400 mile drive much more bearable.

The funeral was really nice (as far as funerals go). It was good to see so much family and remember all the things that Grandma has done. She'll be missed.

On the way home, we stopped for a potty break in the Middle of Nowhere, Idaho. A few weeks back, we took a trip to the family cabin in Island Park, Idaho. Kyle's dad brought his horses, and took Kyle into Yellowstone Park to ride among the bison. It was quite an experience to see all of the wildlife close up. One of the kids favorite activities at the cabin was making S'mores.
Chasing chipmunks, a favorite pastime at the cabin, has been passed on to the next generation.

We took the kids for a rafting trip on the Snake River.

While eating breakfast this morning, Ethan mused, "When I grow up I want my house to be next to Smith's because I like Lucky Charms."