Haunted Houses and Pumpkin Carving

We almost carved pumpkins this year but this is as far as we got. We kept waiting to do it with Dave but by the time he gets home at night, Courtney is beside herself with tiredness. Maybe next year we will have to do it during the day without Dad. She really did enjoy just sticking face pieces on though. She especially loved the stickers. It's probably too small to tell but she loved the ones that looked like blood.

What Halloween celebration would be complete with a gingerbread haunted house. Ours would have been except Grandma came to Courtney's rescue. It turned into a family project and was alot of fun. It did end up turning out pretty cute. The funniest part was that my niece, Ali, would only eat the candy and not put it on the house. She's 18 months old. I think that is to be expected. Courtney was very concerned about it, however, so we finally got her to put a few pieces on.


We had a very Happy Halloween. Although I didn't know that Halloween was such an exhausting holiday, it was so much fun. I don't think holidays are much fun without a child to help you remember how special they really are. Courtney and Dave went out trick-or-treating while I passed out the goods. We figure we had close to 100 kids come by, which is an all time record for us. Hope everyone else had an equally as enjoyable Halloween!

Happy Birthday Dave!

Dave turned 32 on Wednesday! Courtney was very excited for his birthday. She asked me about 50 times if she could help him blow out his candles. She obviously loves to blow out candles. Then she was really excited to help him open his present. It was cookies, from his mom and dad, and she thought it was the best present ever.
We had a little cake for him while his family was here last weekend. 32 candles is almost too many to put on a small cake. Dave doesn't usually get to be with his family on his birthday, so it was fun to have them here.
On his actual birthday, we made him breakfast and gave him his present from us. He is so hard to buy for but I never go wrong with giving him pictures of Courntey. We got him a picture and frame to bring to work with him. Then we got some balloons and brought them to his work. He had already gone to lunch with some of his co-workers, but they also had a cake there for him. We sang to him and had cake with the office.
Dave's family surprised him with a ping pong table for his birthday. The bigger surprise was that it came totally unassembled. It took over an hour for 5 of us to get it all put together but it was worth it. We played and had lots of fun. Dave almost has a complete game room(a dream of his). Now we just need to finish the basement.
Lastly, I have to say how much I love Dave. He is such a good husband and father. I feel grateful to be the lucky woman that he chose to spend eternity with. He works so hard for his family and never asks for anything in return. Happy Birthday, hon!

Pumpkin Patch

No October trip would be complete without takning the time to go to the pumpkin patch. The girls had lots of fun going through the corn maze and also picking out pumpkins. Courtney had to help the little girls. Of course they had to have tiny pumpkins because they are so little, or so Courtney said.

Barnyard Boo

For those of you who aren't from around here, Barnyard Boo is a fun little Halloween activity for small children. We were lucky to have Dave's whole family(except his brother Dan, we missed you!) come for the weekend

Of course there was lots to do with Halloween being so near. We went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point for a little Halloween fun. I think both Courtney and Ali were more happy that it was a farm, then the fact it was decked out with Halloween things to do. Highlights of the trip were when they got to feed the ducks(those of you that are loyal readers know this is always a favorite) although they feed them corn instead of bread this time.

Another was getting balloons. Ali got a black cat that soon turned into just a long, black balloon. Courntey got a pink, princess wand. Also to mention, but not really a highlight, was the headless horsemen. Courtney got pretty scared to see him riding around on a huge white horse but with no head. I even thought is was totally creepy.

5 Mile Run

Dave and his Mom

ran 5 miles in the annual Riverton Pumpkin Run. They both did extremely well. Dave is still complaining about his feet hurting him but I am very proud of both of them for braving the cold weather and running a not so short distance of 5 miles.

Snow

Once again, we got snow this weekend. This is the first snow of the season that has actually stuck to the ground. When we woke up on Sunday, this is what we saw.

Kangaroo Zoo

We were pleasantly surprised to have my brother, Brent, and his kids come for a visit. Friday night my two nieces spent the night with us and Courtney had so much fun! One is only five weeks older than Courtney and the other is five. They played babies all night and then all slept together in the guestroom.

The next day we were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch but since it was raining, snowing, and about 30 degrees, we decided on an indoor activity.

Courtney loves this place. It's called Kangaroo Zoo and has all sorts of inflatable slides to play on. You can see that Dave even got in on the action. After playing for a few hours my nieces and nephews needed a massage from this chair. We had tons of fun seeing all the family!

Chuck E. Cheese

Courtney went to her first, official, friend birthday party on Friday. It was at the ever wonderful Chuck E. Cheese. She really did have a great time. She loved the rides and also the games that won her some tickets.
When she saw Chuck E. she was so excited. She kept asking if we could go over and say hi and get a picture. She kept standing right by him. He kept tripping over her. She hugged him tight and he even gave her a free token!
This is little Ava, little sister to the birthday girl. She did not want Courtney holding her back, as you can see. She is 18 months old and Courtney loves to be a little mom to her.
This is Brinley, the birthday girl! Courtney remembered her saying how much she loves these giant coloring books, so she had to get it for her.
Of all the prizes a girl could pick, she picks the goofy eyes glasses. Nice. Thanks Brinley and Karinne for a great party.

Courtney's new bike

I'll keep this short and sweet because I have been getting a lot of flack from people about my posts being too long.

Courtney waited all summer to get this bike from her cousin.
I don't think her life can get much better.

She insists on riding everywhere, even across the street.

Aubrey's Blessing

After finally arriving in Las Vegas, we were able to have a great weekend. For some reason, we didn't get any pics of the little cutie. If you are dying to see her, which you should be, you can go to Dan and Danielle's blog. It is under our links. This was the first time that Courtney was amazed by
the buildings on the strip. We have driven in and out of Las Vegas countless times but this time Courtney exclaimed, "Oh my goodness. Look at that castle!" She was referring to the Excalibur.

She begged us to let her go there, so we decided it would be a fun Saturday trip. When we got there, we were pretty disappointed to find that the stage had been turned into a bar. Yes, a bar! Apparently that is where all the money is. We headed down to the game section for a little fun. Having all 3 brothers there proved to be a huge competition. Dan was gracious enough to watch all three girls while we all played the roller ball game. You know the one where you get a ball in a certain color hole and your horse moves. The first horse to the end wins. Dave and Brian were talking so much smack about who was going to win. Of course, I was cheering for Dave. I was secretly hoping I would win though. We were all surprised and amazed when the winner was declared as Danielle. She won a prize for Ali and it was lots of fun. We decided that we were roller ball experts and proceeded to spend about $10 playing a few more games of it. Unfortunately, we weren't able to win against any others.

About this time, Courtney was getting very sad, due to the fact that we hadn't seen any princesses yet. We may have told her she would see some. Luckily, Dave was able to distract her by winning a different game. The one where you throw the ball and have to knock over the milk bottles. She was so excited that her Dad won her a bear. She still has to know where the bear is at all times. To top it off, the shirt on the bear says, Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas. I don't think it gets any better than that. It was a great trip. We had tons of fun and miss seeing the fam.

Snow in September?

Ok, we weren't on top of it enough to get any pictures but we are talking full on snowing. First, we drove up the canyon to look at the leaves changing colors. We noticed the temperature dropping fast. Soon it was only 29 degrees. It was snowing like crazy. We thought when we got back down the mountain it would just be raining, but no such luck. It continued to snow and rain off and on all yesterday. I just have to say that I hate living in Utah and need to move somewhere with a warmer climate. Come on, seriously, snow in September!

Getting there is half the fun

Over Labor Day weekend, we had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas for our niece's blessing. I was so excited when Dave took Friday off, so that we could have more time to spend with the family. Much to our disappointment, we broke down just before getting to Beaver. To make a long story short, after being towed to Beaver, then to St. George, Dave's parents were kind enough to pick us up. We had to leave the car, so Dave's mom also had to bring us back to St. George on Monday. Luckily, the car was fine. Taking 9 hours to get to Las Vegas, not quite as fun. I do have to say that Dave and I were able to laugh it off and still had a great trip and time in Las Vegas.

Jordan's Birthday

So here is one more thing that happened over a month ago. Oops! We were able to spend time with one of Courtney's best friends, Jordan, for his birthday.

We wanted to do something really fun with them, so we decided on Boondocks, which is a miniature golf, arcade, slide, bumper car place all rolled into one. Since my friend, Mindy, has a small infant, we opted to just let them play in the arcade part and on the slide.

I'm pretty sure that by far their favorites were ones that we didn't even pay for. We just let them think they were racing and shooting. Come on $1.50 for one game. That is outrageous! They had fun collecting tickets from the other games they played too. My skills finally paid off and I won the jackpot playing monopoly. I think we got around 300 tickets. They were so excited to get better prizes than just an eraser or braclet. Thanks for sharing your birthday with us Jordan!