Fun in Utah!

As usual, we had a blast in Utah! We did so much fun stuff during our week there. We went for a business recruiting event, but spent a whole week hanging out. It was a much needed break from work and life after Darren finished his oh so "busy season." Check out these pics from the trip:
Isn't my new niece adorable? Her name is Elle and we got to attend her blessing while we were there! Thanks for waiting for us, Michelle and Jon.Joseph played played played with Elle's big sister AlexisWe visited the fire station where a friend of my sister's gave us the best tour ever! Joseph was in heaven! They used the hoseRode in the fire truckAnd tried on the real firefighter equipment!We also got to drive down to Southern Utah for the day to visit Darren's Grandma Williams. She'll be 91 this month and she's still sharp as a tack. She tells such fun stories. We had a great visit.We went to an awesome bouncy house place
And went to an adorable pumpkin patch farm with a mini corn mazeA petting zoo where Joseph fed the ponyAnd Justin loved the goats!It's been such an incredible blessing to go back to Utah so often for our little business trips. Thanks so much Mom, Dad, Jordan, Michelle, Jon and girls for showing us such a good time. We love you so much and we'll be missing you until our next trip out!

Happy Halloween!

Here's my little firefighter and police officer. I knew Justin wouldn't put up with a hat, so I guess he turned out looking a little more like a detective. You have to look closely for his handcuffs on his beltloop, but they're my favorite part.
We were lucky enough to celebrate Halloween in both Utah and Washington. Here's Joseph with his Grandparents and cousins, Alexis (Cinderella) and Elle (pig). My next post will be all about our good visit to Utah. We were there all last week and flew home on Halloween afternoon.

Joseph loved trick or treating this year! We went to some houses in our neighborhood and he just held out his bucket and said "Trick or Treat!" really loud everytime! It was adorable. Justin enjoyed it too. Our friend, Sierra the pirate, and her Dad joined us too.
Then we went to the bookstore where my friend Athina works to visit her, and then we were off to our ward's trunk or treat party. Justin was very scared of all the big kids with scary masks. Joseph didn't mind them and he loved giving out the candy as much as getting it. He loved giving candy from our trunk and also at our house when we got home. We had a blast.

Yum Yum

I swear I've never seen our apple tree in the backyard produce red apples before! When I realized they were good, I just hated seeing them go to waste. So look what I did yesterday! I was very proud of my domestically challenged self.
I took these apples from this tree and I made this! And it was actually really good! I couldn't believe I had actually succeeded on my first try. (I've really never made a pie before.) My hubbie was pretty impressed too. The two of us devored half of it last night. Now I'm onto apple crisp and applesauce since I'm on a roll...

While I make dinner...

...look what my kids are doing. Unless there's something on TV, they pretty much insist on being in the same room as me. Which is why there's usually something on the TV while I make dinner. But last night it was off, and I thought they came up with some pretty interesting things to do in the kitchen.

Joseph is transporting condiments from the fridge to the cupboard with "the jaws of life" (salad tongs).Justin is moving spaghetti noodles one by one from the package into my pasta container.

Soccer Games!

Here's my little soccer star. I've taken forever to post because I kind of failed the first time around. Apparently for the first game, I missed the memo about the field being changed and Joseph missed the entire first half. Then I didn't take a lot of pictures because it was pouring rain. But Joseph didn't seem to mind the rain. When the game was over, he told me he wanted to play more. The second game went much more smoothly. We got the right park and the weather was gorgeous! Joseph is usually pretty content to run behind the pack, but he did get a few good chances at the ball. I did get a video of one of his drives with the ball and one of the coaches walked right through it really slowly. Too bad. So I'll wait to post a video that's worth your while. Here's the cute pics:
Joseph got to throw the ball in.Chanting from the sidelines: "Go green sharks! Go green sharks!" Other rough housing going on from the sidelines. (Joseph's the one getting the nougie.)

Just call me Soccer Mom

I am loving this new stage of parenthood! With Joseph's new activities and Justin getting bigger and more independent, I'm getting to do all of these fun things for the first time. Like order from a school book order, bring snacks for halftime of the soccer game, and go to Parent Night at the Preschool. On Joseph's first day of school, I had to wake him up and I said, "Wake up, it's time to get ready for school." And I thought, how fun to say that for the first time! I wonder how many more times in my life I'll be saying that (or yelling it). It makes me imagine myself in the future juggling a lot more than one kid's activities, cheering them on in their sports, going on fieldtrips and videotaping their concerts and school programs. I just can't wait. I'm excited to be moving on from that "young motherhood" with all preschoolers at home, even though, I know I probably have many more years with preschoolers ahead of me. I've had a taste of what is to come, and I love it. This is my new favorite picture of the boys. I haven't gotten one of them both smiling in a long time.

Joseph has his first soccer game tomorrow and it's going to be so much fun to watch. At practice yesterday, it was so great to watch the coaches teach these 4 and 5 year olds how to play the game. Then they scrimmaged and really caught on! Joseph was so proud that he played goalie for awhile and blocked 2 goals.Check out the beautiful view of the city from the soccer field. I'll post some pictures of tomorrow's game soon.

Joseph's First Day of School

Isn't he handsome? My little pre-schooler off to school for the first time ever. Joseph's my shy, sensitive momma's boy and I prepared myself for the worst on that first morning. Darren dropped him off with me and I was worried Joseph would insist on one of us staying the whole time and clinging to my leg, or maybe tears would fall and I would have to take him home to avoid disruption of the entire class. But instead, it couldn't have gone better. He hid his face when his teacher first spoke to him, and then after he found a toy he liked, he just snapped out of it. He started chatting up a storm with her and talking to his friend, George who is also in his class. When I picked him up, he talked my ear off the whole way home about what they did and how much he loved it. His words: "Mommy, I love love love school! You need to take me back on Friday, okay?" He did burst into tears the second day when I picked him up: "I don't want to go home yet!" This is going to be a very good thing.