Off to California

My grandpa decided to have us come on out and visit him. I am not much of a fan of flying (like I have panic attacks), but we packed up and off we went. He lives in Northern California, so we flew to the Sacramento airport.

Understatement alert, it is not easy to travel with kids.

We had so much luggage! All necessary stuff. We left super early on a Friday morning and were doing so good on time when we pulled into the long term parking. We started to kind of relax, got the kids some snacks, got our baggage out really slow and sauntered on over to the shuttle. Then the shuttle took forever! 45 minutes went by from the time we got on, to when we got to the Southwest check in. By the time we made it through that line, we were getting warned that due to our late check in, our bags were not guaranteed to get on our flight.

The kids were already getting restless since we had woke them at 4am, Dallin was asking to pee, and we still had to get though the security line. I looked over at that line and realized it wound around all the way down to the baggage claim area. There was no way we were going to make it. But southwest had alerted them that we were coming and a security officer was waiting for us. They pulled us to the front of the line and had us scanned in no time at all. Miraculously, we made it to our flight.

We flew from SLC to Las Vegas, then on the Sacramento. When we landed in Vegas, the plane cleared out almost entirely. So we moved to the front of the plane for more leg room. The stewards and pilot were taking their break and chatting there at the front too. They saw our boys and invited all 3 of them to the cock pit to sit in the pilots seat. They let them push all sorts of buttons. They were awesome and the kids loved it!

A second take off and landing later, we made it to California. I was feeling a little nostalgic seeing all the agriculture of that area. After a couple hours of driving, we pulled into my Grandpa's place.

He got a bunch of lawn mowers ready for the boys to drive around his property.





The boys loved it! They loved the space, and seeing my Grandpa. Brian really liked being so far out in the boonies that there was no cell phone coverage and no internet. I liked the no cable TV thing. It was also kind of fun to see this:



When I was 15, just shortly after my grandpa bought this property, he poured some concrete and let me write my name in it. It was still there! Along with my handprint. More to come....

Trick or Treating

We have been so busy lately, I am finally getting around to posting these.

Kyle and Blake were originally going to be Star Wars themed this year so I got Dallin a Yoda to match. Then they changed their minds and were both super heroes. So I got him a Captain America instead.

Dallin had a cute little Halloween party at his preschool where he got to be dressed up. He was sure cute!







Kyle and Blake's school always does a parade for the parents so I headed on down for that.



Finally, the moment the boys had been waiting for! CANDY TIME! :)





At the last minute, I decided to dress up too. I got on pinterest to get some fast/easy/cheap ideas. And one idea from pinterest stuck out. I was pinterest.



Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving!

Halloween is so fun with the boys. Earlier this week we got our pumpkins carved. Wow, that was a mess! We grew our own pumpkins this year. Last year, when we carved pumpkins, we did most of it outside on the porch to save on clean up. The seeds got tossed out into the flower bed and a pumpkin plant grew there! I also grew some intentionally in the backyard.

One of the pumpkins was so hard it was like cutting wood. Brian used his dremel tool for cutting it. It turned out pretty good!



Here is Blake, showing me the guts! :)



Dallin had a great time poking the pumpkin with the carving tool. He wanted a moon, and he wanted a scary face. Then he wanted a happy face. Though he kept changing his mind, he ended up happy with what he got.



Kyle picked out the largest pumpkin of all, it was huge! I am surprised that it stood upright. It turned out amazing! And Blake wanted to do Frankenstein. Everybody's turned out pretty good.

Soccer

Blake had a great time playing soccer this year. It was fun to watch, usually it was the highlight of my week. The blur in the middle wearing the blue shirt is Blake.

This was a different year for him because there was a goalie and he was on the bigger field. So he learned a lot.
He was pretty excited to be the goalie himself. His first go at it was a steep learning curve. But at his second try, he did amazing! He stopped probably 20 goals.
My favorite thing was this little dance he did when he first got to be goalie.




Here he is stopping a goal.




I have a few hundred more games just like this to attend with my boys. How lucky am I?

Dallin still sleeps in his pack n play. I should probably move him out, but he is so happy in there. He is a great sleeper and why mess with that?
Well, I need to mess with that because when he stretches out, his feet touch one end and his head touches the other. I guess at the start of the new year, we will go ahead and move him to a big boy bed.


I love the little imprint the mesh on the side of his pack n play left!

My Little Helper

Kyle has many nicknames. And they seem to evolve. Before he could say Kyle, Dallin used to call him Ca-Ca. And Blake called him Ki-O. For some reason, Brian stared calling him Cackle, which changed to Shackle, which became Shaq, that changed to Shaquille ONeal. He has a few other nicknames too. Basically, he answers to anything. One name that I have always called him is My Little Helper. That one fits him well.

He has started mowing the lawn. Even though I am not entirely convinced that he is old enough, Brian is confident in him. And I have to admit, he has been doing a great job! He seems real proud of himself too.




I am proud of you too, my little Shaq!

1st Day of School

Kyle and Blake's first day went really good this year. I was forbidden by Kyle to take any pictures once he went any closer to the school than this. And I was expressly forbidden, tears were involved, to take pictures once we entered the building. So, I negotiated and here is what I got:


Blake didn't mind me going in with him though. At the end of the day, I met Blake in the front. I snapped this picture right after he saw me. I love this expression on his face! He was so happy to see me!





Kyle allowed me to take another picture at the end of the day. Guess he figured that any friends of his were already long gone and the sight of his embarrassing mom wasn't going to have negative social repercussions for him. Sigh.



The boys have great teachers and are excited for a new school year.

Caterpillar

The boys found a cute little fuzzy caterpillar.







I guess you get used to bugs being brought into the house when you have little boys around. :)

Brothers

Preschool!

Dallin started preschool this year. That has actually been making me a little sad. He is getting so big!

I do love who he goes to. Rose Mary is his teacher. She did preschool for all my boys.



I love how I have this same picture of each of my boys. Here is Dallin:


Here is Blake:


And here is Kyle:


Dallin did really good. He went right in and seemed comfortable. He had a great time and most days he asks to go again. He loves wearing his backpack, probably because his older brothers wear theirs. When I picked him up he was totally happy. I love how he ran up to me.