Veterans Day Parade

Parades seem to be a big deal around here! Maybe its the small town girl in me, but it seems like once a month there is something that needs a parade to celebrate. Oh and there are lots of local princesses from surrounding towns that get to sit in old cars wearing their pretty dresses.  Today Logan had the opportunity to be in a parade that I can actually stand behind.  I am so grateful for our veterans and there love of country as well as sacrifice. My father, grandfather and grandmother all served in the armed forces and I loved knowing that they served our country well.

 We waited  for 45 minutes for the parade to start and he didn't complain...much.

 There's that Valor Hall Banner we've all been waiting for...here comes Logan (finally)!

 He just spotted his brother! There's my Loganito the second one from the end with all the other 4 and 5 year olds with hats they made to honor the Red, White and Blue.

There's my Loganito the second one from the end with all the other 4 and 5 year olds with hats they made to honor the Red, White and Blue.

Street Art

I love living a big neighborhood with lots of kids the same age.  The boys have so much fun playing outside with the other kids when they are with their parents.  The afternoon started with having 2 Oliverson boys added to our mix with 3 Simkin kids and of course the neighborhood kiddos (mostly boys).  I did feel a little like a Polygamist when we were walking to pick up James from the bus stop.  I had an 8, 7, 5, two 3 year olds and an 18 month old in tow walking back to our house. When the Simkin kids came over that added a 10, 6 and 12 month old to the mix (that was a rough afternoon).  But everyone left fed and happy! I even got M&M's out of the deal.  Sister Simkins knows me well and pays me with candy every time I watch her kids. Oh and I learned that Brogan is kinda a bully.  He did not like that other little guy and kept pushing him down and sitting on him! It was pretty hard to discipline and not laugh.

It's great that we have this fun dirt hill right outside our door so I can set up camp in a comfy (or not so comfy) chair and watch out for dirt clumps.

 Carson struggled getting up the hill, our sweet neighbor Alex helped him up while James made fun of him!

Someday there will be more houses here and my house will be much cleaner! That red dirt does end up everywhere in everything.  The best is when they empty out all that glorious red dirt from their shoes in my kitchen.

 Lulu and Logan worked hard to decorate the driveways of everyone in the fourplex.  Lulu will be eight soon, but her talent is that of a much older person.

 Because there is constant construction all around us there is a constant source of trash.  This time they found plastic to pull the motorcycle with.  Carson pulled that thing up and down the driveway for 20 minutes.

Making a Turkey!

Trick or treating Utah style

I do love myself some Halloween.  We were never allowed to celebrate Halloween the way the rest of the world does.  Usually my mom would have us dress up and we would go to our grandparents house and then return home to enjoy a communal bowl of candy.  We never had anyone knock on our door because of where we lived so we never saw what it was like for anyone else.  Being with my family is true to how I grew up.  We spent a lot of time together and I always felt close to my brother and sisters because of it.  Now that I have kids I feel so much pressure to fall into this commercial holiday.  We have to buy the costumes and buy lots of candy, for what? So that our kids can have fun for a few minutes and then be sick for 2 days? 

Either way Halloween was fun this year! The boys are finally getting old enough that we get to have a lot of fun together.  Curtis was able to join us from Wednesday to Friday and actually helped James with his costume. Each of the boys had class parties that we were able to help out with, amazingly, and a Ward Trunk or Treat. 

 

 Carson was a cow

Logan making mummies at school with his friend Sawyer (Fanboy from Fanboy and ChumChum).

 Logan was a blue ninja

 Logan helped me out at Carson's preschool party.  As you can see he was a really good example to all 17 of the 3 year olds.

 Enjoying his spoils.

 
James was a police officer.  I am sad that this was the only picture I have of his costume.  If I was a glutton for punishment I would pull it out of the Halloween box and make him wear it, but I am not, so you won't see a better picture.  

We went around our neighborhood and maybe had 8 people open their doors for the boys and I think some of them gave out lunch snacks.  We had no trick or treaters come to our door so now we know for next year.

E for effort

This morning one of James friends was baptized and we were invited.   We went to three different buildings before we found the right one, but we were still on time (only in Utah). We sat down in front of James friends family and instantly Carson and Logan started wrestling....I threatened and things were good for a few minutes. Carson was just getting too out of hand, so I took him outside to scream it out. My boys know they need to stay put when I leave, but with Utah baptisms done differently here James left with the second group instead of waiting with his friends family.  I have to say when I got Carson back to a  listening mood and James was missing I was upset at first and then 45 minutes later when I still couldn't find him I was terrified.   I even made an announcement from the pulpit, checked every room, around the building,  my car...every possible place except for driving down the road. There was one room that was doing a confirmation so I just waited outside and guess who just walked out like nothing was wrong...my kid! No one else left so I don't know if he came out to get a drink of water or what, but that was the crazy.  Talk about being lead by the spirit!  He was sad he missed seeing his friend being baptized so we just left.
No good deed goes unpunished!