Trick-or-Treat!

I LOVE Halloween! I love the movies, the treats, decorating, costumes, you name it! I have been looking forward to the day when I would have kids to enjoy Halloween festivities with for a long time. Although it was both Jaxson and Aynsley's first Halloween's last year, I think that this year was a lot more fun. It has been so fun for me to watch them get excited about the different activities, even if they didn't completely understand what was going on. I am pleased to say that I think that my kids have inherited my love of the holiday. Jaxson seems to be fascinated with pumpkins, and even sat through "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" with me.

On Sunday, we celebrated Halloween with Mike's family. The kids dressed up in their costumes - they dressed as Jessie and Woody from Toy Story. Jaxson LOVES Toy Story. Anyway, it was fun to have the kids dressed up and see the cousins in their costumes. We had a delicious dinner, played some festive games, and ate more good food. It was such a fun evening.

We had to pose for some pictures while the kid's costumes were still looking good. Getting two toddlers to pose for pictures is tough!

For family home evening this week, my family came up to carve pumpkins together. Both of the kids seemed to think it was pretty interesting and wanted to be involved at the table. Jaxson even helped scoop all the guts out of his pumpkin. My dad helped Jax with his, and I think that Jaxson was pretty proud of their creation.

My work gets really into Halloween, which makes for such a fun day. This year, the people in my department dressed up as super heroes. Most of us were Avengers, but we also had Super Woman and Poison Ivy make an appearance. My boss dressed as the hulk, and ended up winning an award for his costume. 

I love Halloween night, and this has been one of my favorites so far. We took Jaxson trick-or-treating for the first time, and it was so fun. Mike took him to a few houses, but then I decided to take him out again because he was having such a fun time. He lasted a lot longer than I was expecting, and was seriously running from house to house. He was so cute to say "trick or treat" and then "thank you" at each house. Poor boy didn't want to come home, he was having such a fun time. I think that I am going to have a hard core trick-or-treater on my hands!

Autumn Activities

Wow, where has October gone??? I have seriously had so many times when I had posts in my mind, then time just flies by. I feel like we have really been able to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and enjoy these last few sunny days. It has been so fun for me to experience the season through my kids and enjoy getting excited over the little things. We have loved our autumn outings, yummy treats, festive movies, and fun craft projects. Here is a look at what we have been up to:

We have been able to take a couple of trips to Gardner Village to see the witches. During our first trip, we went with our family and Mike was able to come. It seems like most of our activities are always during the day, so it was nice that he could join us.

To say that the kids loved the witches was an understatement. Jaxson especially was so fascinated by them. There were two that were his favorite, and he spent quite a bit of time running back and forth between the two witches. He would run to one, copy whatever she was doing, then run to the other. He did this for at least 10 or 15 minutes. 

I had to go to a conference for work in Tampa, Florida, and was lucky enough that we had our spouses join us. Our hotel was right on the beach in Clearwater, and it was absolutely gorgeous! Clearwater was seriously one of the nicest beaches that I have ever been to. 

Mike got to beach bum it while I was in classes, but I did have a chance for a few fun outings. We flew in a day early so that we could go to Universal Studios in Orlando. I was pretty excited, because I had never been to either Universal Studios park, and I also wanted to check out Harry Potter. We must have chosen a good day to go, because the lines were not bad at all. We had a lot of fun, but I must admit that I am still a Disney girl at heart. It was pretty cool to see the Harry Potter area of the park, but I was expecting it to be a little bigger than it was. Still, I have no complaints about the day. It was so much fun to spend a carefree day with Mike without worrying about the kids. Unfortunately, the camera that I brought with me that day was out of batteries, so I was only able to take a few pictures on my phone. 

Enjoying the beautiful sunset on Clearwater Beach

Although most of the time I was at the conference without Mike, he and the other spouses were able to come on the last day when we received our award. He was also able to hear the closing speaker, Commander Kelly, who was the commander on the last space shuttle mission and the husband of Gabriel Gifford (AZ Senator who was shot). It was really interesting to hear him speak, and I am sure that Mike enjoyed it since he is so into space stuff. After the conference, we went out back by the riverwalk for a few pictures.

Last week, we headed out to Pack's Pumpkin Patch with my cousin and her two kids. Jaxson and Aynsley loved being able to run around and check out all the pumpkins. I love going to this pumpkin patch because they have a little hay maze that is the perfect size for Jaxson to explore.

We had our second trip to Gardner Village on Friday. We went with my cousin and her kids, and it was crazy busy! Jaxson totally recognized where we were as soon as we pulled in  and was so excited to see the witches again.

We ended the day by going over to Gardner Village's petting zoo. I really wish that I had taken my kids hear before, because they both loved it. They went from being cranky and ready to go home to smiling, laughing, and not wanting to leave practically instantly. Aynsley was a little nervous around some of the bigger animals, but she and Jaxson both loved the bunny rabbits and the chickens. I loved that the workers were so willing to help the kids hold, pet, and even ride on the animals. We will definitely need to remember to come back next year!

Fall is in the Air!

Oh, how I LOVE fall! I love the crispness in the air, the changing leaves...I just love it! This weekend, I was lucky enough to take two canyon drives to enjoy the leaves.

On Saturday, I took the kids out so that Mike could paint Aynsley's room without any "helpers". Two of my sisters joined me for a picnic at Silver Lake. The kids LOVED being there. Jaxson thought it was so much fun to be able to run around the pathway. It was such a beautiful day to be there. It's days like these that make me love living near so many canyons.

Blowing kisses with Aunt Beth.

Love these two! I was so glad I was able to get a picture with both of  them. 

One of our family traditions is to take a fall drive over Guardsman's Pass and down into the Park City area. Mike suggested that we take our annual drive today, and it was another beautiful day in the canyons. We paused to take a few pictures and enjoy the scenery.

My two favorite boys. :)

Big Cottonwood Half Marathon

I did it...another half marathon! After running the Salt Lake Half back in April, I decided that I wanted to find another race to help keep me motivated with running. After some research, I found the Big Cottonwood Half. This was the first year of the race, and it really appealed to me because it was down the canyon in the fall. What a better backdrop to run than the beautiful canyon? I talked my friend, Camille, into running with me, and I am so glad we did it!

The race was so much fun. I loved the route...seriously so beautiful. It was really different to start running in the dark and then have the sunrise during the run, but I really did like it. I loved the crisp air, the smell of pine, and of course the changing leaves. Plus, I was able to improve my personal best time by about 12 minutes. This really was the best run I have had in a long time, and I am already looking forward to signing up next year.

This race was really runner-friendly. All of the race pictures were FREE, so it was nice to have some pictures from the route. 

Crossing the finish line! Until next year...and maybe even a FULL marathon???

Oktoberfest

For as long as I can remember, my family has gone up to Snowbird every year to celebrate Oktoberfest. I have so many fond memories of my grandparents coming into town and my family going up there for the day. As little kids, it seemed like this great adventure where we got to each strange food, dance to crazy music, and explore all the little vendor shops. Now that I have kids of my own, it is fun to share this family tradition with them. When we went last year, Jaxson wasn't quite ten months old yet and I was ready to pop with Aynsley, so this year was definitely a lot more fun.

Once we got settled into our table in the main area, Aynsley immediately started bopping her head and trying to dance. Once we got her out of the stroller, she was going crazy dancing to the beat. She LOVED the polka music. And, much to my surprise, she also loved the German food. Apparently she is just in touch with her German heritage. :)

Jaxson was a little less excited to be there. He wanted to be held by me or Beth most of the time. 

Getting these kids to hold still for a picture is HARD! I don't know how people do it!

Aynsley is busting a move again. This girls absolutely loves music and to dance. 

Birthday Girl!

Wow, how time flies! It seems like just yesterday that Aynsley was born, and now we are celebrating her first birthday! I decided to do her party in a "chevron stripe" theme, and we had our families over to celebrate.

Aynsley didn't quite get the concept of opening her gifts, but Jaxson was more than happy to help out. She now has some girl toys to play with (no more cars) and some super cute clothes for the fall.

Mike's cousin, made this super cute cake for Aynsley's party. I don't know what I would have done without her. I gave her a couple pictures of ideas that I had, and she just ran with it. It definitely turned out way better than I could have done. Jaxson loved it too... he got a finger of yellow frosting (see top right of cake) before I could stop him.

At this point, Aynsley was way overdue for her nap. She has started into that stage of going to just one nap a day, so she wouldn't take a morning nap before her party. She was already getting a little fussy to begin with, but when she started rubbing her eyes and got frosting in them, she was just ready to be done. Needless to say, she got a bath and was put to bed before any of her party guests left.

We are so grateful to have such an amazing family that would come celebrate Aynsley's big day with us! Thanks so much for the thoughtful gifts and help with lunch. We love having you in our lives!

Anderson Family Reunion

Every labor day, Mike's extended family has a family reunion camping trip in the Beaver area. We didn't go last year because I was due to deliver Aynsley, but we have gone the past two years before. I was very nervous about going this year...who goes camping with two kids under two? After a lot of debate and learning that we would have access to a trailer, we decided to go.

We left our house before 4:00 on Friday, and after a lot of delays, finally arrived around 12:30 that night. Talk about a long night! Fortunately, it was pretty easy to get settled in and everyone was in bed by about 1:00 AM or so.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well the kids did camping on Saturday. Jaxson was able to take his first ride on a horse and both kids seemed to really enjoy exploring and getting dirty. Jaxson absolutely LOVED playing with the big kids...digging holes, playing with the ball, you name it. He was also quite the little ladies man. The other little girls that were there kept trying to give him hugs and kisses. It was quite tender.

I was able to enjoy a nice run down the canyon and had my personal best time for a five mile run! We also took the kids on a ride in one of the UTVs that was there. Jaxson loved it, and Aynsley fell asleep. As we were coming back from our ride, we saw such a beautiful sunset over the lake that we were camping next to. I commented to Mike that I hadn't even got my camera out at all, so I would have to make sure that I did the next day.

Mike and his cousins

Little did I know that Jaxson would wake up in the night with a fever. He started crying in the night, so I just had Mike bring him in bed with us so that he didn't wake up Aynsley. After he came into bed, I thought that he seemed really warm, but I thought that maybe I had just overdressed him for bed. That next morning, I was certain that he had a fever. We gave him some ibuprofen and hoped that would do the trick. He seemed to perk up for a little while, but it was obvious that he was still feeling really sick. He just laid by me on the bed moaning...it was SO sad! We were able to track down a thermometer and found that his temperature was over 102 degrees, so no wonder that he was feeling so sick! At that point, we decided it was time to just pack up and head home early.

Bottom line...besides Jaxson getting sick, the camping trip went better than I was expecting. I had totally been preparing myself for the worst case scenario, so I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't as hard as I was expecting. Staying in a trailer was a huge help, but I think it also helped that we were prepared with so many things from home that the kids are used to, such as their favorite snacks and high chairs. It is good to know that we can travel with our kids without having it be a complete disaster. :)