Playing Catch-up (Random days in the month of October)

                                                                                                                           10/2/11

Eve loves making beds for her babies.  Porter just happens to get sucked into all the fun sometimes.  Porter has been crawling and getting into everything since about a day after he turned 8 months old.  He is pulling up and cruising and he's even figured out how to go up (but unfortunately not down) stairs.  Life is a lot crazier with 3 kids on the move.

                                                                                                                          10/3/11

"Speak softly but always carry a big stick..."  He probably figures he needs it to beat off his big sister and brother.  They tend to love on him a little too much.

                                                                                                                          10/5/11

Arrrrrr.

                                                                                                                           10/7/11

How cute is that?

                                                                                                                         10/12/11

Porter is so jealous that he doesn't get to play in the bath with the big kids.  He always wants to be a part of the fun.  And he LOVES bathtime so he is double disappointed.  He is also obsessed with spending time in the bathroom.  I don't know why.  Bathrooms are not that fun nor are they that clean when you have little boys around.  All the time I find him in there just hanging out.  Of course he has figured out how to unroll the whole tiolet paper roll so that means he likes to be in there even more lately. 

By the way, is it bad that my girl and boy still like to take baths together?   I know they are getting kind of old for it but they entertain each other and keep each other safe in the bath when I walk away and it saves on water rather than having 5 people showering seperately all the time.  Yea, maybe I need to stop that. 

One day, little buddy, you can take baths with your big brother.  Though I can't guarantee he won't try to drown you in there.

                                                                                                                          10/15/11

                                                                                                                        10/17/2011

                                                                                                                         10/25/11

Eve's Pretty in Pink Party

Our little pumpkin turned 6 years old on Halloween.  We decided that even though her birthday is on Halloween, that's no reason to pull out the black and orange to decorate.  After all, every little girl needs a Pink Party at some point in her young life.   

This year we decided to simplify our lives and do a small party with just immediate family.  It sure does make things a lot easier.

The plan had been for Eve to be a witch on Halloween.  I thought, "Wow.  Something different than the whole girly princess/ princess fairy costume of the last few years."  And then she opened her birthday presents.  And once again decided she wanted to be a fairy princess.  But who wouldn't with that cute outfit.

Eve also got a fish for her birthday.  His name is Perry.  If you like Phineas and Ferb, you'll understand the refrence.

 Sometimes I think Kole loves her fish more than she does.  He's smitten with how friendly of a fish he is and how he always wants to look at you when you walk in the room.  I guess that is pretty friendly (for a fish).  I mean, we're not expecting Shamu at Sea World talent here.  But he does seem pretty happy since we rescued him from the tiny cup he lived in in the pet store.  Kole keeps talking about all the different tank decor we should get for him so he doesn't get bored.  Uh huh.  I say we start with just trying to keep him alive.  I don't have the best track record with fish.  Sorry, little buddy.  I'll really try not to kill you off.

Anyways, I can't believe I have a six year old... and a three year old and a baby!  Crazy!  Crazy blessed is what we are!

General Authority Interview

Part of the hiring process for Seminary teachers includes a couple's interview with a General Authority.  And yesterday Kole and I had our General Authority interview with Elder Per G. Malm.  Elder Malm was so super nice (Of course!  As if I should expect anything less!) and it was really fun to meet with him.  I didn't really know very much about Elder Malm before a few weeks ago (when I looked up his bio and re-read one of his talks).  I know members of the Church sometimes act as if the Prophets, Apostles and General Authorities are some type of celebrities but like Elder Malm told us yesterday, "we're just ordinary people who happen to have pretty extraordinary callings." 

When I found out a few weeks ago that our General Authority interview had been approved and set up, I was really excited but then a few days ago I started getting really nervous.  Kole started telling me crazy stories about the General Authority interviews of some of the other seminary teacher's he works with.  I was nervous that it was going to be very long and intense.  Thankfully, ours was nothing scary, strange or intimidating.  I was really relieved that our interview was very easy going and comfortable.  Short and sweet.  He asked some questions, got to know more about each of us, took a few notes and said he would write up a positive report to send to the General Board of Education.  And that's all we hoped would happen.  All in all, it felt somewhat uneventful.  But now we get to move onward. 

After the interview we decided to enjoy a few more kid-free hours.  We started by going to the Salt Lake temple.  We had been before but it had been several years since we had been through that temple.  My goodness it is so big and confusing inside!  I felt so lost.  Even just getting to the dressing room.  And then we were the witness couple and my timing was so off (it being a live session and all). I guess I am spoiled by the Logan temple where everything is so easy going and familiar.  But it was fun to get to do an endowment and short sealing session after in such a beautiful and historic temple.

After the temple we headed to Maddox.  Yum!  We totally stuffed ourselves.  Then we decided we should head back home and get the kids.  We had to leave our home at 7 am in order to get to our interview in time so the grandmas had watched them all day.  They all love the grandmas but once Porter saw me, he was soooooooo mad I had left him all day!  He wouldn't stop crying for over and hour and then he was grumpy and needy the whole rest of the evening.  Quite the contrast to a serene and peaceful day we had.  Oh well, opposition in all things.  Now back to normal life.

Pumpkin Walk 2011

The North Logan Pumpkin Walk is an annual tradition for many in Cache Valley and when we realized it was the last day to go see it we decided to brave the freezing temps and crowds.  And boy was it a popular place to be that night.  I guess dressing up pumpkins and gourds and displaying them in scenes from movies and pop culture just makes for good clean fun.  So, like all the other minions, we trudged through the line and saw what we saw and came home to thaw.

 I think Porter was the only one who has warm the whole time.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) they don't make adult sized abominable snow man suits. 

He was so layered and snugly that we could hardly fit him in the car seat.  I don't know how people with really chubby babies do it.  I loosened the straps as much as I could and I still could hardly click everything together.  I kept telling Eve and Jack to make sure he was still breathing.

Here are the pictures... (the lighting is bad, they are blurry and I am not in the mood to correct red eye- so enjoy)...