WWF

What does your family do on a slow Sunday afternoon? After a few hours of pirating, rescuing, and general mischief, Carter and Mac resorted to a good ol' wrastle. This was about 10 minutes into it, so you can tell they were losing their steam. But pretty funny stuff.

What is it . . .

with boys and war paint???

Seriously, I ask you?

Sooooo tragic . . .

That my camera ran out of batteries. Because I had the most fantastic hairstyle this afternoon.

I was tired (can't seem to go to sleep before my night-owl husband does) and so I set the kids up with watercolors and tried to lay down for a minute. Carter came in a few minutes later reporting that he painted on a couple of things he wasn't supposed to, but "is that ok and can we be friends again?" After we resolved that, Mac came in a few minutes later and declared that he had drawn on his beloved blankies with a pen, "but only a little bit."

So I gave up on a nap and instead let the kids play hairstylist. Lately, Carter asks if he can brush my hair right after I finish doing it in the morning, and I usually am not so keen on restyling my hair. So I told them to go for it. Four brushes, two picks, a comb, several bobby pins, some hair jaws, and thirty minutes later, I looked totally amazing and had fantastic material for a blog post.

The following are excerpts from my styling session (I finally started taking notes--it was so funny):

C: Mom, when I do it like that, your hair looks like the pointy roof on a house. (hair parted down the middle and teased for volume)

M: Mom, don't you just love to have your hair all tangled?

C: If you go to the store like this, everyone will think you are so beautiful.

M: Um, mommy, I can't get my brush out of your hair.

C: Mom, did you want your hair to look like this today, but you didn't know how to do it?

I started telling them how their mom cuts their hair, but lots of kids and parents go to a store called a salon to get their hair done. I tried to explain highlights to them:

C: So do they use spray paint to do the colors?

M: Mom, can we paint your hair?

C: When you sit in that chair, do they really put a washing machine on your head? (I was trying to explain the hair dryer-apparently it didn't translate.)

So yeah, if you were to see me on the street this afternoon, I might look a little odd, but hey, my kids think I am beautiful.

Our pals ...

Meet our new friends, the Evans family. Camryn, Daryn, Tyler, and Abby. As cute and as fun as they come.

We had a playdate, and we indoctrinated them quickly. Here is how it went: the firefighters put out the fire on the fire engulfed building. They pulled out the wounded victim (me), and then the paramedic gave me excellent medical care. Then the policeman identified that the fire was caused by an arsonist, and he went after the crook.

And then they switched costumes and did it all again.

Mac's new best friend, Abby. Can't go to nursery without her.

Last week, we went to the "train park" with them, and we had a blast!

Tyler and Carter in jail.

Tyler and beautiful Daryn on the carousel.

And yes, the moms went on all the rides too. (But Mac told me he wanted me "off his horse" one minute into the ride.)

Carter and his new pal, Camryn. (Mac calls her Camera.) That Carter, he always goes for the older women.

Tell me . . .

Is it possible for three-year-olds to survive on edamame alone? Because mine is trying to.

Pumpkin Patch Play Day

This post is a little out of order--should have come before all the halloween stuff. But the pictures were cute enough I had to post it. We found the greatest pumpkin patch--yeah, it took us 45 minutes to get there, but gas is cheaper here. So why not?

Who do you think weighs more? Umm, it's getting pretty close!

Gee, thanks, Mom. I just love being a sunflower.

Follow me, Carter.

Any of you think you could keep up with Carter in a gigantic corn patch?

Wait for me, Carter!

They had a great tractor-barrel-train thing. The boys loved it.

For the record, I took a ride too.

And I was just as nervous as Mac was that we were going to tip over

when he took the sharp turns.

Seriously. I was gripping the sides of my bovine-painted barrel.

Do our faces look pink to you? It was only 95 that day. We were hot, sweaty, dirty, sticky (popsicles) ... and totally happy.

Now we get down to the real point of the trip. The Best Pumpkin Ever.
Checking out the options.

Got it. Now roll up your sleeves, got to get it to the car.

Returning the wagon. And the brother.

Happy Haunting!

Happy Halloween! (a little late)

I guess my boys were tired of being pirates, because they opted for other costumes for the actual Halloween festivities.

Carter was a ... we're not really sure. Matt's dad had this costume, and I think I decided it was an orc from Lord of the Rings--you know, those goblinish soldiers? Anyway, he was pretty impressed with how scary he looked. And thought it was really funny that he was wearing a dress.

Mac was a friendly, neighborhood Spiderman.

As the night wore on, Carter was as grouchy as an orc,

but Mac's spidey senses were tinglin!

He was jumping off curbs, pretending to fall, bouncing up, and "shooting" webs at everyone he saw. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he ate a piece of candy every third step he took. He was a wild man!

Wait, is Spiderman in cahoots with an orc? Or is the orc strangling him?

Your guess is as good as mine.

We saw some pretty creative pumpkins at Matt's dad's house.

The labels speak for themselves.

We live close-ish to a guy who works for Universal Studios in their prop and set design department. He decks out his house for Halloween with about 20 statue/figurines that were real movie props, etc. I was a little worried that the boys would be scared (the realistic--is that possible?--werewolf was pretty creepy, and there was a Chuckie, etc.), but Mac assured me he would be brave. In fact, in his own words,

"I'm not afraid of anything, Mom. Except dinosaurs."

Here are a few of the pics:
Brothers keeping each other safe.

This one is hard to see because the fog machine was going right next to it, but it was a pretty fancy Captain Jack Sparrow and his treasure.




Darth Vador and a storm trooper.
Carter has no idea who or what Darth Vador is, but he is pretty sure he is totally awesome.




My spidey vision must be off!
Do you see two spidermen in this picture?



All in all, it was a really fun night. We ended up with a LOAD of candy--every house gave the kids a *handful.* We tried to get rid of some of the candy we bought by leaving a bowl of it on the porch all night, but we still had a ton left. Matt and I have just about finished off the boys' candy (a week later). Hooray for our new dental insurance!

Shiver Me Timbers!

Argh, these be the fiercest pirates in the desert!

For most of Halloween, my boys were "cap'ns."

Mac is one scurvy dog. He walks around all day lately muttering "Shiver me timbers!"

At Carter's school party, we made Oreo and licorice spider cookies.

**see cookie in background**

Mac was not impressed with the licorice part.

Kazoos. Awesome. Every mom's dream. It was a long 25 minute ride home. :)



At a cousin Halloween party, the
boys made some sweet ice cream concoctions.



Delish, right?

Gummy worms, candy corn, chocolate syrup, oreos, and sprinkles.

For the record, Carter ate his entire bowl.

We carved a scary pirate skull
(of course)

on our very large pumpkin.

Funny story: That night, when Mac refused to touch his dinner (for the second night in a row), I threatened to not let him help carve the pumpkin and send him straight to bed.
To my surprise,
He said, "Good idea, Mom." And went to bed.
I failed to remember that when they

had carved a pumpkin at school,
Mac said, "That's disgusting" and refused to go anywhere near

the pumpkin guts.

Oops!

Here we go!

Ok, drum roll please ... I finally started a blog.

These first couple of posts will catch us up on what has happened

since we've set up camp in the desert. So here goes:

First, we moved. Muchas gracias to all those who helped move (and clean!) our SLC house.

(You know who you are!)

On the way down, of course, Matt and I parked the semi (with the car being towed behind it) at Matt's brother Todd's house in Provo, and went to see the BYU game.

Then drove until the early am to St. George.

The next day, we stopped to see the kiddos in Flagstaff,
and they were totally impressed with

our new ride.

Since being here, we've had alot of fun--been to lots of parks (not to make you freezin' Utahns jealous, but that is still what we do these days 'round here--I know, I know,

you'll be making fun of me next March through August)

We've also had lots of "playdates" with Nana and Opa and Grammie and Grampy,

and school is great!

Oh, and lots and lots of good bro-to-bro play time.

We miss all y'all in the slightly less deserty desert. Looking forward to hearing from you!