Hidden Stash

I was getting Shawn ready for bed last night when I found a large stash of Monopoly money hidden under his dresser. When asked what the money was for, Shawn explained that he was saving it to buy a car. Every single day Shawn talks about buying a car, driving a car, or he goes into detail about what his car will look like. It's going to be a long 13 years for him.

St. George

Last week Jon had to go to St. George to audit the hospital and clinics down there so we decided to go along. The trip turned out to be totally free since the company paid for the hotel, his food, and then the extra money we got for gas and wear and tear on the car paid for our food and activities. Even though I spent most of the time trying to keep the boys happy instead of relaxing and shopping, it was still fun. We went swimming several times, including Evan who loved it. It was nice having the pool completely too ourselves since nobody else thought it was warm enough. I only took out the camera while we were at dinner one night and then on a morning walk to the temple. Shawn took a couple pictures of me at the temple, but considering they are shots taken from below and I look huge, I will not be posting them. :)

Is it really November?!? I can't believe Halloween has come and gone. I had my boys costumes early and then planned on figuring out something for Jon and I, but it never happened. I have no real excuse, just didn't get around to it. I was so sad on Halloween not to be dressed up. I think it is so fun to dress up and we will be doing so next year for sure so be ready for that. :)

Jon handed the pieces he cut out to Shawn whose job it was to cut those pieces into smaller pieces. He took that job very seriously. I was a bit of a slacker with the pictures this Halloween. I didn't get any of the finished pumpkins.

Jon made Shawn help clean out the pumpkins. Anybody that knows Shawn knows this is a torture. He hates being "yucky" and dirty.

Evan was a squid/octopus, but he didn't really enjoy it.

As most of you know, it rained on and off on Halloween so we brought an umbrella big enough for all of us just in case

Shawn went trick-or-treating with his good friend Buster (aka McKinnley). They made a good team because Shawn could knock louder than her, but she yelled "trick-or-treat" way better than he did.

Jon and Evan sitting on the porch handing out candy

If I can't find Shawn at my Dad's house, he is usually here.

Shawn with cute cousins Jack and James.

Copper Mines

A couple weeks ago we were bored on a Saturday morning which is the reason we took an impromtu trip to the copper mines. My last time visiting the mines was when i was around 4-years-old. We had just moved to Utah and my mom took us and some neighbor kids to see it. There was snow on the path up there and I remember that my mom tried to do a U-turn, but the snow bank on the side of the road turned out to be a cliff instead of a snow bank. Our car was tilting towards the cliff and my mom yelled for all of us to lean to the other side. Luckily a truck was passing which just happend to have towing cables to they pulled us to safety. That is my only previous experience with the copper mines.

There's not much to say about it so here are a few pictures.

Evan likes carrots

Evan has started eating solid foods and is loving it. Everytime we are eating, Evan tries to reach for our food and licks his lips the entire time. This is a picture of him after he ate some carrots. It looks like it is time to pull out the bibs and covers.

When Daddy's away....we PLAY!!

Jon had to go to Orlando for a conference (poor guy...had to stay at the Disney Hilton Resort right next to DisneyWorld) I know....I know.....we should have gone with him, but it just didn't work out. Besides the money issue, we didn't want to take such a young baby and we didn't feel comfortable leaving him with someone when he isn't good about taking a bottle. Anyway, to make up for it, we decided to play all week. I literally didn't clean my house all week except to keep up on dishes and laundry. So here is what we ended up doing:

MONDAY:

We took Jon to the airport. Went to Costco. Played at the house. Then I randomly decided to paint my bathroom.

We had some leftover green from the baby's room that I really like so I used that. Here is the only picture I have of the bathroom before.

I let Shawn help me paint the wall. I thought this was so smart because it kept him entertained......until......I turned my back and he painted a different wall. His painting career was OVER!! Here is the after picture so far. I need to buy some new towells that are the same color as the rugs we have. I also need to paint the baseboards white and I want to frame our mirror with black molding.
After I locked up the house, put chairs in front of the doors (so I could hear better if someone opened one), and got a butcher knife from the kitchen, I went up to bed. This is what I found. I asked Shawn about it the next day and he told me it was so I didn't have to sleep alone. How thoughtful of him. :)

TUESDAY:

Tuesday morning I had a meeting. Then my freshman roommate, Heather, came over to have a play date. We went to the park and had a picnic. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures, but we had a really fun time playing with her and her cute little Rex. That night Amy dropped off her kids so that her and Antoine could go out for their anniversary. We went to the park again with the cousins and then watched a movie.

WEDNESDAY:

We decided to go to the zoo with my friend Jen and her adorable little Millie. Shawn doesn't remember the zoo at all so it was really fun taking him there again. Being the amazing moms we are, both of our camera batteries died half way through the zoo. At least we got a few shots.

On the way home from the zoo Amy called and said that the fire station by her was having an open house. We toured the building, learned fire safety, saw the trucks, and watched them put out a fire in a fake house. How did Shawn enjoy this outing?? He HATED it! He didn't want to go in the truck, he didn't like the smoke during fire safety, and he thought the fire in the house was "rude". He told me he NEVER wanted to go there again! Amy was kind enough to take a picture for me since my camera was dead. You can see by Shawn's face how he felt about the experience.

I didn't notice when I was taking this picture how terrified Shawn looks.

He did, however, love the tiger statue

And so did Millie

Long necks, which is what Millie calls them

The only picture I got of Jen before my battery died. I think Millie pushed the stroller more than she actually sat in it.

We went on the carousal twice. First, Shawn rode the lion then. Second, he really really wanted to sit here.

THURSDAY:

We met up with Jenae and baby Sadie (Shawn still refers to her as baby Sadie even though she is two) to go to a pumpkin patch that is geared towards younger kids.

They had tons of these wood cutout things

There was a small corn maze, but we took the alternate route that has you walk in a circle straight around the corn maze.

There was a little area with things the kids could walk through and climb on

We all know how much Shawn loves Mickey Mouse

He wanted another picture with the big pumpkins (at least he liked the hat from the fire station)

We played on the inflatable toys, played on the playground, walked through the pumpkin light tunnel and then headed to Jenae's for lunch. Eating leftovers at Jenaes was the first real food we ate all week. I wasn't about to make real dinners when I would be the only on eating it. After lunch we had to feed the ducks that live across the street from Jenae.

Sadie was so cute, she would chase the ducks back into the water. Shawn would run the other way as the ducks came close to him. You can't tell in this picture very well, but Jenae is due in a few weeks with a baby boy.

And just so Evan doesn't feel left out that there aren't many pictures of him on here.....here is a picture of him playing at home.

Another fun weekend

Jon didn't have work on Friday (he gets every other Friday off) so we decided to try the Pirate Island restaurant and arcade place in Orem. We hadn't heard anything about it, but we knew Shawn would probably like it plus we had a coupon for a free kids meal. We were pleasantly surprised. We thought the place was really fun and decorated so well. I figured it would be a cute place, but sick food. However, everything we ordered was so good. It didn't hurt that they had red cream soda, which is my favorite. So considering the food was good, the place was fun and different, and we just bought a $60 gift card for $30 on KSL deals, we will be returning a least a couple times.

The entrance to the place- so fun

Jon thought I needed a picture with the hat on
Arr Matey (these aren't very scary faces)

Jon and Shawn playing a game where you fly an airplane. I don't know who enjoyed it more

Saturday afternoon we went for a drive up Big Cottonwood canyon to see the colors. I think we kind of missed the peak, but the yellows were still beautiful.

The path was wood planks like this the whole way. Evan was getting so bumped around that Jon decided to try holding half the wheels off the ground.

You probably can't tell but we are freezing. It was SO cold up there.

You can see how beautiful this spot would have been about a week earlier

This is how Shawn felt about taking any more pictures

The only red colors we saw up close

Hanging out in the car while Shawn goes with Daddy for a potty break

Evan's first time eating rice cereal

Sunday Morning: I didn't even know we had these matching sweater vests until I started getting them dressed