Pre-Halloween

I was going to wait to post pictures of my kid's costumes until after Halloween, but we've had so much fun the last couple weeks and I needed a reason to post :)

This is our neighborhood Halloween party. A family in our ward has it at their home and had games, food and prizes for the kids. This was our first year going and I can't believe how much effort they put into it! Several people were there to help and the kids had such a good time!

The kids costumes weren't quite finished... But Grace is a witch and Max is a vampire.


For family night we carved our first pumpkin. I'll be honest - I'm not a pumpkin carving queen. It took me forever to just get the guts cleaned out, but lucky for us Mike and the kids loved carving it! We carved a Jack Skelington face. Max and Grace kept eating the raw pumpkin seeds. We had homemade beef stew for dinner and then put Grace in the tub because she was covered in orange. I was cleaning up and walked in the bathroom and Max had climbed in the tub with Grace. Shoes and all - I asked Grace why she didn't tell me Max was being naughty or getting in the tub and she just giggled and said Max got in the bath with his shoes! (not to mention how much fun it is to peel away Levi's and a really soggy diaper... :)

During the pumpkin carving I asked Grace if she was having fun. She said yes and I asked her if Jesus would want us to be a happy family and have fun. She said no he wants us to be naughty. I said no, he wants us to be nice and be happy. She just rolled her eyes at me.

Mikes family has a big Halloween party every year. All the grand kids get to dress up, they do a couple pinatas and dinner. Witch's are in this year, I think there were at least 10 of them running around!

Caitlin brings new meaning to the phrase "stealing candy from a baby".... and Mike's aunt Liz looked awesome with her piercings and tattoos.

Here's to hoping for a warm 31st, or at least not a bitter cold snowy one!

Year #4

A year ago Mike and I decided to go to Las Vegas for our anniversary. I don't think either of us actually thought we would go, but I found a really good deal on airfare and a really good deal on a hotel room.

4 1/2 years ago I stayed in St. George, but spent a day in Vegas with some friends, 4 years ago Mike and I went for our honeymoon and stayed off the strip in a very nice hotel. 3 years ago we stayed at the Stratosphere for a night passing through to California. Well, I don't ever remember going to Vegas and feeling so dark and dirty. This time we couldn't get away from the cigarette smoke. Everywhere we went, walking, sitting - waiting for the shuttle. I don't remember being unable to get away from it before.

Don't get me wrong, I loved being with my husband, and just getting away was exactly what we needed. We stayed at the Sahara - and it was dark. The casino was dark, the halls were dark, our room was dark. I love light and windows and seeing my food clearly when I eat... we went through several other hotels, and shops and non of them them seemed to be as dark. We were in the cave! We aren't big gamblers at the Tyler home, something about me not being able to stand losing or something like that so we walked quite a bit. We splurged on chocolates at the Godiva store - I didn't know it was possible to buy 2 pieces of chocolate for $7, but it was so good! We ate at California Pizza Kitchen and at Margaritaville. And we spent time together.

We are together a lot - but sometimes it doesn't seem like we're together. We are chasing kids, watching TV, playing on the computer, paying bills, planning to do's, and so many other things. It was just really nice to not worry about cleaning the house and just be together. We held hands everywhere we went, we haven't done that since Max was born - at least not with each other!

Mike says we've become "those parents". Everywhere we went we started looking for Grace and Max prizes. "How cute would that be?" "Oh Grace would love that!" And we'd start laughing. 2 days was plenty to be away, by day 3 I was more than ready to come home to my kiddos.

I also forgot my camera - so no pictures from our trip to the smokey cave.... We did decide that we probably won't go back to Vegas again. Park City is closer, cheaper and cleaner!

It's funny how much can change in 4 years - different jobs, 2 kids, moved twice... wonder what the next four years will bring?

Fall Fun Days

I love the fall. I love the colors, I love the cooler weather, I like sweatshirts and breezy days. Some how this year seemed to go from summer to bitter cold winter over night. Luckily it "warmed" back up a bit.... In effort to not waste any available "outside" time before it gets "too" cold again we have had some fun adventures the past week.

Mike and I took the kids to Cherry Hill for a round of miniature golf. We invited Aunt Caya to come along. They had transformed it into Scary Hill and nearly every hole was redone for Halloween. They put a lot of work into the course and the kids had so much fun. They gave each kid a little club and ball and for the first few holes they were pretty good about playing. Then Grace threw her 1st ball into the water, and Max wanted to pick up everyone eles's ball, but what else would you expect taking a 1 & 2 year old golfing?

It's so nice to see the kids outside having fun. They loved the Frankensteins mouth, and there were big black cats up in one of the trees. Grace also decided to keep score and sat at each hole making marks on the card. Max just loved being out of the stroller and walking around. We were glad Caitlin came with us - cause G&M are a lot of work!

We had to have Halloween jammies....

On Wednesday we went with some friends to Black Island Farms for a Pumpkin Patch hayride. It was fun, and cold! They had a courtyard with piglet races and slides and a corn maze, but it just was too cold for the little ones to do very much. They loved the Haystack slides and Grace could have spent all day watching the animals.

We went on the hayride through a gigantic pumpkin patch and watched the last part of the sunset. The driver of the tractor may have had something to drink to keep him warm.... We stopped and picked two gigantic pumpkins in the dark. (Side story.... Mike got hurt at work 3 weeks ago, his back is still really sore and he walks quite a bit slower. He's getting better - but imagine us now trying to get two children and two huge pumpkins off the hay wagon... Our friends Brooke and Ben had their own two little ones and three huge pumpkins of their own... It was a sight I'm sure!) We learned two things - next year we are going to go earlier in the day and children under two are free so my kids can't get any older.

Tasty

If Max could speak full sentances I'm sure he would say "Yes, as a matter of fact, Kit-Kat's are my favorite candy!"

Relief and a bit of Sadness

I'm a little relieved and a little sad.

The Tyler home is now a binka and bottle free zone. Sunday the 13th I decided to take Max off his bottle. I never had to take Grace off the bottle, around 4 months she just decided she didn't want it anymore and ate baby food after that. But not Max, he loved it. He was drinking 5-6 bottles a day, and would hardly eat food. Plus he's such a picky eater - there were nights he didn't eat any dinner and just wanted his bottle. He also didn't want milk out of sippy cup. He would drink water or juice in a cup - but if it was milk he just let it sit there. Well, Monday wasn't too bad, until the afternoon. He cried for about 6 hours straight for his "bababababababa..." + I left his favorite blanket at my moms + he was starting to get a runny nose. I pick the week he's getting a cold to take him off? I must be crazy!

Tuesday he didn't cry for it at all. He was perfectly fine and slept through the night. I started thinking, okay. We're doing pretty good. Wednesday we took the kids to the dentist for the first time. They asked if Grace was a thumb sucker - I said no. Does she still have a pacifier? Um.. yeah... about that...

You may remember last winter when I took Grace's precious binka away. She bawled for it for 5 months. She stole Max's every chance she got. She stole her cousins. She hid in the closet. In the night I'd go in her room and she would have taken Max's and be sucking on it. She is addicted. I hope she never starts smoking or drinking... I finally caved. We gave her a binka for bedtime only. She did good for a while, then it became a nap time/bedtime binka. Then a nap time/bedtime/car ride binka. Then a nap time/bedtime/car ride/ need it "so bad" time binka. I would not let her have it during the day, or when we went places. But she always had it nearby.

Back to the dentist - They said it was pushing her top teeth forward and she had to be done. They suggest Max lose his too and that they had this nasty stuff they could paint on to the binky's and the kids would give them up after a day or two. He said let them have it and let them make the decision to give it up. So we gave that a shot. The kids gagged, slobbered and cried. Grace cried for an hour. Max just kept trying it and gagging. Mike thought it was hilarious, but it broke my heart. But Mike got his - he got some of the sick stuff on his finger without realizing it and put it in his mouth...

Well we barely made it through the fist night. Grace clutched hers in her hand all night long. Thursday morning Max got a hold of his and gagged and threw up in my bed, so I threw it away. later that day I caught Grace with hers in her mouth. I asked if it was gross and she said yes, but kept on sucking it. I told her to get it out of her mouth and she said, "The doctor said I could have it." And she was right, he had. But he also said it was so gross that they wouldn't keep it in their mouths! That night I took it out of her mouth three times, and then I threw it out. She cried Friday and Saturday for that thing. So I found another one and cut the whole nipple off of it. She carries the "broken binka" around with her everywhere. I've caught her trying to suck it more than once.

Sunday my sister tried to tell her that she needed to put the broken bink in an envelope and mail it to Santa for presents. Grace put it in the envelope, and made it a few hours, before nervously saying, "Where's my binka? I don't want presents!"

Yesterday she had a total breakdown at her Grandma's. She cried for over an hour - It was so sad. It's been almost a week now -and I'm just not sure what to do with her.

It's been crazy at the Tyler home. No bottles, no binkas, Max and I have had a bad cold... and secretly wondering... The last week or so I have been so exhausted. I know I had a cold, but it seemed more than that, twice I actually took a nap in the middle of the day, and I'm not a napper. I was nauseous, for days. And my boobs hurt so bad. I am probably the only person in the world that hates my IUD. I have never been so irregular. Slowly I began to wonder.

Grace will be three in January. Max will be 1 1/2 next month. Truly, I didn't want to have another baby right now. I simply don't know what we would do. Max was a surprise and we love him dearly, but I am not ready for another surprise. Little parts of my thoughts started thinking about having another little baby, and a tiny little part of me starting thinking okay. If I am, we will just figure out a way.

But... my back didn't hurt. With Grace my back hurt. With Max, my back hurt for day 1. And so, I didn't really believe I was. But. Well, one does start to wonder- I took a test yesterday. It said No. Very clearly No. Relief. Relief. Relief. and a bit of sadness. One day, maybe in a year or two when my kids are a little more independent. (And not crying over binka's and baba's.) One day. For now I'm just grateful for my two!

A few more trips to the zoo...

We went to the zoo a lot this year, 5 or 6 times... My kids love it and Grace talks about it for days. Backtracking just a little... The circus was suppose to come to the Newgate Mall parking lot the first part of September. They told us we could bring Grace and let her watch the elephants set up the tent. Well, Grace LOVES elephants, so I opened my big mouth and told her. She was so excited! But, then they canceled and mom looked like a big meany. So I told her we'd take her to the zoo instead. She loved it, but now several weeks later she still tells me she's sad she couldn't come to mom's work and see elephants set up a tent.... That will teach me....

The first pictures are when we went with Grandma Ruth, Aunt Beth and Daisy.

I tried so hard to get Grace and Max to look at the camera, this was the best of 10....


Max just stood and stared at the snake, Grace actually touched it. But Max, he wasn't going 1 step closer than that.


Grace keeps picking the dumb things on the carousel. She loves this stupid peacock. If I'm paying to ride I want her to actually ride on something that goes up and down, but at least she's happy, and I'm a sucker for happy.

At the very end of the day we sat down in the little eating area and a peacock was walking around. Grace started walking after it, she followed it for several minutes. Not one bit afraid... and I earn a mother of the year award for letting her chase a peacock...

Last week Mike and I took the kids to the dentist. I told Grace if she was good, and didn't cry that we would take her somewhere fun - so back to the zoo we went to see the baby elephant.

She is just completely enthralled by them. The baby was really cute, and active. She rolled in the mud and played with some toys. I love just seeing how happy the animals make my kids.

This is Grace walking like an elephant - her hands were totally black - but she does elephant very well.

This is the first time I've been able to get Grace to see on the Elephant that sneezes. She's been quite afraid of it, even here she's still not too sure. But afterwards she wanted to go sit on it again, and again, and again....

I love that the zoo isn't so expensive that you can only afford to go sparingly, and that it's close enough not to be a pain!

Grandma's sweet 96th

On Sunday we celebrated my Great-Grandmother's 96th birthday. For the last several years we have met with many extended family members to celebrate every September, and each year someone has noted this will probably be Grandma's last year with us. Well, I didn't hear that once this year - but something was different. Over the past few years her health has deteriorated, and she has talked a lot about my Grandpa who died over 20 years ago. My gut feeling says this was probably the last birthday we are celebrating for her, but my guts have been wrong before.

Some memories I have of my Great-Grandma are.... She had this room off her kitchen that had a sliding glass door, we'd go in there and play on the exercise bike. There was another room off that room and I was always afraid of it... I'm still not sure why. As a kid I remember Grandma always having treats in a little candy dish - lemon heads specifically. I didn't like them, but I always took them. (that sounds like me...) When I was in high school a group of us needed to interview someone who was alive in the 1930's. We picked her - I remember some of the stories she told about growing up, their first TV, dancing at the Elite Hall, and walking everywhere. The first time I took Mike over to meet her she had him read out of the missionary handbook and started asking him questions. I was embarrassed, but he didn't mind. Grandma never missed a chance to share her testimony with her grandchildren.

Here are some pictures....



Me and Max....

Maggie & Libby

Ryan & Mary

My mom -

Nicole & Shuan

Cassie & Libby

Great-Great Grandma Edna & Grace

Kenadi

Max

Mike & I

Max my cheese

Tyler Family