Strong Enough For The Saucer

Cooper is strong enough to sit and play in the saucer. I think he is doing physical things sooner than Cadence was. He really likes to sit up and has such strong stomach muscles! (Not quite a six-pack though).
Cadence decided that she can't be outdone by his strength. I believe she was sad that she didn't let me paint her face for the Halloween party. Therefore, she painted it by herself! And had fun doing it!!!

My favorite two kids in all the world!!!

Ward Halloween Party

Last Saturday was the ward Halloween party. There was a chili cook-off and cornbread. I made cornbread from Chris' mom's recipe since I've never made chili and don't have any idea how! This is a picture of our family dressed up for the party.Many people asked me what we were trying to be. The answer is that we are crazy chickens!!! Duh? I found these chicken/bird heads at the thrift store and bought them for a $1. Chris also wore a cape to be "Super Crazy Chicken" and some fake bubba teeth just because! We had to wake Cadence up from a nap and she wasn't very happy about it. She wouldn't let me paint whiskers on her face! Cooper is a plump little pumpkin!

After dinner, the kids played games like bowling, fishing, digging through a treasure box, a cupcake walk, darts and throwing a beanbag. Cadence liked the games and prizes she won!

I would have got a picture of Cadence up close, but she wouldn't allow it. She kept turning her head. Cooper looks great in his pumpkin-type beret!

Frolicking in the Leaves

With Fall upon us, the leaves are falling from the trees. We have taken advantage of this yearly phenomenon to frolic in the leaves. The trees in our yard have small leaves, but they still make for fun piles to jump in, throw in the sky and in which to be buried.

Cadence running and diving into a pile of leaves!

The three of us laying in the leaves while watching more leaves fall from the trees!

Cute Cadence covered by the leaves! I love pictures of the kids in leaves!!!

Cooper did a really great job of keeping his head out of the dry, scratchy leaves.

He wouldn't move his head when I put leaves around it. I don't think he likes the sound or the little pokes from leaves.

My favorite picture of Cooper in the leaves!!!

After play group, Cadence and I ran in circles throwing leaves in the air. She loved it. Then she wanted to lay in the leaves, but not ON the leaves. She got Cooper's blanket, spread it out and then laid down. Cooper LOVES watching the trees moves!!!

Cadence taking a rest from running around in the leaves at the Pumpkin Walk!

Pumpkin Walk By Day AND Night

We visited the North Logan Pumpkin Walk twice. Once in the daytime with the Ryan clan and the other at nighttime with Dad. I wanted Cadence to see lots of lit up jack-o-laterns. She was scared of them.

The Johnnies with Zander and Parx in front of the Noah's Ark scene. The animals made out of pumpkins were amazingly fun and creative.

The kids with the witch. Cadence would say, "She's not scary. She's silly." She also told the witch that "I'm too cute to scare." Just like her shirt says!!!A fishing scene with a dad taking his son fishing! My kids are so cute in their Halloween shirts.
When we went back at night, I wanted the kids to be warm. Cooper has an Elmo warm onesie so I let Cadence dress up in a warm Elmo costume. THEY WERE THE CUTEST ELMO TWINS! (Thanks Camille for letting us borrow Cadence's costume.)

Dad and the kids in front of an olympic swimming scene!
The family in front of the corn stalks!

We love the Pumpkin Walk!

USU Homecoming

There are definite advantages and aspects we love about living in a "college town." The conveniences of a large town with the fun of a university!!! Due to the university, we get to participate in many activities close to our home. Utah State celebrated Homecoming this last week. We tried to involve the kids in as many activities as appropriate for them.

On Monday, we picked up Dancin' Debbie (Impact friend) at USU and took her to the county building for $1 desserts, dancing and the ribbon cutting ceremony for Homecoming!
Cadence LOVED Big Blue. In her own words, "I wasn't even afraid of Blue Big." She thought he was so cool and was very interested in the ring through his nose!

She also loved the cheerleaders. We met Natalie Nesbit there for treats/cheesecake. Perhaps Cadence's favorite part of the evening was DANCING! She's got so much rhythm and can dance FOREVER! She never gets tired! Cooper gets to dance with me!

She loved being with Big Blue, the band, and the cheerleaders so much, I took the kids to the pep rally.

However, they started earlier than what was advertised and we missed all three:( We still participated in some activities like the rubber ducky race down the fountain and painting pumpkins.

After the fun, we ate pizza in Dad's office!

On Saturday, we attended the homecoming parade. Once again, Cadence LOVED Big Blue, the cheerleaders and band.

She gathered a TON of candy and danced constantly to all the music from the floats and trucks.

It was a very fun parade and the weather was amazing!

Cooper even enjoyed the parade! Chris is such a good sport. He goes along with most of my crazy ideas and acts like he is always having fun (even when I am making a fool of myself). I'm grateful for a husband that knows the importance of doing activities together as a family. We love being a family!

What Do I REALLY Want?!?!

Chris and I are very special because we are friends with a published author!!!- REALLY good friends with a published author! Our friend, Bretton Hadfield, has written a book called, My Three Wishes. It is a workbook leading people through the steps of making their wishes become reality. We went to hear him speak about the ideas and contents of his book last week. I came away feeling like I need to figure out what I really want out of life. If I had three wishes what would they be? I think of many things I say I want, but are they really what I want? I have many decision to make in the next little while and will be using Bretton's book to assist me in discovering what I really want and then getting it using his steps. If you like the law of attraction, "The Secret," or are into creating your own reality, check out his website at http://www.mythreewishes.com/ Bretton and KimberLeigh, his incredible wife, we love you!!! Thanks for making me think!

Traversing The Logan River Trail

We are getting outside as much as we can while the weather is still nice and I can manuever the stroller. The most we have to wear is a jacket, but usually just a long-sleeve shirt. Going on walks is one of our favorite activities to do. I get some exercise. (Yeah!) Cooper stays awake and enjoys looking at the trees and beautiful surroundings. Cadence gets to explore.

Recently, we walked the Logan River Trail. It is a mile long each way and is lined with trees and follows the river. It is gorgeously lush!
Cadence loved mant aspects about this trail. She liked to stir the water and throw rocks in the water as we were looking for fish.

She loved the four bridges we walked over.

Since the trail borders a golf course, we watched people golf and saw some moving golf carts (very cool). I explained to Cadence how to play golf. We also took quite a few pictures of Cadence. The scenery is amazing! (I actually got many of my bridals taken here.)I need to figure out how to do a collage so I can put more pictures on here:)

When we were loading up to go home, Cadence climbed all over this barracade. She couldn't get enough of it!!! It made me ponder about getting her one for Christmas!!!

I love the weather right now. It is so comfortable. I love fall!

Pre-Mature Balding

It is time to announce that Cooper officially has pre-mature balding. It is not the in the usual spot of most men, but of babies - the back of his head. I think it is kind of handsome:) He doesn't like to sit or lay still. Cooper is constantly kicking his plump little legs, waving his arms and turning his head from side to side or looking up to the ceiling and sky. He is just so cute and wiggly!! Because of this, he has formed a symmetrical looking bald spot on his head.

Just as this bald spot is very noticeable, it might be going away soon. Cooper started rolling over a few days ago. Some days, I attempt to give him tummy time and he just rolls over time and time again. It becomes a roll over exercise! He also is very close to sitting by himself.

His personality is coming out! He smiles like crazy - especially for me! He is making more and more cute noises and some of them are very loud and funny! Oh, how I love my little balding man!

Like Father, Like Daughter

Cadence loves me. She copies me, talks to me, hugs and kisses me, but when Dad gets home, she is so excited to be with him. She gets a break from me and Dad does so many fun and interesting things that Cadence wants to experience. The other day, Chris came home from work and got on the roof to do some painting. Cadence sat on a chair watching and talking to him. Somehow, she convinced him to let her get up on the roof.

She climbed the ladder to this part of the roof with little pitch. I thought that would be enough for her.

But, NO! She wanted to go to the steeper part and go higher where Dad had been working.

I came outside a few minutes later to ask Chris a question and this is what I saw.Yep, they had climbed over the top and to the front of the house. When Cadence called my name, they blew me a kiss! How sweet! When they decided to climb down from the roof, Cadence told me, "I wasn't scared. I was brave. I be careful."

The day following the roof, Chris was doing some stretching. Cadence wanted to be like Dad and joined him. She attempted to copy everything he did and she was pretty good at it.When Dad was finished with his stretches, Cadence made up her own stretch for Dad to do.She put her feet on the couch and her body was stiffened straight to the floor. Dad copied her! Aren't kids crazy wonderful? (That is one of Cadence's phrases.)

Cadence loves her dad and wants to be just like him!!!

Repenting FHE Slacker

I have to admit that I have not been the best at putting on formal Family Home Evenings (FHE). When we first were married, we were together on Monday nights and read scriptures together in the mornings. Now that we have kids, our FHEs were just doing our normal day-to-day activities on Monday night. I guess I had the same philosophy as my parents had - we're all home together doing something and that is what counts - whether it was yardwork, homework or eating dinner.

Now that Cadence is getting older, I want to be better at having FHE's with a prayer, gospel lesson, a fun activity and a treat, of course!

Last week we started our new FHEs. I want to make these fun candy apples and designed a lesson around that theme. We read from Cadence's Book of Mormon reader about the tree of life and the fruit found thereon it. Then we painted pictures of a tree with fruit. Following that, we dipped mini-caramel apples. I got the idea from my favorite blog, Little Birdie Secrets, who got it from Family Fun magazine. Though messy and not going the way I planned it to go, it was still fun. Chris used a melonballer to get out chunks of apples. Cadence and I dipped them in melted caramel and rolled them in toppings - sugar/cinnamon mix, sprinkles, coconut, and these round little candies. Let's just say I love the taste of caramel and apple!!! Yummy!
I recommend that if you try this activity, you follow the directions of either of the two websites. If you are wanting to use caramel, use the caramel sheets (like on Little Birdie Secrets)
instead of melting the cubes of caramel. It was messy, sticky, hot (Cadence got slighty burned playing in it) and I had to keep reheating it to make it stick to the apple. If you want to do chocolate, butterscotch or peanutbutter chips, follow Family Fun.

Next, we were going to play a rousing game of Candyland. That is Cadence's favorite game at the moment, but we were busy cleaning up and getting de-sticky-fied.

The evening was fun and I look forward to doing more repenting from being an FHE slacker.