Halloween parties and more!

This year Halloween was a week long process. We had parties all week and every day Logan would ask which parties he got to go to that day. Finally when all the fun was over Logan still wanted to talk about the parties and find out if there were any more that I had been hiding from him.

The week started out at a fun filled evening at the Miner house. JJ had yummy food and fun games for all of us to enjoy. It was fun to see all our cousins in their costumes this year even though the costumes only lasted for the first five minutes and then it was time to eat. Costumes were stripped and makeup was smeared as we enjoyed the meal. Making Rich and Erik mummies out of toilet paper was the first fun activity. Rich made a great mummy. Then bobbing for apples was the highlight for the older cousins and even Matt got into the fun of it. I was impressed that Logan even snagged an apple by finding the stem of the apple. I think all the kids enjoyed dipping marshmellows in carmel and sprinkles. Eating them was the best part though. We had a great time.

Next was the Poulson Halloween party on Wednesday at my mom's house. The games and activites didn't stop all day and by about 4:00PM I was pooped. I took advantage of having other adults around to keep an eye on my kids and crashed on the couch for an hour or so. We had a great time and again the costumes only lasted a short while and then it was time to hunt for eyeballs in green slime and eat witches hands and skeleton cheetoes for lunch. After carving pumpkins, making spiders, and decorating cookies with as much candy as one could fit on a single cookie (Logan's strategy) we were finally worn out. Both Logan and Chase sacked out on the way home.

Thursday Logan got to dress up in his costume for preschool and take a treat. He came home with a sack full of goodies and a huge smile on his face. (He always comes home from preschool happpy.) That night our ward had a huge Halloween bash with food, fun and games. The best part was the trunk or treat where the boys scored all their candy.

Finally we get to Friday which was thankfully for me a mellow day with trick or treating at a few houses on our street and a visit to the Thomas family to play with cousins for a short while. Halloween was fun and I'm glad we got such good use out of our cute costumes but boy was it an exhausting week for mom.

Coyote Gulch

I'm seeing a theme with our blog. I only manage to post on our blog when I have pictures from a recent Southern Utah trip. I guess this is our Southern Utah blog. I'll try and do better about recording other events in our lives as well. But for now here are a few pictures of my (Heidi's) trip with my family to hike Coyote Gulch. The boys (Logan and Chase) got to stay at Papa and JoJo's house and Rich unfortunately had to work. The hike was lots of fun and filled with the beautiful red rocks of Southern Utah that I've grown up loving. We hiked the 12-13 mile hike in one day and drove home that same day. The 7 hour drive put me home at 2:00 AM. The crazy things you'll do to get to church on Sunday and teach a lesson! Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Moab Fun!

The annual Memorial Day weekend trip was in Moab again this year so of course we weren't going to miss it even though my parents decided Italy was much more exciting. I still can't believe they chose Italy over Moab. We had a great time and finally took the jeep out after sitting on the side of our house for the past 3 years. I think Rich has been hesitant to take it out because our last attempt to take the jeep to Moab ended in complete and utter disaster. First the truck broke down pulling the jeep down there and we ended up driving the jeep anyway. Then Rich hurt his back and ended up in the Moab hospital which was quite an experience. So we overcame the jinx that was placed on us and made it to Moab with the jeep in tow, had a great trip wheeling (although a bit rusty, both the jeep and the driver), and successfully made it home without any major injury. Logan managed to get two red ant bites which was quite a crisis at the time but all in all we were injury free.

We did get some rain and some hail and the weather was much cooler than we are use to for Memorial Day weekend but it was a fun trip. We arrived on Thursday evening and luckily set up camp under clear skies. Friday however, we weren't so lucky. We decided to do the Steel Bender trail and got rained on most of the day. The rain didn't bother us too much though because we were in vehicles. It was a good trail to get our feet wet again wheeling. The jeep has quite a few more noises than we remembered but we still made it through the trail. I was amazed how both Logan and Chase were able to take their naps through all the bumping and rocking around. We did get a few dirty looks from Logan while he was trying to sleep and we hit a hard bump.

Saturday was a clear day but the storm the day before brought much cooler temperatures. We decided to try the Porcupine Rim trail, one we've never attempted before. It was lucky we ran into Dan Mick at the beginning of the trail so he could bail Dan Durham out of a tough spot he managed to get himself into. Dan Mick was able to safely winch him across the obstacle he fell off of with both Sydnie and Kaitlyn in the back asleep. The Porcupine Rim trail was fun but I didn't like the cliff on my side of the jeep the whole time. It definitely made me more nervous with Logan and Chase in the jeep but Rich is a good driver so we were never in any real danger.

Sunday was spent at camp mainly. We spent about an hour at the Moab Arts Festival that was going on in town at the park. The kids liked the band and danced and ran around to the music. The pot luck dinner/lunch was at 1:00 PM so we didn't have much time to play in the morning. After lunch it was nap time. Our kids weren't about to settle down in the tent for naps so Rich and I drove through Arches while our kids slept. That evening is titled dirty time! The kids got themselves completely filthy in the dirt at camp so we had a line up for the bath in a rubbermaid food container. All the kids seemed to enjoy it except for Chase. He had a fit. The shower the night before was worse for him though. Logan definitely preferred the rubbermaid bath to the shower.
Monday it was pack up and go. We couldn't leave Moab without at least one problem with the jeep. Rich tried to fire up the jeep to pull it onto the trailer to take it home and it wouldn't start. We ended up having to winch it onto the trailer to take home. Yea! We finally got to use the expensive winch we bought 3 years ago. We had a fun time!!

February St. George Trip

Snow Canyon (the first day)

Our first day in St. George we went over to Snow Canyon because Logan was anxious to do some hiking. Little did we know he would turn out to be such an awesome hiker. He hiked the whole weekend long since Chase has now taken over the backpack. It took some convincing at first to let Chase use "Logan's backpack" but when he realized he got to hike and walk with mom he was ok with the idea. Here are a few pictures of Snow Canyon. Playing in the rocks. Up like a bug. Cute Chase. Mom and Chase in an arch. Mom and Logan in an arch. Dad and his boys.

















Bryce Canyon (the second day)


We made the long drive up to Bryce Canyon on Saturday because neither Rich nor I had seen it in the snow. We also made good use of the driving time and planned it around nap time. The only way to get the boys to nap was to drive since sleeping was the last thing either of them wanted to do in the motel room even at night time. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep on our trip but we still had fun. Bryce Canyon in the snow was absolutely gorgeous! We had so much fun hiking the Navajo Loop trail. The snow made for an interesting challenge but our little hiker didn't seem to mind. In fact Logan got a big kick out of pulling mommy down the trail while mommy tried to make sure both of us stayed on our feet. It was quite comical. Here are some of the beautiful pictures. Beautiful Bryce Canyon in the snow. Mommy and Logan hiking in the snow. Mommy and Logan venturing down the canyon. Logan showing us how much fun we are having. Chase in the snow. Daddy and the boys in the canyon. The beautiful canyon again.

Chase's Birthday Bash

I'm a bit slow at posting and keeping everyone updated. It has been almost a month since Chase's one year old birthday party and I'm finally going to post a few pictures from the fun night. I just can't believe that Chase is one. This past year has flown by for me. I do remember the first month after Chase was born very vividly. Mostly I just remember how hard it was to adjust to two kids. I remember wishing Chase was older and past the newborn phase that was so much harder this time than with Logan. Now that I look back and a whole year has gone by in the blink of an eye I'm sorry that I wished Chase's life away so quickly. We are at a fun stage now though. Logan and Chase play well together for the most part. Chase absolutely adores his big brother and wants to do everything Logan does. It is great for me too that they can entertain each other so I can get things done that I need to.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of Chase with his lamby cake that is tradition in my family. I had a lamby cake when I turned one and I think it even goes back as far as my dad having a lamby cake when he turned one. Anyway, Chase didn't get into mashing it into pieces but he did manage to make a big mess.

Winter Fun

I don't have much time to write so I will just post a few pictures of our Saturday morning activity in the snow. Logan thought being pulled by the 4 wheeler in a tube was so much fun. You can tell by the huge grin he has on his face. I think daddy enjoyed himself too. Any time he gets to drive that 4 wheeler around he is happy. Chase is just like his daddy, he preferred the 4 wheeler over the tube.

Christmas 2007

It is amazing how fast Christmas comes and goes. It seems like all the busy preparations for Christmas last forever and the actual sit down and enjoy part of Christmas is but a moment. This year, for probably the first time in my life, I was actually excited for Christmas to be over and get back to the regular routine. Logan and Chase were so sleep deprived and onery by the time we made it to Christmas night I couldn't wait for a lazy, relaxing, do nothing day. The boys sure needed to catch up on some sleep and I needed a sanity day. In the midst of the kaos though we sure had fun with grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

This year was a fun year because Logan sort of understood the whole Santa Claus thing and was so excited to have him come to our house and bring lots of presents, only if he was "good" of course. We used that one to our advantage a lot this year but sometimes it didn't work all that well. Logan went around singing, "you better watch out..." all season long. He even added his own version singing "he sees you when you are sleeping, he knows that you are awake, he knows if you've been bad to each other, he knows if you've been mean to each other, for goodness sake" It was cute! He caught on to many other Christmas songs including Jingle Bells singing "in a one purse open sleigh", Rudolf, and Up on the Housetop which I had to play on the piano over and over. When Logan did eventually see Santa Claus at our ward Christmas party he of course became suddenly very shy. He did eventually whisper that he wanted Gordon the train for Christmas and we snapped a quick photo. Chase on the other hand was mesmerized by Santa and was all smiles for the picture.

We had memorable evenings with family at both Little Christmas Eve with the Miner/Storheim clan and Christmas Eve with the Poulson clan. Both of which focused on the Savior and his birth. Logan was excited to be a Shepherd for the nativity that we did with the Miner/Storheim cousins. He played his part well, that is after someone helped him with his headband so he could see. He and Zack thought the candle nativity was soo cool at the Poulson Christmas Eve that the Rices so beautifly put together for us. I think they were most interested in the fire and couldn't wait to blow the candles out and have cake and ice cream. All candles are related to birthdays in Logan's mind.

Christmas morning was somewhat of a disappointment for Logan because he was expecting to see Santa Claus even though I told him over and over that Santa only comes at night while he is sleeping. I don't think he quite made the connection that all the toys set out for him on Christmas morning were from Santa. He liked them anyway but was most excited about the little orange at the bottom of his stocking. Next year we might just give him a whole box of clementine oranges and call it good.

Logan had a Thomas Christmas this year getting his big train table equipped with many of Thomas the Tank Engine's friends. He also got books and DVDs all about Thomas. Mommy already has all of the books memorized since we have read them each about 10 times. Chase was most excited to get his balls for Christmas. Santa brought a race track that he was sure to love since Chase makes a b-line straight for Logan's shake n' go racers everytime we are in Logan's room. Unfortunately the race track is rather loud and scares Chase unless someone else is playing with him. He curiously pushes the button though when he is by himself and immediately crawls away as fast as possible when the cars start to race. He loves the balls he got from both grandparents though. He gets excited about both the basketball hoop from Papa and JoJo and the busy ball popper from grandma and grandpa. Mostly he just carts the balls around the house. It is funny to watch him try and crawl with a ball in each hand. Logan has enjoyed Chase's toys also and always tries to take over. If Chase tries to play with trains though Logan is quick to yank them away and get mad. And the fighting begins... All in all it was a good Christmas, filled with fun and family and most of all the Spirit.