happy birthday grandpa

grandpa lindberg turned 91 this november:)  his sweet daughters planned a birthday party for him in star valley, so we decided to go for a visit.  we had a nice lunch, and then headed back to his house for cake and presents.  

grandpa is so sweet with my kids. i love to watch how cute he is with my little boys:)

happy birthday grandpa lindberg!

thanksgiving

i don't know how, but between gathering all my children and the food, i forgot to take my camera to thanksgiving:(  we spent the day at aaron's parents house.  we arrived at noon and were able to spend the afternoon playing with the kids, looking through old photo albums, and snacking on appetizers.  it was so nice to have a day to relax with my family, i think the best part was that i wasn't at my own house, so i wasn't constantly thinking of things i needed to get done.  the kids loved spending the day with cousins and grandparents.  sherry was able to bring grandpa lindberg up to spend the day with us.  my boys love grandpa lindberg, and cooper calls him the "cowboy grandpa."  really wish i could have snapped some pictures of my boys hanging out with great grandpa lindberg. we had wonderful thanksgiving feast, and a great day making memories with our family.

smashing pumpkins

aaron has recently become a skilled pumpkin grower.  he bought the seeds, dug special mounds, marked them with stakes, put special fertilizers on them, and were rewarded with a bounteous harvest.  after we gave some of the pumpkins to neighbors, and carved some... aaron took the kids and grandpa to the hills to take care of the rest..

this was one of the giant pumpkins we grew, i think it weighed in at 94 pounds.

i don't have much to journal, as cooper and i were not invited.  they kids had a blast and i am sure they will all be anxiously awaiting the new crop of pumpkins next fall:)

happy halloween

on halloween paige thought it would be fun to dress cooper up in her costume.  he loved it, his dad and grandpa's didn't so much.

i have to say it is a little cute:)

 the crew all ready to head to the trunk or treat. 

 i am really finding it hard to take a decent picture of all four kids.  i can't ever seem to get a smile from everyone at the same time.  and carson was WAY too excited to sit remotely still.

paige, love this sweet look on her face:)

 morgan and her friend mary

our scary little bat.  he loves that his costume had wings and horns...we didn't have the heart to tell him they were actually ears.

carving pumpkins

carving pumpkins

i admit that carving pumpkins is not one of my favorite activities:(  i wish i was that kind of fun mom, but i am unfortunately lacking in that area.  we decided to have some friends over to carve pumpkins and make it into a little party.  we had a fun time eating pizza and getting into the halloween spirit with our good friends the wards.

aaron and coop

wish i would have got a better picture of poor morgan, she usually doesn't looked possessed.

becky and maddy

i didn't think coop would want to help, but he was even brave enough to grab out the guts.

our finished products.

wes, owen, cooper, maddy, morgan, and carson.

  paige was gone visiting the hills with grandma and grandpa that night, so we had her carve her pumpkin on halloween.

i just love how i caught coop tormenting maddy in a picture.

we tried to get paige's pumpkin done before coop woke up and wanted to help, but we didn't make it:(

 when he wouldn't stay away from paige's pumpkin, we got him his to mess with.  all he wanted to do was use the little knives and poke holes in his pumpkin.  he told us for this picture he gave his pumpkin some ears.

the fire truck bed

cooper was unaware that we had saved carson's fire truck toddler bed, so we decided it would be a great motivator to get him potty trained.  we kept telling him if he would stay dry all day, we would set up the fire truck bed.  it took a few days,  but we were finally able to set it up for him.

unfortunately, he has no interest in sleeping in it.  he loves to play in it, and fill it completely with toys from his room.  luckily, we were inspired and left his "cibb" (as cooper calls it) set up, so that when he refuses to stay in bed and fall asleep, we just move back to the crib.  we have found he will only sleep in the toddler bed if he has missed his nap, and he is too tired to make trouble. 

a few months ago, i left my wallet at the temple and when i went to go pick it up, i had cooper with me.  i told him about the temple being pretty and that angel moroni was on top.  since then he has been pretty interested in moroni.  now he makes towers out of blocks and lego's and puts toy people on top and calls them moroni.  he also like to stand on anything higher than the normal ground, and pretend he is moroni.  in this picture he is even playing his trumpet.

we are really hoping that someday soon, he will actually sleep in his bed, and we can finally be done with that crib.

string lake picnic

 

on our last day, we like to take the kids swimming at the rec center in jackson.  it never opens until the afternoon, so we had a relaxing morning playing down by the water, got packed up, and went to string lake for a picnic.  it is such a beautiful place, i remember coming to this place to have picnics when i was a kid.

coop loved playing in the water.

it was still pretty smoky:(

the whole crew, minus the mom who was taking pictures.  i love to go to the park this time of year and see the beautiful fall colors.  i am so glad it has become a yearly tradition.