Mommy For President

I voted this morning and took Ian, Colby and Zane with me. They were really good, (partially on account of a surprise I told them they would get if they were good, which was watching an episode of the Backyardigans, my favorite cartoon!) even though it took about an hour of standing in line.

During that time, Colby asked me if he could play in the jungle (a bunch of plants in a corner of the building), Zane fell asleep in my arms, Ian read all the "vote now" signs, and we talked a little bit more about what all the people in line were waiting for.

As we were leaving the building, the boys asked me several times if we were done voting. When I said, yes, we are all done and you boys were really good, Ian then asked in all seriousness,

"Are you going to be president, now?"

I love my boys!

Costume Time!

Every summer, my extremely creative mom lets our boys (or their mama) and their cousins (check out the caringbridge website on my sidebar for Riley and Brenna's cute costumes) choose what they would like to be for Halloween. She then sews all of those costumes, puts together great little finishing touches and sends them to some SUPER-EXCITED grandkids! This time, Grandpa and Grandma Shaw got to personally hand them out to the delighted youngsters!

Handing out costumes- October 16, 2008

Pre-trick-or-treating- October 31, 2008

Aren't these cute costumes? I just love having the boys dress up and pretend. And it is so fun to go around in costumes asking for candy with all the other little ragamuffins from the neighborhood and then spending the next several days and nights sorting and re-sorting it all!

(Now for my soapbox...you can skip down to the next picture if you want!)

But, it really bothers me that Satan is given such encouragement from all of the creepy, scary, inappropriate things that are simply glorifying him. Witches and ghosts and other whatnots opposite of God's goodness are candy-coated to the point that we treat them with excitement, cuteness and fun. But, remember Saul in the Bible? Remember when he went to witch of Endor? Also, check out Deuteronomy 18:10-12

" For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord..." Ephesians 5: 8,9

"...Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things." Philippians 4:8

Pre-trick-or-treating-October 31, 2008

This year, Isaac and Ian wanted to be knights (also, the career Ian wants), Colby wanted to be a race-car driver and Zane wanted to be a pumpkin! :) It was pretty hard for them to put away the costumes until Halloween, so I think my loads of laundry will decrease, now that they can play with them whenever they want! Isaac and Ian are already outside jousting this morning and Colby said he's going to wear his race-car outfit everyday after breakfast!

Wow! That is a lot of candy (Thankyou, Lord God, for allowing us the privilege of living in America!) for 3 little boys...and mommy and daddy! The boys are excited to play candy store, now...with so many choices, it will be hard to decide what to "buy"!

Fun in the Sun!

I don't know what the actual temperature was today, but wow...it was beautiful! In fact, we were actually hot sitting outside on the patio! What a perfect day for getting together with friends!

Front: Ian, Isaac, Ezekial, Colby
Back:Nathaniel, Josiah

This picture of Colby reminds me of the classic elementary school yearbook line:

U.R.

2 cool

2 B.

4 gotten

Isaac, sitting in the tree

We have this great pine tree in our new backyard and the boys are having so much fun thinking up new ways to ummm... make us look the other way!

They have all kinds of creative plans for making good use of it...from making slides and houses to somehow launching rockets! One day they were actually trying to put a chair up in the tree...

Josiah, standing in the tree

Zane is sooooo loved by his brothers! Nothing makes Ian happier than getting to hold his little friend!

Sunday Surprise!

Sunday was our last day in Salt Lake City and the weather continued to be beautiful!

So, we took a walk/ride through the neighborhood and found...

...Santa Claus!

Did you know that Santa lives in my parent's neighborhood?

What a fun surprise for the boys!

The Whole Shootin' Match!

Saturday, we spent the afternoon in the Cabela's wonderland of live fish, life-like taxidermy, everything outdoors you can imagine, and yes... fudge (quite excellent fudge, I might add...with fun names like "porcupine drool")

One of Cabela's younger customers...

The boys all loved the aquarium with the sunken Cabela's fishing boat!

The shooting gallery and the zoo were the two requests from the boys this time. They had heard what fun Brenna and Riley had had there and were just itching to go. It was great! I'm not sure who enjoyed shooting things up more, the boys...or me! It was a lot of fun!

Ian just couldn't get enough! I think Isaac and Ian probably would have stayed there all day if they could have... boys after Uncle Don and Mr. Sweeney's hearts!

Even Colby got in on the act!

Zane wants to get in on the Mario Cart action with Isaac, Ian (behind the plant) and Colby!

Zane and Great Grandma Shaw

Great Grandma Shaw and four of her exuberant and loving great-grandsons.

It's a Bit of a Zoo Around Here!

On a bit of a whim, Scott and I decided to pull Isaac out of school and Ian out of homeschool for a couple of days and make good use of these last weeks of unbelievably beautiful fall weather! So, the boys and I drove to Salt Lake City on Thursday to enjoy a long weekend with Grandpa and Grandma Shaw and Great Grandma Shaw! Ian had been asking just recently, "When are we going to see the red rocks and dirt again?" (which is what we drive through the closer we get to SLC).

Isaac, Ian and Colby were pretty excited to see both the Wasatch mountains and the Oquirrh Mountains!

Oquirrh!

On Friday, we went to lunch at the new Cottonwood Hospital facility. Their cafeteria is called "The View" for good reason...the view of the Wasatch mountains is fantastic! I was glad the boys and I were able to see where Grandpa spends some of his work days.

Grandpa and Ian

It was also fitting that after lunch, my boys, who were acting a bit (possibly more than a bit) like wild animals in all of their excitement, got to go to Hogle Zoo afterwards, where they could mingle with real wild animals! They've been wanting to go to the zoo for a long time!

Some "turkeys" watching some turkeys!

Ian and Isaac, on the Hogle Zoo train.

The insect exhibit was one of Isaac and Ian's favorites! Ian was pretty excited to see a beetle from Thailand, a country we've been studying recently.

The reptile house was another big hit!

We were sure glad we weren't meeting this (possibly very hungry) tiger in the jungle with no fencing option available!

I love the graceful giraffe!

Zane fell asleep on Colby's lap. He just couldn't be bothered with the sweet baby giraffe and ferocious, roaring tiger!


The boys got their choice of whatever animal they wanted to ride on, since the zoo was so uncrowded! They were thrilled! The zoo has graciously added this fine feature in order to a) provide deeper enjoyment of our zoo experience and/or b) reach deeper into our zoo-lined wallets!

Isaac has been so excited to come home and build up his "Zoo Tycoon" zoo to look just like Hogle Zoo! What a beautiful day to spend in SLC with Grandpa and Grandma!

This Is What Happens When We Fool Around At Nap Time!