Jack-O-Lanterns

This weekend has also consisted of carving Jack O Lanterns.  This was a whole process just to get to the cutting part...I had thrown away our carving tools when we moved because it had been so long since we had carved pumpkins that I didn't think we needed them anymore.  That one decision cinched it that we would be carving pumpkins this year!

My Mom and Chris took my boys to Northern Utah and they picked out the pumpkins for all of us.  Then I had to brave Walmart on a Saturday in Tooele to get patterns and cutting tools.  Since the rain and snow didn't clean all the mud off of the pumpkins  Kelton and Seth wiped them off.  We had their cousin Kayla here for a late night and she was more than willing to carve my pumpkin for me...whew.  I had no idea how my hands would hold up and didn't feel like trying to find out.

See, always a process, never easy :)

Before long, the pumpkins had been chosen and divided up...they were clean and ready to get dirty again with pumpkin guts....tops cut and guts scooped....patterns picked....then you could have heard a pin drop in the house while they all focused on their designs.

Here are the finished ghoulish product of their hard work....

Kayla: Bat....Taylor: creepy cape guy

Kelton: creepy guy climbing out of ground

Seth: traditional Jack-O-Lantern....Kenny: Mummy  Face

Our front porch is now officially ready for Halloween!

Movies, Food and Laughter

Kenny and I decided to take yesterday and spend it together as a family day for just the 4 of us.  We don't get to do this very often, which is okay, but every once in a while we like to disappear and do things just for us.  Selfish, I know!

We have also been keeping ourselves on a tight budget, so part of our plans was to go have fun and splurge a little.  Do some things that we haven't done for a while.  

Like see a movie before it went to Redbox!! and get popcorn and drinks....

Eat at one of our favorite restaurants...

Take our boys to their favorite store...

Then hit redbox on the way home for a movie we have waited FOREVER to see...

Lastly, Netflix to watch one of our favorite comedians....

John Pinette

All in all, it was a very very very good day!

Milestones

Kelton is now 15 (as you all already know) and now has his learners permit.  He is officially allowed to drive on the road and the proof is the picture below where he is sitting in the drivers seat of our truck.

How did we get to this point?  I swear it was just last year that we were in the hospital having him.  He was so small and sweet.  He loved to snuggle with mom and take naps. He would perk up and be very happy when dad got home from work.  He was our little Cheeto because he was so jaundice.

Kelton has always been very special to us and I still remember his blessing day like it was roughly 9 months ago.  We had so much family there with us that day and had an amazing lunch after church.  I can't believe how fast that first month went and how fast he grew.

Before we knew what happened he was eating Rice cereal, sleeping through the night and learning to sit up. He was such a handsome chunky boy.  Even at 3 months old he was wearing 6-9 month clothes.  He did everything early and was a wiz at taking things apart.  I was constantly finding the rubber ends of door stops and bolts from my treadmill in his mouth.

Cars have always been his first love.  He had a huge collection from an early age that was added to by Santa Clause one year...he filled Kelton's stocking with hot wheels cars.  Kelton had a special organizer to carry his cars in and each car had its own space.  He knew where each car went and we would switch them just to see if he would actually fix it. He always went back through and put them in the "correct" place.

It swear it was only 6 months ago when he started doing his army crawl that slowly turned into a quick crawl.  He wasn't walking yet, let alone driving.  

Last month was when he turned 1 year old, I swear!!  He got rid of his binkie and his bottles that day.  It was a big step.  Not as big as driving but it was huge and what his mom was ready for a month ago.

 

Last week he was just a normal 15 year old.  He was playing with Lego's and playing at the park.  He was busy texting girls but not trying to merge onto the freeway.

 Now, here we are, with Kelton holding his stack of papers needed to obtain his learners permit.  It really is a stack of papers thanks to all the new laws.  He has officially driven from Tooele to Grantsville on the highway.  Each of the small milestones have led to this moment.  This gigantic moment!  

New School Year

I can't believe that it is almost the end of August, we have moved back to Grantsville, school has started and both boys are so far loving it in this one stop light town.

Taylor is in 8th grade and doing wonderful.  He loves it so far. We had to drive to Salt Lake to get him his instrument for band, he is playing the trombone. He talked my ear off the entire way to the store (all 40 min.). According to T, his band teacher is awesome, his Language Arts teacher is oooold (he is 64 and this is his last year teaching).  He is able to go to school with one of his cousins and a friend and also found one of his friends that he had from 3rd grade.  So far, so good.

Kelton started 10th grade. He is taking digital photography and already had his first assignment of taking 100 pictures. He is also taking pottery, current issues and algebra II (he is the only Sophomore in the class the rest are older).  He also started drivers ed this week.  He is doing wonderful and has been so excited for school every day.  He also loves walking to and from school each day because we live just around the corner from the High School.

First Day of School 2012
Taylor & Kelton

Swimming Monday

Kelton, Taylor, and Seth got to have fun passing away a lazy summer morning by playing in the pool. They all had so much fun and Seth stayed in the pool the entire time until we HAD to leave. They all were little prunes by the time we left.