Pumpkins 2013

We went to a local pumpkin patch on Wednesday:

 

  

I took this picture of Kevin when we got home.  He didn't want to sit long enough for me to take a picture while we were at the farm.  There was too much space to run around.  

I made sure to take extra pictures of Jonah this year.  In 2012 I never got the required "baby at the pumpkin patch" pictures.  Because of a late October hurricane (Sandy), I went to the Farmer's Market and quickly bought a few pumpkins in the pouring rain while the kids waited in the car.  This year was much better!

Saturday night, we carved them:

 

I'm so psyched that Kevin and Elena are old enough to do most of the carving themselves.  They did a great job!

 

The first 2 completed pumpkins!  As always, they drew their own designs.  Kevin's has teeth that he colored black and Elena's has a bow above the left eye. 

Utah trip 2013 (Part 1 of 2)

It had been too long since our last trip out west; we hadn't been on a plane since Christmas 2009!  Exactly two months ago, we arrived in Utah and the kids and I stayed for two weeks and Dan was able to come for the first week.  We had a great time and hope to be able to go back soon!  We got to visit with Dan's parents (awesome hosts) and also got to spend time with each of his siblings and some nieces and nephews.  It was an awesome trip!  Here are some of the highlights of week 1:

How fun is this backyard for little kids?  There's a huge sand box, a trampoline, a tire swing, and a little tractor! I can't believe I don't have a picture of him (this week at least), but Zach -who is a high school senior- was so sweet to take lots of time on the weekends to play with his little cousins.

Dan's sister Kathie asked me what the kids favorite colors and characters were a couple months ago. I promptly forgot about it and we were super surprised when she showed us what she (and her niece) had made for our kids!  They are the cutest, and softest blankets ever!  So much amazing detail too.

 Kylie, Celisa, and Ally.  Two nieces and a great niece. :)  Aren't they beautiful?  They were so sweet and patient with the little ones.

We visited my brother Adam in Provo. We met up with him at the BYU Creamery, where he works as a cheese guy.  We had an awesome behind-the-scenes tour and free ice cream.  Yum!

Chillin' with Cosmo! This picture turned out really cute, but not quite Christmas-card-quality.  That would have been awesome!

 We had a great morning at a huge park with Abuelita.  It was a nice walk there and back and the kids napped very well that day.  We enjoyed eating apples off a tree on the way home.

 We went to the Ancient Life Museum which had a ton of great dinosaur fossils.  We had a great time there and we ate a yummy lunch at a cafe next door.  We were able to meet up with some family members that we hadn't seen yet on this trip: Kevin, Barbie, Caitlin and Ben.  Also pictured are Amy and Abuelita.

My sister (in-law) Barbie and (Dan's) Mom working together to build a circuit at Thanksgiving Point.

This giant sandtable is also at Thanksgiving Point.

 

Everyone was waiting so patiently while the little ones had a dinosaur dig in the sand room.

The next day we went on a hike with Uncle Kevin and Aunt Barbie (Dan's sister and brother-in-law).  Jonah has a new "cheese" face now. His natural smile is replaced by this lovely grin whenever he sees a camera.

   Thanks to the slope, I look like a giant. :)

Awe, cute: Mother, son, and grandson.

My brown-eyed babies

Ally does a fantastic Miranda Sings impression.  We hadn't heard about her before, but apparently she's big with the teens in Utah.  We watched a few of Miranda's youtube videos of Miranda Sings and there's no doubt about it, Ally does an awesome job.

Jesse's photobombing.

Abuelita, Caitlin, and Amy relaxing after a big, family dinner.  Caitlin had her baby about 3 days after this. :)

You'd never know by this picture how much these brothers love each other.  Silly boys.

This is the best picture that we got of all 4 siblings apparently.  I wasn't there to take a picture or else I would have tortured them and made them all stand around longer until I got one with all their eyes open. They're all very funny as I'm sure you can imagine if you know Dan.

This was Kevin's first sleepover.  He's on the floor and Jesse's on the couch.  Cute cousins.

We had such a beautiful day at Sundance!  We took the ski lift up...

enjoyed the views...

and went on a hike.

Kevin and Kevin led the way on the hike and later little Kevin hid behind his uncle.  Such a tricky boy. :)

On our way back down, we saw our future house (lol)...

and Kevin and Jonah dealt with their exhaustion in two totally different ways.

After the little boys had a very quick nap in the car, we all went to a park in Provo Canyon and enjoyed a picnic lunch.  It was such a wonderful afternoon.  So many Dison grandchildren (young and old) hanging out together.  It was pretty cool.  I truly, truly love being a part of this family.

Dan and Jonah's circus act

This picture was actually taken the next day.  Elena had her cousins do her hair and makeup.  They were so sweet.  They even used the makeup to draw pictures on her hands.  She loves to be "fancy".