Pumpkin Patch!

While we were in Utah we headed over to some property that Mark's mom owns.  They have set up a super cute little pumpkin patch and Jared was thrilled.  We visited the petting zoo, jumped in the hay pile, took a hay ride on the tractor, walked through the hay bale maze, and picked out our pumpkins. It was perfect! I love fall activities so much.

We had such a great time!

Today we made a super fun and messy Halloween Ghost.  You mix 3/4 Cup shaving cream and 1/4 Cup white glue then fill in the outline of the Ghost. Paper bags work best since they are thicker.  Add Googly Eyes and any type of mouth you want.  I love how it looks 3-D. Jared loved playing in the mix.

Happy almost Halloween!!

Happy Birthday Jared!

We practiced smiling when someone said "Smile' a lot before we went out.

Our sweet little boy turned two while we were in Utah and he is still a really sweet little boy. Jared's vocabulary is really taking off and its fun to hear him express himself. Lately he has been saying "Yow" a lot which we think is a combination of "Yeah" and "Wow".  I love his cute little voice, only now we have to try to get him to learn how to speak in a quiet/whisper voice.  He certainly had a lot to say in church today and wanted everyone to hear him.  Last night we took the railing off his crib and he stayed in bed until about 4:00 this morning.  Then I heard laughter and little footsteps in his room.  When I went into get him up this morning he was laying on floor by his closet.  He went straight to sleep last night so that was great but we will see what he does tonight.  I wouldn't have minded waiting till he was older but I don't want him to think we are taking away his bed and giving it to Lydia so we just decided to do it now before she comes. Jared is still in love with the movie Cars and can say all the characters names now.  As Mark's Mom described him he is "a wash and wear kid"  He doesn't get too phased by changes and is really an easy going boy.  He loves to go to the zoo, drive his cars around, play outside and jump off anything.  We are so happy he is part of our family.

We had a very nice birthday celebration with Mark's family. It was fun to celebrate with family since we don't see them very much and there are lots of kids who like to play with Jared.

 Mark and I went into get him out of bed and sang happy birthday to him then took him upstairs to his specially decorated chair where he got to try chocolate milk for the first time and have a donut with candles to blow out for breakfast.

After that hespent the day playing with the balloons, eating birthday cake, checking out all his new cars and playing with cousins.

I called my fabulous sister Susanna the night before to get her tips on how to make the road.  Keeping it simple. Jared loved it.  Unfortunately he saw it earlier in the day and couldn't understand why we wouldn't let him play with the cars. 

Last year Jared didn't eat any of his cake!  I was happy that he dug right in this time around.

CARS!

 I think Jared tripled the amount of cars he previously had in this one night.  He loves them all. We are so happy to have this little boy in our family.

Music to my ears

Today as Mark and I were folding laundry he asked me "what deadline do you want to give me to clean out my clothes in the closet?"  I have heard that the state of someones closet is a good indicator as to what kind of person they are, my side certainly matches my personality and really when wouldn't I jump at a chance to organize something like this?  I looked at him and said "Today at 3:00.  By then Jared will be done with his nap and we can take them to Goodwill."  I do not think that was the answer he expected.  I also was not expecting the question.  I had not said anything to him about getting rid of stuff recently at all.  But if you are going to do it why put it at a later date when it can be done right then. I LOVE getting rid of stuff.  I have pretty much gotten rid of all my stuff that I can for now so I was more then happy to help.  There have been a few items that Mark has held onto over the years that I never understood and today he got rid of most of them.  Below are 2 examples.

Exhibit A.

This is the shirt that Mark was wearing back in 2006 (yep 5 years ago!!) when he was held at gunpoint and we were robbed in our apartment in Egypt.  What? You were not aware that we were robbed?  That a man came to our door looking for money, pushing a gun into Mark's chest? That we lived right around the corner from CAC the "premier" school in Maadi in a really good neighborhood? That he came back a few days later to try it again and our boab (doorman) Ramadan caught him and the "Guards", yep they were just around the corner came and took him away?  And then Mark had to go to the creepy police station and identify him? Well we were and every time Mark has worn that shirt since I am reminded of it.   So happy to give it away.  And if someone ever buys it they will have no idea what happened in it. 

Exhibit B

Also a shirt from Egypt.  I never liked this shirt (which is fine, why would I need to like all of Mark's clothes anyway.) To me it always looked sloppy.  Any time Mark would wear it I would sort of cringe.  Thankfully he wore it a lot more in Egypt then he ever did here and we have been home a long time now.  So really why keep it when it is not being worn?  Most times we went over to the Red Sea this is the shirt he wore so I don't really have bad memories of this shirt but I am not sad to see it go.

Unfortunately I could not convince him to get rid of his Hawaiian shirt. I am almost positive he hasn't worn it for the last 3 years. It's funny how memories can be associated with everyday things like shirts. 

*Coming soon picture from our fantastic trip to Utah. I was sad to come back to Colorado, to real life.  Normally I am ready to come home after vacations and be in our own space but not so much this time.  It could be that I knew I was coming home to watch 2 kids who bicker with each other ALL THE TIME over the smallest things (Seriously, do most siblings do this because I am not looking forward to Jared and Lydia being this way) from 6:30 AM till 5:00 PM, M - F of this past week so I wasn't really going to be home anyway... But really we just had such a great time in Utah.  We got to see so many "old" friends and fall in Utah is so pretty and it was so nice to be with Mark's family.  But we've got things we need to do here, like transitioning Jared into a bed without rails and pulling together our ward Halloween party.

** Does anybody think it's weird when people ask if your pregnancy was planned or a surprise? As a happily married person who's other child just turned 2 and is LDS?  It seems off to me but lots of questions during pregnancy seem off to me.  Someone asked me today and they know me pretty well so I would think they would know that I would make every effort to plan something like this.  Anyway. Under 100 days to go! Hooray!

Helping and Talking

Mixin' it up

and

Eatin' it up!

After wandering around the grocery store (that is being remodeled)  for 20 minutes I finally found the pumpkin filling so Jared and I would be able to make some Pumpkin-Oatmeal-Chocolate-Chp cookies.  So delicious and so fall like.  Jared was an excellent helper with the mixing and eating.  He loved pouring in the ingredients and using the beaters.  A few weeks ago I was cooking something and I turned on the oven light to check the progress and Jared ran into the kitchen, saw the oven light and was thrilled.  Now anytime I am near the oven he walks over, points to it, and says "See?"

One of my favorite current "Jaredism" is when we are in a store and he hears a child cry somewhere. He looks at me and says "Sad?" Then I tell him that I am so glad that he is happy and not sad.  Soon enough he will probably be the kid throwing a fit in the store all the time.  When we get to that point I will begin shopping by myself at night! This past week or so Jared has been the most agreeable kid.  He listens and doesn't get mad when I say its time to leave wherever we are or go back inside. He follows directions perfectly, its lovely.  I think he is really happy that when he says stuff now we know what he is saying. I have read a few articles lately about three year old fits and stubborness and am dreading the moment Jared begins acting this way.  Even though he is really even tempered I know chances are really high it will come to that. Until then we will enjoy this sweet, agreeable, helpful kid.  He's fantastic.

Conference Weekend

On Saturday we decided to get out and enjoy the amazing fall we are having.  We ate our conference cinnamon rolls and then took off in search of some fall colors. I am really paranoid about missing the color change.  I hope there will still be lots of colors in Utah next week.  We drove over to Helen Hunt Falls and hiked up to the top of the waterfall.  (its only a 1/3 of a mile but uphill all the way, with no real level spots) Jared was super excited to be hiking and walked up all the way by himself just holding Mark's hand.  It was perfect weather and so nice to be outside.

After that we headed over to the zoo.  Jared was really excited by the monkeys because they were having all kinds of fun while we were watching them and doing all sorts of tricks.  After that we went and visited some friends, Jared loves to go over there because they have so many cars in all different sizes!  Then Mark went to Priesthood session.

Sunday we stayed in to watch conference and I put up our Halloween decorations.  This is how we got through the first session:

Very proper. Very focused.

Jared is in love with the movie CARS.  He will often wander around the house saying "Cars, Cars?" To see if we will let him watch it.  When President Monson spoke we had him watch with us.  I feel like next year we will have him try to watch more but this worked great for this time around.  The afternoon session was right during his nap so he was only awake for about 45 minutes of it and he did great.  It was a great weekend, hope yours was too.