HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2011

No need to wait any longer - we present:

The Pirate and The Doctor

It was a good day with lots of celebrations. School was wonderful - Halloween parades and parties. Then we trick-or-treated around the neighborhood and filled our bags full of yummy candy. Then mom made us eat dinner before we got to eat any of it. But now - right this very second, we are digging in to the bags and pulling out our most favorite treats.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Catching Up . . . and our Pre-Halloween Events

BREAKING NEWS:

I lost my first tooth early (early, early) this morning. We knew that it was loose and getting looser. And in the middle of the night it fell out all on its own. It's that hole down there in my bottom jaw right in the middle. Pretty cool!!! I'm quite proud!In other news: We got back a few days ago from our annual fall trek up to Jackson Wyoming. It is such a beautiful time of year to be there and we quite enjoyed our week at the condo. We'll do a full blog about it soon - but here is a picture to tease you with (mom's favorite spot - Oxbow Bend). Check back in a few days for a complete trip review.

More News: Saturday marked our last soccer game of the season. Both Sam and I had great games. Sam's game was first - and he proved himself to be quite the 3-year-old soccer player. He really got in there (all by himself - no parent holding his hand now) and went after the ball. Check out that form and those mad skills!
And best of all, he ended up having lots of fun this season and really did his best. Good job Sam!Then came my game. I played hard and scored another goal. Here I am on my way to that very goal.

I really had a fun season too and did my best as well.Here we are with our trophies - great season. We really do love soccer. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us this season!As you all know, Halloween is upon us. We kept our pre-Halloween events fairly light this year, but that made for some nice, relaxed fun. Here we are decorating some spooky sugar cookies. Who knew - the icing is the best part!And here we are dealing with pumpkin guts. Dad and Uncle Noley did the carving, but Sam and I gave the instructions. Wait until you see the final products.

Oh - now see, that wasn't a very long wait was it. Here we are with our finished pumpkins. We grew two pumpkins this year, picked up a few at the pumpkin patch, and Grandpa and Grandma L. grew one and gave to us to carve. Uncle Noley added one more and there you have it - our six pumpkins for 2011.And here they are at night. Cool! We'll try to post some Halloween day/night pictures tomorrow night. Check back if you want to see how our day went.

Sam Alert: Hey everyone - Sam here. Here's my BREAKING NEWS: I earned my 3 year old Alphabet Crown from school. This means that I know all of my letters and their sounds. This also means I am a pretty darn smart kid! Of course, this type of event calls for a big celebration - ice cream! Yum!

And here I am gutting my pumpkin. Fun times! I hear that winter will arrive at our house this next week. These pumpkins won't last long in the cold weather. But tomorrow promises to be a great Halloween!Sam out!

Bugs, Soccer, and Pumpkins

Now that's a pretty interesting combination of things, huh! Our week started with bugs - a plethora of stomach bugs. They hit us hard at our house this week. I was down and out for 2 days. Mom was down and out for 2 days. Dad fought them as well, but Sam has been lucky enough to not be too bothered with them. Icky bugs!Soccer - Sam's game was cancelled this week. And I was still in recovery mode but I played my hardest until I ran out of gas. We have a good little team this year.

Then there was our annual trip to our favorite pumpkin patch. We were joined this year by some of our family. It was a fun day!
This little family pumpkin farm has so many different types of pumpkins to choose from - - it's always hard to decide what to take home.Here's Sam trying to hatch a pumpkin.Here we are with some of our haul.Here we are with Grandpa L.

And a whole family picture.

And then one with just our little family.

It was a beautiful weekend for the middle of October. Did you notice we were at the pumpkin patch in shorts? That has never happened before! We got to spend some good quality time outside this weekend, playing and playing and playing. Yay for a warm few days.Sam Alert: Hey y'all. If only dad had captured this moment with video rather than a still photo. You would see me rocking, riding, and singing my little heart out. I do love me a good pumpkin song!
And here I am helping mom make some homemade noodles for her homemade creamy chicken noodle soup. Yum!

Sam out - have a great week.

The Dog Days of October

Life is back to pretty regular stuff right now. Dad and mom have lots of work stuff going on and it's still a while before Halloween. We did put our Halloween decorations out this week, and we got a pretty solid taste of fall weather too.

So our pictures this week are mostly of soccer. I guess it's a good thing we're playing soccer so that we have something to take pictures of!

First up was Sam's game. And he was finally back to his regular old Sam-self. He was out there on his own running after the ball, goofing around, and just being Sam. No need for dad or mom to hold his hand. He was having fun!

He kicked the ball, threw the ball, and was loving soccer. Yay Sam! Then it was my game. We played a very tough team. But as usual, I got right in there and played hard. I love soccer too!

We did find some time for a fun Halloween craft. That's it for this week.

Sam Alert: Hey everybody. I had a great week. It was cold and wet and I had the early morning soccer game this week. But that didn't stop me from putting a smile on my face and having a great time!Hope you had a great week too!

Now That Was A Week!

Well, so much for being boring and dull. We finally got some energy going and had a really wonderful week.

First up - a Monday night at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. What could be more fun that getting to milk a cow? Sam jumped right up and went straight to work . . . no questions asked. And he was a good milker too.

I, on the other hand, had to be properly introduced to "Bessie" and think about it all for a few minutes. Then I hesitantly went to work on the business end of a cow. But I got the hang of it too and enjoyed squirting mom with the milk.

Ah - this baby cow was more my style.

Both Sam and I love riding the horses . . . no questions asked here either. We just jump right up and give the horses a good walk around the corral.

Check out Sam - not afraid at all this year!

The feeding of the goats. Love the goats!
Saturday was soccer games. My game was first. I scored three goals this week.

And look, the parents actually got a picture of one of my goals this week. Yeah!I do love soccer! It is my favorite sport, so far.

Then Sam had his game. He was still a little nervous so he made mom or dad be out on the field with him. But look at this - he scored a goal. Good job Sam!And by the end of the game, he was out there running around, chasing the ball. Go Sambo!It's hard to see summer come to an end - we're not ready. But it is turning in to a beautiful fall! We headed up to the mountains this weekend to enjoy the wonderful weather and see the beautiful leaves. We ended up at Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We did some hiking, and some leaf looking, and some tree climbing - ok, so the tree was laying down, but we still climbed it.

A family photo.
Daddy loves to take us out on trees that have fallen into lakes. Look at the beautiful sky and the colors on the mountains.It really was an amazingly beautiful day.

Mom and the boys.And dad and the boys.
We did some rock climbing . . . . . . and rock jumping. Imagine Sam, the billy goat, scampering up the rock and then taking the leap of faith off the rock.I jumped and scampered too - but let's see it for real on the video.

We did some more hiking . . . and then had a picnic lunch. Yum.
Really - it was a beautiful day! We're hoping for another good weekend before all the leaves and colors are gone.Oh - and we saw this giant bull moose too. He hardly compared to the little chipmunk we saw on the trail. The end to a perfect day! Sam Alert: Hey everybody - Sam here. It's official - mom has confirmed it. I'm not a baby anymore! I can ride Mason's bike all by myself. This tells us a couple of things: #1 - Mason needs a bigger bike! #2 - I am officially a big boy. Oh, and #3 - but don't tell Mason - - - I'm super speedy and fearless, as always. And a picture of me from our hike at Silver Lake. I love hiking and climbing and jumping, and really anything that involves being outside. Have a great week everyone.