Day Trip to Zion

Jon has been working very hard trying to finish his schooling, so on Saturday we decided to take a quick trip to Zion National Park. We ate breakfast and packed a picnic lunch and head out on our day adventure. The weather was great. We are really enjoying this nice southern weather down here. My boys are still wearing shorts and short sleeves to school most days, but due to the location of Zion we busted out long sleeves. We drove for about 45 minutes and voila we were there.  

 The boys riding the shuttle

Nathan did pretty well. He walked a good portion but then got tired so Jon carried him on his shoulders for a while, then it was my turn. Nothing like hiking with an extra 40 lbs on your shoulders.

 Kyler is pointing out the mama deer and her baby... they are a little hard to see. And for those of you that notice, Ky's eye is still black but looking tons better.

 Here's our whole family under the waterfall at the Emerald Pool hike

Our boys in the great outdoors.

After we hiked we rode the shuttle back to the truck and had our picnic lunch. We drove back and still had time for Jon to write one more paper for his marketing class before dropping the boys off with Grandma and Grandpa so we could go on a date.

November Excitment

Its Autumn Time

The boys got to jump in a pile a leaves for the first time. We've never had trees that produced enough leaves to have to do this but now... the boys have the privilege of raking leaves at least twice a week. (actually the are out doing it right now while I play on the computer)

 Field Trips

This last week our local high school was doing the play production of The King and I. They invited the boys' elementary school to come to dress rehearsal during the day. They simply had the children walk over (it was only a block away) So, I had the opportunity to go with Kyler's class on Monday. They Landon's class went Tuesday morning but I didn't get to go with him because I was already committed to helping at Nathan's field trip to the fire station. On Tuesday evening Jon got to attend the play with youth of our church. Well, Ky liked the play so much he asked if I could take him again. So the pictures below are of Kyler and I on our King and I date. The next day he was walking around the house singing some of the songs from the play and saying etc, etc, etc!

Veteran's Day

Landon got to be an announcer for the Veteran's Day celebration. They asked that he wear his scout uniform for it since he was calling in the flag bearers and leading the audience in the pledge etc. They sang about 6 patriotic songs, did some speaking parts, presented the flags, and even had one of the teachers play Taps.

Kyler's Trip to the ER

I got a phone call from Kyler's school saying that he had hit his head and I needed to come and make sure he was okay. When I got there he looked like this...

He had tripped/been pushed while playing at recess and hit the cement face first. He didn't lose consciousness, and  wasn't vomiting or bleeding. Which was great! But his one eye was dilated more than the other so I checked him out of school and took him to the insta-care and then was sent to the ER. Jon met us there to ease my nerves a bit. After the pediatric doctor in the ER evaluated him they concluded that he had a mild concussion and to just keep a close eye on him. They gave us all of the cautions on if this happens.... then bring him back in. I had to check him every 30 minutes to make sure he was doing alright and give him Tylenol for the headache and pain and an ice pack to help with the swelling. This next pic his him at dinner time. Starting to swell more and getting more bruising by the eye.

 And last, this is what he looked like when he woke up this morning.(actually this picture makes it look better than it really is. The picture didn't capture the magnitude of the bruising)  Way more swelling and his eye is all black and purple. He said he really wanted to go to school and said he felt fine so I gave him more Tylenol and sent him on the bus as normal. I did check in on him at lunch time to see if he needed any more medicine but he said he was fine... what a trooper.

Happy Halloween

My boys had lots of Halloween fun this year. On Halloween Eve we went to a carnival put on by the youth of our church. It was tons of fun. They had games, cupcake walk, eat the donut off the string etc. I spent a while that day finishing costumes for my nieces. Megan came home at lunch time and needed a costume for that night. I quickly sewed black felt circles on Nathan's Superman cape and voila Megan had a ladybug shell to wear with her black pants and shirt. I assured Nathan that his cape would be back to normal this weekend. After the carnival I had to finish sewing color squares on one of Jon's black T-shirts for Baylee to be a Rubik's Cube. Bay loves Rubik's Cubes so when she found out she had to dress up that was the obvious  choice.  For actual Halloween the boys all got to dress up for school. The had classroom parties followed by a school parade.

 Pirate Kyler

 These are Kyler's awesome duct tape boots I made him. He loved them. I put his old shoes inside of one of Jon's tall socks and began to tape them up. To make the top I cut a cereal box and duct taped it on. So that Ky could actually get his foot inside, we cut them down the back and used a grommet punch to make holes. Then I used an extra pair a shoe laces we had laying around to lace them up.

 Landon as a Ninja

 And of course Firefighter Nathan

After the boys got home from school, we headed over to Jon's work. The kids got to go all around the two story building getting all kinds of candy. Plus we got some the guys he works with. Including his boss's boss. We then went home and had scones and cream of broccoli soup. The kids all looked though the Toys R Us big book that came in the mail. Finally we headed out for about 30 minutes and went to a few houses in our neighborhood. (mostly just members from our ward.)

I know this isn't about Halloween but this was the first time we got to see Jon's office. So here is his lovely corner cubical with a window. It's a pretty spacious cubical.... it's almost an office.