Christmas Lights and Minor Explosions

Sorry it's been so long since our last entry... we've been busy getting things ready for Christmas (you know... tree, presents, and outdoor lights). Speaking of outdoor Christmas lights, I put them up yesterday and I about froze to death. Here are some pictures of Heide and me putting up the lights:

Oh, whoops. This was last year in Texas (slight temperature difference)! (Heide was also 9 months pregnant... how time flies).

Well, it was fun having family here for Thanksgiving (Kim and Jeff and the kids... Curtis and Linda). I think they all had a good time. I know Mom was disappointed that I came from behind and pulled of the "W" in bowling! I wanted to make sure this memory was never forgotten (mostly I wanted a picture of me and my sweet bowling shoes that I got from BYU's Game Center mechanic before he threw them in the trash) so I had Heide take a picture:

And to wrap up this weeks entry... I couldn't leave out a picture of me burning leaves. Only in Danville, IL is it still legal to burn leaves (and trash) within the city limits. (I'll eave out the part where I poured gasoline on the pile of leaves to get things started and then melted my arm hair off after a "minor" explosion). I might just try bagging the leaves next year!

Tearin' Up the Dance Floor, Just Like Old Times...

www.wikihow.com/Raise-Smart-Kids says that musical instruments can "lower stress that is destructive to... kid's brains." We have not been too concerned with Ethan's stress level, but figured it couldn't hurt to get him started early. So, Heide "busted out" her sweet recorder from one of her music classes. As you can see from the picture below, Ethan was a real nature!

Some may know that Heide is our ward's Young Women's president; so we had the chance to attend a Stake Dance this weekend. We didn't stay long, but I did have enough time to get a little dancing in (Ethan especially loves to dance... he shakes his head like Stevie Wonder)! We luckily brought our camera and Heide got a good shot of me "tearin' up the dance floor"... just like old times.

Discovering Leaves

Our back yard has become filled with leaves now that Fall has finally hit in Illinois; Ethan loves to play in them, so we couldn't resist racking up a few piles and taking some pictures of the little guy in action.

He is getting so big and we just can't get enough of him. He's always busy reading his books, unpacking the cupboards, or exploring his surroundings; but he's never too busy to cruise over to his "mama" and "dada" for a quick cuddle or two before he's off again. We are so grateful to have such a sweet little boy!

Happy Halloween

We would have posted pictures earlier but Steve mistakenly folded our camera up in his camping chair after our ward Halloween party and it took us a week to find it. So, now that we've relocated our camera we're back in action.

Ethan thoroughly enjoyed his first Halloween, partly because while we weren't looking he scrounged up some nerds off the floor and got his first taste of candy; he also stole a few licks off of a little girl's sucker.

He proved to be a great little puppy!

Here are this years pumpkins: Mr. Spider and Ms. Tara Fied.

Sweet Blog

So... Heide built it (a sweet blog) and people have come; but hopefully they keep coming! To ensure this I promised Heide that I would help keep this thing updated; you know, hip and jiggy, so all the young whipper-snappers will want to check out this "sweet blog" day after day (actually, the goal is to update it weekly but maybe it will take seven looks before boredom sets in).

This week has been filled with "crap" work, trying to get this new house we are leasing up to "par". So, because of the overwhelming work load, I didn't have time to take any new pictures for this week's posting (hopefully we'll have some sweet Halloween pictures next week). I did, however, teach Ethan how to cuddle with his "da-da".

And as I was thinking about the other pictures that I could potentially post (because nobody just posts one picture) I thought about a snap shot I took of Galveston Bay in Texas. Every time I see this picture flash across our computer screen (our screen saver runs through our picture files) I debate whether or not I should classify myself as a semi-professional photographer. You decide... (but keep in mind this is the only picture I have ever taken that falls into this category, so if you decide I am not worthy of this title, there is little hope left)!

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A Welcomed Break

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind since we moved into our new place (sanding, painting, cleaning, unpacking, organizing...)! so Saturday we finally decided to stop the madness and take a little break to enjoy the fun and festivities that accompany our favorite time of year.

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard and were thrilled with what we found!

There were wagon rides, corn mazes, pony rides, face painting, pumpkin painting, goats to feed and much much more. We pet the goats and horses, tasted the most delicious doughnuts and apple cider, and of course picked our very own pumpkins ,which was by far Ethan's favorite part! (Who knew that pumpkins could be so exciting?!?)

He squealed in delight when he saw the pumpkin patch and and squirmed until we let him down to crawl around. It didn't take long for him to choose his very own little pumpkin and I must say, he chose a good one!

I'm not quite sure what it is about pumpkins that he loves so much, but he still squeals in delight every time we open the front door because he knows his pumpkin is right outside.

There are so many things we love about this time of year, (cool weather, beautiful colors, crunching leaves, jeans and sweaters, hot chocolate...) but there is nothing greater than experiencing the wonder and excitement of it all with Ethan!

FINALLY!

Okay, okay, I know it's taken me a while to get this blog up and running but better late than never, right?!?
We'll try to keep this updated regularly and hope you enjoy!