Lots of Halloween

Our Halloween/October activities were kicked off by visiting our neighbor's pumpkin patch with Jayda's play group. She has a play group every Tuesday with 4 other kids her age that are mostly in her Sunbeams class. They played on the tractor, picked a pumpkin and went for a hay ride as well.

This is Milo Jackson. He likes to sing in Jayda's ear and tickle her.

 Gabbie, Jayda, Ike and Milo. Ryker is driving the tractor and did not make it into this pic.

 Nanny and Papa came over to help us carve pumpkins as is tradition.

Jayda picked a cat of course and Bentley picked an Owl. They thought it was really cool to see them all lit up.

 For play group at Gabbie's house they made Halloween houses. Jayda was very proud of it and Bentley was happy to be in the picture.

 Jayda chose to be Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, a Disney Jr show. Bentley saw this Lion costume at TJ Maxx and did not take it off for the rest of the day.

 Face painting at the ward Halloween carnival.

This is one of her very best friends, Drew. Drew tells his mom that he loves Jayda and that he is going to kiss her. At the primary program he kept a close eye on Jayda and made sure to get in between Milo and Jayda any chance he could. I think there is a little competition going on between the two boys.

 The pre-school they go to had a costume parade that went through the hospital and they played games and had a party as well and then they got to come to my work for another party.

Our first stop on Halloween every year is always to Grandma and Grandpa "Neers". The kids love them so much and it is fun to be able to show my granparents their costumes.

 We went out trick or treating for about and hour with Nanny because Papa was out of town. The kids amazed me because they weren't afraid of any of the scary decorations. They actually thought they were funny.

Jayda also had her Spooktacular performance at the rec center. Her first dance was a skeleton dance and the second was her Little Leapers dance. Unfortunately I only have video of the skeleton dance, but she did great. Her dancing has improved a ton since last year and she is loving it even more.

It was a very busy and fun month. It made me sad when it was all over. These things go by so quickly.

All aboard the potty train

This little bear began his potty training journey the week of conference. It has been much more of a journey than it ever was with Jayda but we have still been extremely impressed with how well he has done. He picked out "choo choos" and Mickey Mouse underwear and within the first few days he understood that peeing in his pants was not fun and did not have any accidents in his pants. He can make it through most nights and all naps dry. Poop, however, is a whole different animal. Up until a few days ago he had pooped in his pants every single time other than twice which were both during sacrament. We are talking up to 4 times a day! This kid is regular.

I bought him some dollar store toys and let him sit on the potty chair instead of just the regular seat for security and then I leave the room and he is good to go. This seems to be the answer for him. The last step is to figure out how to get him to get out of bed in the morning instead of just laying there and peeing. This doesn't happen every morning, but way more often than we would like.

We are really proud of him. It is fun to watch how smart he really is and how quickly he can catch onto things. Potty training is a sucky part of parenting, but we are very proud of these two for how well they have done with it.

Colorado road trip

We were lucky enough to take our first road trip to Colorado to see our good friends the Morrells. They moved away from us back in January and just had their new house finished so we wanted to make the trip before the weather got too snowy and cold. Along the way it did snow, but wasn't really sticking and while we were there the weather was beautiful.

 

The road trip started out with their favorite stuffed animals and some good books. Despite the drive taking 9 hours with Denver traffic, these two did not sleep for a single minute.

Dinner that night was pizza, lots of smiles and catching up. As we pulled into the driveway we were greeted with Crue's excited screams and adorable smile.

 

The next day we ventured out to the amazing Denver zoo. We spent hours there and loved it.

 

 

This little guy was exhausted and had a bit of a rough day.

If you look closely you can see the crocodile right up next to the glass. He definitely wanted to eat our kids.

The zoo had a fun elephant show as well as a sea lion show.

 

The two love birds pushing the stroller together. I think they missed each other.

Shantaye decided to come out of the closet with her cotton candy addiction. She eats one of these every night and cleared out the whole store because they were on clearance.

Jayda slept in Crue's bed both nights and this is how we found them. They love to hold hands and be together. We hardly saw them the whole time we were there because they just played the whole time.

Sunday was the park to get out our wiggles before heading home.

Davis County Fair

The last time Bryce and I went to the Davis County Fair we had only been dating for a few weeks and we went to the rodeo. After 7 years, we finally decided to go back and it was a blast. Our good fiends Scott and Brittney came with us which made it even more fun. Our motto is usually the more the merrier!

Look at us! We almost all put our heads in the right places. Bryce holding a balloon with a big grin on his face and Bentley in the suit and tie with a serious face actually is more appropriate anyway.

 Scott took Bentley around to most of the animals and he loved it. Those two wandered around in their own little world.

 He he :) Look at the cute couple.

 Oh wait, this is the real couple.....

 There was an area with a clown who was doing free balloon animals. So this is how that went...

-Aubrey-"I will stand in line and wait and you guys take the kids and play with the snakes until it's our turn." So I wait in line for 20-25 minutes with the other kids.

-Bryce- Great! I will go to the kids table and make my own little twirly design! Look at me!

 It's our turn! The kids were fascinated by the funny clown and what he was making for them. Jayda got a silly hat and Bentley got a fishing pole with a fish on the line.

 

 

-Aubrey- "Let's go over here in this grassy area and take a pic.

-Bentley- I think I'll sit down in this pointy grass....

 

 POP!
So the 25 minute wait for a balloon that lasted 30 seconds was a bust, but I got a cute pic out of it at least.



We finished off the night with Pony rides and snow cones. We opted out of the $8 elephant rides because the line was forever long and Scott scared me into being paranoid about elephants getting angry and attacking. Things are always more fun with Scott around.


 

Bentley turns 2

Bentley is now officially a 2 year old. We celebrated his birthday at a park with a tractor theme. He loves tractors, cars, buses and anything boys love. It has been interesting to see how we have not pushed these things on him at all, but he naturally gravitates towards them.

 

 Bentley loves his blankets as well. If there is one of his blankets in sight he thinks he needs it. And if there are 3 of his blankets in sight... he has to have all of them.

 Bentley had his 2 year checkup and besides being deathly afraid of sitting on the doctor table he is doing great. His stats are:
Height: 34.75 in    64%
Weight: 23.8 lbs    7%
Head: 18.2 in       5%

He has been pretty consistent in these categories, but has grown a bit taller in the last 6 months. Bentley is active and very animated. He is wild and crazy and brave, but at the same time is super sweet and will say thank you and sorry and is always willing to share. Bentley likes to be with his sister and do almost anything she does. He is talking a lot and can say pretty much anything. He still has tubes in his ears which has helped with his ear infections and has all of his teeth other than his molars. This has enabled his fun personality to shine though without being in so much pain.

Jayda turns 4

Jayda bug turned 4. She invited her friend Addie, Nanny, Papa and Carter to go to Despicable Me 2. The movie was hilarious and every bit as good as the first one which is our all time favorite movie. I packed individual bags of candies for each person and they had a great time watching.

 

Nanny couldn't wait any longer to give Jayda her presents so she and Papa cam over afterward to give her gifts.

                                  Jayda designed her princess cake which was strawberry.
                           

Jayda at 4 years old is a great sister to her little brother. She likes to be the leader and conducts their playtimes together. Her favorite thing to do is to be with friends and will find one wherever she goes no matter their age or gender. Just like she picked the flavor of her cake she likes to pick her clothes and the way I am going to do her hair. Jayda loves to learn and knows almost all of her numbers and letters. She is also always asking questions wherever we go about what things are and why they are the way they are.