Carving Pumpkins...

October 28, 2009

We carved pumpkins tonight. The boys always pick which pumpkin is theirs, clean it out, then draw a face on paper and then David or I carve it for them. Dillon originally had one of the larger pumpkins but when it came down to cleaning it out he chose a much smaller one - silly boy! The boys loved it and Logan was even eating it! Said it tasted like canteloupe? I guess he got tired of waiting for it to be cooked. :)

Pumpkins & Parties, Parties, Parties...

The other day Logan said that he was ready to cook one of our pumpkins from our garden. I told him that we weren't ready to do that yet and that they were dirty and needed to be washed off. A little time went by and I noticed that it was pretty quiet and I had heard him come in from the garage. I went into the bathroom and this is what I found. He had brought in the dish soap, filled the sink with suds and bubbles, washed his pumpkin up real good and then put it in the tub to rinse it off. Silly boy - he must really want some cooked pumpkin!

Mason with Dillon's Indiana Jones hat on.

The other morning Logan was "reading" a book to George - it was so cute.

Then he added Lion and Sonny. Love the little bare feet.

Cute little Maser - Bryson took this picture.

My sister told me of a Pumpkin Patch down by her house that have huge pumpkins for just $2 & $3. Since we didn't get any real "huge" pumpkins this year I took the boys down with my sister and her kids and let them pick out some to carve for Halloween. They had so many different kinds of pumpkins and gourds too.

Tried to get a picture of Logan but he kept doing funny faces.

And Bo...

Silly kids...

Last week I woke up and it was still dark outside and my door was shut but I could see some light coming from the kitchen and I thought that Dillon was up taking his inhaler, then I heard this "whir", "whir", "whir". It was the Bausch - the mixer. Oh no, I thought - Logan is up playing with the Bausch. I looked at the clock and it said 6:20. Then I realized that David wasn't in bed. I went into the kitchen and David was full blown into making something - flour, sugar, pans... "What are you doing?" Him - "I'm making cinnamon rolls - I was going to suprise you." Oh - how sweet - he definately suprised me. Then Logan was up not too long after that and he loves to help his dad in the kitchen.

OK - starting last Thursday we had Pack Meeting again - we did a Halloween Carnival. The cub scouts were in charge of coming up with a homemade game for their booth and running it at the carnival. It was alot of fun and the boys all did a good job. Then Friday Bryson and Dillon had a Halloween Party with some of their friends. Then Saturday night David and I were invited to a Murder Mystery Dinner Party - it was so fun. Good food and fun costumes. We had to dress up from the 1940's - David seriously looked like he had just stepped off of a page in a book from the 1940's. It was a lot of fun. (I forgot to take pictures of us - oops!) Then Sunday evening we had the Cummings Family Halloween Party - pictures to come later. Woo! I'm almost all partied out! Well, not quite... :) For the boys Halloween Party we all dressed up - it was alot of fun. David was a Mad Scientist (aka - Dr. I.B. Frightening) because he was doing something for one of the games. He put this wig on Mason - it was hilarious.

Playing Trick or Treat.

We played some games and had a Treasure Hunt, ate some yummy sCaRy food and then Dr. I.B. Frightening did his monster lab - his latest creation, Mr. Drool... it was soooo funny! The boys loved it!! This is Dillon finding a skeleton part in Mr. Bones Scavenger Haunt.

Then there was Logan that whenever we went outside he just hopped on his bike and rode around.

Aunt Jo was there to help out - trying to put Mr. Bones bones back together.

The boys practicing for the Witches Brew game - sucking up paper bats with a straw and dropping them into a black cauldron.

Boo Am I - pop the balloon and act out the Halloween character. I think their favorite was Orange and Black Stomp - a balloon tied around their ankle and try to be the last one with a balloon not popped - they wanted to do that one again and again.

Dr. I.B. Frightening introduction to his lab. They then proceded to smell and touch "special ingredients" that he was using to make Mr. Drool. After smelling the "mouse breath" (parmesean cheese) ingredient so that Mr. Drool could have night vision one of the boys said, "Ohhh, I think I'm going to throw up!" David did such a good job - it was so FUNNY.

Then the boys got to make their own monster pumpkins. The boys had a great time.

Grandma's Halloween Party...

October 10, 2009

Grandma Gardner's Halloween Party... my boys look forward to this every year. They absolutely love it! Well, this year Bryson wanted to be Zorro and Dillon wanted to be Indiana Jones and Logan's costume hadn't come yet so at this party he was a lion.

Bryson, Trevor & Dillon.

All the cousins - Sierra, Bryson, Trevor, Logan, Dillon Dave, Jason, Austin & Rachel.

Here they are doing a "funny" pose - except Logan got it backwards - he wanted to do the silly pose first and then the smile. Silly boy!

The kids played some fun games that my sisters came up with and they had a blast. We then made Mummy Lanterns. I hadn't had a chance to make one up before hand but no worry - they all turned out so cute! They were so fun and easy for the kids to make. They look really cool when their all lit up!

They all stood behind which one was theirs.

Then we ate our regular spooky feast and it was delicious as always! :)

I love that my mom is willing to do this every year - like I said before, my boys love coming to this! They have created many fun memories over the years at Grandma's Halloween parties.

Then we decorated monster cupcakes. Like always we are the last to leave - the boys just don't want it to end. Thanks mom for a fun Halloween party! :)

Uncle Mark's Cabin & Yellowstone Park...

October 6th - 9th

We headed up to my brother's cabin in Island Park for a few days during the last week of Spud Harvest. The boys were sooo excited - Logan kept telling everyone that he saw that he was going to "Uncle Mark's cabin!" We got their late Tuesday night and the boys loved it! They had to check everything out! Of course Bryson and Dillon had to sleep upstairs in the bunk beds and there is a HUGE pillow/beanbag thing that they absolutely LOVED! We will have to get one for our basement but I don't know if we could fit it down the stairs - it was HUGE! I asked them to smile for a picture and they were too excited and wound up to stop and pose and smile, instead this is what I got...

Silly boys...

Mason did really well sleeping in a different bed and being in a different place.

We played games and watched some good ole classic movies! It was so much FUN!! Thanks Mark and Dana for letting us stay at your cabin.

Wednesday morning we headed up to Yellowstone National Park. The boys were really excited to see some animals. There was some snow up there and as we got deeper into the park there was more and more of it. This probably isn't the time of year to go to Yellowstone National Park because by this time all of the little gift shops are closed and alot of the restaraunts are closed. This wasn't too big of a problem because we had brought a picnic lunch but it was a little chilly - I think the high was 40 degrees and it fluctuated downward as we drove throughout the park. It snowed on us off and on throughout the day - sometimes sun and sometimes dark gray clouds. Even though it wasn't the best of weather conditions we still had fun and the boys had a great time seeing new things. A section of road was closed due to road construction so this limited us in where we could go. We ended up seeing the hot pots, the beautiful waterfall, Yellowstone Lake, and Old Faithful.

Some of the hot pots...

Mason did so good - whenever there was a visitor center we could go in we tried to so that he could get a chance to get out of his car seat.

It was beautiful and even more so when it would start snowing.

Somehow Logan always found his way to the snow, he would step in it, pick it up and squish it in his hands and then complain that he was soooo cold. I think its been a while since he has felt snow and forgot how cold it really was.

We saw many bison, a coyote ran out in front of us but it was too quick to get a picture and we saw some herds of elk.

What is a trip to Yellowstone without seeing Old Faithful? Bryson waiting for Old Faithful to go off. By this time it is starting to get dark.

Logan not looking too thrilled.

Ah... that's better- a little funny, but better.

Now it's all good, he's got his moose flashlight/keyring thing. Silly boy! It was about 7:15 p.m. when Old Faithful went off so it was kind of in the dark but it was still pretty neat - the boys thought it was pretty cool. As we were getting back onto the main road we hit a blizzard. It was so bad we had to go 30 mph until we reached the entrance of the park and it let up a little. It snowed all the way back to the cabin. They would only let vehicles into the park the next day that had chains on. It snowed quite a bit that night in Yellowstone.

The next day we played some games at the cabin and then went to West Yellowstone. We went to the Rustic Candy Shoppe - it's a candy shopped where they show you how they make their taffy - they have a taffy puller in the front window and the store is filled with all sorts of candy! The boys were in heaven! They each got to get a paper bag and fill it with whatever candy they would like to try. I didn't take my camera in because I was holding Mason and making sure that Logan didn't load up his bag with the whole store - I know that he sure would of liked to. We also got some Raspberry Cream fudge and Huckleberry fudge - yummy! From there we went to the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center. The boys had a blast here. We learned many interesting things about bears and wolves. We had just missed the time frame where they let kids go in and hide food for the bears and then once the kids are out they let the bears in and the kids can watch the bears find their food. But they got a pin to put on their coats anyway and they thought that was cool. We then headed back to the cabin, had dinner and watched a movie. Friday came and I wasn't ready to come home - it had been a nice break. We ended up getting home around 5 in the evening and then David spent the rest of the night getting ready to go hunting. He loves it. I always ask him if he really has to go - especially when it is raining, snowing, blowing and just plain cold outside and he says, "Yes! I have to go. I am at one with nature." Too funny. It was a fun trip and nice to get away for a bit.