Ginger's Pumpkin Patch

I have one of the greatest friends ever. Her name is Ginger. A few weeks ago I was over at Ginger's house and she was showing me her garden. (Talk about a green thumb!) She has her very own pumpkin patch and picked out a pumpkin for Cayden to have. She has been taking extra good care of and was so excited for Cayden to come pick it. She even sent me weekly pix messages so Cayden could see its growth. Last weekend we went over to her house to pick the pumpkin. Cayden had fun walking trough the patch with Jared searching for a pumpkin. In the end he wanted the one Ginger had been pampering for him. He is very excited to have his pumpkin. Now I hope it lasts until we carve it.

He was excited to help Jared cut it from the vine.

Cayden and his pumpkin. (Now its totally orange)

We hope everyone else enjoys pumpkin picking as much as we did!

~Love To All~

9 Months Old

I can't believe it has been 9 months. My baby boy is getting so big. He is 20 lb 9 oz and in the 75th percentile for his height. He has taught himself how to climb stairs and has finally learned how to come back down. He is beginning to balance a little on his own so I'm sure walking is just around the corner. He loves to smile and giggle. He is such a happy chill kid. He loves to play with his brother, even if Cayden gets rough. He is such a joy and adds so much to our little family. WE are so blessed to have him.

These are just a few pictures I took before putting him to bed on his 9 month day.

"He Took Me to a Bar"

So for my birthday this year Jared had planned out an entire evening. He had a few other plans (massage, spa treatment, hot springs etc.) in mind but due to a monthly visitor he thought I wouldn't enjoy them as much. My birthday was on a Thursday so we just got take out for dinner and then went home and watched the first football game of the season. But then on Friday night Jared and I hit the town. Julie offered to babysit (THANKS JULIE!!) so we could have a child free evening. I had no idea what we were doing. Jared told me to dress so I felt cute and to make sure I had my driver's license. So, I did exactly that. He then told me that we were going downtown to do a few things that I Had been wanting to do.

I asked if we were going to dinner. I was thinking Cheesecake Factory or Maggiano's but I was wrong. Jared said I had never been this to this restaurant before. So then I guessed the Old Spaghetti Factory. Yep! They had just renovated and I had been wanting to go. The atmosphere was awesome but I could have made better spaghetti at home. So while we were sitting at dinner I was racking my mind to figure out what we were doing for the rest of the night. He had mentioned parking close to the 16th street mall so I jokingly said, "We're going to Coyote Ugly!" To which Jared replied, "Do you want to?" "No, its a bar!" I said. Then Jared told me that that really was the plan for the night. I had said months, possibly years ago that I wanted to go and see what it was like. I thought it was really cute of him to remember. I laughed HYSTERICALLY for about 15 minutes while we sat and ate our dessert. We were both crying from laughing so hard. At least, I hope Jared was crying from laughing too. He said. "I can see the blog heading now "He took me to a bar".

So, after dinner we headed over to Coyote Ugly. There was no cover charge so there was no harm in going to check it out. Needless to say when we got in we stuck out like a sore thumb. We noticed a few pool tables so we went over to see how much it cost to play. Then I noticed a photo booth so I made Jared take pictures with me. We then played a game of pool (I WON) and then we were ready to go. Our next stop was yet another bar, but he wanted to take me because it had a dance floor. We have been searching for a place to go dancing without having to worry about psycho people grinding on me. We decided that 1 bar was enough for one night. SO we headed back to the car to try to decide what to do. When it was too late for a movie I said, "KOHL'S is still open." Jared then told me I could have the cash left in his pocket and we could go shopping. After shopping we headed home. It was a fun night and I was thankful that Jared wanted to make it special for me. Even if he did take me to a bar.

Outside Coyote Ugly

The next day we went to my mom and dad's house to have a party with my family. We had sub sandwiches for lunch and then enjoyed some cake and ice cream. The cake was so good and it was so pretty that I felt bad eating it. I refused to let anyone eat the flowers. ;)

I really did have a wonderful birthday. Thank you to all those who called (even though I didn't get to talk to some of you), sent cards, or just thought about me. It really did make my day special.

~Love To All~

Labor Day Weekend

I LOVE long weekends. We made our Labor Day weekend into an even longer weekend for a trip to Utah. But it wasn't just any old visit to Utah. It was a special trip for our niece Tayler's baptism. We were so excited to go and be there to support her in her decision to be baptized.

We headed out early Thursday morning. The boys were such troopers. Cayden told us every time he needed to stop and use the bathroom (even if it meant stopping on the side of the road) and Jake barely made a peep! We were pretty excited to make it to Grandma's house by the end of our traveling.

Friday was a somewhat lazy day. I think the drive over did us in. We didn't make it out of the house until almost 4:00. But we headed into Salt Lake and made our way here...

Hatch Family Chocolates

There was a TV show on TLC called Little Chocolatiers. When I found out that their shop was in SL I asked Jared if we could go the next time we were there. So we did. Their chocolate is AMAZING! Its pretty expensive but its worth every penny. It worked out pretty nicely too because we had promised Cayden ice cream if he could make the drive over to Utah without having an accident. So we all sat and enjoyed our ice cream. It was a really nice afternoon.

Saturday was Tay's big day. It was such a special day spent with family. Tay was beaming from ear to ear and you could tell she was so excited. After the baptism Sean and Jessica invited everyone over to their house for lunch. We had fun hanging out and Cayden had a blast playing with his cousins. After everyone had rested a bit we decided to go for a swim. It was such a beautiful day. We went back to Jess' after our trip to the pool and hung out a while longer and then headed back to put the boys to bed after such a fun day.

Cayden was warming himself on the concrete at the pool.

On Sunday we headed down to my Grandma's house in American Fork. We haven't made it to see her since Jacob was born so I really wanted her to be able to meet him. It was a quick visit, so we could get to church, but it was nice. Jared kept Cayden busy (because Grandma's house really isn't all that interesting) and I sat and visited. My mom and dad had driven over for the weekend too and my anut and uncle came over to visit so we got to see them too. Its always nice to get to hang with some of my family when we go to Utah.

Jacob and Grandma Crabb

Four Generations

After church we went back to the house and put everyone down for naps. Sean and Jess brought the kids out so we could all hang out one last time before everyone headed back home on Monday. Sean had made AWESOME pizzas and brought them out to share. Then for dessert we had cake that was apparently made to celebrate my birthday. That was a nice little surprise. It was a VERY tasty cake too. It was a fun evening sitting around talking and watching the cousins all play together. ( We wished that Jenny and her family could have been there too but distance kept them away.)

Jake taught himself to walk with a walker!

Jared gave Ryan a beat down wearing fairy wings
We forced the cousins to take pictures! (Cayden was such a baby about the grass)

And tried to get these 3 to sit still for a picture.

On Monday we woke up and packed up our bags. Mom made an awesome breakfast to get us moving. Cayden and Reyes played together one more time. And we were off for another long drive across boring Wyoming. The boys were AWESOME yet again and we made it home safely.


It really was an awesome weekend.

~Love To All~

End of Summer

Since I apparently was too busy to blog the last few weeks of summer, I have decided to just post some pictures. We really did have an awesome summer. It was indeed difficult for me to go back to work but at least I know my boys are still in good hands.

What would the final days of summer be without a trip to the pool?

A game of hide and seek at "the new house"

Plenty of naps... while Daddy worked hard.
We went to Old Navy to get Jared some new jeans. After we took this picture Jared and I walked away and we heard Cayden screaming while he walked around with his head stuck in the cut out.

We took a trip to a children's museum with Kimmy's daycare.

Cayden LOVED the "wind room" They even had a little bank...

a play place for Jake... and a pirate ship.

Then it was back to "the new house" to work.
Cayden and Spencer liked the ladder.
Jacob turned 8 months old.

And our last big summer hurrah was our Annual Stake Fair. (We were all not feeling well but we had cabin fever and decided to go anyway.)

Cayden went "fishing"

Bouncing

And Sliding.

We were sad that our summer had to come to an end but we knew there was no stopping it. We are just thankful for the time we had to spend together and look forward to some Fall fun.

~Love To All~

Summer Catch Up

What a fun summer we have been having. The boys have kept me pretty busy so it has been hard to find a minute to update the blog. But they are both content without me for a minute so I decided to catch up. However it will be done with pictures. ; )

Jacob LOVES to eat. I'm sure you couldn't tell by looking at him.

We love spending time at the Spray Park. (ITS AWESOME!)

Cayden loves when we go to SAM'S because he gets to sit in the cart with Jake.

I was worried when he was quiet and I couldn't find him. If this is his way of getting into that "quiet trouble" that parents worry about I think I can handle it.

We have spent a lot of time at my parents new house. The boys have been remodeling to build a master suite on the main floor for my grandparents.

My cousin came to visit and we took her bowling. Cayden LOVES bowling. I bowled holding Jacob most of the time and bowled a turkey. I had 5 strikes during the game. He was my good luck charm.

After his game of bowling he wanted to drive the race car.

Our little red car died on us and Jared has been trying to diagnose the problem, Cayden has been a big helper and getting quite dirty in the process.
I love taking pictures of the boys when they are sleeping. They always sleep in the strangest positions. In the picture I am standing behind the couch. His feet are on the back of the couch.
Jacob is becoming quite the little crawler and enjoys following me around the house.

If you can't tell, we are having a great summer. I LOVE being home with the boys and look forward to the day when I can finally be a stay at home mom. I love just hanging out with them. I'm getting really good at building marble towers and shooting hoops. Cayden and I are trying to find ways to include Jacob in our play time because he wants to join in all the time now. No more wallflower time for him. I'll be sad to go back to work but I still have time before then to get more play time in. I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer!

~Love to All~