WhAt'S uP wItH tHe ShIfLeTt'S

...Halloween activities galore these past few weeks. We went to our ward party, "Great-Grandmothers Halloween Party" (mine), and Gma and Gpa Shiflett's ward party AND Great-grandma Martin's birthday party. Whew! It's great because the boys got some really good use out of their costumes. Not so great because we have WAY too much candy and we still haven't gone trick or treating. So hopefully Halloween night won't be too anti-climactic. We aren't even done with the parties yet!

...I had my 22 week ultrasound and am happy to announce that nothing extra has sprouted between the baby's legs. We're still buying pink. Not that I ever doubted. :)

...Kyle had another field trip for preschool. We went to Engh's Gardens. Kyle LOVED the haystack maze while Noah, of course, LOVED the tractor. I hope to get a chance to take Kyle to an actual corn maze. He'd be in heaven.

...Kyle had his very first Primary program this past Sunday. Both sets of Grandparents came as well. It was so fun to watch him sing the songs he'd learned if sporadically, get stage fright when he couldn't recite his well memorized line, and cover his face with his tie half the time. He is such a bright, beautiful boy.

...I went with friends and saw "Thriller" by Odyssey Dance. I've always thought it looked cool and it was. Maybe a little morbid at times but cool.

...Saw my beautiful niece, Anna, in West Jordan Youth Theater's production "Crown of Lomeria". She was one of the glittering mermaids, "Aqua". It was so fun to see her on stage and I can't wait to do so again.

Boy Night

To avoid any confusion with this post, I wanted to make one thing clear: this is Adam speaking.

As many of you know my sons love their mommy (and with good reason) to the point that they tend to prefer her. "I want Mommy to put me to bed.", "Where is Mommy?", and "Mommy I want you." are often repeated calls in our household. This "Mommy preference" has turned into a challenge for me.

Whenever Erin goes out for one of her Girl's Night Out I take the opportunity to show my sons that I am way cooler than their mom. I attempt to do this by spoiling them. I take them to movies, to parks, for shakes, etc. We watch movies that moms don't watch like Star Wars. I ask them what they want to do and do it, within reason.

Last week Erin had an all day activity with her sisters and mother. I took Noah and Kyle to Jumpin' Jacks and had a great time. Afterwords we went to Abs and got hamburgers and shakes.

My strategy of trying to leap-frog Erin in coolness points is affectionately called "Boy Night" (or day). Both Kyle and Noah know that when Mommy is going out to one of her "boring" girls' nights that we are going to have fun.

Tonight was one of our "Boy Nights". Not one of the best ones though. I had to mow the lawn and pick up dog doo, so I ran around pretending to chase them with the lawn mower and telling them I would stuff them in the garbage. Don't worry they're boys they like that kind of stuff. After that we sat down and watched Scooby-Do together.

I am still losing the war. The boys still favor Mommy, but I am narrowing the gap. How do I know? Just ask Noah what we did last week: "I went Dumpin' Dack. I Dump. I don't cry." That may not seem like a lot, but when your going up against the most beautiful, smart, loving, caring, patient, fun Mommy in the world you take your victories where you can.

BOY NIGHTS RULE!

WhAt'S uP wItH tHe ShIfLeTt'S

...We bought the boys a new bunk bed so that Noah could retire the old crib and become a big boy. He really struggled the first few nights but is doing much better. Now we need to work on the naps. I'm not ready to give those up yet! (No pics due to the fact that our camera is BROKEN. Whaaa.)

...We went to my cousin, Lani's beautiful wedding reception.

...I attended the annual Girl's Day Out with my Mom and sisters. We went to Tai Pan and Gardner Village where I finally decided on nursery colors. Dawn is making me a quilt for the crib that I am way excited about! I'll post pics when the nursery is done.

...Kyle went to Coleman's (RaeLynn's little boy) birthday party and had a great time. He won at the game "pin the astronaut on the rocket". He literally nailed it!

...I was 20 weeks this past week and half way done!

As you can see from the picture above, my family took a nice, relaxing vacation to the planet Mars...I mean...Yellowstone. The Grandma and Grandpa invited us up to Island Park to experience cabin life, hob-nob with wild life and fill our nostrils with the...er...lovely fragrances of Yellowstone National Park. Enjoy some pictures of our adventures.

This nastiness is for those you will appreciate it. You know who you are.

I love experiencing life with my children. Everything becomes new and exciting.

Here come the rapids. Hold on boys!

Last time we floated down this river, Kyle was Noah's age and Noah stayed back at camp with my parents. It was fun to have him along this time. As you can see, the water is really deep.

Yummy apple that ended up bobbing down the river...

Toasted marshmallow, anyone?

At the Noah dubbed "Bunny House" enjoying some hot chocolate.