A Zoo Trip

Before it got too cold we got one last trip to the Zoo in. 

After Halloween we found this knight costume on clearance and just couldn't resist.  Logan is such a character!  He insisted on wearing his costume the entire time. 

The Lions paid special attention to the boys which was sort of fun and sort of creepy all at the same time.

See what I mean?

That lioness didn't take her eyes off of the boys.  I have several more creepy pictures like this one. 

It was another fun trip to the zoo.  We can't wait until the weather is nice enough to go back (see you in six months lions). 

Another Happy Halloween

A few days before Halloween someone asked Dinosaur Logan if that was his halloween costume and he said, "no, I'm gonna be a robot". So, at the last minute Logan had narrowed down his long list of costume ideas and settled on his desire to be a robot for Halloween (after wearing a dinosaur costume for weeks, nay for months).  He was so excited about it that I couldn't say no. 

This was our ward's trunk-or-treat.  It was cold and icey but the boys were so excited to get candy.  Logan was too cute when he was in character with his robot voice saying, "trick-or-treat", and his imitation of the way robots move.  I wish I had that on film.

Campbell the monster.  He was so funny, he would roar at everyone and note the egg in his fist.  It has playdough in it and it is one of his favorite things to carry around (note previous post, he really does have something in his fist in most of his pictures).

 

We had fun carving pumpkins (note the egg in Campbell's fist).

Logan doesn't like to get his hands dirty, he never has, which made him a really clean baby during meal time.  He learned to use silverware at a super early age because he didn't want to touch the food.  Anyway, he didn't want to help because of the slimy pumpkins guts so we gave him a rubber glove to wear.  I love the look of disgust on his face!  It makes me laugh every time.  After scrambling to make a robot costume the house was a mess, so if you would kindly avert your eyes.

Here are our pumpkins.
Does anyone else have kids that consistently refuse to be in pictures?  This is Logan's attempt to disappear.

 

Happy Birthday Mike!

One year older and wiser too!  Next year we'll make sure we don't leave Campbell alone in the same room as a cake.  We were getting our shoes and coats on to take daddy out to a birthday dinner when we discovered Campbell was missing.  When we went looking, this is what we found. . .

It was pretty darn funny and we were laughing so hard we couldn't leave Logan out so he took a big bite out of the cake too.  Sadly, somehow I didn't getting any pictures of Logan.

After dinner we came home and enjoyed some birthday cake.  I attempted to make Rootbeer Float cake that my sister recommended on her blog, I even copied her cute flag on the cake idea.
Note the blue dinosaur in the corner of the picture and the bites out of the cake on the picture below.

Happy Birthday Mike, we hope it was a good one!

Welcome to Canada!

Campbell is not a fan of the cold weather (it may be a long winter little guy).  Apparently we have had a really mild fall which makes me nervous for what is to come.  Rumor has it that -40 degrees is not uncommon here, yikes!

Don't worry about Logan.  He enjoys the snow and doesn't even seem to notice the cold.   

A quick trip to Edmonton

Our new residence is nice and new but slightly small so we headed to Edmonton to do a little shopping to maximize our space.  We stayed at a hotel Friday night and in the morning headed to the Edmonton temple.  Our friend Erin's sister Lauren lives in town and was nice enough to watch the boys.

Mike.

Me.

Us.

After the temple we picked the boys up and headed to the west Edmonton Mall, the biggest in Canada.  It was huge and therefore overwhelming for three anti-shoppers but they held on long enough for me to go to two of my favorite stores, H&M and Anthropology.  Then we headed over to Ikea.  We purchased a sectional and a wardrobe to store toys and headed home but the store doesn't end there.  Mike had a little work to do so I was driving when we heard a thud.  We looked at eachother and decided we had better pull over.  Mike jumped out and I thought he was kidding when he said, "the couch is gone."  When we hit a bump the slack in the straps must have released the hook and out popped the couch onto the highway.  Faster than you can imagine we switched seats and Mike kicked the truck into reverse.  He drove on the shoulder for a mile or so and then we jumped out to move the couch out of the traffic lanes.  Surprisingly the couch seemed fine so we loaded it up and continued on our journey home. As it had rolled down the highway it lost the box and plastic that were wrapped around it so of course we hit a storm on the way home and had to wrap tarps around our load.  We finally made it home around 4 am or so.  The next morning we rushed to church where Mike was called into the bishopric.  We wouldn't have gone if we knew Mike was going to be called but we were halfway to Edmonton when the stake presidency called.  It was definately a weekend to remember. 

Two Little Boys

Our two little boys keep life exciting.  I thought I would share a few pictures to share how they are growing.

Logan is such a character!  His passion in life is to make others laugh.  He loves to be the center of attention and maybe that is why he enjoys wearing costumes wherever we go.  I bought a dinosaur costume two months before Halloween and Logan took full advantage of the situation.  He wore that costume to costco, parks, the zoo, and even to bed.  When Halloween came Logan announced that he wanted to be a robot.  I guess the dinosaur was just his everyday costume.  When he was dressed in his dino-suit he insisted that you only call him dinosaur or Cocoa, he would correct you or not respond until you called him by his correct name.  He was truly in character when he put on the suit, he would even roar at innocent bystanders but mostly just at his brother.
 

Here is Cocoa the dinosaur with two of his new friends, Ruby and Madeline, at the Zoo.  See, I really wasn't kidding about him wearing his costume everywhere.

Seriously, he is such a nut and it is so entertaining!  He is a chatter box and he will talk to anyone who will listen. 

Campbell turned 18 months!  He has a strong personality but is picky about who he shares it with.  He recently started going to nursery at church and so far isn't a big fan.  I on the other hand love nursery.  He became of age just in time because Mike just got called to the bishopbric and I am in the Young Women's so we can focus better on our callings. But lets get back to Campbell, he is talking so much these days although he makes up his own words too.  Bombom means candy.  He can say "candy" and "treat" but he prefers bombom.  The kid lives for candy (you are probably thinking, "yeah but every kid loves candy", but let me assure you, this is a stronger more binding love).  Although books may be a tie for his first love. 

Campbell will not be pushed around.  Maybe having an older brother has helped but he will stick up for himself and if he wants something nothing can stop this little boy.  One of the quirky things that Campbell does is carry around random items in his little fist all day.  It could be a rock, a car, a book, a ball...you name it, but hours later he will still be carrying it around.  You have to pry things out of his hands before going to bed or he will stay up and play with them.  So one day I pried a bouncey ball out of his hands and set it on top of a tall dresser, after his nap he went into his room and closed the door when I heard a crash from down stairs.  I quickly dashed up the stairs and found Campbell screaming, pinned down under the dresser.  He had pulled all the drawers out to use them like a ladder but since all the weight was out of the dresser it fell over.  I picked up the dresser and Campbell hopped up saying "ball? ball?" while franticly searching the room.  When he found it he dashed off without another peep.  I seriously cannot explain the intensity that is Campbell. 

  

I cannot tell you the number of times that people have asked if Logan is part black. I have to convince people that he is not black or adopted, not an easy task. 
.

Getting a picture of these two together is nearly impossible.  I couldn't even get them to look at the camera and I usually have to bribe them. 
I am so glad that these boys have eachother.  They share a room now and it is fun to hear them chatting with one another before they go to bed.  They have so much fun wrestling,racing, and playing together. 

You can see the bribe dripping out of Campbell's mouth here. 

Really, I wasn't kidding about the suit. 
Good night.

Smores

We now reside in Canada. Yep, Canada.  There have been a lot of changes moving to a new country but we are getting used to it.  We have been informed that it is about to get really really cold so we have been spending all the time possible in the out doors before it gets too unbearable.

Fall is my favorite time of year so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed out doors to roast hot dogs, marshmallows, and enjoy the fall leaves. 

The boys had fun running around playing while Mike made a cracklin' fire.

It was beautiful!

Campbell enjoyed the food.

Aren't the boys getting big?   

We love you Florida!

Roadtrip (with a million pictures to prove it)!


So if you haven't heard the news. . .we are moving to Canada. Sad? Yes. Complicated? Yes. We are leaving soon so if you want a free place to stay on your Florida vacation now is the time, we would love to have you.

We had to hurry and take advantage of beautiful Florida before it was too late so we headed down to the Keys. Our first day of exploration we had dinner at a fun seafood diner on Key Largo and then by complete luck we found this amazing beach where the kids played and we watched the sun set.

Logan didn't want his picture taken this evening so I had to keep taking him by surprise. What a nut!

The water was so clear and warm. The boys enjoyed finding tiny hermit crabs and collecting rocks. We weren't really planning on swimming but Campbell wasn't taking no for an answer and there was no way he was waiting for a bathing suit.

I wish that our pictures could really have captured the beauty of the sunset and beach, alas, we could not.

Campbell is Mr. rock collector. Everywhere I turn there is magically a rock in the house, hmm. How does he do it? And why? The entire time we were at the beach he was looking for rocks.

Did I mention that it was so pretty? It was such an awesome evening. I wasn't lying about Logan avoiding getting his picture taken.

Out of focus but priceless.

Remember how I talked about our jumping on the bed picture tradition in a past post? Well, I still think it is a fun idea so here we are in our amazing Miami hotel.

Logan was doing this every waking moment in our hotel.

Sorry no Campbell picture, he was not in the mood.

This is Captain Logan. As you can see he took his job very seriously and he really is steering the boat here. The other captain was great and he offered to let Logan have a go at the wheel of our glass bottom boat. On our second day in the keys we went to the John Pennekemp State Park on Key Largo. We found an awesome tour that took us out on a glass bottom boat to go snorkeling. It was about a forty minute ride out to the reef and even though it was stormy and the waves were choppy we had an incredible time. We got to see an italian statue of Christ amongst the beautiful reef and an array of tropical fish. Our captain encouraged us to take our kids out with us which we did for about five minutes before we decided we had better take turns in the water while the other person stays with the kids onboard. It was just too choppy and Logan was not enjoying himself.

I am actually sitting on a mat that is over one of the glass bottom panels where the boys had the opportunity to see all the tropical fish. This is also where I noticed the palm-sized jelly fish. I still went snorkeling when it was my turn and I don't think that I was overly cautious as I slowly swam around because I saw atleast 20 of those suckers. At one point I was centimeters away from being stung. Although I was somewhat paranoid and preoccupied I still enjoyed seening all kinds of colorful fish and the reef itself is breath taking, that is until I saw a shark and then I was done. It was a small shark, maybe four feet or so long. It swam right below me and so I tried to make my way gracefully back to the boat as fast as possible. The captain said that they mostly just see nurse sharks around the reef but the shark wasn't just on the bottom of the ocean like a nurse shark, I'm just sayin'. That didn't scare Mike though and he was back in the ocean to use up the remainder of our time. He was maybe a tiny bit nervous about the Barracudas though. Just this week on the news there was a nine year old in the hospital that was attacked by a Barracuda. Okay, I am making this sound like an awful expereince when really it was sweet, I would recommend it to almost anyone.

Then we headed to Key West where we saw Ernest Hemingway's home. Sadly we we got there after tour hours but we still managed a peek at his house.

This is the Southernmost point in the continental U.S. A. (as you can see).

Key West was full of picturesque scenes, I could hardly stand it! I only wish that we would of had more time to explore and enjoy Key West. Note: I must warn you there are some parts of Key West to avoid but overall I thought it was amazing. It's one of those these you have to do before you die.

Mile 0.

We just happened to catch the sunset again. It was a perfect day.

I've said before and I'll say it again, I love these boys!