Cedar City

Over the weekend we trekked down to Cedar City to visit with the Coates clan. Gavin got a kick out of playing with Nan's nieces and nephews. I think he and little blonde Josie would be best buds if they saw each other more often. And I think he could learn a lot about chillaxin' from Casey (aka Brutus) who is 4 months his junior. He's going to be disappointed when he wakes up tomorrow and can't go out and visit the horses or go for a ride on the 4-wheeler.

Halloweeny Good Times

We had a full day on Saturday. We started out at home, then went to Ogden and checked out the trains at Union Station. We decided to see what the Train Museum had to offer and I must say, it was pretty neat! Gavin's favorite part was the wooden toy train set (it got ugly when we decided it was time to move on from that area) but my favorite part was the model railroads. The displays were many and elaborate and SO detailed. We met up with Paula for lunch at Rooster's, then went to Brooke's house for the better part of the afternoon. Max joined me and Brandon and Gavin for some earlybird trick-or-treating before Brandon and I snuck away to an adult Halloween party at our friends Angela and Allen's house in Layton. Angela doesn't mess around when she throws a party. Four giant platters of sushi, an in-house professional makeup artist, and lots of spooky high-end cocktails. Suffice it to say it took me a little while to get going this morning. Thank goodness for Brandon and Brooke (and that extra daylight savings hour) or we never would have been ready for Gavin's birthday party at noon.

Happy Birthday, Gavin!

Two years strong, and growing!

We held a small birthday celebration for Gavin at his Aunt Brooke's house in Ogden on Sunday. Gavin is gaga about trains so we made sure he was surrounded by them. He had a Thomas cake and for lunch we served tacos from the "Taco Train". I'm not sure if he realized that all the fuss was for him but he had a good time.

Punkin' Carvin'

And to think, all these years we've been throwing that slimy pumpkin pulp in the compost pile...



What other use could you possibly have for hollowed-out pumpkins?


Wrasslin' with Mommy.


The finished product.

Max's B-Day & Halloween Party #1

On Saturday we joined Brooke's family and friends in celebration of Max's 4th birthday. Max is way into superheroes and quite a few heroes showed up at his party. Even Super G showed up! Gavin had a great time not only at Max's party but at Max's grandma's annual Halloween party later in the evening. While Gavin was having the time of his life with his cousins, Brandon and I went to Sean & Emily's house to have dinner with them and with Tom & Paula before the 6 of us donned our costumes and went to Jason & Gabriella Hunter's annual Halloween bash in SLC. Lots of great costumes, two kegs of Fat Tire, a DJ spinning party tunes, and not much sleep.

The Crazies

Every evening before bedtime Gavin gets a little C R A Z Y....

San Juan Birthday Float

We had the extreme pleasure this year of spending my birthday floating down the river on Stella, our faithful, inflatable raft. Our group consisted of 14 adults, 3 kids, and 3 toddlers floating on 5 rafts, a cataraft, 2 duckies, and a kayak. We floated the San Juan River from Sand Island (near Bluff) to Mexican Hat over the course of 3 days and 2 nights. The weather was fabulous - warm and sunny during the day and bundle-up-and-snuggle chilly at night. It's late enough in the season that the cottonwoods were aflame in a gorgeous golden yellow. We saw a few bighorn sheep and geese along the way.

Gavin was happy and content pretty much the whole time (special thanks to the Zierchers and their wooden Thomas & Friends train set) and he slept like a rock in the tent. I'm thrilled not only because it made the trip that much nicer, but it also bodes well for future floats. His favorite part was the rapids. Seriously - he kept saying, "mo' bubbooes?". Now if only we can figure out how to get him to take a mid-day nap on the boat...

Jen Z. made me a special birthday tutu and a birthday crown to wear during the day, and in the evening she and the rest of the crew cooked up a heap of the best enchiladas I think I've ever had (the margaritas may have had something to do with that, but I still think they were the best ever).

We forgot to bring our camera so on the drive down we stopped and bought a new one that's much more compact than our forgotten one, while also boasting twice the resolution in a shockproof, waterproof body. The battery only lasted a day, but we managed to get a few good shots. Check back for a link to the PicasaWeb album.