Halloween

I messed up and only got a picture of Jacob's pumpkin. I just didn't know Maggie was going to ruin all the pumpkins 5 minutes after I carved them. This one, however, is Jacob's. It looks AWESOME considering he did the ENTIRE thing himself--gutting, designing, and even cutting. The only thing I did was cut the top open and help him get started on the guts. I am really impressed.Tyler made a Frankenstein. He actually drew about 5 pictures on the pumpkins but they were so intricate there was no way I could carve them. Finally he drew a manageable Frankenstein but I still managed to mess it up. We salvaged it well enough. Maggie had a cute butterfly but she promptly ripped out the wings.
Maggie was "Pinkalicious" from the childrens book....
Tyler was what almost everyone else was this year it seems--Harry Potter....
Joey was a happy cow....
And Jacob was a Ninja. Awesome.
They had so much fun trick-or-treating and came home with loads of candy. By the time we got home it was pitch black and freezing out. But we still went to Aunt Katie's house for yummy food, family and MORE trick-or-treating! She has the best neighborhood for it--my boys came back with more than one full size candy bar! There was yummy soup too! Perfect for Halloween.
Another Halloween down--can't wait until I have to pick out costumes for next year! Booo aaa ha ha ha ha! (that is supposed to be an evil laugh....)

Camping at Capitol Reef

Okay, it wasn't exactly "camping" considering we were staying in a house trailer with full utilities (microwave, beds, heat, toilet, etc) but it was still enjoying the outdoors. The boys had 2 days off school so we decided to take a little trip down south to Capitol Reef and do some hiking, rock throwing and collecting, and eating yummy camping food (namely s'mores, my personal favorite). We went on several hikes and the kids had a blast. There was a lot of great scenery, and cool rocks. We even found some geodes that we cracked open. Joey had the best seat in the house. He liked being up high where he could see.
Jacob and Tyler loved climbing up the rocks walls and hiding in the little cubbies. I call them cubbies because that is what Jacob said they were--cubbies for the Indian children who used to live there and go to school there a long time ago.
Maggie tried her best to keep up with the boys and, I am not going to lie, there were a few meltdowns. But after realizing she could do her own thing she calmed down a bit.
At the place where we had the trailer house there was a field where Tyler and Eric played football. The boys also played in the leaves--a treat since there were none at Fort Irwin. Joey was a pill--he wanted to walk by himself but couldn't quite maneuver the rocky terrain. That left him with a few scrapes and bruises, but he survived. We learned that, like my other boys, he has an affinity for sticks. Once he got hold of one you had better watch yourself if you tried to take it away. He was not letting ANYONE take his stick away.

I had to throw this pic in--yes, they are being nice to each other!
Joey was particularly happy when he had a sucker in hand. It didn't make mom happy since she ended up with sticky hair...
This was one of the last hikes we went on. I think it was called the Goosenecks. It was short but took you out to the edge of a huge gorge. I think the ranger said it was 800 feet deep. Seriously, about 10 feet behind the boys is a drop off into the gorge. There were moments when I actually thought I might throw up. Eric didn't seem phased but it was too much for me so I didn't let the boys play around. There was a lot of stern words from me!
Overall the trip was a success. Despite a lack of sleep at night--Joey did not want to sleep, neither did Maggie--it was a fun time. Who knows, maybe it will become a Swenson Family tradition!

Pics galore...

I am short on time so lots of pics will make up for a lack of words. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Jake asked a question I couldn't answer today. He looked at the speedometer in the van and asked what the highest number was. I said 160 mph. He said, "Wow, this car can go that fast!" I told him I didn't think the car could actually go that fast, and even if it could we could never drive it that fast because it's illegal. He asked, "Well then why do they put the numbers so high?" Seriously, right? Why do they? Like I am going to drive 160 mph down the road in my MINIVAN!? Yeah, I bought that car for speed...

A few of you have been asking to see pics of the house. It will come slowly, in installments (because I can't seem to keep it all clean with the kids running around). Here are pics of the office (to the left when you enter) and the dining room (to the right--a completely superfluous room but it came with the house so what are you gonna do?--actually we have used it several times already...)
Joey's new favorite place to play? In the innards of my paper shredder garbage. Ugh. One more thing I have to keep up on top of the desk (along with the garbage).
Last week Eric was playing football with Ty and all the neighborhood kids came to join. It was so cute to see Eric making plays with the kids. The kids all had so much fun. I've got the coolest hubby!

Even though there are only a few kids shown there were about 8 kids here...playing football in our tiny yard!

On Monday we met some friends at the Red Barn. It is a little south of our house and they have a pumpkin patch and stuff.
We all got to take a hayride down to the pumpkin patch.


We let the kids each pick out a pumpkin. It turned out to be way colder than we were prepared for. We better get used to winter quick...it's coming!
Here are most of the kids. They had a little kid-sized "corn maze." It was really made out of that wood behind them, but they loved it. Plus it was easy enough for them do to alone, I've been stuck in a corn maze once--they can be impossible to get out of! Of course I didn't call 911 like a lady did in Utah the other day!
By the end of the night it was FREEZING and poor Joey was wrapped up in Ty's jacket (I guess I should say poor Ty...) I love Joey's face here. He's thinking, "Why in the world am I out late in the pitch black and freezing cold? You do remember I am a baby, don't you?!?!?!"
The hayride back to the barn from the pumpkin patch.

Inside the barn they have the world's best ice cream...literally. Lots of treats and HUGE pumpkins. Look at the size of that thing.
It was a fun night with friends, pumpkins, treats and hayrides. How could we go wrong? Definitely a yearly tradition for us...starting now.

So sweet...

Here is a conversation between me and Jacob yesterday...

Me: How are you liking school?

Jacob: I like it, but sometimes I feel sad when I go to school.

Me: Why do you feel sad?

Jacob: Because sometimes I want to stay home.

Me: Why do you want to stay home? You said you liked school.

Jacob: I like school, but I like you better.

What a cutie.

Catch Up

Okay, it's time to play catch up. I usually don't wait so long between posts but I guess I've dropped the ball here. Really our lives have been made up of school, football and soccer. We did take a break to hike Stewart Falls. Me and Tyler and Jake went with Jessica and Cory and their girls and Grandma Sharee on this fun hike. The boys loved it and thought they were very "outdoorsy". It was a good hike and the falls were cool. The kids had a blast playing in the water to cool off.Joey's been keeping us busy too. His favorite spot of destruction is this kitchen cabinet...
He always heads straight for it and pulls everything out that he can. You think I'd learn and stop putting stuff in it, but I haven't yet. I figure it is something safe for him to play in. Kids are going to get into something and if he's satisfied with this instead of chemicals and dishes (he already broke one of my nice Corningware dishes) then so be it.

He did have a birthday on September 18th. My baby is ONE! I can't believe it. We had family over for a BBQ and had lots of treats. He was fascinated by the candle on the cake and kept trying to grab it. Me and Uncle Cory were on the ball so no burns.
He loved to look at the cake but, wouldn't you know, he wouldn't put a bite of it in his mouth. Just like his brother Jake. He was a little leery of the presents...
But maybe that was just because he was accosted by all the kids. Poor little guy!
Last weekend we decided on the spur of the moment to borrow Craig's boat and go fishing. The kids had fun, but there wasn't a fish to be seen. Of course, me kids are always happy when there is yummy snacks around.
Tyler is looking more and more like a legitimate fisherman!

And in-between all Tyler's football games we have Jacob's soccer. He LOVES it. He hustles the whole game, gets right in the action and is doing so great at it. I love it--watching a bunch of kindergartners play soccer is really quite entertaining.

Well, that's all for now. I will try to be better about keeping up. But pretty much if you are wondering what we are up to, I am either at a football game, soccer game, cleaning up after the kids, making them food or doing laundry. Yep, sounds about right! And having a whole lot of fun in between!

First Day of School!

It has finally arrived (a few days late). Summer is officially over and school has begun. I now have TWO boys in school who are both very excited about it. Jacob has been asking for a couple weeks, incessantly, "How many more days until school?" He had to be extra patient and wait a whole week to start after Tyler started but he made it through. Here he is on his big day...Tyler was also very excited to go back to school. He likes his teacher a lot and also already knows some people in his class. This year we are implementing a "school shoes/play shoes" policy. Ty goes through shoes faster than anyone else I have ever seen. So we decided to buy him shoes for school only and then he has to change into his nasty play shoes after school. Hopefully this will save us having to buy new shoes in a month! So far so good.
With the boys back in school life is getting back some of its regimen. School, homework, Tyler in football, scouts and guitar lessons, and Jacob starting soccer. We definitely have a lot to keep us busy this year...can't wait until next summer!

Lake Powell

Home for a bit and now it's back to traveling! This was our last big trip before school starts but it was a great one--we spent 3 days down at Lake Powell. 3 days of fun filled with swimming, eating, boating, eating, exploring, eating, wave-runnering (I know it isn't a word), spending time with fmaily, more swimming and more eating! We all had a blast! And no, we didn't throw Joey overboard... thanks to Katie and Mat who so graciously volunteered to watch him for us. It made for a much more enjoyable time!

Doing some swimming in the perfect-temperature water...
Although I can't seem to keep Maggie away from the water everyhere else, she did NOT want to get in the water at Lake Powell unless it was right along the shore. Luckily we found a great campsite with a shallow pool where the little ones loved to play. Here is one of the rare instances Aunt Jessica managed to cajole her into the water.
For those who haven't been Lake Powell scenery can't be beat--most of the Lake is bordered by sheer cliffs--it is awesome and gorgeous! For a little perspective, here is Eric and Kaylee and Ashley swimming toward one--the cliff goes another 100 feet up!
Jake having a good time...
Tubing and "Hot-Dogging" (Maggie loved the hot dog--and Mom loved riding it wither her since Uncle Cory couldn't go too fast!)
Here is the little shallow pool by our "campsite" (we were lucky enough to have a houseboat for luxury thanks to the Hiatts). The kids loved to pretend to ride on the wave-runners. After sitting on it and pretending to drive Jacob turns to Eric and asks, "Does this have missiles?"
Kaylee and Tyler were great explorers--finding all kinds of fish bones and building a cool fort from driftwood. They even set up a Lake Powell museum and play for us all!
I had to put this picture in since it is pretty much the only picture with me in it....pretty sad huh? But it does show the cool canyons...
Cliff jumping was a favorite of the trip--Jacob and Tyler are awesome jumpers. It took some convincing to get Ty to jump but once he did he wouldn't stop--and he just got braver and braver as you will see.
Let's make it a family affair...
We did have some TIRED kiddos!
Maggie finally decided she would get in the water as long as she had her "tube."
So Tyler got pretty brave jumping--braver than me or Eric! Look at him go!
Just for a little perspective this is him before jumping at the top of the cliff--INSANE! You are probably thinking I am a terrible mother for letting him jump this high....and you are probably right.
Taken the last day of our trip just exploring and enjoying the general splendor of it all.
Overall a great trip with great people--a winning combo!