Conference weekend...

For General Conference in October, we headed down to Utah. Ben's dad was in SLC for the week AND; of course, our good friends, the Enloe's had just moved down there.
We did a TON of things while we were there. We drove down, were all together for Conference and then Ben had to come back for work. I figured that since we had driven the 12 hours to get there, I didn't want to turn around a few days later and drive 12 hours again. Especially with 2 small children. :) So, Ben flew home after the weekend and I stayed for the week with the kids. I still have some great friends and family in Utah, so I wanted to take advantage of the trip down.
We had a great time! The Enloe's were such gracious hosts, and we had a WONDERFUL time! And I got to see a lot of old friends. It was seriously the best trip ever!
In between sessions of conference, we drove up the American Fork Canyon to Alpine Park to hike around. It was so beautiful! Utah is gorgeous in the fall. I wish I would have taken some pictures on the drive up, it was beautiful!
We borrowed a sling wrap from Eric & Sharlene's sister in law, and none of us knew how to wrap it exactly, so Ben did the best he could with what he had! :) Luckily Taylor didn't fall out during the hike! :)

Sharlene & Olivia...

The boys...

Tucker & his Grandpa!

Ben & the Taters...

Me & Shar...

Tucker & I...

Tucker and his pseudo siblings... :)



This picture doesn't even do it justice!

The Enloe family:

The kids at this point were DONE taking pictures! :)
The Pyper family...

Me & Shar (again)...



Sharlene's nephew was down visiting for the weekend as well. I told him I needed to get a picture of him in it so I would remember he was there with us and not wonder why this random hairy man was in the background of all my pictures! :) We love Andrew! :)

Olivia HAD to pose for a picture! (surprise! surprise!) :)

Me & Taylor...

It was a successful trip because by the time we got home, both boys were passed out cold. We put them on Eric & Sharlene's bed and they slept for a good while! :)

It is so much fun to be with the Enloe's again! They have been like family for us over the past few years. When they moved, it felt like part of our family moved far far away! :) And of course, it was so much fun being with Grandpa (our real family) :) I love it when our kids get to spend time with Ben's side of the family since they all live so far away.

Speaking of Bens family, the reason we went to Utah in the first place was to see Ben's dad. He flew into Salt Lake City for conference and to do some legal work for his brother who lives there. Since it is very rare that Ben's family is within driving distance, we decided to head down and spend some time with him.

We went out to lunch with my father in law's aunt, and some of his cousins who live in SLC. It was great meeting these relatives of my father in law, my husband and now my children!

da fair...

September also brings the Spokane County Fair! :) Yee-Haw! Tucker loves going to ride on the rides and see the animals. I love going for some good ol' fashion fair food. But either way, we had a good time! :) Actually, the fair food doesn't do it for me any more. I think I would prefer to go out to eat any day! :) But we still have fun! We went with my dad and Kathryn and had a good time.
Tucker got to ride some rides...



Papa even went on a few of them with him...



Papa's corn braces...(YUCK!)

I could just eat this girl up!

{except that I changed her diaper while she was in her stroller because I thought it was just wet, and it ended up being totally NOT just wet. And then it got all over her stroller, and her clothes, and it was really windy, so things were flying all over the place and getting messy. And it was a not so fun experience! Little Stinker!} :)

I don't do roller coasters. Especially after eating fair food. I have bad memories of throwing up nachos as a child after riding the tilt-a-whirl and haven't been able to do carnival rides ever since. (Nachos, yes. Carnival rides, no!) Kathryn was kind enough to take Tucker on this ride. For some reason, he desperately wanted to go on this roller coaster. :)

And then we had to say good-bye to Papa for a few months. It is always sad to see him go! We won't seem him again until the beginning of December!

September...

In September Ben and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! We had decided not to do gifts, but to just save our money. But we did go out to dinner. On our way to dinner, I asked him, just to make sure that he didn't get me anything. I didn't want to feel guilty when he gave me something at dinner, and I didn't have anything for him. So, he assured me he hadn't gotten me anything, and I said, 'Good, because I'd rather save up our money and then like on our 10th anniversary in a few years, go somewhere fun, like Hawaii, or something.' So...at dinner, we gave each other cards. And what is in my card? Plane tickets to HAWAII! I couldn't believe it! It was the best! I am so excited. We are going at the end of January. It will be perfect timing, that is just about the time when I am DONE with the long winters up here! I can not wait! :) Oh, and we are going without the kids! :) woo-hoo!

We start 'em young around here!

{my absolute favorite drink is Coke Zero Vanilla}
My cousins Rachel and Alena came in town for a week and my mom and grandma came up from Oregon to see them. So we got together for a Sunday dinner.

Here is a picture of Ben holding my cousin Rachel's twins. They are seriously the best babies. I babysat them one night while my aunt and cousin went to the temple. They dropped them off around 7, asleep and in their car seats. They came back around 10 to get them and they were still asleep! It was the best! Although I was a little sad, I was hoping to be able to play with the tiny little things! :)

Me and a friend took our kids on a walk and they collected rocks. So, naturally, we had to pain them when we got home! :)

And here are some pics of my taters...
I was playing around with the white balance on my camera, and I loved how this one turned out!

love this face in the morning...

(she's got a tongue thing going on right now.)
wearing mama's hat...

I don't know how her feet don't get cramps in them all the time. She curls her toes like this constantly, just like her daddy!

tucker pyper photography...

I found this on my camera the other day:

Maybe we have a future photographer on our hands? :) Very artistic, no? :)

He is always asking to take pictures with my point and shoot camera. I love to see the things he takes pictures of.

To preschool or not to preschool...

Guess who started preschool this year! I can't believe my baby is getting so big. I actually had a hard time with it! I couldn't believe myself! :) Looking back now, I realize I was making way bigger a deal about it than was necessary, but he's my first. I couldn't help it! :) Last year me and 3 of my friends all did a co-op once a week and it was awesome! I loved it. But I thought this year it would be better to have him in something a little more structured. So I signed him up for 3 days a week preschool with 2 of his other friends. Well, as it got closer I started to have a little anxiety over him being gone 3 days a week. (only for 2 hours a day) :) He still will have another year of preschool after this one anyway. And, I thought, why am I rushing him into school, he has a good 13 years of school ahead of him. No need to rush things, right? So, last minute I pulled him out of the class. (embarrassingly) And quickly called one of my good friends who does an in home preschool. I asked her if she would be willing to take Tucker just one day a week. And she said of course, so he's back to just one day a week. But he still has one of his little buddies in the class, and loves it! So, next year for sure I will put him in more, but for now, we are just happy with this schedule! :)
Here he is on his first day:

He asked me to take this picture of him with his hands in the air for some reason! :)

{I love this kid!}
And I love this back pack. So much so that I had to put a picture of it in! :) So cute! Never mind that he never has to bring a backpack. He still has one. (He hasn't used it since that first day-for school anyway!) :)

We really do love our mornings together around this house! I will really miss these when my kids are rushing off to school every morning! Here we are snuggling on my bed one morning...

We are easing ourselves into that morning time adjustment. :)

Grandma comes in September...

My mom came in September to visit for the weekend again. The weather was still surprisingly so nice, we spent much of the time outside.

Carter wasn't so sure about this love from Tucker...

But he did sure enjoy the trampoline for the first time...

Tucker made sure to make his experience a memorable one...

crazy haired carter...

meanwhile, Taylor got to snuggle with her uncle Nathan. A favorite pastime of hers...

Here's a closer look at those chubby cheeks...

My mom took us to lunch at (a family favorite) Cyrus O'Leary's. Taylor & Carter were so cute, it looked like they were on a date together. :) Taylor even had a sparkly necklace on!

And of course, a trip to Mobius...





Taylor found her favorite toy there, the drums...



Taylor's other chubby cheeks...

Man, I love this girl!

I love bathtime with naked babies running around our house! :) There is nothing cuter!