First Carve

Halloween might be my favorite holiday. Now that we have a child, we must start some Halloween traditions. First on the list, carving pumpkins. Second? costumes of course. Duh. Last year Isaac was a dog, and a turtle. This year...he'll be a dragon. Thanks for the costume, Holli! Photos to come.

Isaac was already mildly obsessed with pumpkins. Last Halloween, when he was only 6 months old, my mom taught him to "pat the pumpkin," each time she brought him inside her house during that month. He remembered that all year long, and the minute he started seeing pumpkins this year, he would run up to them and yell "pat punk!" then pat the pumpkin three times. He was ecstatic to see what was inside a pumpkin when we carved it a couple nights ago. The photos will tell the rest of the story.Isaac patting the pumpkin.
Isaac "helping."
Isaac feeding the guts to Abbie (she really did enjoy them.) On a side note, he thinks it's HILARIOUS to call Abbie "Abba Dabba."
If Abbie likes them, maybe I will too. Nope.
Perhaps Dad will enjoy pumpkin guts. Dave says they taste better than pumpkin pie (he doesn't like pumpkin pie - blasphemy!)
The finished pumpkin. Looks much better with the lights off.

And on a side note, Isaac had been on a 9 month haitus of not smiling for the camera. Well, we captured plenty of smiles, but he would not pose for the camera EVER. He recently began giving us the cheese again - smiling and making goofy faces on cue. Here are a couple photos - he's baaaaaaack!

Fall photos

I took Isaac across the street to our friends' house to play with pumpkins and jump in the leaves with Natalilie and Izzy. He wasn't as keen on jumping in the leaves, as watching. Amy took these beautiful photos of Isaac while we were over there, so of course I stole them off facebook and am posting them here!

A Little Gem

My mom told Dave and I about a place called Cascade Springs a few weeks ago. It's located in a canyon between the Heber/Midway area and American Fork. It's a bit of a drive from SLC, but it's a little tucked away treasure, and if you visit during the fall - the canyon looks amazing! I'm going to be lazy and rather than trying to describe it, here is a little copy and paste from geology website:
Cascade Springs is a refreshing oasis of lush vegetation, inviting pools, and cascading waterfalls located within the Uinta National Forest in the Wasatch Range, east of American Fork Canyon and west of Wasatch Mountain State Park.

Water from the springs flows over a series of travertine terraces and pools and eventually continues on its way to nearby Provo Deer Creek.

At the upper springs area, more than 7 million gallons of water seeps through the ground each day.

A variety of mammals and birds make their way here, including otters, beavers, deer, moose, elk, wild turkeys, hawks, hummingbirds, and numerous songbirds.

A trail system of paved paths, raised boardwalks, and wooden bridges consists of three interconnecting loops, permitting visitors a choice of walking only a short distance or completing all three loops for a longer walk.

So anyway, we obviously decided to check it out. So Dave, my mom, Isaac and I all went last Friday. The weather was gorgeous. We loved it and will definitely go back to visit this little Oasis. It was beautiful with all the fall colors. Here is some photographic evidence of our little trip. A couple of these photos were from the website because let's be honest...I was focused more on taking photos of people...and forgot to take photos of the actual springs themselves!

Big Dog, Small Hat

Isaac found this hat today on a bottle opener, on a shelf WAAAAY up high. Well, he instantly became fond of this little hat. He wore it. I wore it. Dave wore it. And of course, he had the bright idea that Abbie should wear it. He giggled incessantly, and Abbie grinned and bared it.
And now I give you:
Big Dog, Small Hat.

This Month in Pictures

I will just admit it. I am feeling way too lazy to write a real blog, so today I present...photo blog!

I took Isaac to Wheeler Farm last weekend and he thought it was sooooooo cool to sit on the pumpkins.

Tractors - in his top ten favorite things ever. We probably sat on about 10.

Checkin' out the chickens.

Why do kids and old barn doors just fit together so stinkin' perfectly?

Uncle Nate got Isaac this dino helment. He won't usually put hats on willingly - but he thinks Nate is pretty damn cool...so he wanted to wear it by request.

And now whenever he sees it, he says "Nate, Hat. Please?" He's showing off his guns here.

This morning Isaac ran into the basement (the unfinished part, as you can see) and returned to our bedroom with these boots(one at a time) Dave is wearing. He begged Dave to wear them. Then, he disappeared again for a minute, and brought back a sombrero, and again begged Dave to wear it. Once Dave wore Isaac's chosen ensemble, Isaac was quite pleased with himself. He was utterly disappointed when Dave took it off, though. You win some, you lose some.

If you are wondering about the retro 1970's tiger blanket hanging in the background...well....
I wish I could say that we are awesome enough to decorate our house like that, but we aren't. We put it over a window in the summer temporarily so that we could block light and have a baby who slept past 6 am (worked beautifully, by the way.) Well, when we got REAL blackout blinds, it was time to take the tiger down. BAD MOVE. Isaac had gotten used to saying "night night" to the tiger nightly, with a ROAR. He was beside himself without it. So....we moved it...and kept it in the nightly repertoire.

PS - on a non-photo note, Isaac is obsessed with the song Doe-re-mi (from the Sound of Music.) My mom started singing it to him and repeatedly asked for "Doe." When he got home that day, he asked for more doe. I sang it. Then, I found a video of "doe" on youtube, and Isaac can't watch it any less than 12 times without throwing a fit.