Thanksgiving Turkey Hunt

Aunt Hailey planned the grandkids' annual turkey hunt- complete with hats and binoculars- and of course treats! It's a favorite tradition. The kids have so much fun- Thanks Aunt Hailey- and thanks Laramie for your wonderful 'gobble' sounds :)

Being a Toddler is the Best!

Ike turned 1- became a toddler- and hasn't looked back. He's a full fledged menace around our house now. He learned how to climb up on his brother's tractor bed- a full 3 feet off the ground- so he can drive it and jump on the bed. I'm constantly rescuing him so he doesn't break his neck and then re-shutting the door. He climb into his own jumper- onto the couches- you name it- he's a climber.
He now also works his way in as much as possible to play with the big kids- no more exploring on his own. No sir!

This is what Livvy does to keep him away from her projects- locks him in the hamper- he thinks it is a hilarious game. What he doesn't know- I guess it doesn't hurt him :)

Ike is 1

My sweet baby turned one the week before Thanksgiving. I really don't know how it happened. I swear we just barely brought him home from the hospital a week ago! I was in full-blown denial until the day of his birthday when I finally had to realize- heartbroken or not- that my sweet baby is really, truly 1 year old. Isn't his cute on his John Deere tractor that his Grandma Wendy bought him?

He had a spaceship cake- mostly because I was in such denial that I didn't really plan ahead- and maybe kinda threw it together that morning. But that boy loves cake- actually all food in general- he eats it just as fast as he can shovel it in.




All of his cousins and siblings helped him open his presents- aren't they just so helpful? Ike and Charly are just about 2 months apart. I love this picture of both of their big eyes.
I love this grin while we sang 'Happy Birthday' to him. He likes to be the center of attention. Sorry it's sidewise- Blogger has it's annoying days. Ike had a wonderful birthday surrounded by lots of family. What a lucky guy.

Ikers

My sweet baby is growing up so fast...soon we will be celebrating his first birthday. I can hardly believe it. It just seems like last week we brought him home. He is such a total joy in our home- so mild mannered and smiley. But he does have a mischievous streak to him. He like to pull things out of drawers, the dishwasher, toy boxes, you name it---and throw it. You should see our bench after sacrament meeting- we have to gather toys from everywhere. He's got quite the arm! Notice all of his teeth in his picture above- he now has 10 teeth....going on 11. His baby blues are to die for--and so are his chubby cheeks to kiss.

Here are his first independent steps- captured two nights ago:

He belongs to me!

Saying that Livvy loves her little brother is really an understatement. She watches over him constantly- giving him toys, picking him up, finding his pacifier- and telling me what she thinks he needs :). She is a wonderful sister. Most of the time- he enjoys her attention...but every once in a while he lets her know he's had enough. The other night I was getting him in the bathtub- and found something odd on his neck...

Livvy's name!!! Apparently- Ike belongs to her. Don't you write your name on all of your belongings???

What you can do with the power of God-

Shelby gave Wyatt a blessing before the first day of school---like many fathers do. Wyatt now knows that he was blessed with the 'power of God'. This makes him so much smarter in school, so strong, and lets him do cool tricks like this--

Livvy

Livvy did something wonderfully special on Halloween weekend. She sang a solo in our Primary Program. She sang 'I know that my Savior loves me'. ALL ALONE! She did perfect! We had been practicing constantly for weeks. Livvy is quite temperamental- she's hot and cold. So I was really afraid that after all of our practicing she would see all of the people in the chapel and freak out. Not so- this brave girl walked right to the microphone and looked at me mouthing the words with her- she sang loud, clear, and beautiful. Mommy was sooooo proud!

Here she is practicing some of her dance moves in lovely dress-up clothes.
Livvy LOVES to color and is so smart with knowing her letters and writing words. She can write every member in our family's name- that includes most of her cousins and grandparents. She is so eager to learn and loves to do 'projects'. Here is a bear headband we made this week- she is giving you her best 'bear growl'.

Halloween

I know there are a million pictures...just bypass this post if you want. I LOVE fun times and holidays with my kids. This Halloween was so fun because my kids were so into it, we had family in town, and Ike was just so dang cute :). Thus the millions of pictures- and I cut it down alot..

Shelby's mom and dad were here- it was so fun for my little dragon and my two PowerRangers to get to spend Halloween with both sets of grandparents.
The kids loved the Halloween Carnival that the youth from all three wards put on. They enjoyed the face painting, pony rides, games, and cupcake walk.




All the Turner grandkids- aren't they all so cute?

Jack o lanterns

This was my kids' first year carving a jack o lantern. In years past, we've painted them, made crafts with them, etc. but this year I decided they were old enough to really like it. Well- Wyatt did.....Livvy thought they stunk :)

Cheering on Uncle Shane

Shelby's brother Shane was given a scholarship to participate on the Utah State Cheer Squad- he'd never been a cheerleader before...but (and I may be biased) - He's awesome. He's so strong! One weekend we were in Tremonton, we decided to take the opportunity and go watch Shane. Even his bigger bad older brothers were impressed :)



It had been a long day for the kids- they crashed just as we were pulling into the game, but we woke them up with snowcones.

Livvy is a Dancer

Livvy has been waiting FOREVER (she thinks) to start dance. So we enrolled her in a ballet/tap class this fall and she is loving it. Isn't she so adorable in her little dance outfit? I love having a girl and watching her practice her leaps and plies.

How did they pick that up?

My kids have said some of the funniest things lately- I want to be sure to remember them. Isn't that what a blog is for?

We've been trying to be more dedicated about family scripture study and the kids were begging for their own scriptures. So Wyatt and I went to the LDS bookstore to pick some up. As we were checking out, the manager asked him- "Wow- I bet you're excited to get your own scriptures." Wyatt replied -" Yep. Now I can teach my brother Ike how to keep the commandments because I have the word of the Lord." You should have seen the poor guys face- he was in shock :)

I took Livvy and Ikers with me to Park City last weekend to spend some time with Shelby's family on a girls trip shopping at the outlets. It was a blast- period. It made me miss them and a little homesick.....but I digress. Anyway- Livvy loved shopping the outlets- she found something at nearly every store that she HAD to have. Later she was showing her daddy all of the spoils that we had found- she could remember every single store and what we had purchased there. She even told her dad about the stores that we had gone into but hadn't purchased things- "We went into the Skechers store- and they had these really cute shoes with lights and sparkles- but there was too many crazy ladies in that store- so we left :)"

Ike can't speak yet- duh. But he is growing so much. He explores the entire house- dances to music- eats EVERYTHING in sight- and is just like his Daddy. Their favorite game is to sit and growl at each other. It sounds like a couple of puppies ready to fight-

This momma is blessed :)

No Dumbos around here!

While shopping today- I found the cutest little Dumbo costume for Ike- it had big ears and was so soft. I fell in love with it. I turned to Wyatt and showed it to him- "Wyatt- look at this cute Dumbo costume for Ike for Halloween!". This was his reply-- "NO MOM!! Ike can't be Dumbo- everyone will laugh at him- and that's not nice." He was very serious about this. His little brother was not to be laughed at. So my hilarious costume went back on the rack.

First Day of Kindergarten

Wyatt was so totally excited to start kindergarten this year. I was a wreck. I couldn't sleep for days before and was so nervous how he would handle all the situations he was put in. Of course- he rocked it. So far- so good. And he LOVES doing homework- how weird is that? I think it's just because I make the other two stay busy elsewhere in the house and it's Mom and Wyatt time.

Island Park Family Vacation

Every year we head to Island Park for a long weekend with Shelby's extended family. It is one of my favorite traditions of our summer. For one thing- I love Shelby's family and my best friend is actually his cousin- the kids have a blast and there is so much to do. We always head into West Yellowstone- some years we take old fashioned family pictures (coming soon) and sometimes we just shop and see all the animals. This year Wyatt talked me into a slingshot in West Yellowstone- then he spent the rest of our camping trip shooting small pinecones at the trees. They love riding their bikes, canoeing as a family, floating the little river, spending time on the beach at the reservoir, and of course we EAT.



We always go on a fun nature hike to Big Springs to feed the large fish there, and usually see some wildlife- this time there were a male and female moose about 10 yards off of our trail! I was a little worried what would happen with us so close- but we just backed up a bit and they crossed the trail and run up into the trees.