Here's our Halloween

I've realized that we don't take many pictures while we're out. I think it's because we're either too busy manhandling everyone, too tired to, or we just plain forget. So here are the few Halloween ones that we did take.

Sidney was a girl after my own heart. She ran as fast as she could from door to door, getting as much candy as she could - she eventually wore down (I could have gone another hour, darn those kids, hehe)....Owen was begging to get in the stroller by the time we were close to home - but don't kid yourself, he was all over getting the candy too. There was no way that he was letting Sidney get it all :)
We went with a new friend from the ward, Lizzy, and trick-or-treated from her house. Much safer.

We forgot to get a picture of Tanner in his "costume" the night of Halloween, so this was actually taken a week or so after.
The bath after Halloween, so fresh and so clean, clean....

One of Owen singing his guts out....He does this in church. Some people think that he's throwing a tantrum or something during the song. haha

Callings!

Telisha and I got our first callings in a "real" ward today. We have been in the bubble of Provo married wards for a long time, but today we have been washed with a baptism of fire.

The callings are.....drum roll please...

Telisha: Primary Teacher for 6 turning 7 year olds.

Nathan: Cubmaster.

What does a cubmaster do? No idea. But we'll find out soon enough.

Anyways, we are really going to try and post something soon.

Nathan

We can blog again!!!

We figured out our problem - our magic jack phone system was clogging the line I guess, so turn it off for a second and we can download - YAHOO!  Aren't you all excited?

Can't download nothin'

When I can figure out how to put pictures on our blog, I will. Aaahhhh, does anyone else have this problem? I can't get my blog to download anything lately. Sad day. I have pics of the house too.....oh well.

Oh so cute

Tanner bombers is about 7 mo. now

Sidney loves to take pictures with our camera, so I told her that we could do a photo shoot today. She posed, and then she tried to help me get the boys to smile...Owen is a hard shell to crack sometimes...:)

Owen duders

What WE Did....

So while Nathan and Owen were gone.....we did A LOT of shopping, and errands, and housework, and fixing things, and laundry, and arranging the basement, so we decided to take a break and visit the City of Columbus. Since we live in "the ghetto" we're only about 4 exits from downtown. Exciting, I know.

We visited the Statehouse there which is a really cool, old building. (I didn't do much reading about it, sorry.) But Sidney had fun going up and down the stairs and the elevator, so it was a successful trip. Sidney did the honors of taking most of these pictures on this post, including this one. Great job for being under 3 feet tall, don't you think?
The funny thing about her taking the pictures is that if you watch her it looks like she is really wobbly and crooked and that she isn't holding the camera very still. Yet somehow she gets it done. I haven't even cropped any of these.

Ok, so she didn't take this one.
The funniest part of this whole excursion of ours is that we got completely caught off guard by the rain and had to run the entire way back (at least 6 blocks) to our car during a lightning storm. We were soaked and laughing our heads off by the time we were safely in our seats. Overall Sidney, Tanner and I had a great time while Nathan was off galavanting (is that a word?) in the woods!

Weekend from Heaven!

So, Telisha is the nicest wife in the world! Why? Knowing that we would only be in Ohio for 7 days before I flew out to Seattle, she bought me a plane ticket so that I could go out and visit HER family and have a weekend of offroading adventures. Her dad and brother, now 15, have 3 dirtbikes and recently acquired and ENHANCED a Jeep Wrangler. We have all been dying to get together, and Telisha was incredibly generous to let me go out for a week as a graduation present. So...Owen and I (he was free to fly) left Thursday early from Columbus, arrived in Seattle around 10:30 am, and showed up at the house at about noon. Landon, the brother, did not actually know we were coming and was incredibly excited that we showed up. We did not get up to the mountains until after Dad got off of work, but arrived at about 8:30 pm. We quickly set up camp and got to sleep.

Here is our camp the next morning before heading out. You can see the red Jeep in the background.

Here we are at the summit, where there is a sign saying that the pioneers passed through there on wagon in the late 1800's. CRAZY!!

This is just a large rock near a fish ladder.

Here I am driving up was is affectionately known as "Titanic". It is that steep for about 100 yards, plus roots and rocks all over. If you think the camera is tilted, think again. That is the trail we are driving up. CRAZY!! If you dont beleive me, look at the trees, particularly the one above the hood.

This is my favorite picture from the weekend. The wheels look like we are floating. That is me up top.

Here is one video of some of the stuff we went over. This is on a part known as "Devil's Snare". It is not that bad at the start of the trail, but the farther and farther into it you get the steeper and more it gets. You are sucked in and cannot turn around and go back. You must finish the trail. It is only about 10 miles but took us 2 hours. It may not look that impressive from the camera, but look at how the axels are moving around. Plus it is still really steep. Landon is 5 ft 10 inches tall. He is standing on the trail just 5-10 feet downhill of the Jeep and his head is below the bumper. Really crazy stuff. Dont try this at home.

This was the craziest section we went down. Depending on where you place the measurement device it is over 45 degrees steep. That is insane.

We asked Dad if he wanted to get out and look at it, but he said "Hmm, lets do it." So we did. Here is the video.

So it you are wondering why he took that thing so fast, we were wondering the same thing. He was riding his brakes really hard at the start, as you can see why. As we got close to the drop he was thinking, "What did I do? Why didn't I look at that first?" But it was too late. Then because he was riding the brakes so hard he was sliding, but did not want to do that. So he let off for just a second and when going back to the brakes ally hit the gas with his extra wide boots. Hence, the loud revving noises and the accelerating through the turn. Dont get me wrong, the man knows what he is doing. He has even built his own off-road vehicle from scratch (The Berry Bug). He has been off-roading his whole life. I could not believe what happened. Hence I am busting a gut at the end, and Landon looks back scared for his life. If you did not get any of that watching the first time, turn the volume way up and watch it again.

This is our one and only dirtbike picture, just at camp. All I will say is that we went down the same stuff on the bikes as we did the Jeep. CRAZY. Its a long story, but somehow I landed on a felled tree about 3 1/2 feet off the ground. CRAZY.

Overall the trip was AMAZING. I may never get to do something like that again, at least not for two whole days without any kids or obligations, just ride ride ride, laugh laugh laugh, ride ride ride. Thanks Dad and Landon for showing me a good time. Thanks Mom and Tiff for watching Owen while we were gone. THANK YOU TELISHA, for letting me go and treating me so well. I love you tons and cant wait to figure out a way to pay you back for this incredible gift.