The Hep's Happenings: October 2012

I am the Cub Committee Chair in our ward, so that means I now get to be in on the planning for all things cubs. I kind of miss the old days when we could just show up and enjoy pack meeting. :) October is always our ward's pinewood derby month. This year Ethan was not excited about the derby at all. It took a lot of coaxing to get him to work on his car, but Brian finally got him to be slightly interested. They made a simple, BYU themed car that actually did fairly well in the heats. He even won one of the heats this year, which made him happy.

October is also my birthday month. Brian really went overboard this year. It turns out he had been trying hard to win an iPad from FM100 all during the month of September, and the week before my birthday he got in on the contest line and won a $25 iTunes gift card. The next morning he found out he was the winner of the iPad. I don't get a chance to listen to the radio much these days, so I was clueless. I had told him that he couldn't buy me an iPad, and so he didn't - he won one instead! The kids were happy since they already love the iPad that he has for work.

Brian also bought me a Pandora bracelet for cheering on those Cougars of BYU.

The bracelet has the letters BYU surrounded by a graduation cap, a football and two blue charms. I thought it was sweet of him to create a bracelet from his imagination.

We bought two Cosmo Kids Club memberships this year (at $25 a child they were a great deal), and that got us four tickets to two BYU football games, and four BYU basketball games. Ethan ended up getting offered better tickets to one of the games so that meant that we got to invite cousin Riser to go to a game with us. Tanner was delighted to have a buddy at the game with him. It was a beautiful, perfect fall game and I was glad I got to be there with them. When it was time to go and get a treat Tanner chose a bag of popcorn and Riser chose a Cougartail, which is a HUGE maple bar. He ate the entire thing. That cracked me up. We'll make a BYU fan out of him for sure.

Look at the view from LaVell Edwards Stadium. Amazing. I love the BYU campus.

Tanner had another belt test for Tae Kwon Do. I think Anders was more excited about it than he was.

This was Tanner's last belt in Little Dragons before moving up to the regular class. Unfortunately, I think they kept him in the little kid class for too long and he got bored. He's been begging us to quit since June, but we have a contract to last until the end of December. He loves his teacher, but he wants to try some other sports, especially flag football.

Tanner did do a great job performing at his last belt ceremony. He's a quick learner and is has a lot of natural ability.

The boys were off track in October and that meant they all could go on our Thursday lunch and grocery shopping dates. One day we used our coupons to pick them up some great treats at Chick-Fil-A. I think they were a hit!

We also tried the scarecrow festival for the first time this year since it was just a few miles down the road. Everything was free, they just wanted donations, so it was a great deal and a fun day.

All the boys loved the rocket launching the best. They chased the rockets all over the fields for a long time and Ethan was nice enough to launch some for Anders. Next year we'll come earlier to avoid some of the longer lines.

We took a trip down to BYU one day and the boys were happy to find a stuffed cougar on the way to the bookstore.

The campus was beautiful with lots of fall leaves that they couldn't resist playing in for a little while.

Anders likes to follow his big brother, Bradon wherever he goes.

We stopped for some frozen custard on the way home and the boys loved the tasty treat.

We found an evening to go and pick out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. It was a little chilly so all of the boys were in a bit of a hurry to choose one and be on the way.

They were all able to find something that they were satisfied with.

I can't believe how big the boys are getting. The three older boys now have a definite idea and plan for how they would like their pumpkins carved.

This year for Halloween my boys picked their costumes themselves. Anders was a BYU fan (recycled from previous years). Bradon, as usual, didn't want to be anything so he wore a Lightning McQueen costume that I had picked up on clearance. Tanner was just dying to be a ninja so I found him a costume online. Ethan wanted to be the voice of the BYU Cougars, Greg Wrubell, so we bought him a bald cap and printed up a press pass for him, the rest was easy.

A few days before Halloween my mom held a Halloween party at her house for the grandkids. We do a little trick-or-treating around the house and play a couple of games. The kids love seeing their cousins' costumes.

The Magna-Tiles continue to be a hit around our house. I love that ALL of my boys play with these. Ethan built this creation.

According to tradition we carved pumpkins. This year as we were picking out pumpkins a couple of guys were selling a blade that you hook onto your drill and it guts and thins the pumpkin for you. We were sold and it was marvelous. I can't wait for the kids to start working on this stuff themselves, because it takes a long time to carve four pumpkins.

I think everyone was happy with their finished product.

Don't they look great on the porch? And check out Ethan's Angry Birds pumpkins that he made at
scouts. So cute! We grew the great big pumpkin in our backyard this summer.

Right before Halloween, while the boys were off-track, we headed up to the Hogle Zoo with Aunt Sarah. It was a beautiful day and the zoo was practically empty! We just love the new Rocky Shores exhibit. It's so great.

Hmmm... I can't remember what Tanner was mad about here, but that's typical Tanner for you. Sunny and bright one minute and storm clouds the next.

Isn't the baby giraffe so cute?

And here's my four handsome boys. I love these guys.

And I'm so grateful that they're good friends and almost always kind to each other. Yes, they have their moments but usually they're a great bunch.

Thanks to Aunt Sarah for riding the carousel with them. I was suffering from a terrible bout of almost constant dizzy spells in the fall. Thankfully, after a lot of tests, time and money the dizziness has finally gone away on its own. I hope it never comes back!

Ethan's costume became a hit in the BYU world. I posted it on KSL Radio's Facebook page. There's a BYU Sports broadcaster in our ward who tweeted about Ethan's costume on Nov 1 @kslshep It was a lot of fun to see the reaction to his costume. People loved it if they knew who Greg Wrubell was, but most people were just a little perplexed.