Halloween

I feel like every blog post I must start off with some apology why I haven't blogged in forever.  Well, this time I decided I am not going to.  Let's face it.  I am a terrible blogger.  I manager a post every few months and that is about it.  So, instead of feeling guilty for all of the recent events I probably should have blogged about...I am not going to.  Instead, I am just going to blog when I have the time and about whatever has happened most recently. For now, you will just have to ignore the fact that I am not going to blog about all the wonderful things that have happened since we have returned from Kentucky.  You will not get to hear about our Labor Day Cabin trip, the football games we have attended, Jude's first birthday & party, my recent birthday, my school studies, jobs, parties, walks, road trips, recipes etc etc etc.  Nope, I am not going to blog about those things.  For now, all you are going to read about is the most recent event.  Halloween.

Halloween

This really is not one of my favorite Holiday's.  Besides disliking all the scary parts about it, I really dislike that it gives adult women a free excuse to dress like a skank.  However, Kyle loves this holiday.  From his obsession with Skulls to his desire to dress up...we must celebrate Halloween.  

Jude's Grandma Clark bought him the cutest little chicken costume.  As much as I loved the costume, I grew up on all home-made costumes.  I just felt bad that I didn't contribute to his outfit!  I couldn't let it go so I decided to do a little doctoring to his costume and added feathers.  Then we decided to make this a family affair and be a whole family of Chickens.  We had the Daddy Roosted, the Mama Hen, and the Baby Chicken.  I thought the costumes were pretty cool...I just never expected what would happen that night.

All of the homes on this street decorate elaborately!  This is a line waiting to go up to the house!  The longer the line was at a house it usually meant they had better candy to offer...like a whole sized Snickers bar (we got a few of those!).  

Mama Hen and the Baby Chicken.  Thankfully Grandma Romney tagged along with us that night.  She was a lifesaver and carried Jude.  It was really hard to carry him in the costume

Cute Little Chicken!

We were at my parent's house for Halloween and decided to go to the famous Mt. Vernon Street.  This street is packed with old Victorian era homes that all get into the Halloween spirit.  The Police department closes off the whole street and you basically have to wait in line at each door because it is so full of people.  It is a fun experience.  We were stopped door after door for pictures of our costumes.  We had several people from the massive crowd come up and talk to us and take pictures.  A lady from the city even snapped our photo.  The praise made all the negative feelings, sweat, blood, and tears while making the costumes worth it. In the end, we had a great time.  Jude really loved seeing every one and was a trooper walking up to each door!

Summer Wrap Up

The end of this summer is finally near and it feels bittersweet.  We have really enjoyed being out here in Kentucky but we are ready to get back to a daily routine.  I will definitely miss everything here.  The greenery, my spacious apartment, no school, etc. 

The last month here has been a blast.  Whitney came out at stayed with us for a couple of weeks.  Jude and Ryder quickly became best buds and spent hours a day playing with each other.  Whit and I had a blast too getting out and doing things.  We went shopping, to the zoo, on walks, to the pool, baked a ton, and just hung out.  Ryder learned how to crawl while he was out here and it was so cute to get to see him and Jude interact.  

We have less than a week now and then we are off.  I have yet to pack a single thing in the house...but I just don't know where to start! This is when you wish family lived near by.  Kyle will be at work all day so packing will be up to me.  I think it's always more fun when you have someone to do it with!  We are excited to get back and start school up.  I will be busy taking 5 classes this next semester but I am also excited.  Kyle will only be taking 2 classes and I think he is looking forward to the extra time he will get to spend with Jude!

So for now, Goodbye Louisville, Hello Provo...see you next week. 

Surprise Date!

Last weekend Kyle and Kyle told Kylie and I that they had a special date planned for us.  We were so anxious to know what we were going to do!

We climbed in the Pilot and headed to downtown Louisville where we met the Belle of Louisville on the river.  

The Ohio river runs right downtown.  It separates Indiana from Kentucky.  

They boys had booked us tickets on a lunch cruise.  Unfortunately, will call messed up and was trying to give us the "sightseeing only" tickets.  Luckily, they had extra food available and they were able to switch our tickets to include lunch. 

The cruise was fun.  It was 2 hours long and cruised up the river, turned around and cruised back.  Kentucky really is so beautiful and it was gorgeous looking at all the scenery.  The food was good.  However, I think this was the first time I really realized how different Kentucky is.  Their gourmet is different.  We had a buffet of fried chicken, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, rolls, ham, roast beef, potato salad, pie, cole slaw, pasta salad, and green beans.  Dinner cruises I have previously been on were serving steak or fish.  I suppose to the Kentucky native that fried chicken is better than steak! Anyway, we all had a blast and filled our bellies.  We also got to walk down to the steam room and see it operate.  The Belle is still on of the only operating steam boats in America!

Thanks to our boys for such a fun day!

We decided the next time we all wait in a line to board a boat better be for the company cruise in December!

It was so hot waiting in line we ended up taking Jude's shirt off...then we took off his pants too.  Poor kid roamed around in just his onesie!

So green!

All Boy

This week has made me realize something...we have our hands full with this little guy.

He now knows how to flush the toilet.

His reaching/grabbing is getting farther and farther everyday. 

Walking along furniture is no big deal.  

Toys are not as fun as electronics, papers, bags, cords, boxes...

And now, he can climb...

Oh, did I mention the little fits he throws when he gets removed from any of the above mentioned items?

The Fun Begins!

I don't know why, but I have really been looking forward to the 9 month old mark.  Something about it just seems so fun and like Jude is getting so old! Well, the day has finally arrived!  Today Jude is 9 months old! Let the Fun Begin!

I think that part of the reason is because the list of foods he can eat is finally longer than the list of foods he can't eat.  He still gets plenty of different foods, but at 9 months he should start consistently eating foods like meat, cheese, yogurt etc... all the good stuff in my opinion. The joy of this means that I can finally start just feeding him straight off of my plate without being too picky of what I am giving him.  Bring on the flavor! One year will be exciting too...that's when he can eat the really good stuff like peanut butter and ice cream!

Jude has mastered several things by now.  He crawls everywhere.  He has become a master and can crawl pretty fast.  As soon as he was crawling he was standing up on everything.  Now he has gotten his balance down really well and doesn't fall as often.  He is also walking along furniture, walls, tables, anything!  Today I saw him get a little risky and go from a end table to the wall to walk.  He does have a little push walker, but he doesn't use it for walking very much.  He has realized that while he is standing on one side walking he can't be on the other side playing with the toys!

9 Months old.  Eating breakfast/drinking from his straw sippy cup.

Jude also claps!  It's so cute.  He first started this on our drive home from Chino to Mesa, Az while in the back seat with his Aunt Melanie and I.  She started singing Pat-A-Cake to him and he just decided to copy!  I have been trying to get him to clap for months but I guess my clapping wasn't as cool as Melanie's!  Another talent Jude learned is to drink from a straw.  I don't know that he really learned this though.  I think he just came pre-programmed already knowing how to! One day I just put a straw in his mouth to see what would happen and immediately he was drinking my water!  This is his new favorite thing.  Anytime we have a drink he wants some too.  It's nice to be able to do this although Kyle doesn't love that I won't allow him to give him any soda pop yet!  After Jude started this I broke down and bought him two new sippy cups with straws instead.  We have bought several different types of sippys, but he never would take to any of them.  I had been getting worried that he wasn't getting enough liquid with his meals so luckily now problem solved!  Now we are just stuck with a bunch of useless sippy cups!

Jude and I flew out to Arizona and spent 9 days there and then Kyle flew out so we could all attend my family's reunion.  My family doesn't do these often. The last time was about 7 years ago!  It was awesome for us all to finally get together.  We were only missing my niece Bonita who was headed out to Africa for a mission trip with her church group.  I guess that was a pretty good excuse!  Jude did awesome on all the flights and was a good trooper throughout the whole trip!  We miss being back home already.

Growing Up

You might think, by the title of this post, that I am going to talk all about Jude.  You know, like how big he is getting and how active he is.  

Wrong.

 This one is about the real big kids in the house.  Kyle and I.  We did something really grown up yesterday.

We bought a car!

We have been talking about getting a second car for months.  We could really use a little extra space.  Especially when we drive back to Utah at the end of the summer.  Sitting Indian style for 26 hours on the way out here wasn't fun for me! Our dream was to get a Honda Pilot.  We both really love them.  However, they are on the more pricey end so we were looking at other options a little more wallet friendly :) The only thing is, the Pilot has everything.  The third row seat, extra space, storage, comfort, rear a/c....Then we went to a Honda dealership and fell in love with this beauty:

She's a 2006 Honda Pilot, 66,000 Miles, Leather, Sunroof

We are so excited to have this new car.  As Kyle said while driving it, "This makes us feel more like family."



P.S. Check out Kyle's FB page for up close pics!  He uploaded all the dealer photos.

Slugger Museum

Every Wednesday the boys get the morning off.  I love these mornings.  Kyle works 10:30am-10pm everyday and Saturdays from 8:30am to about 5pm.  Wednesdays he doesn't have to go in until 1pm!  It's our only time to do something.  Sometimes it gets used up going grocery shopping or just staying home.  Last week a bunch of us decided to go to the Louisville Slugger Museum. This place was awesome!  Especially for baseball lovers.  We took the tour and then headed to their batting cages.  It's incredible to watch them basically hand make all the bats.  Only the actually carving of the bat is done by machine.  At the end of the tour everyone got a free mini bat!  

Look who is in first place!