Hot Dog!

This was dinner last night! The boys were way excited. Merrick was a little bugged that there was bread around his hot dog - so he picked it all off.....over all a very good dinner!

Smash-Mellows

I have been doing a lot with marshmallows (or Smash-Mellows - as Braxton says). I found this to do with them - so we tried it out. I think they watched, more then did the dipping and decorating, but they both liked to eat them.

And since we had a big'oll bag of marshmallows and some left over gram crackers and a Hershey's bar, we made s'mores after dinner using the grill.

(I love that in almost all the pictures I take, if you look real close, my boys

ALWAYS have a little snot on their nose. Why is that? They aren't sick or anything!)

Carrots

Many of you know that Braxton is the worst eater ever. He has to be coxed into eating dinner every night.....and pasta is the worst. We don't really even try for the veggies half the time. The only fruit he likes are pineapple and apples (well, NOW he likes apples - thanks to Capt. Carlos)

On Sunday we had a roast. You know - meat, potatoes, and carrots all cooked together while you are at church, so you can come home and not have to do a thing but set the table and get a drink on. Well, Braxton has decided that THOSE carrots are good. And he can eat them because they are good for his eyes.

Yesterday at pre-school they had carrots with their lunch (its great - they feed them at school!) but he didn't like them. I am guessing they were just steamed - not any love put in to them.

So then this morning we are eating our pancakes and sausage and he looks at me and says,

"Mom, you make me good carrots,

but my teachers don't make good carrots.

You LOVE

me so you make good carrots for me!"

Pumpkin Patch!

(We are in BYU shirts because there is a game today - and we are 'Cougars'!)

Today we went to Apple Annie's. About an hour away from our house, but everything is far away from our house, so I guess it is worth the drive if we want to do anything.

We met Diane and Blake with their kids (since they are the ones who told us about this place! And Braxton and Merrick love them!) There was a pancake breakfast at the Apple Orchard from 8:30 - 10:30 and they had pumpkin pancakes with apple cider syrup and home made sausages.....so good!

Then we drove to the farm part of Apple Annie's and got to take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin.

Merrick found a nice little one that Merrill got to carry around for him, and Braxton was excited with the one Merrill picked out (he gets the final say since he will be doing the carving on Monday night - for Family Night)

While this was a fun day and all - The big news is that on the way up to Apple Annie's there is a boarder patrol check - and after we drove through - we saw a Mexico plated car with all doors open, panels ripped out, and about 20 bricks of pot sitting on the trunk. It is good to see they are doing something other then slowing down traffic!

Halloween Projects

Now that Braxton is only in preschool M-W-F, I feel the need to do

things with him to make the day more fun with mom at home.

Today we went to Wal*Mart and got a lot of craft things.

I even had to re-organize the closet with all the craft stuff in our house.

Here we are making some pumpkin and candy corn foam things.....we tied string to the bottom and top and hung a bell from one end and hung them up outside.

Then after dinner we roasted "mash-mallows" over a candle.

The boys think I'm great. It must be true.

Yumm!

I found this yummy Cinnamon Roll recipe on a blog

through my cousin Brynley.....and I LOVE IT!

I cut it in half - and it is still to big to mix all in my KitchenAid at one time.

I have made half regular cinnamon and half orange...both are so good.

Try it if you want some steamy goodness in your kitchen!

Pictures

I haven't put pictures from my camera to the computer in a while - mostly since I haven't taken many in the last little bit....so they are a little old...but here they are.

Boys with new hair cuts - new a few weeks ago.

How many moms will just give a pint of raspberries to their 2 year old and let him have at it?! (yeah - this is kinda to make up for the dried up olives)

Braxton IS Bumblebee. Merrick might be Buzz Light Year - the outfit is a little big.....but we will see (gotta get our $40 worth out of it!)

And on Sunday last week - Merrick was being very quiet. This is why.

Las Vegas Get Away

So a few weeks ago Merrick was getting up at 4:30. This happened like 4 days in a row - and I was going crazy (like anyone would). It all happened because I thought he was ready for the 'toddler bed' - so I took off the side of his crib, and that was a bad idea.

We put the side back on and got the radio alarm that I grew up with and put that in his room. He was in bed till the radio went on at 5:30 the first morning, and then 6:00 the next morning.

Now this is all taken care of - but at the time I was really frazzled. So much so - that Merrill said we should take a trip just the 2 of us. I started crying......we have never taken a trip with out the kids. I think the last time we were just the 2 of us on a airplane was Thanksgiving when I was pregnant with Braxton. So we called my mom - she flew out and we did too....to Las Vegas.

We stayed at the Trump, and it was nice because there is just the hotel - no smoking and no casino. And there was a jet-tub the size of a queen bed in the bathroom! It was great!

We ate at Bobby Flaye's Mesa Grill......VERY GOOD!

And we went and saw the show Mystere at Treasure Island. (An added bonus was that the tickets were half price since we are in the army....so instead of $180 - it was only $85 for the both of us!)

We also ate at the Wynn Buffet for breakfast....(#2 on the Top 10 List of Best In Vegas) Merrill had a lot of prime rid that morning...it was sooo good!

Merrick and Braxton had a great time too! They didn't have to listen to me or Merrill from Friday to Sunday. My mom let them ware when they wanted, play and watch T.V. and took them to every fast food place in Sierra Vista! You can only guess how mad Braxton was when I started to cook dinner on Sunday night........It was back to the old wine and complain till we are all mad and yelling at him to eat his dinner.

Trips are so fun! I recommend them to all my pregnant friends/cousins who have someone to watch the kids they already have. Even if its just a night away in a hotel.