Jack turns 2!

I can't believe my little man is 2!  I love Jack so much, his personality, laugh, and smile, melt my heart everyday.  He IS a stinker sometimes...lately he HATES to have his diaper changed or get dressed.  Aaaand he climbs out of his crib if he's in time-out.  Dang.  He's obsessed with wearing his footy pajamas and playing with trains.  He is such a sweety though, still so gentle with Jonah, and him and Sophie are just best buds.  He is saying new words everyday, still can't understand him most of the time, but it's getting better.  The funniest thing is that he is such a copycat with his older sisters, he always wants to be a part of everything they are doing.  

We celebrated Jack's 2nd birthday this past weekend and it was oh so fun.  We'd had plans for awhile to head down to St. George over his birthday weekend and my parents actually flew into St. George on Thursday to meet us there.  York's parents were planning to drive down on Friday afternoon, but SLC got hit with a big snow storm and they couldn't make it.  It was pretty cold in St. George, but we still had a fun time, and it was so great spending Jack's birthday weekend with KC Grandma and Grandpa! I seriously love this age.  Jack had a blast when we went to Disneyland last month and he had so much fun celebrating his birthday.  It's like they have no idea what to expect so when it happens, its so special.  From here on out there will always be the potential to be let down, since they will be able to anticipate what's coming, but at 2, it's all a surprise.  Since he had so much fun, and since Chip and Colleen couldn't make it down, I decided last minute to have a little shin-dig at our place for all the cousins when we got home.  It was super fun and I was pretty proud of myself for throwing together his party in about 24 hours:).  

On our drive down to St. George...

We went to Zion one day and had lunch at Oscars...

And got a few pics...it was rainy and cold but I have never seen Zion in the fall, so beautiful!

We also went to see Wreck-It Ralph, such a cute movie and Jack sat on my mom's lap and didn't move a muscle the ENTIRE movie, he just loved it!

We also went swimming at the Washington City rec pool...

And had a lil party for our cutest 2 year old!

He got a lil emotional when we sang happy birthday!

Sharing his new toys with baby brother...

And here is his "Thomas the Train" or "Choo-Choo" party that we had at home.  He is SO into trains right now.  He got a remote control Thomas train from my parents and a Thomas train track set from York's parents.  He is always carrying them around the house, he just loves them!

We ran around one morning ordering cake and cooking and getting decorations and food to make for the party.  I used a couple things from his pirate party last year and had some of the stuff (like the mason jars) already at home.  

Ok, ok, not to brag, BUT I made this cute lil "snack train" and put chips, goldfish, apples, oranges, and carrots in it for the kids to eat during the party.  I borrowed his new Thomas from my parents to use at the front.  I used black mechanical tape to make "tracks" on the tablecloth thanks to inspiration on pinterest:)

Thanks to everyone that helped make Jack's 2nd birthday so perfect!  Happy birthday Jack, we love you so much! xoxo

Black Island Farm

Oh I just love fall.  Nothing makes me happier than beautiful weather, tons of fun family things to do outside, and all of the holidays this time of year.  We always look forward to hitting up Black Island Farm around this time and this year one of our most favorite trips of all.    Here we are checking out the animals...

Hello kids...

Hello daddy...

Trying hard to get picked to race the pigs...

Pick us, pick us!

Look who got picked!

Go purple pig!

Fun around the farm...

Thankful for another great visit!  Until next year, Black Island Farm, until next year..

Halloween 2012

We had a super fun Halloween this year, and even the days leading up to it.  Although Halloween night itself is always a blast with a party at Grandma's, it seems like there are so many other fun things to do and dress up for that are just as fun as the actual day.  It's always good to break out those costumes early and get a few uses out of them I think!

Mady had a Halloween party in her classroom the Friday before Halloween, but they don't get to dress up (Catholic schools for ya:) but they did have a party that night in the gym for families to attend where they could dress up.  We couldn't go because Joni was visiting from Seattle and us girls had plans to go watch her nephew in the play "Oliver" at the Hale Theatre (so much fun, btw).  Lucky for Mady though, she got to go with her friend Brelyn's family and had a really great time dressing up as a lion cub.  Or leopard cub.  Or whatever she was.  The next day was Brelyn's birthday party at the zoo.  It was Boo at the Zoo day, and I'm pretty sure we'll make it a family tradition from here on out.  It was a blast.  Perfect weather, and the kids just go from place to place in their costumes, trick or treating at the zoo.  Brelyn's family was so sweet to include all our kiddies, and we such a fun day.

From there we headed up to the U for some tailgating, Halloween style.  The kids were still in costumes and went around trick or treating in the tailgate lot.  Best day ever for them, and it wasn't even Halloween yet!

Halloween night we got all dressed up again, this time with face paint and all, made a quick stop at the neighbors then headed straight for Grandmas.  I love our Halloween tradition at Colleen's.  She makes Navajo tacos every year, with homemade root beer (or Witches Brew as the kids call it) and we all bring treats...donuts, sugar cookies...you know, as if we need more junk on Halloween.  We take the kids trick-or-treating, but I think they have the most fun just hanging out with cousins.  Oh, and they loooove getting all their candy that night, but it's funny...Mady is such a collector, she doesn't want to eat hers, and Sophie and Jack's candy buckets are still sitting in my car untouched (ok, maybe I've had a piece or two whilst driving).  But they basically forget about it which works for me.

*WARNING* Picture overload..but here are some pics from all of our Halloween activities.  Oh, and we dressed up as a family as the Yates Family Zoo...inspiration wasn't hard this year, it's no secret its a zoo around here most of the time!  Usually York and I don't dress up, but after the fun we had this year we might keep doing...at least till the kids think we're dorks and ask us to quit embarrassing them:)

BOO at the ZOO

Trick-or-treat Tailgating

York with a Jazz player

We won "best tailgate" this week!

Introducing...The Yates Family Zoo..

Classic Sophie..she wanted her face painted at first, but after a couple pictures she decided it was too itchy and needed it removed.  Immediately.  Mady had specific directions as to how her face paint needed to done, and well, I just can't believe Jack kept it on!

They were all so funny about York's costume, especially Jack.  He wasn't ever scared just had this continual nervous laugh every time he was around!

The kids being chased by a crazy gorilla!

Trick or treating at the neighbors

And a few more silly pics when we got to the parents'

Party at Grandma and Grandpa's