Cougar Run and Homecoming Parade

Elliott ran in the Cougar Run on Saturday. It's part of the Homecoming festivities. He ran with 5 and 6 year old boys for 400 meters. He had fun doing it (even if he did come in 20th out of 21 runners). Good job Elliott! Elliott and Collin before the race. Elliott and Mason afterwards. Way to go boys!



Watching the parade with the Joneses. The kids all had fun, especially going after all the candy.

And of course no parade would be complete without the marching band. Go Cougars! (Too bad they got creamed in the game later in the day.)

Crazy Hair and Cute Faces

Last week was Red Ribbon Week at school. One day was crazy hair day. I used gel and made Elliott's hair stand up. It was as crazy as I could make it. I offered to spray it black, but when I told him he'd have to take a shower afterwards, he decided against it. Silly boy.

Las Vegas Fun

A couple weeks ago I took the boys to Las Vegas since Elliott has a few days off of school. We had a great time visiting family and friends. It's always fun to stay at Grandma and Popeye's house. Here are lots of pictures showing all the fun we had.

Derek loved going up and down the stairs. He was pretty proud of himself and now is quite the pro.

Town Square with Grandma, Curt, Ethan, and Caitlyn



Visiting Heather Fife and family. It was so fun to see them after several years.



The park with Grandma.

Party time with the all the family living in Vegas.

We spent some time at Chris and Kara's new house. The kids had a blast!

The District - trolley and carousel.

Mount Charleston with Daniel, Ashlee, Maya, Grandma, and Popeye. We hiked up to waterfall (I like to call it a water-trickle). There wasn't much to it, but it was still a nice hike. The hike itself was a little challenging with the little ones, but they made it.

Elliott on the way down: "I'm following the water. It's like I am the water."

We went to Curt's house after the hike. He made dinner for us. Way to go Curt!

We went to the Painted Mountain Ward on Sunday. I always love going back there. I love that ward! Thanks to so many good friends.

Pumpkinland

Derek and I went to Pumpkinland with our MBASA friends. They had a corn maze, a petting zoo (of sorts), and a big playground. Derek wasn't too thrilled to be there. I think he was pretty tired. He liked playing in the dirt more than anything. Elliott got to go there the following week with Kindergarten. He got to ride on a school bus for the first time. He had fun.

Standing Tall

Derek's newest accomplishment - standing up in the middle of the floor.

He has never attempted to stand up, but tonight as I was cleaning up dinner, Elliott said Derek is standing up and falling back down. I was doubtful, but as I watched, this is what I saw (beware loud screeching ahead)...

He finally got the hang of it. Once he got up and stood there for a good 30 seconds. Of course the video was processing so I couldn't get a picture, but here's a great one from another successful attempt. I absolutely LOVE the face!

Go, Derek, go!

He's finally making some progress. Hooray!

Elliott Update

I've been a bit behind on getting this update out. Elliott has had an exciting month. He loves school. He started playing soccer. He has a lot of fun, even if he doesn't usually get anywhere near the ball. He has a good coach and teammates. Their team is the Green Goblins. It's fun to see him play and have a good time. Elliott finally got a new bike too. It was time to get him a "real" bike with training wheels. He loves to ride it. A friend of mine was selling it, so it was a good deal too. Finally, last Saturday Elliott lost his first tooth. We were at the Wymount Opening Social. He was eating a cookie and felt something hard, so he took it out of his mouth. He thought it was just a sprinkle from his cookie. I glanced at it and realized it was his tooth. He thought that was pretty cool. And since he was eating something, we didn't have to deal with any blood. It was nice all around. It's funny to see him smile without the tooth because the new one is already as big as the other teeth in his mouth, just a bit further back. He was very excited for the tooth fairy to come. Elliott LOVES to play the Game of LIFE. We play it almost every day. He is really good at being the banker too. He can calculate anything - 2 paydays minus something he has to pay, etc. He's pretty amazing. It's fun to watch him learn and grow.

Derek Update

Derek is 15 months old (ok, almost 16 now)! He still weighs less than 20 pounds. He's not walking or talking yet, but he's got the cutest personality. He figured out how to climb slides and now cannot be stopped. I have to keep a close eye on him anytime we go to a park. He has no fear. He'll climb up any slide, no matter its size! His other favorite things are reading and animals. So, he can usually be found looking at books with animals and making animal sounds. I can distinguish his animal sounds, but many of them do sound alike. It's pretty cute when he does them. What a sweet boy!

This is where he can usually be found (or more often in the living room corner surrounded by books). I love it!

Derek LOVES playing outside, especially in the dirt. He found this great truck at the park. He loves to play with it.

Chillin' at Elliott's soccer game.

I was sweeping the other day. When I put the broom down for a minute, he was all over it. He sat there pushing it back and forth for several minutes.

Slide time. (The first slide he climbed.)