In August we made a few more trips to the zoo before the dinosaurs moved on. We LOVED having the dinosaurs visit and hope they will visit again.
We (and I use that term very loosely) enjoyed playing with bugs, particularly large attacking moths, ugh!
We took another trip to Idaho Falls and visited the temple visitor center while we were there. They had a beautiful exhibit featuring statues of Christ. They were amazing!
Love this temple and the history it holds for our family, I especially like the view of it with the river - Wonderful!
The zoo is much more fun when riding on Grandpas scooter, even if it distracts from the animals we intended to see. :)
Brandon began preschool. I was so nervous that Brandon would not have a good experience, but with a lot of positive talk and a fantastic teacher Brandon is doing very well. We had a few rough starts at the beginning, but now Brandon looks forward to it and wishes he could go every day.
Brandon celebrated his fourth birthday. The day itself was very casual and pleasant. We opened presents in the morning before Jared left for work. McKell spent a large part of the day with us, we played with Brandon's presents, had a picnic lunch at the park, and made a birthday cake.
Brandon loved his whale cake - I thought it was disgusting. But if he is happy, then I am mostly happy, ;) that night we Skyped Grandpa Wyn and Grandma Dee Ann, they got to sing to him and watch him blow out his candles. Brandon had a great day!
The following Sunday we invited my family and the Brosnahans over for another birthday celebration. For this one I made this whale cake. I am so proud of this cake - probably too proud. But let me explain. I do not like fondant - YUCK I also think a birthday cake should be made of cake, not ride krispies and what not just to make it look cute. So when I was able to pull this off with out those yucky things I was pleased, it was delicious!! However the best part of this cake was the surprise when Brandon blew out the candles. If you look closely. I rigged this cake with two straws; one vertical in the center of the cake, another horizontal coming out the side of the whales head. When I blew on the straw on the side of the head sliver sprinkles came shooting out the straw in the head looking just like the whale had blown water out of its blow hole, It was so cool and so much fun that we had to do this several times before we could eat it. I still can not suppress a giddy grin when i think of how fun this cake was, and what a great surprise it was for Brandon. :) 
For Brandon's birthday he got this great Whale swimming pool/sprinkler/and slide. He loved it. we were so happy we were able to get a few warm days before it got to cold. While the boys were relaxing in the pool as shown Brandon kept saying "Ah this is the life" It cracked me up. So funny.
This boy loves his whales!!
We have also been enjoying play time with toys, especially trains and animals. :)
We visited Gardner Village during the witch festival - so fun! Love pumpkins!
Brandon went on a very disappointing field trip to our local grocery store - the only highlight was the "pumpkin patch" and straw maze, which they walked through in a matter of minutes. lame or not the kids still had fun. :)
My boys are true boys - give them a body of water and lots of rocks and they are in heaven, just another one of those moments where I wonder why we take them to places with hefty admission prices when they enjoy activities like this just as much or more. :) They would have happily stayed for several hours had we let them despite the cold, but Jared and I could only tolerate it for so long. Come next summer I think we will do this on a regular basis. :)
Jared had a day off a work, so we decided to take advantage of it and drive nearly three hours to vernal to visit the newly opened Dinosaur National Monument. It was worth the drive. The boys loved all the dinosaurs, rocks, and new museum! It was one of those day when Jared and I looked at each other and felt like a real parents raising a real family doing real family activities. So often we feel like we aren't old enough for this to be real or we aren't good enough or qualified enough to be real. This was a good day. :)
the Stegosaurus - My favorite dinosaur.
The T-Rex - Brandon's favorite and the Triceratops - Jared's favorite.
The diplodocus - we'll pretend this is Grants favorite. :)
During October we also went to Thanksgiving Point to visit Cornbellies. I had no idea it would be this fun. we were there for several hours, in the surprisingly warm weather (we even got sunburned - who knew that could happen in Utah?) These wooden vehicles to play on were so cool - we would have been content if this is all we did.
But there were also several tractor rides, hay rides, and train rides.
there were fun children's mazes. Cute brothers working together. :)
towers of hay to climb on
more wooden play structures
Large play grounds to climb up and slide down
And funny cut outs. We also enjoyed playing in the corn box, jumping on the giant pillows, playing in water for mining treasures, racing ducks, looking at and being terrified of the "Creature" and enjoying all the pumpkins. I LOVE FALL!!
naughty boy - why does he have to be cute when he his being so naught?
Playing in the leaves - one of my favorite parts of fall. I am so glad the boys finally enjoy this activity.
Being buried in the leaves - funny:)
Picnics in the back yard. Notice the way Brandon is holding his glass. we train them up young to handle their drink with class. :) apparently he learned this from The Incredible - thanks Disney. :)
More fun in the leaves with Chandler for our a super fun Halloween party. favorite part of the party having a no hands donut eating contest with my Grandma, mom and sisters.
This picture does not do the LARGE amounts of leaves we get each year - fortunately I have finally learned how to stay on top of it all - Steal - I mean Borrow our neighbors trash can.
Liberty Part - breathtaking! I have not been here for so long - it was beautiful. I will deffinatlly be visiting again soon.
