The second week in October all of the Snell Family came out to Utah along with Matt's aunt and uncle from San Diego. It's been so long since we've all been able to get together and we had a really fun time together. We went to Cabella's, Ikea and took family pictures at Wheeler Farm. We were going to go up to the mountains but it was the first really cold weekend and the weather didn't cooperate but we still had a blast.

Ashton insisted on being Bumblebee again this year, we even bought him a dragon costume for $6 at D.I. but he wouldn't wear it on Halloween. Kaleb was a ninja and from what his teacher said his dancing while playing musical chairs at the class party was not to be missed. She said she couldn't stop watching him dance. My cousin's Jeff and Christina brought their girls along and we went trick-or-treating in my parents neighborhood. After an hour they had so much candy they couldn't carry it anymore so we called it quits.

We also just returned on Sunday from our cruise to Mexico and we had such a great time. It was our first cruise and we loved it--and yes, we gained some weight with all the food but it was worth it! My grandma was in the hospital last weekend and so right after driving home we went to see her. Luckily she came home on Halloween and is doing much better.

Kaleb had parent/teacher conferences this week and he's doing awesome! His spelling is a 4th grade level and his reading is an end of third grade level. I don't feel like it's anything I've done he just has really great teachers and he works hard in school. Ashton has had a rough couple of weeks with being very shy and not wanting to leave me for preschool, swimming lessons, or just about anything and I'm not sure why. He's never been this way before but it's starting to improve. He's no longer crying when I take him to preschool but he still says it's too long and he misses me. Hopefully it's just a phase he's going through.

I'm excited for the holiday's and although I haven't started listening to Christmas music yet I can't stop playing it on the piano. I guess I'm just really excited for Christmas to come.

Last weekend we took a quick trip up to Logan to go to the Heritage Center again. The slide and gourd launcher wasn't as impressive this time but the corn maze was fun.

I was able to paint the entertainment console and I love how it turned out. It looks better in the basement than in my living room but these are the only pictures I have. It's a really dark gray/brown called Fired Earth.

Lately Ashton has been sneaking into our bed while we're downstairs. When I look at this picture either Ashton looks huge or our queen size bed looks really small.

We're excited for a fun weekend with Matt's family and hopefully the rain doesn't keep going all weekend.

And if you want a recipe for really good pumpkin cookies or bread here they are. I make them all the time, all year long.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(I always double this to use 1 15oz. can of pumpkin and I add a couple extra chocolate chips.)

1 c. brown sugar
1 c. canned pumpkin
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Beat sugar, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Add all other ingredients adding chocolate chips last.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes about 30 cookies.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

3 c. white sugar
1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree
1 c. vegetable oil
2/3 c. water
4 eggs
3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. cinnamon
1 T. nutmeg
2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
1 c. miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I use 2 c. of regular choc. chips)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease four regular sized loaf pans. (You could also do 8 mini loaves-30 min. cooking time; muffins-27 min. cooking time)
2. In a large bowl combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Mix in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill pans 1/2 to 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from pans.

The Last Month

The end of August we tagged along with the Gillespie's camping. We hadn't been all summer and so after work Matt and I packed in 1 hour and met them there. I'm surprised I only forgot to pack a couple of things after packing that fast.

Kaleb and Ashton wandered away and had an impromptu photo shoot and these are the pictures Kaleb took. He does pretty good with a camera and Ashton loves to pose!

The 2 pictures on the left are right after waking up Saturday morning. Actually, Matt and the boys had been up awhile but Matt started cooking breakfast and let me sleep in -- heaven.

We took a hike up to donut falls which isn't really that impressive but it's still a pretty easy hike with a groomed trail.

This was the weekend we had the crazy lightning/thunder storms in Salt Lake so the second night was horrible. It rained all night but that I can handle, it was the lightning and thunder that was unbelievable. Kaleb and Ashton had jumped on our air mattress earlier that day so we were sleeping on the ground with nothing but a sleeping bag (awesome) and the ground shook and the rumbling was so loud and long. The lightning was so bright you couldn't keep your eyes open. I was really scared. Ashton never woke-up, I don't know how he didn't and Kaleb would sit-up sometimes because it was so loud. I thought either a tree was going to fall on us or lightning would hit our tent. You could hear people getting into their cars and leaving and if our car wasn't a 20 minute walk away I probably would have done the same thing. I never want to experience that again.

The next week Ashton started preschool.

(I know his "bangs" are a little long, he had a haircut shortly after. And we almost cut it short but he was scared of the clippers so maybe next time he'll have a short haircut.)

He loves going to preschool and I think it helps for him to be around other kids and not just me all day.

Here is Kaleb's 2nd grade picture. His teacher is Ms. Jackson and although he's never had very good handwriting his cursive is awesome and he's loved learning it.



The boys just finished swimming lessons and we're going to do lessons again in November. Kaleb didn't know how to swim before (the last time he had lessons he was 3) and now he can swim a full lap down the big pool. Ashton is getting more and more comfortable in the water and that's what we want. I don't expect him to swim at 3. I didn't get good pictures during the lesson but this was right after the last lesson.


And you'll notice Kaleb's missing a tooth. He started getting a gap between his teeth a couple months ago and I figured it was making room for other teeth since most kids lose their first tooth by 6 and he was 7. I kept checking and sure enough the bottom one was loose about a week later and so Sunday the 18th after a couple days of working on it he let my dad pull it out. I had wanted to make a tooth fairy pillow to put the tooth in but my sewing machine is at the apartment and it was the weekend so I quickly made a pillow at my aunts house with a pocket for his tooth and he left it for the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy left him with a note and a silver dollar coin and he had asked to keep his tooth so the tooth fairy let him keep it since it was his first one.

I really think Kaleb would love to take a hip-hop dance class or something like it. He loves dancing. We have "dance parties" all the time and Kaleb really gets into it. The other day just before leaving (which is why he's in his swimming suit) he told me to take a movie of him dancing. The first shoot he was facing the glass so he could see his reflection but I told him I wanted to see him, not his back so this was take 2. He even counts and says the steps sometimes as if it's a whole routine he choreographed.



And I've leave you with my project for tonight, painting this old dresser I found at Thrift Town that will be our entertainment center. I saw it 3 weeks ago and told myself if it was still there when that color tag was on sale for 50% off I would buy it and sure enough it was. I loved it but didn't want to pay full price. Matt helped me drill new holes for new hardware and we took out the top middle drawer for the electronics. I loved the shape of it and it's really long, plus with the drawers off centered from each other it doesn't look as dresser-ish to me. It came with a big mirrored hutch but we left that at the store. I'll take after pictures when we're done.

End of Summer

We tried to make the most of the last couple of weeks of summer. I'm sad to see summer end but I know Kaleb is loving school and Ashton's excited to start preschool.

The boys always look forward to the neighborhood picnic with the fire hose and water slide. There's always good food, homemade root beer and lots of ice cream sandwiches.


We've been having so much fun Ashton was worn out a couple weeks ago and fell asleep eating his snow cone.



Weeknights we like to go to Wheeler Farm and let the boys play on the new playground and just relax. We usually walk around to look at the animals and this particular time the boys were tormenting this turkey. Every time they would gobble it would gobble back.

Matt has wanted to go up to Timpanogos Cave all summer and so last Saturday we woke up at 6am (wanted to beat the heat) and grabbed breakfast and headed to the trail. We started hiking at 7:40 and it took an hour and 20 minutes to get to the top.

Here we are at the top waiting for the cave tour to begin.

The boys brought their headlamps and loved looking around at everything.

I think I was 12 the last time I had been in the cave's and maybe I didn't think it was impressive then and that's why I didn't remember anything about it but wow, there were some amazing formations and I'm glad we made the trip. The boys did awesome and hiked the 1.5 miles up the steep trail, through the caves, and 1.5 miles back down. I did give Ashton a piggy back ride for about 1/2 mile down since he was slowing down and being so steep it was hard for him to keep from running trying to keep up with us and you can't run on the trail. So if you're looking for something fun to do I would definitely recommend Timpanogos Cave.

As much fun as we had on Saturday, school still started on Monday but Kaleb was ready to go. The principal asked us if he could be in the 2nd/3rd split class and I gladly welcomed it because I think it will give him more of a challenge. He's already started learning cursive so we'll see how that goes.

And just because it's fun to look back here are all of Kaleb's back to school pictures so far. The first 2 are from preschool when we lived at the apartments.

And Ashton kept trying to get into all of the pictures so I told him after I was done I would take his picture. As soon as I told Kaleb he was done Ashton told me to take his picture and this is the pose he struck. This is his personality to a tee, that kid is trouble!

Tim McGraw

Zion's Bank treated Matt's department each with 2 tickets to Tim McGraw and although we weren't in the VIP section (there weren't enough seats so they had to raffle off who got them) we still had awesome seats. They had a dinner before the concerts and ice cream between the first 2 opening acts. It was nice not having to spend any money but have an awesome date night!

Tim McGraw sang the first couple songs in the middle of the seated area and as he walked up to the stage he was only about 10 people away from us. Unfortunately this is the only bad picture I have of him walking past us.

The opening acts The Band Perry and Luke Bryan were fun to watch. Luke Bryan was entertaining and I really like his music. The only other time I've seen Tim McGraw in concert was in high school and Kenny Chesney was the opening act at the Delta Center. I didn't care too much about taking pictures during the concert, we just enjoyed it but here's one picture I took. Overall it was an awesome night other than the fact that it took us over an hour to get out of the parking lot.