The Parental Units

They came. We played. We snuggled (well, Will and his grandparents snuggled, that is). We hiked. We celebrated (my mom's b-day). We walked. We swung. We giggled. We sewed (technically just my mom sewed). We ate (and ate and ate). We Palmyra-ed. We bonded. They left. We cried (literally--lots).

Parental units, my ones and only, please, please come back. Often. Soon. Will misses you and talks of you often. I miss you and talk of you often.

Proof positive: Will and Pompa snuggling on the couch (Will was in heaven, watching Cars on the couch with his Pompa. And, I dare say, so was Pompa).

The Palmyra visit. Is there anything better than touring Church history sights with your parents? It was a spiritual feast. I loved being there with my parents, hearing their testimonies, feeling of their spirit, recognizing how blessed I am to have them as my parents.

More Palmyra (the log house).

The sacred grove.

Happy B-day, Mom. Here she is blowing out her candles on her German pancakes.

And this is thanks to my dad, who taught Will all about Mater clips on You-tube. Now, Will is obsessed, addicted and constantly begging for "Mayer, Mayer" on the computer.

In the Meantime: Somersaults

I have plenty to post, but little motivation/time. In the meantime, enjoy these two gems: Will's newest past time, somersaults off the couch. Does it get any better than that for an almost-two-year-old? I think not, my friends, I think not.

Halloween 2009

Yet another Halloween has come and gone. There were some highs and there were some lows, but fun was had by all.

The highs:

• Will made one mighty fine-looking cowboy (in spite of my low-budget, lazy costume-making abilities)
• Will loved candy
• Will had a blast at the Ward par-tay, baking cookies with friends and trick-or-treating
• Will also was in hog heaven at our neighborhood fire department party and parade: fire trucks galore
• Josh and I loved diving right into Will's Halloween bag, helping ourselves to our favorite candy

The lows:

• Will wanted no part of his costume--not the hat, not the vest, not the bandanna. He did, however, love the pony (he called it a "cow" since he was a cowboy) and the red boots. Oh, the red boots.
• Will loved the candy--so much so that at the ward party he stole candy out of other children's bags, wouldn't play any games (only asked for more candy) and while trick-or-treating, insisted on eating the candy he received right then and there or else a tantrum would ensue (hence, not much trick-or-treating was accomplished).
• Will is still hopped up from his "sugar high"
• Josh and I ate way too much candy.

Good-bye Halloween, 'til we meet next year. Enjoy the photos that document this fine, sugar-filled holiday.

Sitting in the big fire truck

A fire boat, oh my!

Will insisted on the pony wearing the cowboy hat (and insisted that he did not).


This is his new "cheese" smile. He loves to say "cheese" when we take photos.

Never Leave us Fall

Fall, if you leave us, how will we be able to enjoy:

Trips down the slide (Will is standing atop the slide)

Sprints full-speed down the hill

Poses by the tree

Rolls down (across?) the hill

Skies filled with blue, lawns covered in leaves, days filled with fresh air. I am posting these pictures so that in the cold, dark, dreary days to come I can remember why I live here and not despair. Oh, Fall--please, never, never leave!

Now, check out this video of this silly kid sprinting down the hill into my arms, bonking my head and knocking me down in the process. It's quite the show.

Falling Leaves

Will loves to jump in piles of leaves--it's constant entertainment. Good thing we have lots of leaves in our yard, thanks to my sheer laziness. I pile them up, let him jump in them and then spread the leaves back on the lawn. Heaven forbid I actually rake any of the leaves, put them into piles and then bag them. That'd be far too much work.

These photos are quite reminiscent of last year's leaf collecting photos. Oh, how quickly time flies.

le Tour

Our third annual le Tour de Vermont; it really has it all: beautiful bike rides through picturesque Vermont towns, gorgeous fall foliage, wonderful company, perfect weather, the best accommodations and even matching t-shirts (a must, really, for any successful vacation). If only every day I could live life like on le Tour--exercising everyday(with people!), Will playing with cousins every day, NOT cooking/cleaning every day, and, of course, watching 4 hours of 'Dancing with the Stars' every night. Oh, Tour. We can't hardly wait for next year. (And Macy Gray, all we can say is, you never had a chance).

*The only downside: apparently, contrary to popular belief, I don't look so good in spandex bike shorts. Why didn't anyone ever tell me? And all those out there possessing pictures of me in said bike shorts--don't even think about ever broadcasting those puppies or I will hunt you down. Trust me, I will hunt you down.

A picture from across our perfect house. It had rocks and a river (so the little boys were in heaven) and was attached to the Stowe bike trail. And the scenery. Oh, the scenery. We LOVERMONT.
The three little boy cousins in their matching shirts.
Silly Willy.
All the cousins: Grant, Will, Sarah, Sam and Beth.

Josh's best side.

The day Nate babysat all the kids by himself. The kids loved it (he took them to the river to throw rocks and they were just mesmerized by his ability to throw huge rocks in the river). Thanks go to Nate for his stalwart babysitting.

The John Deere wheelbarrow at Shelbourne Farms. He was obsessed with it.

Will loved him some Gus this trip.

The Mad-Family in all our biking glory, clad in our matching Tour t-shirts (and even notice the magnet on the car. The Madsen family does nothing half way. But please ignore the beauty that is me with my sweaty, helmet hair). Our emphatic thanks go out to all the Madsens who organized this dreamy, perfect trip!

Scratch

Scratch that last post. I figured it out. Apparently, all I had to do was agree to the terms and conditions and then: voila--I can upload photos to my heart's content. I must be on a roll today. When talking with my friend and neighbor earlier this afternoon, I asked her why she thought my mums were dying. She asked me if I'd watered them recently. To this I responded, "Er, I haven't watered them at all." Who knew mums needed water? I thought they were "winter hardy"--as in, they didn't need anything but the winter to survive. I guess it's safe to say I'm no green thumb. Not my proudest moment. But at least all's well that ends well: my mums will survive (thanks to the gallons of water I gave them and, of course, the winter) and I can once again blog. Happy day. Stay tuned for posts with pictures.