boo!

The Halloween fun started on Thursday when we went to Josh's parents to carve pumpkins, and celebrate Liz's birthday. Noah was Lightening McQueen and Clara was Daisy Duck. Noah practiced trick or treating by knocking on Grandma Stika's door over and over. He was ready for Friday.
Halloween night Josh BBQed and Beck and I made carmel apples. It was nice to have Beck with us, she "man'd the door" so we could go out trick or treating together as a family. It began to rain so I changed Clara in to some sort of snuggly animal (she wore her snow outfit and I drew some whiskers). Noah was very eager, he said trick or treat as he was ringing the doorbell. We came home, passed out candy, Noah licked about 15 different pieces, we snuck a few and headed off to bed.

making discoveries

Ahh, my little scientists. Noah, Clara and I picked up Aunt Beck from the airport and then headed over to the Kids Discovery Museum. A few weeks ago I went on my own with the kids and it ended with me having some of the most memorable discoveries. I discovered what it felt like to be that mom that everyone is staring at, wondering what will she do? I discovered what it was like to have a three year old who is testing boundaries. I discovered never to walk through the gift shop at the museum. Let's just say I was carrying Clara in the bjorn, pushing the stroller with one hand and dragging a kicking/screaming/biting Noah out with the other hand. It was bad enough that another mom came to see if she could help me to my car. I needed to face the museum again but having Beck there for reinforcement made it less daunting.
This visit was pleasant start to finish. The discoveries were all left up to the kids. Noah is so curious, I just like to be his shadow and see where he goes. His favorites are putting balls in the tubes, filling the car with gas at the station, making and testing flying devices, and the construction area where you can build ( and even better) destroy. Clara's favorites are getting to touch anything and sneak it into her mouth. If you have seen how many kids are around it's a literal playground for germs so she doesn't get to her favorites too much. Hooray for happy discoveries!

super saturday

Saturday was great. We had one of those days where we were actually living the way Josh and I pictured us living before we had kids and learned that feeding, bathing, and cleaning up after kids can fill a whole day. Here are a few of the highlights:
8:00 Cleaned the church with are friends the Parkers.
(Clara was snug in the bjorn while I vacuumed, Noah made sure all the nursery toys were in good working order, and Josh covered the rest.)
10:00 Picked up pumpkins, squash, and yummy salsa at the last Farmers Market of the season in downtown SLC.
12:00 Both kids down for a nap at the same time(yippee!). Cleaned House.
3:00 Headed up to Snowbird to ride the tram with Liss, Mark, Carson and Summer. It was customer appreciation day so it was free with the donation of canned goods. Such perfect weather and were able to catch the last of the glorious fall colors.

three alarm party

Noah celebrated his birthday with a fireman party a few weeks ago. We kept it simple. He turned 3 and had 3 little buddies from the neighborhood over. We made pizza, played games, and had cake/ice cream. The highlights were definately the games. They rescued stuffed animals from the trees, they put out "fires" (colored,paper flames attached to gatorade bottles that they squirted with the hose to knock over). Josh was the best helper and Clara was happy the whole time. I'd say a great success for our first ever kid b-day party.

drum roll please...

Sorry it took a while to get the pictures. I donated 15 inches to locks of love. Everyone in the salon got really excited for me and made it this great positive experience. It did feel weird to hold the braid, like holding a part of yourself. I haven't shed a tear yet but I must admit I do kind of miss it. The stylist added some "warmth" to my base color (looks like red to me), it is nice looking a bit more like the kids. I know the cut looks a little boring but it still feels pretty drastic to me. (I really liked it until I showered and had to do it myself, Lissy had to come over to rescue me from the triangle mushroom I created.) The verdict so far has been all positive with exception from Noah. He cried for an hour and kept saying "go back and put your hair back on." Ah, I guess you really can't please everyone.

(gasp)oh jo, your one true beauty

For those of you not familiar with Little Women. This is a famous line that Amy (Jo's little sister) says in response to seeing Jo March after cutting her beautiful hair to sell to help her mother pay for vital travel expenses. I am nervous to hear the gasp and know the line people might be thinking.
I'm just three hours away from my first major haircut of my life. I have had varying degrees of long... long with layers, mid-back long, way to long to my bum long etc. I have had six inches cut off without anyone noticing. I feel like my hair has defined me more than my name. Which Laura? (oh the one with long hair). When I flip through family pictures through the year, ugh, decades, there I am with that same look.
I must admit it has served me well. I have used it to disguise my less than ample bosom. I have entertained several children I've baby sat by having them play with it. My husband even fell a little faster in love after seeing it swish back and forth in the morning sunlight running down Half Dome in Yosemite. When I lived in Tonga I had nearly an entire village come up to touch it saying "palongy" meaning "angel".
Okay, I know, too much, this is the problem. Can Laura be Laura without the long hair? I say yes! It is time to see. When you see me next hold back the gasp and tell me it looks great. I have a feeling I will be very vulnerable.

noah and clara's first train ride

On our recent trip to california we included a train ride in the redwoods. We thought this would be one of noah's favorite activities of the vacation. It was not. It took a little longer to get to the station then we planned and so we were running to make the departure. We were the last on and we were left with the first car behind the engine. I was thinking, "what luck!" Unfornately the sound of the "toot, toot" from ten feet back sounds a little more dramatic. Those "toots" were let out throughout all the journey. Noah who is VERY sensitive to loud noise (I know, how is someone who can be so loud, hate loud so much?) did not take his hands of his ears the entire time. We all tried to distract him. "oh look at that big tree", "wow, do you see that squirrel?", "oh, isn't this so fun!". All to his reply, "no, I want to go home". He was a trooper and endured the train ride, kicked dirt everywhere on our stop, and really enjoyed watching the worker fill the engine with water after we stopped. Clara, who I was worried might be difficult was happy the whole trip. The entire ride was so beautiful, winding through the redwoods on just a perfect day. I can't believe Josh and I lived not 10 miles from roaring camp when we were in our los gatos home and had never been before. Liss, Mark and Beck came too and enjoyed it much more than noah, and we enjoyed it much more with them there as well.