Other fun days in October!!

The Zoo..

So Big!
The Train

Rhett and I took a trip up to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City with our friends Sarah and Seth Denzer. It was fun for us to walk around with our little boys and watch them get excited over all of the animals. We got to see a baby elephant and a baby giraffe!! The giraffe was fun because they were inside eating and we got to go up on the upper level of the building to watch them eat! We had a ton of fun looking at all the monkeys and watching them play. While we were watching a mommy orangutan play with her little babies she came and sat right in front of our window looking out toward us and started to throw up the hay and play. I think they know that little kids are like their little babies. The baby was showing off by swinging upside down in the tree and teasing its mommy by picking up hay and throwing it at her or hitting her each time it swung by. Then it would drop and tumble on the floor and sit up with hay all over. Rhett LOVED it and laughed saying "seewwwy monkey!" We also went on the carousel and the train. Rhett had fun on the carousel for the most part but toward the end he just wanted to be done.... He did have fun on the train ride though.

Seth and Rhett

Orangutan

Carousel

Jocelyn's Birthday...

Rhett and Jocelyn

We went up to Morgan's for Jocelyn's Hello Kitty 5th birthday!! It was a blast for the kiddies.. they rented a blow up jumping machine that had a slide on it. Rhett loved it but was a bit too little to climb up to the slide. The bigger kids at the party helped him but before that he was grabbing Mallory's hand asking her to "hep" him.. that didn't work to well though. Rhett absolutely LOVES Mallory and often asks me "where mowery?" or wells "MOOOWWWEERRRYY WHERE ARE?" Too cute! It is always fun to go up to be with all the cousins..
Mallory and Rhett

Halloween...

Tricks or Treats!

Yes! I LOVE Halloween and was super excited to go up to Morgan's to be with all of Rhett's cousins and go tricks or treating... though sleep deprived from the night before we had fun just hangin' out, playing in the leaves, carving pumpkins, decorating cookies and getting in costumes(the kids). Rhett was a Lion this year. We've worn his costume from time to time around the house for a day just for fun and he had so much fun with it. He would walk around or crawl as he growled at everything. The first time he put it on he got confused and thought he was a kitty and would just meow. He did so well at sitting still so we could do his makeup!! I wasn't really thinking he would let us put anyone on but gave it a try and he sat still and watched in the mirror as we put it on every once in a while wrinkling his nose!! The first couple of houses we went to Rhett hurried and ate the candy they gave him... until we got a sucker and got him on that for the rest of the time.. He finally figured things out part way through and would walk up to the door with Jocelyn and Mallory. I would tell him to say Tricks or Treat and he would say "I want treat" and then continue to hold his bucket up and say to the person "here go!" telling them to put the candy in the bucket!! Its too cute to handle sometimes... I LOVE my little boy. Jocelyn was Wonder Woman, Mallory was Super girl and Felicity was a stinking CUTE flower. Grant was the most awesome homemade Monster Truck I've ever seen and Mason was also stinking cute as a Giraffe!! We missed all of our other cousins and wish we could have been with them as well.. the Shaw's, Steven's, and Bullocks!! I always miss my nieces and nephews on these fun holidays!

Carving Pumpkins

Our pumkins. Rock did the top one. I did the kitty.

Buddies

Makeups!

"I want treat. Here go!"

a while ago in Logan...

I have a hard time keeping up with these kinds of things even tho I'd really like to. I can't believe how fast time has flown by!! It is already the end of Fall and its really making me dread the cold winter ahead. I think growing up in a place where winter was a good 6-7 months out of the year made me hate the cold months. We've had a busy month this October and have had lots of fun!

For General Conference weekend earlier this month Rhett and I took a trip up to Logan to visit one of my favorites, Josalyn and Mailon, while Rock took a fishing trip to Flaming Gorge with
some of his good friends.

We had a little adventure while we were in Logan. First of all I drove the Lincoln which we had parked all summer long. We fixed it especially so I could go up to Logan. On the way up I saw so many people getting pulled over and just remember that we didn't have it on the insurance anymore and
called Rock in a panic "what if I get pulled over?!" I was reassured to drive careful and I'd be fine and we would take care of that later..

The day we got there Josalyn had to work that evening and just before she left Rhett and Mailon were playing in Mailon's room. Mailon took a fall and hit is head and was gushing blood. So we loaded up the kids in my car and followed Josalyn in her car to meet Dan at her work so he could come with me and the kids to the pediatrition. On the way to the Doctors office Rhett started to feel that he was not the center of attention and had a meltdown out of nowhere. Meanwhile Mailon was all better, still bleeding, but all better and not crying. The pediatrician super glued his cut shut and we were out of there in a hurry.

On our way back I went through a yellow light and was surprised when a few seconds later I saw police lights in my rear view pulling me over. I haven't been pulled over in SO long and felt a Little embarrassed not knowing why I was being pulled over. Being the airhead that I am at times he was explaining to me why we was pulling me over. He wasn't too worried about the yellow light but just scanned my plates because I caught his eye. All worried I explained to him the whole car/insurance situation and that I had just talked to my husband about it on my way up to Logan. He looked at me surprised and said that could be an even bigger deal.. took my license and ran it.. meanwhile Dan began to explain to me that the police officer was talking about my Registration Renewal.. I quickly connected what he was getting at earlier and my stomach sank. Rock and I had not renewed it because we were leaving it parked during the summer deciding on whether or not we should sell it. Luckily the nice police officer let me off the hook and said to sneak it home and get it taken care of and understood my situations. We just totally forgot about ALL of that stuff and it wouldn't have been fun to pay a ticket for an honest mistake.

Another funny thing that happened with the officer was that he was confused why I was in a car with my brother in-law and his baby. So we had to explain that story. He thought Rhett and Mailon were twins which was funny because the year difference in them seems so obvious.

(front)

A project that Josalyn and I did during this visit was buy material to make quilts for Janese's birthday and Josalyn made a little one for Mailons birthday. I cannot believe Janese is a senior....well I guess I can. I am actually very excited for her as she applies to colleges and enjoys her fun fun senior year!! So I wanted her to have something this birthday to bring to college with her. I really would never ever have done this sort of thing in my life if it hadn't been for my Grandma Shaw. When I was expecting Rhett she pulled me aside and made sure that I enjoyed sewing some receiving blankets and burp cloths for him. We even made a small version of this quilt for him that was only one sided. I am so grateful that she has taught me some skills and opened me up to something that I really enjoy. It is also time for me to remember my time with her. I think of her often as I do sewing projects and just miss her so much!! I'm not great at it but I have my whole life to practice and know I'll be doing things like this for my own kids someday. I was way excited about it and now Janae knows what she is getting for her birthday too.

(back)

I had so much fun visiting Josalyn, I wish we lived closer! It's nice to have time with family and I enjoy watching Mailon as he gets older! He looks SO much like his dad It kills me! He even likes to where jeans and button up shirts like Dan. I can't believe he is already 1!!!

Rhett's 18 Month photo session

We had the best opportunity from a sister in our ward,
Victoria B. Harris, who needed to build up her portfolio of babies and presented our Relief Society for a chance to have our child's picture taken for free!!

I have always wanted to get way cute pictures of Rhett that captured his personality. I think its special for every mommy to remember they're little baby as they are here and now.

Rhett had fun in the beginning modeling for the camera, but once we got to the park all of his interest was gone. I was kinda nervous that we wouldn't get very many pictures of him smiling or having fun at all. I was okay with it but kind of sad. To my surprise there are many pictures that caught him in his moments of quirkiness and fun! Just as my little Rhettzel-pretzel!!

I've sent some of you her link www.victoriabainesharris.com in an email and here are a few more pictures that you may or may not have seen already!She did an AMAZING job! Many of the pictures make me laugh, then I get a little sad knowing that he's not going to be this way forever.

Fishin' and Hikin'

little brown trout

We've made several trips up Provo Canyon to fish the river since Rock got his early birthday present! Last weekend he caught his very first fishy and though it was small it felt like a big accomplishment! Rhett and I on the other hand had no luck with the pole :(.. So we decided to try our luck walking on the trail. Later we just played along the shore with rocks and Rock even let me try the fly rod out for size just when it started to rain and we had to leave! Last night we made another trip and Rock caught a good size brown trout that we will be serving up for dinner. YUM! I am guessing this family outing will be happening more that 2 times a week as fall comes!

Provo River

Another exciting adventure we went on was hiking up the 1.5 mile trail to the top of Mt. Timpanogos to take a tour of the caves. We woke up bright and early and left our house at 6:00am to stand in line to get a tour time. It was the last fee-free weekend of the season so there were a ton of people. We ended being able to get an early time so we were able to hike up right away. Which worked out great because just as we were going into the caves it started to rain pretty bad. We were happy that we brought Rhett, though before we started the long treck up the steep switchbacks we were dreading it! He actually walked/jogged up most of the first half or more! Every once in a while we had to carry him but he didn't want to be held for long. It made the hike much more enjoyable and easy. I must admit that is was pretty scary at the same time. We had to heard him away from the edge alot. The edge of the trail doesn't have much protection and many of the drops are steep and high!

We made it to the top!

Cold and hungary! We left the house without breakfast so by the time we got up there Rhett was ready to eat! We packed a bunch of granola bars and some yogart. We definitely underestimated just how cold it was going to be luckily we brought a sweater for Rhett at least...he sure was a trooper and actually seemed to have fun!

The origonal entrance to one of the caves.

Waiting to go in!!



Walking through one of the passages that lead to the next cave.

The walls..

Looking up toward another origonal entrance to the cave.
They dropped down to the bottom of this cave with a rope I think they said 25 feet.

The Path

This is some of the cave we actually had to walk through.. It was kind of hard with Rhett cuz I had to think extra skinny. You are not allowed to wear your back pack because of catching it on the walls. The limestone would turn black by outside things touching it so they were very strict on making sure we didn't touch the walls at all. That was also very difficult with a 20 month old who wants to touch EVERYTHING! Half way through the caves Rhett had a HUGE meltdown! He did not want to go anymore. He just sat down and cried and cried in need of lunch and a nap. He didn't stop crying until we got out of the caves. It was kind of embarrassing but we made it through. not even one switchback down the mountain he zonked out and slept all the way down in our arms. Its a little hard to go up and down hill carrying an extra 30 lbs! But we made it to the bottom and overall had a great time! I'm so glad we got a chance to do it. Well worth it!

Our Crew Went To Nauvoo!

"The Carlisel Crew"

Grandma Carlisle is just finishing up her mission in Nauvoo and wanted to show all of her family all the hard work she has been doing! It was the longest traveling days of our lives!.. We did close to 5 hours on a plane from SLC to Chicago and then drove 4 hours to Nauvoo. The flight luckily went really well. We traveled with Josaly, Dan and Mailon and the babies both did great for such a long time in one place. However, Josalyn and I both got very homesick as we made our way over Chicago to land. As Lake Michigan came into view my heart was wishing for the lake that we once saw every day. :( Lake superior. I miss the north shore so much at times. Rock worked a night shift the night before we left so he had hardly any sleep the whole following day.. poor baby. It was well worth all the traveling to see Grandma as she sang and danced in many of the shows. She also did many of our tours including Carthage. She will return to her home in Payson later this month and we are looking forward to it.

All of Grandma's Grand girls + my mom
We enjoyed many of the sites, vignettes, musicals, the Pagent and Grandma even scheduled a time for us to do an endowment session in the Nauvoo Temple! The first time the shaw family went to Nauvoo the Temple hadn't been built yet, the second time I went for youth conference we didn't get to go in. So I especially enjoyed being able to go in and finaly see it! It was so beautiful with so much detail and history!

Outside the blacksmiths
We all Got Rings.. Rhett even got to get a ring on this tour small enough to fit! It was the distraction of the day.

Playing in the corn.. getting scared because of "signs" eek!

It was Rocks first time in Nauvoo so he had a blast though it was very busy. He especially enjoyed going out to see Carthage. We had so many things scheduled to see and do and we were lucky to do many of them. We had a fun time seeing my family and loved seeing Grandma and all of her hard work. We know that Grandpa is proud of her for serving this mission!!