The many things of Halloween

So Friday night, we went to Gardner's Village on 78th South to see their life size witches. Jaycee loves Halloween decorations, so we thought she'd enjoy it! Every time we ask her what a witch says she says, "ha ha ha." It's pretty fun! Jaycee didn't want to sit by the witch by herself, so Daddy sat with her.I thought these ones were pretty cute playing baseball!It was a little too dark to see this one, but it was pretty cute too, flying on her bicycle in the air.The classic witch pose crashing into a building!

So for Halloween, I was able to trade my shift and not go to work that night, so we were able to go visit everyone we wanted to throughout the day and it was loads of fun!

First we went to Shootz Photography and got pictures taken of all the kids that we could...Talon, Owen, Kayani, Ethan, Aubree, Brooklyn & Jaycee! They were free and it was fun! Thanks Jan! After pictures, since we were already in Kaysville, Cody's family and Benji's family came with us to visit Grandma and Grandpa Whicker and then Sister Heywood, too! It was good to see them all.

Owen, the Snake Dragon; Ethan, Black Spiderman; Talon, the Storm trooper; Jaycee, the "Doca" as she would say; Aubree, the monkey; and Kayani, the ladybug!

Talon, age 6

Owen, age 4 and 3/4 (as he likes to say)

Kayani, age 21 monthsEthan, age 4 1/2Aubree, age 1Jaycee, age 18 monthsWith Grandma & Grandpa...apparently Jaycee wanted to show off her hat? That or she was too tired to cooperate! :)

After visiting, we went home to get Jaycee a nap, which didn't happen, and to get into our costumes before running around to show off to Grandpa & Anita, Grandpa & Grandma Hatch.

There was one thing we forgot to have her say and that was "nandy" as in candy. She's our giant Jaycee! I can't believe how fast time flies!!! It's too much fun!

Daddy and Jaycee trick or treating to our neighborhood grandparents, The Barbers! Jaycee calls them mama and papa every week at church.

After that, we went to Diana's to trick or treat to her neighbors and show her granddaughters off, and then ate dinner. Then we went to see Ben & Tanelle's costume 'cause they told us it was great and they wanted us to see it. And finally we went to mom's where we saw Mom, Misti, Mary, Benji's family, Jack's family and Aunt Terry (who wasn't dressed up, but it's always great to see her)!

Brookie let Jaycee borrow one of her pumpkins to go trick or treating. Thanks Brooke.Brooklyn as Little Red Riding Hood.Admiring each other's costumes!Finally looking toward the camera...this always takes so much effort to get them both to look.The medical family! Ryan kept telling people that Jaycee, the doctor, needed a nurse! I made his costume for him, and without a pattern! I was pretty proud of that, since I'm not known for my sewing. Isn't he the ugliest woman you've ever seen?!?!?! :)Trying to be pretty...Nacho & Encarnacion from "Nacho Libre" Ben and Tanelle love Nacho, as does Ryan, that's why they wanted us to see them! They looked AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing guys!On the way to my mom's, Jaycee fell asleep after a long, fun day, but notice what's in her hands, yes hands, not just hand....candy! She couldn't let go even after falling asleep! :)Jack's cute little family!Jackson is the cutest little pee pod I have ever seen!!!Aubree, Natalie, Jaycee, Jack, Jackson, & EthanMisti, the candy corn. Isn't she adorable? I love it!Grandma, the nurse, holding the little pee pod!The very UN-ladylike nurse man!Jaycee holding and seeing Jackson for the first time!Teeny Jackson is his huge car seat!

A Good Hearty Laugh!

These things are hard to catch on tape, and this one is definitely not the best laugh Jaycee has had, but it will do until I can get a great one! :) I love it when she laughs so hard you can tell it's just coming from the gut!!! She and her daddy LOVE to play like this, and it's so fun to watch and join in.

Jackson Grant Whicker is here!

Jackson was born early this morning at 2:22 am. He weighed in at 8 lbs 1 oz and is 19 inches long! He is adorable!!! Both mommy and baby are doing great, and should get to go home in the morning.

When Jaycee woke up this morning, this is how our conversation went:

Mommy: Jaycee, you have a new cousin that was born today!

Jaycee: Nadwee? (meaning Natalie?)

Mommy, laughing: Yeah, Aunt Natalie had her baby.

Jaycee, talking on her play phone: Hewo, Yack? (As if she was calling to either confirm or congratulate Uncle Jack!)

She is so stinking smart and so stinking cute! I can't believe she new exactly what I was talking about when all I said was that she had a new cousin!!! Too much fun! :)

Anyway, here are some pictures of the cute little guy! It's so fun to have babies around again. All our girls are now so big they're not babies anymore! But that's fun too!

He was wide awake the whole time we were there, and kept staring over my shoulder at Ryan, so he tried to get a picture of that, but he closed his eyes just at the wrong time! :)Hands, feet and hair...mostly took these for Richie, who is in Colorado and can't see Jackson brand new. :( There you go guys! His hands are pretty wide, not long, or fat, but wide....maybe it's to be able to ball a basketball easier!?!?! :)Too cute!He finally decided to close his eyes after he got comfortable enough, I guess!Aubree and Misti came up, so Ryan and I sat in the lobby with cute Aubs while Misti went upstairs and met Jackson! They won't let more than 2 people in the room at a time, and no children under 12 years old....because of flu season. Aubree used to scream when anyone would hold her except her Mommy and Daddy, or Aunt Misti, BUT she is growing up and she stayed with us just fine and even reached for Ryan!!! Amazing!!! :)

WELCOME TO THIS INTERESTING WORLD LITTLE JACKSON (or "Yack-eee" as Jaycee would say)!!! WE LOVE YOU ALREADY AND KNOW YOU WILL GROW UP TO BE A STRONG, VALIANT YOUNG MAN! :-)

Aubree turns 1!!!

Little Miss Aubree, turned one yesterday! We went to her birthday party and loved every minute of it! She's getting so big, and it's so much fun! :) Jaycee hasn't stopped talking about "Aubwee" ever since, and wants to go back to her "ome" all the time!

Opening Presents...so many helpers! :)Playing with her new toys!Blowing out her candle.

Enjoying her first piece of cake! :) She kept rubbing the frosting in her hands like lotion.Once done with the cake, she started in on the plate! Proud of her giant mess!

All the girls, except Sierra... :( It took us a few tries to get them to all look at least in the same direction. So fun!

Happy Birthday cute girl! Thanks for finally loving me enough to not cry every time I hold you! :)

Monkey Boys!

When having friends over the other night, we decided to try on Halloween costumes. Both Cathan & Jaden had monkey costumes, and looked so cute!

This is the best shot I could get of Cathan...he kept eating his hat, which made him not very photogenic!Jaden never actually looks at the camera, either. But still cute!Tried to get one of both of them, and this is all I could manage to get! Cute little Monkeys, I think!

Silly Little Jaycee

Just caught Jaycee in some weird pictures, and thought you'd all enjoy! :)

She's always hanging her legs over her seat, but this one was funny because she was asleep as well. She's so funny!This one is hard to see, but she is riding on her horse, and decided she would pick up a magazine to read while she was sitting there! I thought it was funny, but I wish I had gotten a better picture...too bad.

Jaycee sings ALL the time now. We can have music on or not, and she'll just start singing. She knows exactly what she's singing too, 'cause she'll repeat exactly what she just sang if you ask her to sing it again! This is the only video I've been able to get lots of singing in, since she stops once she notices the camera. But it'll do until I can get a better one! I absolutely LOVE it when she sings! There is nothing cuter! :)

Newest Project...

We found this table at a yard sale. I thought it was cute, but obviously needed some work! It was only $4, so we got it, and now it is being used as an end table in our living room! :) I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, and the fact that it was only $4, I was totally okay with spending that much on it!

Before...

During...

After...

Easy Peanut Butter Bars

Okay, so a friend and I made some delicious peanut butter bars for another friends birthday the other day, and they were SUPER easy and turned out really good! Lots of people kept asking for the recipe because they were so good. So, I am going to share it with you all in case you want an easy recipe too! :)

To make a 9x13 pan you will need:

12 crushed graham crackers

1 C. peanut butter

1 C. butter, softened

3 1/2 C. powdered sugar

12 oz. chocolate chips

Crush graham crackers and set aside. Mix peanut butter, butter & sugar, then stir in crackers. Mash on the bottom of pan to make crust. Melt chips in microwave and spread on top of crust. Chill until chocolate is hard. Cut and serve.