We loaded him in and he was all smiles! I guess Logan has been watching Zach more than we thought. He was honking the horn, turning the steering wheel, hanging his arm out the window....you could tell he has been DYING to drive this car!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
What Logan does once Zach goes to bed
Our kids have always gone to bed between 8pm and 8:30pm. The past week Logan has been trying REALLY HARD to stay up as late as he can...some times until 10pm! He just plays with the toys....we figure he is enjoying himself because there is no big brother Zach around to take things away from him. We knew what was running through Logan's head when we saw him eyeing Zach's red car.
We loaded him in and he was all smiles! I guess Logan has been watching Zach more than we thought. He was honking the horn, turning the steering wheel, hanging his arm out the window....you could tell he has been DYING to drive this car!
We loaded him in and he was all smiles! I guess Logan has been watching Zach more than we thought. He was honking the horn, turning the steering wheel, hanging his arm out the window....you could tell he has been DYING to drive this car!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Life in the Gray house
A little bit of attitude....
Some exploration of our surroundings...
Realizing we are growing taller...
Blending in where we can...
Some exploration of our surroundings...
Realizing we are growing taller...
Blending in where we can...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Gearing up for Halloween
Time to break out the Halloween gear! I think this is the first year we will have "fun" with the holiday. Zach is old enough to understand what is going on. He points out pumpkins when ever he sees them, he have practiced knocking on doors and saying "trick or treat", and most importantly he LIKES WEARING HIS COSTUME (well, at least the costume from last year!).
Then he realized he "wanted" all the pumpkins...so he kept bringing us pumpkins to put in our cart...
...then he realized some pumpkins were just too heavy to lift. But he still wanted them (of course).
We let Logan to a bit of exploring with the pumpkins.
But he mostly wanted to just be held...good thing Grandpa Gray was able to go with us!
The kids rode in the pumpkin cart. Believe it or not they SHARED!
This was our final attempt at getting a picture of them together...I guess this is as good as it is going to get. Not quite Christmas card material....
Once we had the pumpkins back home - Zach placed them out in front of our house for everyone to see!
Jen decorated our fireplace mantle....homemaking skills at its best.
By this time Logan had found the Halloween decoration box and decided to help us out by emptying its contents.
...and of COURSE we save the best for last....the Halloween costumes. Logan is going as a dragon this year (Zach's costume from two years ago).
Zach is going as an army man..but he saw his costume from last year (that he wouldn't wear very long last year) and HAD to wear it...so even though it is too small he squeezed into it....a monster.
The kids LOVED the costumes. They would have worn them all day! They were playing nice and checking each other out!
The kids looked like they were having a good time so Dustin even had to get in on the costume fun!
We started the weekend off heading to the Maybe pumpkin patch in South Jordan. This is our third year going to this place. Once we got into the pumpkin field Zach took off running around and looking at all the pumpkins.
Then he realized he "wanted" all the pumpkins...so he kept bringing us pumpkins to put in our cart...
...then he realized some pumpkins were just too heavy to lift. But he still wanted them (of course).
We let Logan to a bit of exploring with the pumpkins.
But he mostly wanted to just be held...good thing Grandpa Gray was able to go with us!
The kids rode in the pumpkin cart. Believe it or not they SHARED!
This was our final attempt at getting a picture of them together...I guess this is as good as it is going to get. Not quite Christmas card material....
Once we had the pumpkins back home - Zach placed them out in front of our house for everyone to see!
Jen decorated our fireplace mantle....homemaking skills at its best.
By this time Logan had found the Halloween decoration box and decided to help us out by emptying its contents.
...and of COURSE we save the best for last....the Halloween costumes. Logan is going as a dragon this year (Zach's costume from two years ago).
Zach is going as an army man..but he saw his costume from last year (that he wouldn't wear very long last year) and HAD to wear it...so even though it is too small he squeezed into it....a monster.
The kids LOVED the costumes. They would have worn them all day! They were playing nice and checking each other out!
The kids looked like they were having a good time so Dustin even had to get in on the costume fun!
Friday, October 8, 2010
What is this??
......this is what the picture looks like when your lens element somehow decides to not work properly on your digital camera....the flash makes it so much worse.I am sad to announce that my Chocolate Canon powershot SD1300IS Elph is dead. He lived a short ten months...by far the shortest life expectancy of any of my digital cameras. In fact all the previous four digital cameras still function - I just kept upgrading to the smaller, lighter digital cameras. This time we "invested" in the two year "accidental drop" converge from Best Buy....some how I think we will get our $$ worth from that. But back to Chocolate Elph - we are not sure how he died...but he will be missed.
.....AND.....chocolate has been replaced with Mr. Blue! Welcome to the family BLUE!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Mustang Challenge at Miller Motorsport Park
Dustin and his friend Cliff love shiny cars that go fast and have huge manly engines.. They've rented exotic sports cars, and have taken several trips to Moab (2008, 2009, 2010 1, 2010 2), so this next trip should have been nothing new for them.. but this particular trip Dustin came home with a huge smile on his face.. He couldn't stop telling Jen and his Dad how cool it was to throw that helmet on and put the petal to the metal and drive a sports car on a professional race track the way you're supposed to!
They took on the Mustang Challenge at Miller Motorsorts Park and had the time of their lives.
With a little bit of this:
And a whole lot of this:
I think you know how much fun they had. :-)
Here is Dustin standing in front of the Performance school where he and Cliff learned how drive one of Miller Motorsports highly modified Ford Mustang GTs on the race track.
Before they hit the track they walked through Larry H. Miller's Sports Car Museum.. There was a lot of drool on the ground.. Here is Dustin's favorite.. A Ford GT40 Mach IV.
This was Cliff's favorite, a rare Daytona Coupe.
After wiping the drool off of their faces they headed to the track.
Dustin jumped in and said.. "Yeah I could drive this to work every day"
This is the track they raced on.. Its really nice and on the front straight the guys were going anywhere betwen 80-120mph! Yikes!
After driving the cars they goofed around a bit on their tour of the facility..
Then they headed over to the Super Karts.. These were no standard go-karts.. They were just as highly modified as the Mustangs they drove, only on a different level.. These go-karts reach speeds of 25-45mph!
Check out the protective gear you have to wear.. A head sock to soak up the sweat from pulling all of those G's around the corners.. a neck brace in case of a bad spinout on a corner, and a racing helmet!
Cliff had the fastest time on the track though Dustin said his time didn't get recorded and that he was gaining on Cliff on the last few laps.. Uh huh.. and Dustin says he's not competitive.. right!
Boys and their toys.. ;-)
They took on the Mustang Challenge at Miller Motorsorts Park and had the time of their lives.
With a little bit of this:
And a whole lot of this:
I think you know how much fun they had. :-)
Here is Dustin standing in front of the Performance school where he and Cliff learned how drive one of Miller Motorsports highly modified Ford Mustang GTs on the race track.
Before they hit the track they walked through Larry H. Miller's Sports Car Museum.. There was a lot of drool on the ground.. Here is Dustin's favorite.. A Ford GT40 Mach IV.
This was Cliff's favorite, a rare Daytona Coupe.
After wiping the drool off of their faces they headed to the track.
Dustin jumped in and said.. "Yeah I could drive this to work every day"
This is the track they raced on.. Its really nice and on the front straight the guys were going anywhere betwen 80-120mph! Yikes!
After driving the cars they goofed around a bit on their tour of the facility..
Then they headed over to the Super Karts.. These were no standard go-karts.. They were just as highly modified as the Mustangs they drove, only on a different level.. These go-karts reach speeds of 25-45mph!
Check out the protective gear you have to wear.. A head sock to soak up the sweat from pulling all of those G's around the corners.. a neck brace in case of a bad spinout on a corner, and a racing helmet!
Cliff had the fastest time on the track though Dustin said his time didn't get recorded and that he was gaining on Cliff on the last few laps.. Uh huh.. and Dustin says he's not competitive.. right!
Boys and their toys.. ;-)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Colorado Trip
We headed to Colorado to hang out with Dustin's family for a few days. Since everyone in his family is spread out (one sister in North Carolina, one sister in Idaho, two brothers in Colorado) we realized we hadn't been back to Colorado with the kids in about two years. We scored a great deal on some southwest tickets (why drive 8 hours with TWO KIDS when you can fly in 1 hour?) and decided to rent a large 8 passenger vehicle to help drive all of us around (Us, Dustin's parents, his two brothers...grand total...8 people). Your choices in vehicles of that size are a minivan or a large SUV (suburban/tahoe/expedition). We had some credit card points that would get us a free minivan rental - upgrade to a suburban from the credit card points was $180 for the trip...eh, might as well go for the "free" vehicle. Jen figured Dustin could sweet talk his way into an upgrade....boy was she right! Dustin talked Alamo rental into giving us a brand new Tahoe for $60. Yes, a $300 upgrade (so they say) for only $60 for the entire 5 day trip. SOLD! Now I am in love with a Chevy Tahoe...it was SO ROOMIE. I could sit in the same row as my two kids and not be wedged in between two car seats. All the drooling I did during the trip over that SUV and I didn't even get a picture of it!
Logan had fun playing with the pumpkins:
And we had fun smiling at the camera:
We also found lots to do at Dustin's parents house. Dustin's brothers had their work trucks at the house and they were hauling a mini bulldozer for their construction job the following week - guess which little boy was in HEAVEN?!?!
Zach was glued to his Uncles after he realized they had a mini bulldozer. Here is Zach with his Uncle Eric:
There was also a trampoline to jump on:
Logan verified the sticks in Colorado tasted as good as the ones in Utah:
The weather cooperated so well, we were able to eat outside on the back deck several times.
Logan helped with the dishes every chance he got:
Logan also helped Grandma Gray with her movie organization -- he didn't like things alphabetized!
We also went bowling. When ever we are in town we always go to this particular bowling alley in Greeley. This is the first time they had the disco thing going on while we were bowling. Zach had never been bowling before (and was in dire need of a nap when we went) - but enjoyed himself. He had cute little bowling shoes....
We WILL be going bowling again.
The next highlight of the trip was a fishing expedition at Dustin's cousins the Larson's! They live in Loveland on a lake. The lake is full of fish. They have several canoes and fishing poles and let us come over and have some fun! Our kids have never been fishing before...and the closest they have been to a large fish the Cabela's fish tank....so this was a real treat!
We first started off fishing from the dock. It didn't take long for Dustin and Zach to catch their first fish....
Then Grandpa Gray caught a fish and Logan was able to check it out...look how hard he is focusing/concentrating on that fish!
Then we decided to go in the canoes to find more fish.
Dustin and Zach caught SEVEN FISH!
Jeanette caught SEVEN FISH:
After about an hour Jen finally caught her SINGLE fish....
You always know you know the day was a success when this is what you see during the drive back to Dustin's parents house.
Before we headed back to Utah we were able to tour the Denver Mint. Jeanette was able to get us "tickets" for the tour about two months in advance. No cameras allowed in that place so I have no pictures :( The Denver mint does pennies!! Everyone loved seeing the process of how they were created, stamped, and cleaned.
Last stop before the airport was lunch at Casa Bonitas. This place served Mexican food and had a great ambiance for entertainment. There were cliff divers, caves, bridges, arcades....you name it...every little kids dream come true. Dustin remembers going to this place in Denver when he was a kid and is always talking about Casa Bonitas. We were finally able to make it to this restaurant during this visit.
A little bit of sibling jealousy going on in this photo....
And sadly our trip has come to a close. The boys are already asking when the next plane ride is going to be....
Okay now back to the trip....so now you know we were cruising the streets of Colorado in style. We had a blast (of course!) and stayed super busy. We visited the "farm" in Fort Collins. Zach and his cousin Korbin had fun going around and feeding the animals.
Logan had fun playing with the pumpkins:
And we had fun smiling at the camera:
We also found lots to do at Dustin's parents house. Dustin's brothers had their work trucks at the house and they were hauling a mini bulldozer for their construction job the following week - guess which little boy was in HEAVEN?!?!
Zach was glued to his Uncles after he realized they had a mini bulldozer. Here is Zach with his Uncle Eric:
There was also a trampoline to jump on:
Logan verified the sticks in Colorado tasted as good as the ones in Utah:
The weather cooperated so well, we were able to eat outside on the back deck several times.
Logan helped with the dishes every chance he got:
Logan also helped Grandma Gray with her movie organization -- he didn't like things alphabetized!
We also went bowling. When ever we are in town we always go to this particular bowling alley in Greeley. This is the first time they had the disco thing going on while we were bowling. Zach had never been bowling before (and was in dire need of a nap when we went) - but enjoyed himself. He had cute little bowling shoes....
...and he picked out his own pink bowling ball and walked it down and rolled it down to hit the pins!
We WILL be going bowling again.
The next highlight of the trip was a fishing expedition at Dustin's cousins the Larson's! They live in Loveland on a lake. The lake is full of fish. They have several canoes and fishing poles and let us come over and have some fun! Our kids have never been fishing before...and the closest they have been to a large fish the Cabela's fish tank....so this was a real treat!
We first started off fishing from the dock. It didn't take long for Dustin and Zach to catch their first fish....
Then Grandpa Gray caught a fish and Logan was able to check it out...look how hard he is focusing/concentrating on that fish!
Dustin and Zach caught SEVEN FISH!
Jeanette caught SEVEN FISH:
Jen tried to catch some fish....maybe she was just a bit too relaxed...
After about an hour Jen finally caught her SINGLE fish....
Before we headed back to Utah we were able to tour the Denver Mint. Jeanette was able to get us "tickets" for the tour about two months in advance. No cameras allowed in that place so I have no pictures :( The Denver mint does pennies!! Everyone loved seeing the process of how they were created, stamped, and cleaned.
Last stop before the airport was lunch at Casa Bonitas. This place served Mexican food and had a great ambiance for entertainment. There were cliff divers, caves, bridges, arcades....you name it...every little kids dream come true. Dustin remembers going to this place in Denver when he was a kid and is always talking about Casa Bonitas. We were finally able to make it to this restaurant during this visit.
A little bit of sibling jealousy going on in this photo....
And sadly our trip has come to a close. The boys are already asking when the next plane ride is going to be....
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