Scopion Huntin'

Mommy: "7 more days until Arizona!!"

Brycen: (immediate waterworks falling from eyes) "I don't want the skeletons to bite me with their butt!"

Mommy: "It's scorpions and it's sting with their tails...(glare at Daddy for telling Brycen about the scorpions)"

Brycen cries harder.

We researched. And promised (every single night leading up to leaving) that we would check our shoes before putting them on in the morning, then keep both: our shoes on all day and our "eyes peeled" (Brycen's new favorite phrase from Curious George) for "skeletons" so they couldn't hurt us.

We arrived and Uncle Mike took Brycen scorpian hunting. To my surprise, Brycen was all up for it! Black lights out in the dark with a hammer was total "fun".  They even found 3 or 4.

Remember when I said my camera broke? All the following pictures turned wrong are from emails that I sent myself from my Mom's iphone. Even though I saved them after editing them to the right direction, they uploaded wrong. Either I couldn't figure out how to fix it (aka lazy) or I may just want to make your day a bit more interesting. Yup, I will go with the latter.

We would able to see great grandparents. Cian's face is right after Great Grandpa volunteered to hold him. Cian is very much our shy little clam. If you are new (to him), he will basically glare or ignore you completely.

Our little family on an-after-church walk to the pond.

4 of the 6 kids reunited. I appear to be the shortest...

BUT not yet. I will cling to that as long as I can.(Baby brother and I are the same height).

Farm-like corn mazing isn't just an Indiana thing after all.

Doing it while getting sunburnt in October though, adds an interesting twist.

Loving the shade built over things idea.

Such as the playground.

Last week as a free one year old! One of the primary reasons for the trip.

I can't ever get enough of my little niece.

My dad even jumped. Write that down, folks.

I swear I take the best action shots of my awesome sister-in-law every time we are together :)

Awesome slide.

Home, home, on the maze.

It's an art apparently not for everyone. Our group of 10 dropped like flies and Bryce, Dallin, and I were the only ones that found all the pictures, solved the mystery, and claimed our prize. A sticker!

Liquid ice box conveniently located in the back yard.

My boys are CRAZY. They shivered for at least an hour straight after.

Yup, sums that up for us.

Getting ready to board the train.

Another beautiful day at a park!

We rode this once.

Twice.

And Grandpa even managed to win over our clam when he promised to take them a 3rd time.

Cian still cried when we had to leave. The tongue sticking out is the "cool thing" to do in preschool these days, have you heard?

Arizona can be quite likeable.

Bryce had to head back to Indiana, as well as Dallin to Utah, but the rest of the crew took a hike. Brycen walked 99% of the 3 miles. I am (as well as my back) SO proud of him.

 

We also got to visit the Arizona State Fair. Brycen took a whirl on the Ferris Wheel with Grandma.

It was a perfect night for the fair.


We sure loved our WARM Fall get-a-way!

 AND Brycen's scorpion hunting stories made him the coolest sunbeam in Primary our first Sunday back.

No Longer "Free"

My baby turned 2 last week.

We made one last "free" trip to see family in Arizona just days before. Pictures to come.

We kept it simple, might as well while they are so young and easy, right?

We started with the traditional birthday donut for breakfast.

And the delicious (I am totally addicted) Papa Murphy's Large $5 favorite half cheese/half pepperoni and tomato pizza for dinner.

After dinner, we had a few families over for cake and ice cream.

My very first attempt at a cake.

The inspiration for the cake came from here. Thanks, Becky! I used her homemade cake and frosting recipes and they were amazing!  I ran out of time or else I would've made alot more dirt to make it a construction hill (like hers) not cliff (like mine). Wal-mart also didn't have any of the trucks I was looking for. Luckily, some friends came to the rescue with the above ones. It wasn't perfect but to Cian, it was awesome so I'll take it. P.S. Chocolate rocks were a hit and SO yummy.

I'm still in shock how much he enjoyed 16 people singing to him.

Loving the attention.

Back longer than I want to admit, for my 22nd birthday, I was over 9 months pregnant with Brycen and my sweet husband thought it would be super brilliant to light my cake with 22 trick candles--(hahaha...not!). As a result, we still stumble across them today in our birthday bag. I thought for sure the two on Cian's cake were normal.

....but they weren't. Big brother insisted he help on the 3 and 4th round of the candles re-lighting. After all said and done, the cake ended up rather moist. Baha!

His gifts included rain boots (he LOVES splashing in puddles) and a "Thomas the train" backpack. Both deals found 2nd hand--a total $3.50.

 A sucker from friends made the day complete.

Birthday boy with his personal birthday trainer. "Now, let me demonstrate how you open gifts..." (does it for him). Oh how I love this age!

The Country.

So, my camera broke back in August. Sad day. I blame that very fact, for not blogging more. That and Mister Cian is refusing to nap.

If I happen to be with Bryce, we get to use his phone for our camera. Here we are doing our Indiana Fall tradition to Exploration Acres--only the biggest corn maze in Northwest Indiana!

The free wagons to use are awesome.

Yup, we are those parents. Diaper checks in public? Of course. Not sure if this beats the nose to the diaper check or not.

Making sure he got all the ducks.

I am always asking to use his phone.

To capture these.

My several attempts to get him to look at the camera.

He is such a people-watcher.

My favorite picture of the night. These adorable tire swings (new this year!) were his favorite!

The hay ride to the maze.

Isn't the day just perfect??

Brycen taking the lead. We had a lot of rain this year, the corn got huge! Last year, was a drought and we could see over the corn to find each number (lame!) It's amazing how much 'stuff' I need to bring to be prepared. Once the sun goes down, it gets chilly. And water, is ALWAYS a necessity. Ever since my delivery with Brycen....I never want to feel that thirsty again! And I'm finding, Brycen is the exact same way.

There were 25 numbers to find throughout the different mazes. They include coupons from participating businesses. It's pretty fun.  Hopefully this picture can finally get me to fix my slouch...

His awesome, "cheese!"

Indiana is beautiful! Not mountains, but still stunning.

There was a bridge connecting two mazes and for what I'm sure is a landmark for those that get severely lost.

I only include this one for the cute boys.

And this one for me.To get it all in one picture? Baha!

The boys were loving it so much, Bryce and I took turns going to get the three number punches we needed in the connecting maze. We carried a fallen corn stalk with us so the boys could track where we were in the maze while they watched from the bridge. I wished I had gotten a picture but Bryce took his phone with him. You will have to take the above picture and insert a moving corn stalk three feet higher than the rest. The boys loved it! Little Cian, "Go Daddy! Go!" He then giggled so hard when he could see Daddy racing back.

The bridge was one of my favorite parts of the evening! Isn't the sight gorgeous?! The true country side. I LOVE it!

My boys.

Necks are overrated.

The camera phone starts to not do as well the more dark it gets, even with a flash.

It was our 5th year coming. Last year, Grandma and Grandpa Walker accompanied us (http://brycencw.blogspot.com/2012/09/t-i-m-e.html) and the three years before are summed up here: http://brycencw.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-indiana-tradition.html

We LOVE it!!