Happy Halloween!

I am not a big fan of Halloween, but even I must admit it can be a little fun with the kids. Allie came home from school loaded up with candy. But, because she didn't yet have "enough" we went to Eric's work and did a little trick-or-treating.

GETTING A DECENT PICTURE OF BOTH KIDS...

IS GETTING MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT...

CLOSE ENOUGH!

YUM...CANDY.

Next, we headed to Poppy and Grandma's for some Halloween fun! The kids got spoiled (of course!) and had fun handing out candy to the children who came to Grandma's.

TOONE COUSINS. POPPY AND GRANDMA ARE VERY GOOD SPORTS AND TAKE THE KIDS OUT TRICK-OR-TREATING EVERY YEAR.

We finished the evening in Scott & Leann's cul-de-sac roasting hot dogs and sipping hot chocolate. Allie got involved in the great candy swap that inevitably occurs among the cousins every year and Landon went crazy trying to get his hands on the cat and dog at their home.

Halloween Costume Preview

Last night Scott and Leann had a little family party at their home for all of the Swain gang. (Can anything that involves all of the Swain's be considered little?) It also happened to be Leann's birthday. It sure was nice of her to throw us a party for her birthday. Anyways...the cousin's were excited to have a dress rehearsal for the big day and show off their costumes to each other. We had pumpkin icecream shakes and chocolate skeleton cookies, played games, and spent time visiting.

SOME OF THE KIDS IN THEIR COSTUMES

LANDON WITH HIS COUSIN, CRUELLA (AKA CLARISSA)

SCOTT--AND ONLY MOST OF THIS IS A COSTUME. THE BROWN AND WHITE STRIPED "THING" IS HIS INFAMOUS SWIMMING SUIT. YES, HE REALLY WEARS THAT SWIMMING IN PUBLIC. WATCH FOR HIM NEXT SUMMER AT THE SCERA POOL, HE'S NOT HARD TO MISS. WE LOVE YOU, SCOTT!

Cornbelly's

Earlier today Allie and her choir performed at Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. It was a beautiful day and both of the kids loved being outside in the nice autumn weather. After the concert, Eric took the kids and spent some time having fun.

On the Move

Now that Landon has started moving, he rarely stops. I convinced Eric to help me give Landon a little hair trim on Thursday evening (fyi...it was not anywhere near as easy as I thought it would be). I decided to take some pictures to show off the new 'do--which looks surprisingly like the old 'do:

Can You Believe This Kid Just Had Surgery?

This video was taken this afternoon shortly after we came home from the hospital.

All Is Well

Landon is home now and resting from his surgery. Everything went according to plan and there were no complications. The surgeon, Dr. Wallis, said that his hernia was actually very large. He was a little surprised by how big it was. When they took me to the recovery room, Landon was climbing all over in his crib and working on drinking a bottle. By the time Eric joined us a few minutes later, he was ready to go. When we stopped by the pharmacy on our way out of Primary Children's Hospital, Landon was on the ground and crawling all over the place. I am sure that the next few days will not be as pleasant as usual, but hopefully not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. Thank you for all of your prayers!

A LITTLE PRE-SURGERY SNUGGLE

PRIMARY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL SAME DAY SURGERY WAITING ROOM. (LANDON LOVED PLAYING WITH THE BABY DOLL!)


AT HOME AFTER THE SURGERY AND SO HAPPY TO EAT!

PS--We got our first peek at Landon's bottom right tooth today while we were sitting in the waiting room at Primary Children's.

Adventurous Allison

I was finally able to load the video of Allie on the zip line at the Heber Valley Camp. She is so brave!

4 Wheel Drive

Yep. That's what we call it. Landon has turned into a mobile maniac! He cannot be left alone for 10 seconds or he is sure to be in a precarious and/or dangerous situation. There is no obstacle too great that he cannot find a way over, around, under, or through it. For example, in the last few days Landon has decided that it is great fun to pull himself to a standing position using the couch. This is a lot of fun for him until he loses his balance and freefalls backwards. He also loves to crawl under our kitchen chairs but he inevitably gets stuck and starts to howl until he is freed. He also LOVES it when Allie lies on her stomach to watch TV...he sees this as an open invitation for him to perch himself on top of her back and pull her hair.

Earlier this morning we had our Primary program practice in the chapel. Landon had the freedom to roam the chapel while my attention was diverted to "my" other 80 kids. If I didn't know better I would think he was playing hide and seek with me. I would get one child settled only to have to turn around and wander through the chapel looking under benches for Landon. As soon as I would find him and try to pick him up he would kick it in to high gear and make a run (or crawl) for it. Lucky for me, I am still quicker than he is. I'm sure that won't last too much longer.

This afternoon Eric took Landon to Marci & Phil's house to watch the BYU game. I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pictures of him in his game day attire.

He's not very happy that I was "forcing" him to hold still. But isn't his BYU jacket handsome? Thanks Angie!

His onesie fits! Remember what it looked like the first time he wore it?

Wow, he's gotten so big!

Surgery Information

Landon's surgery is scheduled for Monday October 22nd at 8:15 am. It is same day surgery and they have reassured us that it will be a "piece of cake". Yeah, right. Anyways...we'll keep you posted on how things go.

A Mini Vacation

I LOVE to go on trips. I don't even care where they are to. After church on Sunday we headed to Park City for a couple of days. We had tons of fun relaxing, sleeping in (all the way until 7:00 am), and just plain being together. I love getting away from it all and being without all of the day to day distractions. We've been home just a few hours and already I am planning the next trip. I'm thinking Maui sounds good. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Allie started this trip off on the wrong foot. She was a little bit sick on Sunday. Luckily by Monday she was feeling much better. She loved that we let her watch way more TV than she ever gets to at home.

She does take after me at least a little. Allie is an avid reader. She especially likes the new Nancy Drew series, Junie B Jones, the Magic Treehouse, and the Friend magazine.

Lately Allie asks me over and over whether or not I think she will need braces. What do you think?

This condo had the biggest bathtub I have ever seen. Landon was not too impressed, however. He hates taking baths. It's a miracle I caught him smiling in there.

As we walked down Main Street in Park City Landon talked the whole way. He likes to suck on his index finger and drool all over whoever is carrying him.

Eric wore sandals, a t-shirt, and shorts. I wore a long sleeve shirt, a big sweatshirt, and wool socks with my shoes. Our thermostats are seriously mis-matched!

Allie was a little disappointed that she didn't get a picture of Landon's tongue sticking out this trip. She did manage to get a couple of cute pictures of Landon and I.

This is one of our family's favorite treats...a caramel apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. YUM!

Eric and Allie had fun swimming. Landon and I sat on the side of the pool wrapped in blankets and coats.

It was a fun little trip. On our way home we got some wonderful news. Our good friends Gabe and Kristy have a new baby boy. That makes baby boy #4 for them. Kristy is seriously outnumbered. We can't wait to meet him! Update: We've seen him and boy is he cute! It felt strange to hold such a tiny (8 lb.) little thing after toting Landon around all day.

A Tale of 2 Family Reunions...

The Swain Family Reunion...
I seriously need to be reminded why I thought this was a good idea. Our family spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning at the Heber Valley Camp for a Swain Family Reunion.

It was beautiful, it was a lot of fun, and it was COLD! Eric was totally in his element and both of the kids seemed to have a pretty good time but I complained the whole trip. We stayed in cabins which were really nice...but don't get the idea they were plush. It's pretty much a concrete floor with basic wood frame bunk beds. At least it wasn't a tent.

HERE ARE A FEW PICTURES OF A VERY BUNDLED UP LANDON

This is what happens when you try and get Landon to smile.

Playing with cousin Kira.

Having some fun with Aunt Shannon's zipper.

Playing under the pavilion.

ALLIE

Having fun with Uncle Darin.

We got a great video of Allie on a zip line that I will post in a few days.

The Hudson Family Reunion...
Was nothing like the Swain Family Reunion. Instead of basic, cold cabins we were invited to my Aunt & Uncle's multi-million dollar cabin. It was plush, beautiful, and WARM. We left the Swain Reunion a little early and joined in on the Hudson reunion a little late. It was fun to visit with cousins that I don't see very often and meet the newest family members born in the last few months. We played games, let Landon explore on the ground, visited, and had a yummy lunch. There are no pictures because I was still recovering from hypothermia. (Okay, really our camera batteries died.) Hopefully we will be invited back because it is a beautiful place where there is lots of fun to be had!

To sum it all up...
We are very blessed to have lots and lots of great extended family. It is so wonderful to spend time visiting and enjoying people we don't get to see often enough. I just prefer to do it in warmth.

General Conference Weekend

On Sunday we ended up at my parent's home for the afternoon session of General Conference. It was a lot of fun since EVERYONE kind of spontaneously showed up. My brother Paul had his camera there and got some cute shots of Landon that I wanted to share.

Calm Landon with anything but calm hair.

Another photo of Landon sticking his tongue out. Surprise, surprise.

And finally just a cute picture.

Cowboy Landon

Eric and Allie had a little fun putting Allie's cowboy hat on Landon's head. I'm not so sure it was as fun for Landon as it was for them (note Eric's hands holding Landon's arms down in the first picture).

We're not sure what it is about hats, but every time Landon has one on his head, he pulls some strange faces!

Because 2 Dogs, a Fish, and a Snake aren't Enough...

We have to bring the neighbors cat over to play, too. Allie has asked for a cat for a long time but we have been able to talk her out of it so far because: 1-I am allergic to cats, 2-We have 2 dogs, and 3-We have a pet fish whom Allie believes might be eaten by a pet cat (we haven't gone out of our way to discourage that notion). Tonight she brought the neighbor's cat Cooper over for a little visit. What I was surprised to discover is that apparently Landon loves cats. I have never seen him get so excited about being around an animal--and he has been around plenty of animals in his short life. WARNING: Allie is the videographer!

More Pictures

Here are a couple of additional photos from our sealing day.
Right after the sealing.

And another cute Landon picture.

This picture reminded me of something Elder Caldwell said when Landon was brought into the sealing room. He said "Your know, your hair won't always stick up like that". I'm not so sure!

Our New Pet

I have mentioned before just how crazy things are around this house in the morning while the kids are out front waiting for the school bus. Today was even crazier than usual thanks to the discovery of a new "pet" at our house. It was lovingly named October and several kids took turns holding and petting it until I found out what was going on.

As far as snakes are concerned, they don't bother me any more (or less) than every other animal. They give Eric the creeps though. It's actually kind of funny. Anyways, I told the kids the put it down and leave it alone because I didn't want anyone to get bit and then blame it on the Swain's pet snake. Trust me, the way this poor creature was being man-handled it was only a matter of time.