Trick or Treat!

Our ward had a trunk or treat in our apartment complex. It was easier for Parker to go around and get candy from the cars instead of going door to door. First, they had chili and hot chocolate and a place where you could get your picture taken. Well, we sat down for our picture and realized that Parker's face was covered in chili! So, this first picture was taken while we were trying to clean him up.

Here's the official one (the sucker's in his hands are from the candy we were planning on passing out. Parker didn't want to give them up.)

Parker and Audree

I think Parker was sick of pictures and just wanted to go get more candy!

Here is some costumes that I loved!!!! It's the Incredibles complete with Jack Jack and everything! The funny thing about this is, the baby's name really is Jack.

Daddy and Parker at one of the decorated trunks. When Parker walked up to a trunk and they had the bowl out for him to see, he would slowly grab one candy, but then he would just hold onto it. Once he had about four pieces in his hands, I was able to convince him to put them in his pumpkin bucket. Sometimes, he would try to give the candy back! We had so much fun watching him figure out what to do! At one point in time, he wanted to give up on the whole thing so he just sat in the middle of the road with his bucket and tried to eat his candy.

Home at last! Parker was pretty sober-faced the whole night. I know he had fun though!

Parker's examining his candy stash. At this point in time, I was on the phone with my mom when I suddenly realized that Parker was really quiet. I turn around, only to find Parker eating a tootsie roll, wrapper and all! I caught him just as he was biting into a new one! Poor Parker was tired of waiting for mommy to open the candy for him!

Parker's Pumpkin

We decided to carve Parker's pumpkin today. He was so confused at first. I don't think he realized that you could do anything else with a pumpkin other than roll it around.

I stuck Parker's hand inside the pumpkin and he thought it was pretty gross. After that, he was content to let me do all the dirty work, although he helped me with a spoon.

Notice how he's watching Greg kiss the pumpkin. He wasn't quite sure why we were asking him to kiss it.

Well, we can say one thing... he sure likes the taste of pumpkin!

The finished product!

P.S. to the Previous Post

I think Parker's excited for the Twilight movie too. I "caught" him in my Twilight shirt.

(wink wink)

Twilight Movie Countdown

Okay everyone, there was a sneak preview scene released last night on ABC Family. It is a scene in the cafeteria. Needless to say, I am excited all over again for the movie. So, for those crazy fans like myself, I've provided a countdown above. And by the way, I'm about to buy my ticket for the midnight showing. Yay!

Mesa Falls Again!

Does anyone remember our pictures from last year's trip? Here's one below so you can see how much Parker has changed.

 And now, for this year's pictures. We decided to take advantage of the slightly warmer weather today and make our last trip to Mesa Falls. It was a lot of fun with Parker this time because he loved looking at the water! Last year, I bet he hardly even noticed.

Parker kept running up to this fence and turning around to smile at us.

It took a lot of effort to keep Parker from picking up squashed berries on the ground and eating them. While he was doing this, there was this crazy squirrel at the top of the tree that kept throwing nuts at us. I'm not kidding! Eventually I had to grab Parker and hurry it out of there.

And, of course, Greg had to set him on top of this big wood pile. Parker was confused.

Last, but certainly not least, my favorite picture. I've been wanting to do this for the last year and finally, we gave it a try. The sign is a little too high, but I LOVE the picture anyway!

Circus Act

Okay, so this video is going to make Parker look like we're preparing him for some kind of circus act, but really we were trying to find the fastest way to show you some of the things he's learned. He can find his bellybutton, shake hands when someone says "good to meet you," give hugs when people are hurt (he even tries to say hug), gives kisses, high fives, knuckles, and last but not least, in the spirit of Halloween, he can say pumpkin. I've told you all of these ahead of time because the video is only 45 seconds and it goes kinda fast. Enjoy!

Birthday Surprise

Let's start out with how much I love my Dad! I'll always remember the long talks we'd have and the stories he'd tell me before I went to bed when I was little. I can always count on him for help when I find myself in a predicament, whether it's as simple as just giving advice or whether I need him to drive across the country to pick me up. He's always there when I need him most. I love you Dad. 

For all those who know my dad, he is full of surprises. Today is his birthday and boy did he get a birthday surprise. He was able to take a nice visit to the hospital only to find out that he has a kidney stone! Poor guy! This is not his first time having one, unfortunately. Luckily, he is no longer in pain... his meds have him on cloud nine. So, everyone be sure to send your best birthday wishes to him. Happy Birthday Dad!

Here is a special birthday shout out from Parker. He sure misses you, Grandpa Stauffer. He also misses your long walks together and...

... your taste in music!

P.S. Greg says Happy Birthday too!

A Costume At Last!

Greg and I have been on the hunt for a costume for Parker these last few weeks. Frankly, we've been kinda lazy and didn't want to order anything online, but couldn't find anything we liked in stores either. Well, by this point I was getting pretty desperate. Thanks to my Mom, she convinced me to give the stores one more try. She said she saw some good deals. Well, I went to K-Mart since I'd already been to Walmart and what do you know, all of the costumes were 40% off (sometimes procrastination works in my favor)! Still, there weren't too many things in Parker's size. As many of you know, Parker's cousin, Ethan, is going to be a monkey for Halloween. As it turns out, Parker and Ethan are not only cousins in real life, but cousins when they're wearing costumes...

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Say hello to Parker the Gorilla

They even put a little gorilla butt on the costume!

Our Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Growing up, some of my favorite memories were going to Farmer Bob's Pumpkin Patch. I loved the hay rides out to the fields where we could pick our own pumpkin. Last year, we didn't take Parker to a pumpkin patch so this year I made the extra effort to find one. While it wasn't quite like the awesome pumpkin patch I had growing up, Parker seemed to enjoy it. His first reaction when he saw all the pumpkins was to begin yelling out "Ball! Ball!" over and over again. Once we told him it was a pumpkin, he tried his very best to say pumpkin instead. It was too cute watching him try.

The first thing we did was try to hunt for the right pumpkin. Parker liked the little ones that he could carry easily.

This was the biggest pumpkin that Parker could manage to carry, but he didn't hold it for long.

We took him around in a wagon for awhile and stuffed it full of pumpkins. I think he would have kept them all if we would have let him.

They had a child-size hay maze and, of course, we had to let Parker try it out.

As you can see, Parker doesn't have much patience with mazes, especially when he couldn't find his way out!

And, as a last resort, he cheated.

Parker's new best friend

We told Parker to give the scarecrow a hug, but he was suspicious and only decided to lean in and count it as a hug. We were trying not to laugh at him.

Oops! I think Parker just realized that the scarecrow was not a real person. :)

All in all, it was quite the little trip. Parker was happy he made it out alive, and with a pumpkin to show for it!

Caught Red-Handed

Parker and Audree got the best of Greg. He was supposed to be watching the kids while Mele and I made dinner. He fell asleep on the job, the kids got into the pantry (see the tortillas at the top of the picture?), and decided to have a pre-dinner snack. Look at Parker's face... he's trying to play the innocent role. It's as if he's saying, "Audree... I can't believe you would get into the fishies without asking." I know the truth though. Parker was the leader in the raid of the pantry.

Parker, A Toy Box, And A Shirt That's Too Big

Today we pulled out one of our plastic drawers to use as a temporary toy box. I think Parker enjoyed the drawer more than his actual toys. Every time we try to put the toys away, he pulls them all back out and sits in the drawer! So much for trying to stay organized. Anyway, we're headed into Idaho Falls tomorrow for some random things we need, including warmer clothes for Parker. As you can see below, he doesn't quite fit into the warmer clothes that we already have for him.

Girls' Day Out... and Parker

My friend Jenna gave us all a surprise this weekend by coming up to Rexburg! Her old roommate, Meagan, was having a baby shower and she totally surprised her by showing up to it! It was so much fun to see Jenna and Meagan again! We spent the whole day together, but I only managed to get a couple pictures at the shower. I'm sure Jenna has more pictures from our outings.

Me, Meagan, and Jenna... (Meagan is having a girl and she is due in the beginning of December. Look how small her belly is!)

Jenna left her husband and Roman behind, but she got to bring Joslyn so it was a lot of fun to be able to see how much her little girl had grown!

Parker was the ONLY BOY at the baby shower and I'm not sure how he felt about that! Here he is wearing Meagan's necklace and her hair tie around his arm! From his expression below, I think he likes being a boy (although I would be lying if I said that Parker didn't want to wear the necklace and hair tie).   :)