A Halloween Murder Mystery

We had such a fun Halloween this year. Nathan and I decided since Sawyer wasn't of 'trick-or-treating' age we wanted to throw a party on Halloween night. We've always wanted to host a murder mystery party so we finally took the plunge! We had so much fun! It was mostly friends from Nathan's class and a couple others. Everyone dressed either to match their character or in a 'Halloween' style costume (witches, mummies, etc). The setting of the murder mystery was supposed to be at a Halloween night club. I was so impressed with how well everyone really fell into their character. It was a pretty tough game and only a few people actually guessed who the real murderer was. I took a bunch of pictures of the food, decorations, and a some of the costumes. You never quite get the same feel from the pictures because of lighting and stuff...but it was a very fun ambience with candles everywhere...I had a blast. Tons of pictures to follow...enjoy! :)

This is the invitation we made for each couple. Underneath the finger was directions for each character assignment.

The witches shoes were party favors filled with chocolate.

Shriveled potatoes with sauce, breadstick bones, and guacamole with blue chips. The witch hats below were little petits fours (cake bites, with a cookie brim)

Jen made the monster mouths (apples with almond slivers) and mummy faces.

Val made the monster toes (hot dogs with tortilla and ketchup for the nail), dirty worms (gummies in oreo), and pretzel ghosts.

Just some candid shots as the guests were arriving.

My friend Jill and her daughter, Ella. She and Sawyer had the same pj's on! Also...Ella is 6-7 months older than Sawyer and so tiny!!

Isac the hypnotist and Jen the screenwriter!

I don't know if you can really tell, but Nathan replaced all of our picture frames with scary pictures...

Nathan put the TV on the floor and created a 'fireplace', complete with sound effects.

Here's the table, before all of the food arrived. I never took a picture of the completed table!

This was our cooler for sodas. The soda cans were inside the pumpkin.

Nathan, the mummy host.

Here's the whole group.

One more thing. Sawyer did have a costume this year. He was a little green monster. Although we made a few alterations. I brought him to Nathan's class on Friday and Nate had me put a sign on the front of his costume that said, S. Mutans. This is the bacteria that causes cavities. The dental students loved it! And Sawyer loved the attention! As you can see in the pictures. We are nerds. Our child's first Halloween and we dress him up as bacteria. He did look pretty cute though. :)

Six Months

Sawyer is 6 months old today! Wow...time really does fly. I can't even believe it. He is doing so well and we love him so much. He's had a couple 'firsts' at six months. His first real cold. Poor guy...he's hanging in there but I feel so bad for him with his runny, crusty little nose. Also, his first real cold day. We took a picture to capture the first 'cold day' outing.

Other things to blog about: We had our little sister get together in Vegas this past weekend. The drive went well, although Sawyer didn't love his new car seat as much as I'd hoped. We concluded he just doesn't like to be strapped in, no matter the seat. I guess we'll have to deal with it. We got up there Friday night and spent the evening highlighting and cutting my hair (thanks Kristie!). It's a little perk that I get every time I see her! Jake was coming down with a cold and by Saturday, he was not a happy camper. But, nevertheless, we paraded on in true Schindler fashion! Nathan stayed home to help his dad work on the backyard and we went to the forum shops at Caesar's palace and then to the Miracle Mile Mall. Yup, we basically spent the day shopping. It's what we do best! And we had fun....despite the cranky toddler and having to nurse Sawyer periodically in public restrooms (never a fun experience). That night we had planned on going out to dinner and then watching a movie, but dinner was vetoed by Jake and we settled for Chipotle, carry-out. I was ok with that, I love Chipotle. And then by the time we got the kids to bed, we were so wiped out we all fell asleep within the first minute of the movie. Ha! Maybe next time we'll leave the kids with daddy!

Sunday morning, Kristie and Sydney decided to hit the road, due to Jake's worsening cold, and temper :). We had planned on doing some family photos that afternoon but that didn't happen. We managed to squeeze some in the half hour before church but thanks to the wind, non-smiling kids, and lack of time we didn't come out with much. Once I get those organized I'll post a few.

So it was a semi-stressful trip...but totally worth it! I love any chance to get together with my sisters! We just wish mom could have joined us that day!

Jake and Sawyer love cruising in Kristie's double stroller together! I love this thing!

At the start of our shopping trip.

We took this picture for Nathan. He likes this movie. Or the preview, I should say. We haven't seen it yet.

As my mom put it, you can see why the urgency to go home.

The end of the day. Jake asleep with a blanket over his face, Sawyer struggling to get out of my arms. We survived.

I don't know what's more entertaining, Nathan's sound effects or Sawyer's laughing. Please ignore me looking like a grandma and trying to get food out of my teeth. I wasn't aware I was in the video and had just eaten something sticky.

He's On His Way...

That's right folks. I'm going to go ahead and predict that Sawyer will be making his rounds around the house in no time. He's been doing the caterpillar crawl for a few weeks now. You know, where he pushes his bum up in the air and uses his arms and legs to kind of inch along. Basically, you literally picture a caterpillar crawling along the ground and that's Sawyer. And he gets surprisingly far doing this little maneuver. But within the past couple days he's figured out how to pop up on all fours and sort of rock forward. He forgets to move his hands in front of him at that point which results in a rather comical face plant. But he's so close! I think I'm excited about it. Everyone says that's when it gets hard because then they can move around and get into things. But he gets so frustrated when he can't move from where he's laying that I think it will make him happier to be more mobile. We'll see I guess. He's also doing well with the sitting thing. Although after about 3 seconds he usually topples to one side or another.

There are probably a million things I should have blogged about in the last month, but I can't think of anything now. That's what you get for waiting, I guess. We're doing well. Sawyer is developing more and more of a personality by the day. We started trying some rice cereal around 5 months and it constipated him to death. So we switched to oat and that seems to do the trick. He actually likes it now despite what you see on the rice cereal video, which I will post below. I have a feeling he's going to love the veggies. We have also just upgraded Sawyer to a rear-facing convertible car seat. He just HATED his infant carrier so it was time... And I'm just waiting for those first teeth to come through as he is constantly gnawing on anything and everything he can get his hands on! Including his feet and my nose. He has also recently learned how to cough and how to make spitting sounds with his lips...both of which he seems to think are pretty fun. Another funny little habit, he loves to slap anything in front of him. Yup. Put something in front of him and it either goes in the mouth or he begins slapping the object repeatedly. I'm sure these are all just totally normal baby things but Nathan and I get a kick out of it either way.

Nathan has been doing well in school and is starting to feel more like he's going to be a real dentist one day. Lots more clinical and lab stuff this year, much less book stuff. He's got so much more time this year it's just amazing. We are loving it. I am keeping myself super busy with endless projects and activities, as well as everyday mom & wife responsibilities. Planning halloween parties, enrichment activities, book club, bunko night, decorating various parts of the apartment (mostly Sawyer's room which is almost done...I'm excited to post pictures)...the list goes on. It's a crazy life but I wouldn't have it any other way. I also started working again. I'm only doing 3 shifts every 4 weeks so it's not bad at all. Generally a Friday or a Saturday night where Nathan is home for Sawyer while I'm gone and sleeping the next day. It's the perfect amount for me and that little bit helps us out a lot! I'm doing better with the whole 'lack of seasons' thing here this year. I decided that as long as my house smells like pumpkins and cinnamon and there are festivities going on, I can deal.

We're going to Vegas again this weekend to meet up with Kristie and Sydney and Jake so I'm super excited for that! I'll let you know how it goes!

Sawyer trying very hard to move around. He's almost got the crawl down!

He's pretty much doing the same exact thing in every picture but it's all I've taken the last month! I seriously need to improve on my photography skills.

Below is me and Jen learning how to can tomatoes! Fun stuff!

I have to comment on his cheeks. Every now and then they just get bright red! Like this was last night for a couple hours and today they're totally fine. I think it's a teething thing? Has anyone else's kids had that?

Keeping Up

So I just wanted to post a few random pictures and try and keep somewhat on top of things. We've been doing well. Nathan is loving the 2nd year of Dental School--so far it's about a million times easier than last year and he actually has time for us when he gets home every night! Amazing! We're pretty excited about it. I'm keeping busy trying to get our house in order still. It's funny how quickly I go from being home all day and not having much to do, to piling my days full with different projects and commitments! I must be my mother's daughter. But I love it! I don't think I could ever be bored. We also celebrated my 25th birthday the other day! It was a great day. We went to breakfast at Einstein's and got bagels...my favorite! Then we worked on our talks for Sunday (ok so that wasn't super fun)...and then Nathan and I went to dinner at Red Robin and just had a fun night out together while Isac and Jen so kindly watched Sawyer for us. It was so nice to just go out on a date together! And when we got home, Isac had put together our crib for me that just came in the mail right before we left (and I didn't know it had arrived)! I'm so excited! I'll post pictures once I get it all settled in there. Also, Nathan made me a really cool birthday present but we had to leave it in Vegas cause it didn't fit in our little car. So rather than explain what it is I'll just post pictures when his parents bring it down. So that's about it for now. We are loving life and praying for the weather to start cooling down! ;)

Just hangin out on his tummy. It's his favorite thing to do after I lay him down and turn around. It must be a race in his mind to see how fast he can flip over so that when mom turns around again...tada! We love it.

So the kid has a purple bumbo...what can I say? We love hand-me-downs and appreciate them so much! But man, that Bumbo sure does wear him out!

We went to Vegas for Labor Day weekend and Nate helped his dad work on their backyard. Lookin good boys.

Bathtime with daddy.

Water Parks and Baby Gyms

Our friends Isac & Jen (who happen to live across the street from us!) got four free tickets to a water park the other day and they invited us to go with them! We had so much fun! I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of the five of us all together. But we got there around 2 pm and left around 6...I'm surprised we lasted that long with Sawyer but he loved it too! He went for a ride in the Lazy River with Daddy, took a nap in his stroller, played in the wave pool, and took turns hanging out with each of the adults while everyone else went on the water slides (thanks for helping out everyone!)... So now Sawyer has had his first experience at a water park, and let me tell you, living in Arizona it won't be his last! We had a blast yesterday. Thanks for taking us Isac & Jen! We love being your neighbors and especially your friends!

Sawyer loves his baby gym. I just had to share a few pictures of him having a good time. The one above shows how Nathan found him a few minutes after placing him in the center of the gym...he's all over the place! Below is proof that Nathan isn't the only one sleeping on the job (see previous post).

This last one is hilarious! Nathan went to pick him up from the gym and Sawyer held a good, firm grasp on his froggy, which lifted the entire gym several feet off the floor! Seriously...he didn't let go for a solid 3 minutes or so! Haha...

It's a wrap...

Another attempt at some family pictures...maybe one day Sawyer will respond to the person behind the camera! :)

Well our summer is quickly coming to an end and we have had a blast. So much has happened...Sawyer made his big debut, we moved to Virginia for two months and had an amazing time with my family, Nathan took his first set of dental boards and passed (no surprise there!), we spent a week in Utah at the Ranch with Nate's family and had so much fun there, and then I got to spend another few days with Kristie, Wes & Jake. Nathan went back to Arizona while I played with Kristie and found us a great apartment in Phoenix that we absolutely LOVE and hope to stay in for the next 3 years. After much traveling and many exciting adventures along the way, we are happy to be once again settled in our own little home and with our own little family. We are so grateful for the time that we had this summer to make memories with those we love and hope that we get the chance to see them all again very soon!

Here's a quick recap of a few of our adventures:

A couple weeks before leaving Virginia we thought it would be fun to drive up to Palmyra, New York for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It happens every summer and my family had never been because we always found it difficult to plan such a trip with David around. But we got some great babysitters (thank you Phelps!) and we were on our way thanks to Nathan's encouragement (he'd been before and couldn't believe we'd never seen it!). I have to admit it was well worth the 8 hr drive! What an amazing production...and we had a great time just driving up together and hanging out. The day after the pageant we had time to just do whatever so we visited a few of the church history sites and then Nathan discovered that there was a county fair in town and, even more exciting, a demolition derby! And not just a regular demolition derby...it was a school bus derby! Crazy stuff... Nathan was so excited for Sawyer to experience his first demolition derby. Let's just say Sawyer did not make daddy proud on this occasion :). You can't blame the poor kid, though. Those things are just too darn loud! All in all, it was a fun trip and I'm so glad we did it.

During our week at the ranch, we made a trip to Park City to ride the Alpine Slides. Again, we had a great time! The rest of the time at the ranch was spent playing games and just enjoying one another's company. It was really fun for us to have Sawyer meet all his cousins on the Larson side. Little Taryn was born only 9 days before Sawyer so it was fun to see those two together!

And as for an update on our sweet little Sawyer...things couldn't be better! He's still such a great baby...very even tempered and happy. He's full of smiles and laughs. He sleeps from 8 to 5 pretty much every night (thank you, Baby Wise...and thank you Sawyer for just being good). He loves to stand on your lap, stand on the table, stand on the floor...and pretty much stand where ever he can. He can most often be found with his fists in his mouth or trying to roll over. He loves playing in his baby gym and pulling on the musical toys hanging above his head. The day we moved into our apartment (Aug 15...he was about 3.5 months then) I went in to get him from his nap only to find him on his tummy! He continued to roll from his back to his tummy for the rest of the week...but he always did it in secret! It wasn't until yesterday that I actually witnessed the act first hand! He now HATES his car seat...it's pretty much the only time we get a real good cry out of him. :) I think it has something to do with the 108 degree temperatures here. Today he started making bubbly, gurgly spitting sounds with his lips. And he thinks his daddy is the funniest person alive. We still have yet to find a diaper brand that prevents blow-outs...and we're especially grateful for laundry detergent and washing machines these days. His dimples are a hit with the ladies...and he loves to play peekaboo with has face blanket. He is seriously such a joy to have around and I LOVE being his mommy. I'm so excited for each and every new experience we have with him and I am so grateful for the time that I have to spend with him each day.

Nathan posing with some characters from the Palmyra Pageant

The School Bus Demolition Derby in New York

Playing with Sawyer while waiting for the Pageant to start

Mom and Dad trying to fit in at the Demolition Derby :)

Sawyer enjoying life BEFORE the derby got started. (Sawyer and I spent the majority of the night in the car waiting for the derby to be over...let's just say he didn't enjoy it as much as his daddy hoped he would)

Random pictures at the New York county fair

So we're driving around in Canandaigua, NY and we see the Ghostbuster's car outside someone's house! Crazy...(notice Nathan in the background...click on the pic to make it bigger)

Hanging out with Grandpa at the Pancake Breakfast

He's like, Dad, would you quit kissing me...it's embarrassing.

So Nathan and Sydney and my dad went early to the Pageant to save us some seats. Nathan thought that if he put the names of General Authorities on the seats, people would leave them alone. Here's Sawyer sitting in 'Uchtdorf's' seat. The people next to us were surprised/disappointed when we showed up (they even took a picture!) I will admit...it totally worked...the other section of seats that we reserved only said 'Larson' and those got taken down! Good work honey...

Sawyer and his Grandma the day before leaving Virginia.

Nathan finished his dental boards (and did great)! Rice Krispie Treats to celebrate! His favorite...

Nathan and my dad grilling in their Father's Day Aprons...lookin' good boys.

The Larson family (minus 1---Kasey couldn't be there) at church during 'Ranch Week'

On the ski lift at Park City to ride the Alpine Slides

Nathan burned 3 fingers really bad on the grill and spent the night firmly clutching otter pops...he even went to bed with one!

Sawyer's first visit to Bridal Veil Falls

Nathan waiting for his turn to bat. Playing softball at the Ranch. Taryn and Sawyer are only 9 days apart and look like little twinners in their green hoodies!

Again, riding the ski lift.

Nathan and I raced our slides...although I told him he owed me $5 if he DIDN't beat me down....I even had a head start. Nice job baby...glad you're still alive.

I love cuddly, sleeping Sawyer. Looks like such a big boy sleeping in a big bed.

Still Nathan's favorite way to 'babysit'..."Here Sawyer, just suck on my thumb and we'll both fall asleep"...haha. I love my boys.

Sawyer testing out the Exer-saucer...and watching cars with cousin Jake. Do you think they like the movie?

Summer Lovin'

I can hardly believe it's already July. Time is flying. I figured rather than a long narration of what we've been up to (and since not much has changed since the last post)...I'd provide a long list of pictures with captions! And just so you know...our new family picture in the heading of our blog is only temporary (whew...). I mentioned to Nathan that we didn't have a family picture that I liked of all three of us yet and he went to work with his photoshop skills. Nice job, honey. I will say it is actually pretty funny.

Kristie and Jake came to visit for two weeks! We had a blast together. We missed you, Wesley!

Jake and Sawyer doing 'knuckles' together. Jake loves that game. Sawyer's still indifferent.

On the 4th we went to this place where there are water fountains coming out of the ground. Jake and David were in Heaven. Sawyer was forced to enjoy a little of the action. (Notice that Nathan's idea of fourth of July attire is camo...typical).
Feeding Sawyer at the fountains. I promise there was no one around. Look at my wonderful husband providing us with some shade.

Sawyer's 4th of July shirt..."Born in the USA". I think he was mistaking my cheek for something else...haha.

The fam at Carl's ice cream

With Sawyer at Lake Ana

We pretty much hung out in his little blow-up cabana the whole time. I love this thing.

Alright so we were matching one Sunday and I had to take a picture. Sawyer's first 'play group' experience...as you can see he had a blast.

P.S.--If you want a birth announcement send your address to my email (jeskasmail@gmail.com)...I would love to send one to everyone!