We were over at Grandma and Grandpa’s a couple weeks ago for a Rock Band party and we discovered that Jack is a natural drummer. He hopped up on my lap and grabbed the stix and started banging away. He had a hard time keeping up with the notes once the song started so I decided to lend a hand, but give him a couple years and he’ll be playing drum solos for packed amphitheater crowds.

Well, it’s a little late, but here’s the Halloween update…

Halloween was quite an adventure again this year due to the crazy Omniture Extravaganza. The kids got to trick-or-treat first at Grandma’s work and then on Halloween day then came down to my office to wander around and see all the decorations that had transformed the building into something that would rival many of the haunted houses around the valley. It’s quite a site to behold. Unfortunately, it’s typically dark enough that it’s hard to get good pictures. Also, the way that things are laid out makes it impossible to get any sort of wide angle shot to really give an idea of the true scale of it all. Basically though, it’s pretty much impossible to tell that you’re walking through an office building. It’s nuts. And to top if off, there’s the midgets. Every year our CEO comes up with a costume that incorporates a troop of midgets that he hires out of Vegas. Two years ago he was Willy Wonka (oompa loompas). Last year he was Prince Charming and his Secretary was Snow White (7 Dwarfs). And this year he was the Wizard of Oz (munchkins). The kids love it and so does our CEO. Fun stuff.

After the craziness at work we stopped by Nana’s and Papa’s house to visit for a bit and see their new puppy Daisy (which is where most of the pictures were taken) and then off to home. Needless to say, the ride home was… “energized”. Our kinds haven’t trick-or-treated in our neighborhood for a few years now, but they get enough candy everywhere else that they don’t seem to mind.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the kids in their costumes. Just in case you’re not sure, Hailey was a witch, Mallory was Tinker Bell, Annie was a fairy and Jack was just a furry green monster. And there’s one picture of Owen in there as well as a spider.

This past weekend was our annual wood cuttin’ trip to Bear Lake. Every year we head up to the cabin and cut down a few trees to ensure there’s enough wood for the winter months. As in years past, the weather was less ideal than we would have hoped, but it’s still fun to go out and play lumberjack for a day (at least for the first couple hours). After an exhausting day of cutting, splitting and stacking wood, we all got dressed up for the priesthood session of conference. Papa, Tony, Ben, Dad and myself drove up to the tabernacle in Paris, Idaho for an evening of spiritual lifting.

The following day we headed back up the canyon for a drive and some fun family pictures. It was a busy weekend, but it’s always good to get up and out of the valley for some of that fresh Bear Lake air.

And here’s the big tree coming down.

If you’ve been to our site over the past few months you may have noticed the countdown to our Disneyland vacation. Well, last week the counter hit 0 and we were headed to the airport to catch a plane to SoCal.

Now I’m not going to blog about every last detail of our trip this evening because its getting late and I’m tired, but I am going to post the slideshow of our Disneyland pictures. The slideshow below contains all the pictures taken with my camera as well as several taken with Christophers. I’ll post again tomorrow with additional trip details, but for now, enjoy the pictures.

I’m posting the second half of our trip first so that it will make more sense when posted.

So, after finishing with Disneyland on Wednesday, we ventured down to San Diego to visit Sea World Thursday and Friday. We got off to a bit of a late start Thursday morning, but it was ok cause Sea World opens late. We hopped in the Sienna and started for San Diego, only to have Mallory complain of car sickness about 45 minutes in. After a quick rest stop to alleviate the “pukies”, we were back on our way and we made the journey in under 2 hours.

Once in San Diego (and after a few GPS issues) we finally made it to Sea World and spent the afternoon watching the Sea World dog and cat show (yeah… I can’t figure that one out either), the Shamoo show and petting bat rays and star fish. On Friday we saw the Dolphin show, the Sea Lion show and walked around the park checking out all the cool aquatic life. We also got to go on the Sea World thrill rides which basically consist of a couple mediocre rides that get you very wet.

After finishing up at Sea World we cruised over to Mission beach for an hour or so to play in the sand and the surf for a bit. After everyone was completely soaked (again), we piled back in the car to drive back to Long Beach for the night so that we could catch our 7am flight to SLC. The airport the next morning was an adventure, but the flight was good and we made it home safe and sound before noon. It was a great trip and we’re all happy we got to go, but Emily and I both need about a week long nap to recover now. Fat chance of that. =)