Recap...

Wow! It has been such a long time since
I have posted anything here. I am so far behind... We have
been doing some wonderful fun things
the past couple of months. I will start off with Halloween. We went to
a pumpkin patch and we all went through
a corn maze and then the kids picked out
some pumpkins. They had such a blast picking out
there very own pumpkins!

Kayden in the corn maze!

Keirsten in the corn maze

Since Keirsten is to little to carve her pumpkin we
decided to let her paint it instead! So much fun but what
a mess she made!! It was worth it though :0)

This was Kayden's first year carving his pumpkin on
his own, and I must say for a rookie
he did a very good job!

Working hard!

The end result!

Both so proud of their masterpieces!!

Then came the big day! Keirsten was Cinderella and Kayden was Scooby-Doo.
They had so much fun, and I think we
finally were able to get Keirsten to say "Trick-or-Treat"
by the end of the night. They ended up with so
much candy!

Kayden played Jr. Jazz basketball and at the end of
the season they had Utah Jazz tickets you
could purchase. Of course they were in
the nose-bleed seats but Kayden was still ecstatic to get to go!
We showed up at the Energy Solutions Arena and of
course had to get some souvenirs and food.
On our way up to our seats a nice man
who worked for the team approached us and offered us
better seats...27 rows from the floor (which was
A LOT better then where we were headed)!!
It was so much fun getting to spend some one on one
time with just Kayden. He is such an amazing
little boy and we are so proud of him!
Oh, and yes he had a blast at the game!!

Our last adventure (for this post anyway) was traveling down to Utah to spend
Thanksgiving with my Mom. We had a wonderful
time and ate some yummy food! Ryan and I braved the
Black Friday shopping and although we didn't get the
deals we wanted we did have a lot of fun. Huge THANKS
to my mom for watching our munchkins so early in
the morning!!

After a wonderful couple of days with my Mom we headed
over to my Dad's for a night. We ended riding the train
into Salt Lake and walked around the Temple
to look at the lights. The kids had some
much fun riding the train! It was so cold by the time
we got to the Temple we decided to stop and warm up
with some hot chocolate. My weird son informed us
that he didn't like hot chocolate so we got him some apple cider
instead and now he is in love. Has a mug of warm apple cider almost every
night!

Me on the train ride to the Temple.

Keirsten all bundled up!!

The lights at the Temple were amazing!! It is some much
fun to walk around and look at them. I cannot imagine the time
and patience it takes to put up some many lights! It was
beautiful and was the perfect way to get
everyone in the Christmas spirit.

We hope that everyone else was able to have a great
Thanksgiving and were able to spend time with family and friends.
We are so thankful for all the wonderful people we have in our lives. Thank you
all so much for all your love and support!!

Love, The Downs Family

Patty Cake

Keirsten loves to sing patty cake and is now finally starting to remember the words. We decided to take a video of her tonight...so cute! Enjoy!

Basketball, Visitors, and (yes another) Owwee

Kayden has started playing basketball in the Jr. Jazz league for 1st and 2nd graders and boy does he love it! Ryan was brave and took on the task of coaching his team. He loves the extra one on one time that he and Kayden get to spend together. Kayden in turn thinks its awesome to have his Dad as the coach. Kayden is such an amazing little boy, he puts his heart into everything he does and gives it his all. It is so wonderful to watch him put so much dedication into playing. He is very "into the game" and has really excelled from practicing and learning the game. His hard work has really paid off; he is really a very good player.

The pics aren't great...he's number 47.

Bringin' it down...

D-Fence

This last weekend my Dad and his girlfriend Wendy, my brother Tony and his wife Sarah, and my Uncle Rick were all in town. We all went and watch Kayden play in his basketball game on Saturday (Rick was working and couldn't make it) and hung out at the house visiting and watching movies. It was great seeing everyone and I am so glad they were able to make the trip; it was a very nice visit!

Then on Sunday after everyone left to go home; Keirsten decided to give us another scare...this time she went to reach for something she wanted at the store and lost her balance and fell out of the shopping cart. (Ahhh!!) Ryan and I couldn't react fast enough to catch her fall. Needless to say we ended up leaving our shopping cart and rushing her to the Urgent Care. Instead of giving her stitches for the cut on her head (that she got as she hit the store shelf on her way down) they glued it together. The picture looks like she has a really big bruise around her cut but that it just the glue...it has a blue tint to it. She will have a little scar since the cut was so deep but hopefully we can minimize it as much as possible and style her hair around it. Little kids amaze me with their resilience. A half hour after we left the Urgent Care you would have no idea anything had happened to her. She sure keeps Ryan and I on our toes!!

Between basketball practices and games, school, work, and all the other activities that come up we stay very busy! We love every moment of it though!

Some Old, Some New

So I came across some pictures on our camera that I forgot to post. A few weekends ago we drove down to Twin Falls to spend some time with Uncle Tony and Aunt Sarah. We went to Shoshone Falls and played at the camp ground. It was fun and everybody had a great time!

Shoshone Falls

Family at The Falls

Miniature Golfing!

Keirsten loved going down this slide on her stomach head first; it was cute!


Then last weekend we celebrated my birthday a few days early with Ryan's family. It was nice getting to spend time with them.

Birthday Girl!

Keirsten sticking her finger in the frosting...yum, yum!

A Day to Remember

Most of us can still remember exactly what we were doing 8 years ago today. We remember the way we felt when the first tower was hit and the aftermath that followed. I remember desperately trying to get a hold of my family to make sure they were okay - even knowing they were no where near the attacks. Today is a day that many Americans will never forget the sorrow, devastation and overwhelming pride that came over us in the days that followed. To all those mourning the loss of their loves ones today: My heart goes out to you. To all the service men and women and citizens who risked their own lives to help those in need and who continue to fight for our freedom: THANK YOU!

Camping and Big Owwee

For Labor Day this year we decided to join the other millions of Americans and go camping. We decided to head up to Emigration Campground; it was beautiful! Camping is fun and stressful all at the same time. Kayden loves being able to have free reign and play all day and Keirsten loves to play in the dirt. This trip she decided to take a tumble out of the back of the trailer and hit her head on the stairs coming down. Luckily she missed the huge rock a few inches away!

Owwee and snotty nose, poor girl!

September Really?

Wow! I have no clue what happened to the rest of August...I can't believe September is already here! We are beginning to settle into our fall/winter/spring routine of school, work, and now sports. Kayden is going to start playing in the Jr. Jazz basketball league next week. I can't wait to see how he does he absolutely loves sports, especially basketball. He is really enjoying the 1st grade and his teacher Miss Bee. He loves being able to go to school everyday and spend time with his friends...I just hope he is getting some learning done while he is there too! We recently took Kayden to the orthodonist and the poor little guy doesn't have a chance. Unfortunately his mouth is to small (thanks to Dad) and his teeth are to big (thanks to Mom) and he will need to have two seperate sets of braces to make sure his pearly whites are nice a straight. They are planning on putting on the first set as early as next year!

Keirsten is growing like a beautiful little weed. She is getting two more bottom teeth so right now her little nose is running and she is stuffy. Although I noticed they finally broke through tonight so hopefully the worst part is over. She is also beginning to say more and more words everyday and is grasping concepts like turning things off or throwing things away as well. I love the way she looks at you when one of us is trying to teach her a new word...it's all so new to her that it makes you realize how much they really accomplish in such a short amount of time! She also recently went to her 15 month check up and as her Dr put it "she is normal - for Keirsten anyway". Everything appeared well and she will see him again in November.

Ryan and I are also staying really busy between work and kids. I am still going to school so I am also taking two classes this semester on top of our busy schedule. Man summer break was so nice!!

Here are a few pictures of the last weeks...hopefully we can squeeze in a few more activites before the summer officially ends!

At the Chukers Game!

Silly face!


I thought this was a cute picture of our other family members that I don't blog much about.
Dre didn't have a fighting chance of getting his toy back!

Just for you Mom - Love ya!

Camping, Birthday, and Fun!!

These last two weeks have been really busy for us!
It started off with a good ole' backyard BBQ with our friends
Jeff and Emily.

Both of my little munchkins love watermelon
Keirsten had a piece in her hand at all times!!

Then a week later we decided to go camping, once again with our great
friends The Ericksons. We went to a camp ground called Willow Flats which is
just passed Preston in Cub River. This was our first camping trip as a family and despite
the fact that it was cold and rainy we had a blast! Thanks again Jeff and Emily for inviting us!



And last but most DEFINITELY not least, on Wednesday
we celebrate Ryan's 28th birthday (and I know this may come
as a shock but the Erickson's came over to celebrate with us as well).
Ryan is the most amazing Dad and a wonderful husband. He is loved more
than he knows. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Ryan requested Birthday Brownies instead of cake!

Blowing out candles!!

Great friends to celebrate with!

Kayden posing for the camera!

Keirsten posing for the camera (with ice cream all over her shirt)!

We have had a very eventful last two weeks and with a few
more activities planned and school starting soon things will continue to
stay busy for us.