Sigurd, Utah

So obviously this blog is seriously lacking in attention, and it most likely will stay that way somewhat. But I thought it would be fun to throw up a couple of Max-related posts before his little sister comes along! These pictures were taken last Friday in Sigurd, Utah, where we went for Joe's Grandma's funeral. Although it was a sad occasion, it was also neat to have ALL Joe's family together and to celebrate the life of his Grandma. It was her time to get to join her husband who passed away about 8 years ago. I didn't get to hear much of the services since Max wasn't about to still sit and be quiet for 2.5 hours, so I am a little sad about that. But I am glad Joe got to listen, and it was neat for all of us to be there. Max kept saying "Goodbye Great-Grandma" since I guess that is what we told him this was all about. (Also during the viewing he kept saying "Great-Grandma sleeping.")

At the cemetery, Max and Reese were running ALL over the place. By now it was way past naptime but that didn't seem to bother them! They are darling together and would be such perfect playmates if only they lived close.
Max, our little letter-obsessed child, enjoyed studying the graves and naming the letters. (He has known all the letters and their sounds for a while now and can't resist naming just about any letter he sees and saying what sound it makes. Pretty cute!)
Here I am, looking a bit (okay, more than a bit) whale-like. This was at 6 weeks to go, now I'm at 5. HURRY UP ALREADY.
These two took off and didn't even look back.
Then when they saw the pile of dirt the running turned to sprinting.
And the Dads had to sprint after them.
Reese is Queen of the dirt pile! Hooray!
Being carted back by Dad. Luckily I had an excuse for not doing all of the chasing.


Papa, Max, & Reese. Max was SO excited to see his Papa. Before the funeral started he kept looking around saying "Find Papa, find Papa." He got to see him for a few minutes, but then when Papa gave the "family prayer" before the funeral (the entire chapel was packed with family; others got seated in the overflow) Max started yelling for him like crazy. Always good to be loved, right?
Little family of soon to be 4! Ahh!
Max got super smiley standing next to this grave for some reason. Hans Lorentz Dastrup was the very first of the Dastrups to join the Church in Denmark, immigrate to the US, and settle in Sigurd. Now the cemetery is full of Dastrups. Pretty cool.

Before the day was over we went to visit Joe's Grandma's old house. Joe and his siblings had a lot of great memories there and were pretty excited to visit it. This is the backyard!

This was Max making friends with a rooster moments before the rooster flew up and landed on him, I screamed, and Max started crying. The crying was from my scream, not the rooster. Oops.
These two little monkeys loved the trampoline!


And when we finally headed home around 5:30, Max passed out in the car. Until we stopped for gas 15 minutes later. ;)

Cornbelly's

I was super excited to try out Cornbelly's this fall. I thought it was a pumpkin patch / corn maze / other fun activities kind of place .... but it turns out it is not a pumpkin patch, but it does have a huge maze and a TON of fun activities for kids. We didn't even try any of the mazes, but the almost three hours we spent there were not nearly enough! Well, it was about enough for one day, I guess.

We got to go with the Burnhams, who have season passes and knew all of the fun things for us to do, which helped us hit all the highlights in one day. First were the bounce houses. Max was a tiny bit unsure about it at first (his first reaction was "no"), so Joe went in with him. And he loved it, of course.


And then there were the big bouncing pillows. Max liked those, too. But it did make him feel a little out of control, so enough was enough.

He climbed this rope wall like a pro.

And then rode with Dad on a pedal-cart.

And played in tunnels. (Max loves saying "tunnel" - it is a game he makes us play all the time where we have to spread our legs and he rides through on his little vehicle, or gets a running start and pushes his vehicle through).
Max and Blake got distracted by a little singing theater of pigs, sheep, and cows. They sat there and stared and stared.

Then Max found a tractor - one of his favorite things!
You better believe he knows how to drive it. He drives one with his Vati whenever he can get the chance.
And then he saw the train ... oh my. He start running toward it at full speed.

We did get a few pumpkin pictures, but didn't actually have time to pick our pumpkins. We'll have to go somewhere else for that.

Doing the duck races.
Watching the pig races with Dad.
Riding on the cow train - one of two trains we got to ride.
Then of course we tried to get a picture of the three boys. I have a million but they all are about the same.



It was a pretty fun morning for Mr. Max. He fell asleep in the car on the way home - and he NEVER does that!

Just a Sunday Walk

Last Sunday we enjoyed the nice evening by taking a walk up by Bridal Veil Falls. You just have to enjoy fall while it lasts ... it goes by so fast!
Love this kid.

Max with his Vati (it's Swiss, pronounced "Fa - ti" but Max pronounced it "See-shaw" (what the???) for a long time. He has since moved on to saying "Shati")
On walks Joe will usually get ahead and then start walking backward. Instead of catching up, Max insists on walking backward as well.

Pointing to the waterfall.
Of course he would have been in the water if he could have. Luckily this was as close as he got.