Halloween Fun!!!

I love Halloween! I love the costumes, the decorations, the crisp fall air, and of course the candy! Here are a few photos of our celebrations . . .

My friend Kara through an AWESOME pirate party. She had bandanna's and eye patches for everyone, a fun drink bar, yummy treats, carmeled apple decorating, and every pirate decoration you can possibly think of! Thanks again Kara!




Khyl and I took the girls to the Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving Point. I was definitely impressed! I think we will have to make it a tradition. They had tons of games, pony rides, a clown making balloons, and cookies. We even went on a wagon ride where we saw a headless horseman!





Khyl and I went to an awesome Halloween party at Jeff and Stacy Wilding's house. Khyl was dressed like Rex Kwon Do from Napoleon Dynamite, and I was Starla. I am always amazed at the awesome costumes that people come up with. We had a super yummy dinner, and the scariest scavenger hunt I have ever been on. The destinations were chosen from real locations of tragic and scary events. For example, we had to go to the spot where a teen girl's body was found after being murdered by Ted Bundy. A girl in our group had to lay down in the spot in the fetal position and we had to get a picture to prove it. Is that not the creepiest thing ever??? I haven't been that scared in a long time. It was seriously was tons of fun!

Translation

Once upon a time there was an elmo seat it said "ha dee ha dee". It was singing crazy. And so he got into his red car and flew. And there was a ghost that saw Elmo and it said "ooo ooo". And it was so scary. He said "Oh no, I'm scared of the wind. Lock the door!". And so, the ghost opened it and it was just Eszmarelda. So he was saying "Oh, oh no. It's not scary". So he flew in his red car and he layed down, he layed down, and it was a Ghost. It was Santa. He found his pink pillow.

Taylorese - Taylor's Halloween Tale!!

Can you speak Taylorese??? I am in my 3rd year of learning it, and still am not completely fluent. Go ahead . . . give it a try.

I'll give the translation for her scary Halloween story in a couple of days, but I'd like to see if anyone can even understand a portion of her story.

Good luck!

Inspirational Slideshow

I thought y'all should check out this beautiful slide show while it is still online. I fell in love with the music, and bought the c.d (which is rare for me to do, but I love it!). Enjoy!

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/

"I WANT MY WIFE TO HAVE YOUR BABY!!"

So, we love Jack Johnson.

We went to his concert last month and it was so cool. Getting general admission 'pit' tickets landed us front and center and about 12 people from the stage. Between songs I found myself really opening up to him. I yelled "jack, you own me," "don't quit now, jack," and other funny things that had the group around us chuckling and giggling - but no reaction from the band.

Well, I decided I needed to pull something out of my hat that would really get a reaction from jack himself. I opened up my mouth and it just came to me: "I want my wife to have your baby." It got a lot of laughs from all our new friends standing around us as jack johnson started into his song "same girl."

He was only a couple lines into the song when he quit, looked down, and said with a big smile on his face "I just messed up because of what you just yelled." It was so great!" Then he told the rest of the audience of 20,000 "so this guy up here just yelled 'i want my wife to have your baby,' and i was tryin' to play the song, but then i started thinkin' about it - and i messed up the words..."

At that point i grabbed shelly's legs at her knees and lifted her up so he could see her. Her new claim to fame is that, when he looked at her, he said "you're lovely." Isn't that awesome? He such an amazing guy. And he's a gentleman, too - if i were him I would've taken me up on the offer! Maybe he thinks we were in it just for the child support or something.



Anyway, in case you don't know us, it was a joke. AND, if you do know us and haven't heard, shelly is actually prego with baby number three for us!!! Due April 24th so if you're a guy that means we don't know if it's a 'princess' or a 'prince' in tay talk.

Lots of fun - life is great - we love all of you.

- Khyl

Viva Las Vegas!

Every now and then Khyl has work conventions in Vegas. Sometimes I decide to tag along and take advantage of the free hotel stay. So, that's what we did last weekend. His employers always put him in the same hotel, which is, The Golden Nugget. My favorite part is that it has an amazing pool. It even includes a waterslide that goes through huge fish tank with shark! Taylor and Lexi absolutely LOVE it.

This was not a posed shot. Lexi had this smile on her face almost the whole 2 hours we swam!

This is the official 'Golden Nugget'. It's the largest golden nugget on display in the world.

Beauty and the Beast

I have the coolest next door neighbors. Because we live in college town, we have singles on both sides. I have made good friends with the girls who live to the south of us. About a week ago, Daphni called to take Taylor on a date. I ended up going along as well because it was to see 'Beauty and the Beast' perform in a play on Center Street. It was seriously so much fun! Taylor absolutely loved seeing Bell perform in person. She sat wide eyed and amazed the entire time. At the end she told me she wanted to be freinds with Bell, so we took her up to meet her. I think it made her year!

September Fools

Let me start by apologizing for the 2 year gap in blogs. I really have no good excuse . Let's be honest . . . is there a good excuse? Anyway, there really has been so much that has occurred since Father's Day. Lexi started crawling about a month ago. Taylor learned to ride her first bike. Khyl sold the website he built to the owners of the company he works for. Lexi got her first teeth (four of them!). Taylor really does have some nice bones in her body as she grows out of the terrible two's. I got a small job that I bring Tay and Lexi to. Khyl broke 3 ribs, and I am pregnant with twins!
Okay, so the last two were just to see if you were paying attention. They are false. However, I will strive to be much more diligent in my posts. Life moves to quickly to just skip over a few months!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Thanks for being the perfect Daddy that you are, Khyl! We love you!!!



So, lets be honest, we have all fallen asleep at church a time or two, but I feel this is crossing the line. Today in church Taylor and Lexi completely zonked out! I just had to get a picture of it because this has never happened before. Taylor was not feeling well, so she has a good excuse. But the fact that Lexi was out too just topped it all off.

Camping

Friday we went camping with some friends up Spanish Fork Canyon and had a great time! Taylor even woke up crying "I like camping, I like camping" in the middle of the night. I don't know if she was just trying to convince herself, or what, but we really do like camping.

Baby Boot Camp

Taylor is still in the process of putting Lexi through Baby Boot Camp. As you can see from this video clip, Lexi is completely desensitized to any type of fear or pain. She is such a good sport!

My claim to fame!

This morning my siblings and I decided to go be part of the David Archuletta fan crowd at Gateway Mall- and ended up on the front page of myfoxutah.com! We somehow talked my little brother Nate into wearing the 'heart' shirt to be funny. He is such a good sport. The picture is of us and 3 of Holly's friends. Pretty crazy huh?



From left to right: Holly's friend, my sister Holly, my bro Nate, my sis Heather, Holly's friend, Me, my sis Steph, and Critter. Then in the front row: Lexi (no- she's not suffocating and that's not a diaper bag on her face), and Steph's baby, Phoenix.

The one and only . . . Bumbo!

This is my latest favorite purchase. My sister Steph introduced the Bumbo to be and I have been in love ever since! It is like an extra set of hands. I think I have spoiled Lexi with how much I hold her, and setting her in this bad boy is pretty much the only way I can put her down. Highly Recommended!

He's like . . . this guy!

I am told that when Khyl was a little boy he was always taking things apart to see how they worked or trying to fix something. As a result, the Shumway family ended up with many broken objects. Well, the tables have been turned and he can basically repair or do anything it seems. Here are just a few of the fun things that he fixed lately.


This is a vending machine that we acquired about 4 years ago from a Zions Bank that I worked at. It was sitting in the basement, and I was told that it worked, but the key was missing. They gave it to me, and I had a key made, but it just didn't work right. Then, last night Khyl fixed it! We are so excited to have this addition to our game room (actually the garage). Thanks to Matt and Amy Beatty, who helped make it possible, and Jerom who discovered that it was fixed after we thought all hope was lost.


Khyl also "fixed" my hair. Yes, that's right, he highlighted my hair last Thursday. At first it was against his will, but he did such a great job, he is my new hair stylist. Seriously though, is that not the prime example that Khyl really can do or fix anything? He is one talented guy!
Thanks for all you do Khy!

Tay grow up SO fast...

You know what they say, right? Well, I'm beginning to realize they're right. "I know from first-hand experience - if you know what I mean."



Anyway, we had a great conference weekend and I got to spend some awesome time with the fam damily. Here are some of the highlights:

Tay & Lex's first sister bathtub pics:




Happy 6 months, LeXi!!!



Saturday evening Daron and I went to priesthood together. We may not be the most productive duo when it comes to things like that, but we sure did have fun! Daron found a woman's churchy levi jacket in the lost-and-found and wore that half the time. I took phone-video of a kid who kept falling asleep. His head bobbed up and down and up and down- prob. 5 times in the 30 second video (and for about 5 min. before and after that)! After, we went to eat at Macaroni Grill and I got in trouble with the waitress when I tried to mess up her handwriting when she wrote her name on the table. She was appalled.

On Sunday morning we had breakfast at Matt and Amy's. That was awesome because I ate soo much food and it was all delicious. (Thinking about it now makes michelle's mouth water.)

Sunday dinner at grandma and grandpa's:



We've actually got three daughters: Taylor, Lexi, and Madison- Tay's doll. Madison is like Tay's Amex: she never leaves home without it (TM).

And here is a sweet Shumway picture from a couple months ago when we hit up Cali with Ben and Steph:



(Shelly is an INCREDIBLE surfer)

Sweet Words

It's crazy to me how much life seems to change day to day. It seems like I was a care free kid just yesterday. Yet, it seems like it would take a life time to incur all the things that have happened since then. Everyday I am amazed at how much Taylor learns and grows. She has been saying the cutest things lately. For example, here is a breakdown of a conversation I had with her today.

Me: Oh Taylor, why did you spill all your princess hairspray? (actually detangler)
Tay: Because I just love you
Me: Now it's all gone
Tay: Let's just say a happy prayer
Me: If you're really good today, maybe we can buy you some more. We need to buy you some new shoes today too. What store do you want to go to?
Tay: Ummm, a pink store.

Kind-of a random conversation, but it was something like that. I have to admit, they are not always that nice. More often than not, there is a temper tantrum thrown. But those aren't worth blogging about. Anyway, I could post a new conversation everyday.



Khyl's mom MADE Easter dresses for Taylor and Lexi this year, and they turned out so cute. Taylor just loved the fact that she matched her "baby sissa".

P.S. I would like to dedicate this song to the Snow Girls

My girls

Sometimes I'll come home after a long (or short) day of work, see my wife, and just think to myself "damn!" Yesterday and today were both days like that. So, today i got the camera and started taking pictures.

It was funny because usually Taylor doesn't like us to take pictures of just her, but once she saw mom posing for the camera, she was all about it.



Then Tay wanted to get Lex in on the action, too.


Lex wasn't too stoked about that until Tay gave her some treats. Then she was good to go.(She has a big grin between her fat cheeks here.)

Anyway, I sure do love my girls. Check out Taylor's smile (below and in the first two pictures). I don't know where she got it, but anytime we tell her to smile, this is what she comes up with!

I've been trying to get a good picture of it for quite a while now. It's actually more like a 2-year-old's best impersonation of a Chinese person than it is a smile. So she'll have that face for about 1 or 2 seconds, then she'll slowly open one eye and see if the picture has been taken or not (I've got a bunch of those). She's a weird one but hey, what did you expect from shelly and me?

Then here I am smiling like Taylor - this is our best family picture, yet (Lexi loves me best if you can't tell). We need to get family pictures soon so throw recommendations our way if you can.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired

Yep . . . It hit us. We had a very unwanted visit from the flu that has been hitting everyone so hard. Last Thursday I was the first in the Family to get it, and it has now spread to both Taylor and little Lexi. It is so sad to see my sweet little babies so sick. At one point we tested Taylor with a fever of 105.5. So, the moral of the story is, if you have not caught this flu yet, do whatever you can to avoid it, because it is definitely something.

Five Stars

I finished this amazing book about a week ago, and want to recommend it to anyone that is looking for a good inspirational read. Rarely am I able to finish a book, but I want to read this one over again! I love the way she adds so many supporting scriptures and quotes from General Authories and cool people like that. It definitely inspired me to be a better person.

Wish we all could be California girls!

One thing Khyl and I have in common is that we are very spontaneous. The only way we know how to travel is spur of the moment. So far it has actually worked out pretty well for us. I remember growing up that is always how my dad loved to travel as well. He would sometimes tell us just hours before we left for vacations. I had packing down to under 10 minutes. Toothbrush, underwear, and a change of clothes.

You can imagine how much convincing it took to leave to California when Khyl came home from work last Saturday after a long, freezing cold day with the kids. Absolutely none. We left after church on Sunday the 10th, and returned home last Wednesday morning. It was alot of driving in such a short period of time, but as soon as I walked out of the hotel room Monday morning to see palm trees and feel the warm sun beat on my bare feet, it was all worth it. First thing in the Morning Taylor wanted to put on her swim suit and go swimming in the cold hotel pool. She ended up getting in the hot tub, which was actually leuk warm.

We then drove to Huntington Beach and hung out all afternoon while we took turns trying to surf on boards that we borrowed from my sister Stephanies Father-in-law. I seriously got wasted by the waves. It was Taylors first time seeing the ocean, and it was adorable how much she loved it. We told her that was where Ariel lived.

On Tuesday we went to Disneyland. We couldn't resist. Our hotel lobby had a big Micky Mouse in it, and as we were driving right by the borders of "It's a small world" ride, the temptation became too great to resist. The truth is, I think I enjoyed it more than Taylor. I thought she would go nuts when she saw all the Characters and stuff, but I think most of it was too over stimulating for her. Poor girl. I think it may have been a combination of being exhausted from the day before and feeling a little overwhelmed. She had a hard time getting over her fear of the Snow White ride and Pirates of the Caribbean. The last few hours of the day she enjoyed more as we sat together and watched the parade. She does still talk about it often though, so I like to think she really enjoyed herself. I know I did!

Discovery Gateway

Yes, fake mucous really is coming out of that giant nose! After hearing nothing but great things about the Discovery Gateway Museum, we decided to try it out. Let's just say everything everyone said was right. It is absolutely incredible! We have been going about once a week for a few hours, and still have not seen it all. A six month pass for a family of 4 is only $60, which I think is a great deal. I love having a positive way for Taylor to get her energy out and learn so much at the same time. Sometimes I feel like I am just as entertained as her! They just opened a Sesame Street exhibit that is all about the body. Here are a few pictures from that section of the museum.