It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time, the Leaves are Falling Down!

Benson & Packer love playing in the leaves! Since all of our trees are only knee-high, they don't drop much foliage. So we take it from the neighbors and family.

You're probably thinking -- why would you take other people's leaves? Simple, compost. We need compost! What's better than compost you can play in?

Happy Halloween

It was a fun Halloween for the Atkin family. Benson was a Dinosaur, Pack-Pack was a little cow, Daddy was a Ranger's Apprentice (great book! I highly recommend it!), and Mommy was a witch (No wise cracks please!) It was a fun day & night, and Benson can't wait to do it again. Fortunately, we have another year to wait! Happy Halloween.

Benson Birthday #3

Benson is now 3 years old. For his birthday he got a Little People Farm toy, a Marble Maze set, a Monster Truck toy, and clothes from Mommy. He had so much fun... it made him sick. Good thing he only has one birthday a year!

Happy Birthday To You

Packer's 1st Birthday!!

Benson helping Pack-Pack Unwrap his pressents.

Yea! It's Blocks!

Packer eating his yummy chocolate cake all by himself!

Delicious!

Hogle Zoo

Since it was such great weather on Packer's birthday -- and since it was Fall Break for Ben -- we went to the zoo!

Riding around in the stroller...

Sliding down a Snake...

Climbing on a Spider...

Pretending to be a Turtle...

Seeing the Animals, playing on the statues...

Climbing on Rocks...

Riding on Daddy's shoulders...

And riding on the Zoofari Express

made the day totally worth it!

Pumpkin Patchin'

Benson loved helping out in the garden this year. He was always excited to come home with fresh picked tomatoes, onions, corn, and squash. Now that it's October already, we went to the garden and picked out some pumpkins to carve. Here's Benson & Pack-Pack picking out some pumpkins, and a family picture of our haul.

Benson was so proud of his pumpkin!

Sidewalk Artist

I bought Benson some sidewalk chalk that was for sale, so on this beautiful, sunny, warm September day I let Benson & Packer decorate our driveway. Benson enjoyed drawing scribbles and lines from one end to the other, and Packer liked following him around. I thought these pictures turned out so cute of Packer!

TIMBER!!

This Winter we will be using our new woodburning stove to keep us cozy. In order to do this of course we're going to need some wood. So here we are up at Nebo Loop cutting down wood to bring home. It was a perfect weather and a perfect morning for it. However, on the way home Ben ate some bad Elder Berries and threw up every five minutes all the way home and then some. 14 times in 2 hours. I guess now he'll have a little more sympathy for my morning sickness during pregnancies. Definitely an adventurous day!
As you can tell from the pictures, Benson had a great time.

A Couple of Farmers!

Here is Benson and Ben doing some tractor work. Benson loves helping with farm work -- especially if it involves getting to ride on the tractor.

Yes, that is Benson in the bucket of the Tractor -- if he can't push the buttons on the tractor, then he might as well play in the dirt on the tractor!

This is better than rides at the carnival!

Dirty Work

I definitely have 2 "ALL-BOY" boys! They both love to be outdoors, eat rocks & dirt, and get filthy dirty! Here is Benson and Packer outside playing together while me and Ben work on our sprinkler system. Hopefully next year we will have less dirt in our clothes, shoes, tummy's, and on our faces!

Summer Stuff

Okay, I know you were all DYING to see me in a swimsuit. Uh, EW! Sorry. But we went to the COOLEST pool. It's by my folks home in PG. This old couple is loaded and have this sweet pool, complete with waterslides and all. One of the waterslides is so -- INTENSE that you have to wear a helmet. And it's a good idea to wear a life jacket as well... not because you'll drown... but to prevent injuries. It probably doesn't sound fun.. but it is. I took some pictures of Ben going down the big slide, and some of Benson going down the kiddie slide, but my camera ran out of batteries and so the pictures I took were blurry. Ah nuts. But that's the story in a nut shell. And all we have to show for it is me holding packer doing nothing. Sweet eh?

Packer LOVES to play in the sink. Weird. But, it keeps him happy and occupied while I cook dinner, or clean, or something in the kitchen. Try it.

Best of Brothers

Benson & Packer love playing together. Sometimes Benson beats on Packer, sometimes Packer beats on Benson. But in the end, they're still best buddies.

Benson & Packer are making the most of the summer sun by playing in a gardening wagon, playing with Grandma's dog, Koda, and ... well... figuring out how to pick their noses. Busy, busy, busy.

Just Keep Walking

Daddy & Benson taking a walk on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Life is beautiful... It helps to have a beautiful family!

Hiking Part II

You'll probably spot Benson's sexy Spiderman undies here. You probably wish you had a pair. I found them at Wallies.

Daddy the Pack Horse. Keep up the good work daddy!

Benson got soaked playing around the waterfall, so on the hike back, Daddy stripped off his pants and let him hike European style -- with just his undies. Ha ha. And Benson LOVED it.

"I wannu see the watafall!" Benson complains... so we packed up and made a FHE out of it, inviting aunts, uncles & cousins to hike to the Grotto Waterfall in Payson canyon.