Grayson's First Fall Break

Grayson had his Fall Break recently.  We almost forgot about it because it has never altered our schedule before.  Honestly, it doesn't change our schedule too much since he only has preschool three days a week half a day.  Regardless, we decided to do a 'staycation' and have some adventures for the week.  I asked Grayson what he wanted to do and he said, "a hike, go to the cabin and play at the park."  He even had everything scheduled, it was hilarious.

Monday we went for a hike and then he said, "tomorrow we will go to the cabin and the day after that we will go to the park."  So, that is what we did.  We spent Monday morning at Green Mountain nature trail.

We had to go to the lake first to see if there were any fish or ducks.  Our going was slow, however, because Walker had to collect what seemed like every leaf from the trail to the lake.  He really, really loves leaves and is always collecting them whenever we go outside.  We did finally make it to the dock and we were soon joined by a flock of geese who Grayson happily shared his bread with.  Walker was very excited but at first just wanted to eat the bread himself.  He got the idea eventually and started throwing some bread in too, then he would lay on his stomach and try and touch the geese.

















                   


We hiked for a bit on the trail and my mom joined us.  When we got to the gravel part of the trail, we had the same slow going while Walker had to play in the gravel and carry a few handfuls, throw them and then repeat.

                                                   

Grayson loved to play in the outdoor school area and the log cabin.  The weather was absolutely perfect for our outing.

 

Tuesday we spent the day in Tennessee with my mom at my parents' cabin.  The drive out is always beautiful and it was especially this week because all the cotton fields were covered in white, southern snow.  How I love to see it.  

 The boys had so much fun playing outside, especially in the hammock.  They collected lots of black walnuts and had some fun playing on the dock.  I had to keep a close eye on Walker, however, that boy loves water and will try to climb in as quickly as possible.

       

He kept throwing the buckets and shovels in so that made my job more interesting.  It was a relaxing day and I always feel rejuvenated when we go out to the lake.

Wednesday was a more low key day because I had a doctor's appointment mid morning.  We got out our Halloween decorations and the boys had a great time playing with everything we found and reading Halloween books.

Just playing with some plastic eyeballs

We also cut out some bats and pumpkins from construction paper and decorated them with stickers and crayons.  It was a fun day and it was nice to just relax a bit.

Thursday we headed down to Anniston Alabama, about two hours away, to a Natural History Museum that we love.  The kids had a great time looking around.  Grayson's favorite part was the Egyptology room and we have been checking out books on mummies and Ancient Egypt ever since.  He even has named his new stuffed moose Anubis.  It is a fabulous museum and I used to visit it myself when I was growing up here.  We got to see the new exhibit at the museum featuring sea shells from around the world and some other fun sea creatures.

                

After we finished at the museum we went to visit my aunt and uncle who don't live too far away.  We had lunch with them and a lovely visit.  They boys loved watching their dogs and running around playing.  Walker managed to shove a toy between the planks of the screened in porch to the ground below so we got to go on a walk to retrieve that.  It was a beautiful day and we had such a good time.

  

                  

Walker ran ahead of me at one point (not sure why I bothered to bring a stroller) and when I caught up with him, he was trying to climb up and touch the lions

           
Friday we had to hit the last thing on Grayson't wish list, which was to go to the park.  We met some of our good friends for a play date and picnic at the park.  The kiddos had a grand time and the mammas had fun chatting.  It was a fun way to end our Fall Break.

Back in the Saddle Again

Dear friends and family, 

This is the beginning of a big 'sorry for not being better keeping in touch post.'  Life has been incredibly hectic and busy for the best almost two years and it continues to stay busy.  I am going to try and be more faithful with our posts and keep y'all updated.  I think I will be doing some quick catch up and then try and stay up to date.  Oh man I am so far behind.  Well,  here is the quick version:

• I went back to Charlottesville for a week with Grayson to visit some friends February 2015
• My parents left to serve a mission in upstate New York for six months in May 2015 and we moved into their house while they were gone
• Grayson was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome in May 2015
• Walker Tauno Moore was born June 24, 2015
• We bought a house in Huntsville, AL in November 2015
• Trevor turned the big 30 in March 2016
• Walker turned 1 year old in June 2016
• Grayson started preschool August 2016
• We have found a successful treatment for Grayson's kidney disorder and he has been off steroids for 6 months as of September 2016!
• We are expecting another baby boy due November 2016

There is a quick update.  I am going to do my very best to stay more up to date and try and catch y'all up with more details.  Thanks for still caring!!!!!

Emily, Trevor, Grayson and Walker

December 2014

This is long overdue, but better late then never.  Christmas over a year ago now, but it was a good memory.  I am going to try and get caught up on our life.  It has been a really crazy year, so we have a lot to catch up on.

This kid cracks me up.  He loved setting up the tree.

 

My little hobbit on a run with me.

Running Grandpa's train with his cousins.

Trevor threw his back out and so Grayson had to lay down to help his back also.

Here he is playing the 'tuba' while on Skype with his grandparents in Utah.

Yoda Claus!

Grayson's church Nursery class had a graduation for the kids that were moving on to the next class.

Always sticking out his tongue.

We went to Stanta's Village and had a great time!

Making gingerbread cookies.

Trevor and I celebrated our anniversary at the delicious Melting Pot.

Christmas belly shot!  

November 2014 Highlights

I have gotten so far behind on this blog and I am trying to catch up before my baby is born.  I hope ya'll enjoy these highlights from our last few months!

We had a fun November and enjoyed the nice weather.  

Grayson likes to play General Conference (a semi-annual meeting of our whole church).  He will get up on his T-ball stand and then he starts conducting the meeting.  He usually says he is Pres Monson (our prophet) or Pres Uchtdorff (another church leader), then he talks about something or he says the choir will be singing now.  It is pretty funny.  He will try and get his friends to play with him too and they will take turns speaking or playing.

Grayson absolutely loves going hiking with his daddy!  This is my favorite picture from on of their hikes.  As you can see, Grayson had to wear a hat and a vest just like his daddy.  

Going through the corn maze at the Botanical Gardens.

We went to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens with Trevor's mom when she was visiting.  They had a fun scarecrow exhibit and we had a fun time looking at all the different kinds of scarecrows they had.  Grayson had his favorite vantage point, from his dad's shoulders.  He used to be scared of being up so high, but more and more he can't get enough of riding on Trevor's shoulders.  Sometimes when Trevor puts Grayson to bed at night, he will even want to sit on his shoulders while they read stories together.  

Enjoying the hammocks.

Captain Grayson steering the ship.

Grayson, Trevor's mom and I went for a hike on the nature trail up on Green Mountain.  He found some acorns and was really excited.  We had to take a break on our walk and sit down and play with some cool acorns.

We have loved our membership at the Chattanooga Aquarium.  We took a trip up in November with our good friends, the Willes.  It is such an amazing aquarium and we have a great time whenever we go.

Watching the otters swim.

Fun shots with the penguins.

I was organizing clothes one day because Grayson was getting to big for his current size so I had to find the next size up and see what still fit.  He got very excited with the boxes of clothes and proceeded to try on as many outfits at one time as he could get on.  I think he was wearing three shirts and at least three pants when I took this picture.  We had several 'wardrobe' changes that day.

There was a kick off to the holiday season at a beautiful outdoor mall nearby and we decided to go with our friends the Willes.  They lit a big Christmas tree, there were fireworks and all sorts of fun things.

Grayson was not thrilled about being there.  I think this is a great Scrooge face.  Made me laugh.

Took a walk on a nice Saturday and we decided to go to a park we had never been to before.  We stopped to give Grayson a picnic lunch when he got hungry and had some visitors drop by.   These ducks were not scared of anything!  They came right out of the water as soon as we sat down and were very intent on stealing Grayson's peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Grayson, at first, was sitting on the bench and when he had has sandwich down by his side while he was chewing, the duck reached out and tried to eat it out of his hand.  Thus we see why Grayson is now sitting on top of the table and he was not happy with those sandwich thieving ducks.

The super hero cape goes with us lots of  places.

There is an awesome nature trail nearby and it gets the best puddles after it rains, so we had to by one day and play in the puddles after a storm.  This kid love playing in puddles.

He found some stickers and so we both got decorated.

November was a good month.  We spent Thanksgiving day with my family and had a big lunch at my parent's house.  We have a lot to be thankful for.