My Christmas Tree

We got to cut our very own Christmas tree this year!

We drove out to Duchesne Friday night and stayed at Grandpa and Grandma's. Then, the next morning, Nana, Aunt Chels, Uncle Dallon, Uncle Greg, and Aunt Sam came. We drove up to Rock Creek, near Stillwater Reservoir.

The best part was definitely the snow. Mom was sad, because she wanted to have TONS of snow up there so we could go sledding. I didn't really know what all that meant. I'd seen snow fall at Nana and Papa's before, but it melted before we could go and play in it. Today, I walked on it for the first time! It was amazing! It crunched and my feet sank down a little bit. I was so excited. I wanted to run around in it all day! (holding Mom's hand, of course!)

Mom said we had to take family pictures first, before I got too tired. She let me put Duxford on the sled and pull him around! That was really fun. I think Duxford liked it.

I also played in the snow with Nana for a little bit. She showed me how to throw it and even eat it! That was really cool. We found a big log that had cougar tracks on it, too!

Uncle Dallon showed me the saws!

I helped Daddy pull Ian on the sled for a little bit, too.

After the snow and Mommy got the pictures she wanted, we got down to business--searching for our tree!

Daddy and I found the perfect one. It's nice and little, just like our tree last year in Cambridge. I held on to the saw while Daddy helped me cut it down. That was so cool! When it fell over, I said: "Ohh!!" Then, we carried it to Nana's truck and she drove it home to Provo for us.

I am so glad we got to go cut our tree with all my Bruton cousins. My Schofield family had to go right after they cut their trees, but we had lunch with the Brutons and then drove back to Grandpa and Grandma's.

This is definitely a tradition I want to keep for forever!

Christmas Village at Nana's

Nana, Mama, and I put up the Christmas Village today! Nana wanted to start putting up some Christmas things at her house, and Mama and I were in total agreement. So, we pulled the two big tubs of village out of the downstairs storage and got to work.

First, we unwrapped everything and laid it all out on the ground. Then, Nana and Mama arranged the houses on the ledge where the village will be until after Christmas. They used books to make hills, and then got some pretty white fabric to be the snow. It looked perfect!

My favorite part was definitely the lights, which we did next. There were lots of cords for me to hold. Nana took the lights out of a few so I could carry the cords around as much as I wanted. Nana and Mama tucked the lights that were working into the houses and made them come alive! It looks like there are real people in the houses and the church, all waiting for Santa to come and visit them.

After the houses were all arranged, we placed the trees. This was my next favorite part. Nana has a pretty tree that has little holes for Christmas lights. She let me do almost all the lights all by myself! She did one or two and Mama did a couple, but I got to do most of it, turning it into a Christmas tree! It is in the center of the town, where the shops are. It made me think of the beautiful Christmas tree that was in Market Square in Cambridge last Christmas.

Mama and Nana put the people on after that, and then Nana let me help put the snow in the village. I wanted to put lots of snow down, because I thought all the people would like to go sledding. I can't wait to go sledding for the first time with Mama and Dad!

I put big handfuls of snow down!

I liked these trees because they already have snow!

Nana bought this house for Papa---it's a little Italian village, with Gelataria!!

Mama says this looks like Daddy, her, and me! I think she is right!

There goes Santa!!

Mama says that the Christmas village is one of her very favorite Christmas decorations. I think it will be one of mine, too. I love to come upstairs every day and look at the lights. I tell everybody that comes by that I was the one that put the pretty lights on the Christmas tree. Maybe Daddy and Papa will let me help put the lights on our real Christmas tree!

--Little Brute

Raking Leaves at Grandpa and Grandma's

This morning, we drove out to Grandpa and Grandma's in Duchesne. It was kind of a long drive, because all I wanted to do was get out of my car seat and run around in the trees. But once we got to Grandpa's, I got to run around and play with the toys.

The best part--was raking the leaves!

Cousin Ian came down to help us, too. So Uncle Stephen, Grandpa, Daddy, Mommy, Ian, and I raked all the leaves in the front yard into a huge pile.

I loved helping. I carried the rake around everywhere. Even when we had all the leaves in the pile and were playing in it, I didn't want to let go of my rake at all. I jumped in with it!

I wasn't so sure about the leaf blower at first, but then Daddy showed me how fun it can be and blew some of the leaves at me--that was so funny!

We all jumped in the leaves a bunch of times. Mommy dove in!

Mommy and Daddy threw me and Ian in the leaves so many times! It was so much fun. Ian especially liked it. He said "again, again!" and wanted to be thrown in all day.

I'm glad we came all the way out here so we could rake the leaves and see our family. I had lots of fun running around the house with Ian and playing with baby Luke, too. It's always fun at Grandma and Grandpa's!

--Little Brute

Halloween!

Today was an amazing day!

This morning, I got to go to story time at the library with Mama and Aunt Sam. The best part: I got to wear my costume! I am a green dragon for Halloween this year. At story time, they celebrated the letter "H," so they sang a song just for me because my name starts with an H.

Later this afternoon, I got to help Nana frost some cupcakes. Nana frosted, Mama did the sprinkles, and I licked the beaters. Mama said I was so helpful! When I asked, Nana even squirted some of the frosting in to my mouth. Mmm! It was so yummy. And orange, just for Halloween.

Mama and Daddy got all dressed up to go trick-or-treating with me. Mama was a pink princess and Daddy was her knight/prince. He had a really cool sword that he made. Nana made his boots and Mama made his tunic. I think we looked really cool!

We went trick-or-treating to Nana and Papa first. They set up a fire pit outside and made root beer for the grown ups.

Here is my first ever Halloween Candy! From Nana!

At first, I just wanted to eat the candy that Nana and other people gave me. But then I figured out that if we went to more houses, they would give me more candy! At one house, a nice lady in our ward gave me a whole Snickers! Just for me! I was so excited about that, I wanted to eat it right away. But Mama said I had to wait because I was going to get even more candy. She was right!

Here I am trying to beg Mama to open the Snickers. 

We went to quite a few houses. Mama and Daddy helped me say "trick-or-treat," but I said "please" and "thank you" all by myself, every time. Mama said that I was very polite and nice.

I wanted to keep trick-or-treating all night, but we went and visited our friends the Wadsworths for a few minutes.


Once I got home, Mama and Daddy let me look at all the candy I collected! They even let me eat one of the mini-Milky Ways. That was delicious!

I think Halloween will be one of my favorite holidays. It was so fun to go trick-or-treating and see all the other kids dressed up. I wonder what we'll be next year...

--Little Brute

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins today!


First, Mama and Daddy took all the guts out of the pumpkins. I didn't really like that part--it was slimy and gross, and I felt sad for my pumpkin. I was glad Daddy cleaned mine for me!

The Bruton Pumpkins! Daddy's is the biggest, then mine, then Mama's is the smallest. 

I was so excited to help carve my pumpkin. Mama and Daddy gave me a pen and let me draw a picture on it for Daddy to carve. I drew lots of lines, and Daddy said it looked just like a ghost! I drew everything except for one arm, the eyes, and the mouth. Daddy connected what I drew and helped me make it a perfect ghost.

Daddy let me help carve my pumpkin! I had my own little knife and everything. He let me do a hole in the back and help with the eyes in the front.  Daddy did the other carving, though, helping me turn it in to a ghost.  I think it looks awesome!

Mama's pumpkin says "Boo!" on it. It goes perfect with my pumpkin! Daddy spent lots of time on his pumpkin. He did three stained glass windows--very creepy ones!

I love carving pumpkins and I can't wait to do it again next year!

--Little Brute


Video of pumpkin carving is included in the Halloween post. 

Rowley's Red Barn: Pumpkin Patch!

Mama and Daddy took me to a pumpkin patch today! We drove down to Santaquin, to the Rowley's Red Barn. We got to ride behind a tractor all the way to the pumpkin patch, where there was lots of fun waiting for us!

First thing we did, was go down the slide a couple of times. I went with Daddy a few times, and then Mommy and I went down the big slide! It was so fun, I wanted to do all day. I'm lucky that every time I say "gen" (again) Mommy let me do it! Well, almost--at the end she said it was time to try something else. 

There was a really cool old truck there, that had pumpkins on the back! I climbed up and took a look at the pumpkins to see if maybe one of them was the one I wanted to take home. It wasn't on there, but Mama made us take some pictures. I guess that's ok--I like it when we take family pictures!

After that, I convinced Mama and Daddy to let me play in the sandbox. There were some tools and some trucks to play with, but I just wanted to use the little rakes. They're like the ones in Nana's sandbox at home!

Daddy took me around on a really fun pedal cart. We went all around the track, so fast! I felt just like the other big kids. 

Once we were done with that and Mama said no more sandbox, we rode behind another tractor through the apple orchards. I liked sitting on Daddy's lap and looking out at all the trees. 

Finally, Mama and Daddy said I could choose my pumpkin! Daddy helped me the most--he found the coolest pumpkin with an awesome stem! We knew that was the one for us to take home! Thanks for helping me find it, Daddy!

We had lots of fun, but I was tired and hungry so we loaded our pumpkin up in the buggy and walked back to our car. Pumpkin patches are so fun, though! I hope we can go to another one!

--Little Brute

At first, I thought this was the right pumpkin. But then I decided the other one would be better. 

This wasn't the real big barn--they just had a small one so I could look at it. So cool!