HeAPPENINGS

Could it be possible that someone likes Halloween more than Addy? If you talked to Ethan this month, you would have discovered that he loves Halloween even more than his Mom. Amazing. He frequently talks about pumpkins, witches, pirates (skeletons), bats, ghosts, candy corn, and what our costumes are going to be. 'Ethan is Buzz Year, Dad is Woody, Mom is Jessie.' He even was yelling, 'MoM, MoM, MoM... JESSIE!' one day. He loves this holiday and can't get enough of the displays in the stores - even a scary clown at Party City that takes off his own head - and Halloween themed movies (Nightmare Before Christmas).


After so much anticipation the great day is finally here. We had planned to go see all of our friends at Jordan Elementary, but Ethan had a bit of a runny nose and a nap was more necessary than having fun. We spent the day finishing up costumes, finally decorating, making chili, and preparing our house for friends and family.


Last year, we decided that we would have an annual get together - low key. Good food, a chance to see everyone in costume, a little trick-or-treating, and a movie for those who decided not to venture into the night with the little goblins. It was just family last year, but we thought that it would be fun to include friends this year. We had a great turn-out and it was so fun to see all the kids in their costumes. Thanks to everyone who brought yummy food to share!


Ethan loved trick-or-treating and was more excited to ring doorbells than to get candy. He insisted on bringing Mr. Potato Head (who fit right in) and was more concerned about carrying him than his treat bag. He was so cute walking with his friends, Bryson and Grace, as they went from house to house.


We had a successful Halloween (minus the lack of Woody's boots and hats that fit) and we are already looking forward to next year. This time, Addy is going to start sewing in July!

Ryan is offically OLD! He turned 30 today and yes, we are already planning his funeral... just kidding! We had planned to have a big celebration with friends and family and of course - Guitar Hero. However, with the passing of Ryan's Grandpa, we had to re-work things a little.

Ryan decided that the best way to celebrate, with Halloween coming up and a lawn that would soon be seeded for winter grass, was just to have a small get together with a few friends. We enjoyed a BBQ dinner of burgers, potato salad, veggies, chips and soda and had fun visiting with friends. Ryan would have loved to share it with everyone, but had a good time jamming out anyway.


He also was very excited to get a new white Polo (hopefully it won't get any unfortunate stains on it from falling food), an alarm clock to replace his ancient one, Batman Legos video game (he would love for friends to come try it out with him), and lots of gift cards to cool places. Thanks to everyone who helped make his birthday a special one!

This morning came early for the Heap family. Addy and Ryan pulled themselves out of bed at 3:30AM and after showering loaded up Ethan still dressed in his pajamas, clinging to his blanket and stuffed kitty. They headed to Tempe to pick up Ryan's brother, Josh, and then made their way to the small town of St. Johns, Arizona.

St. Johns, Arizona is both the birthplace and resting place of Harbon Berry Heap, Ryan's grandfather. He passed on Oct. 16, 2008 from complications of prostate cancer.

Harbon Berry Heap was a man of incredible spiritual strength. He was a rancher, a teacher, a real estate agent and a one of kind grandpa. Life was hard when grandpa was born and he learned early to work hard and appreciate it.


We're sad to see Grandpa go but we know that one day we can see him again. Thanks grandpa for being such a wonderful man and for leaving such a tremendous legacy to follow.

Yes, we have more friends who had a baby and just like everyone else we would like to send a shout out of congrats. Ryan's good friend, Shawn, and his wife, Susie, welcomed a baby girl to their family a few weeks sooner than anticipated. We're excited for you guys and know that you'll have a blast!

Mariah Maxine Shepherd
6 lbs. 10 oz. - 19 inches

Last month Addy's sister, Anjie, won tickets to the Narnia Exhibit at the Arizona Science Center while we were at the Wescor Kids Club. She invited us to go and we found a day that would work - a day that the Dad's could come too. Addy's other sister, Alisha, has a membership and let Anjie borrow it, so we all got in for free - thanks Anjie and Alisha!


We checked out the Narnia exhibit first thing. It was cool at first, there was a wardrobe that you walked through and it was 'snowing' when you first entered Narnia. After that, there were a bunch of pictures, statues that looked like some of the creatures, clothing from the movies, a few things that you could touch, and a small catapult. Ethan and Aidan seemed to enjoy the catapult, but really didn't get into the rest of the experience. They checked out a small house and some swords. The last thing before the Gift Shop was a movie screen with clips from the next movie - both the boys really enjoyed this part. Overall, it was fair - we were all glad that we didn't have to pay for it.


Next we headed to an area that was packed with smelly Elementary school kids. We checked out a weather exhibit and a few things upstairs, but after being surrounded by kids who don't pay attention to where they're going we headed downstairs. Man, do we sound old?


Downstairs we checked out some of the psychology exhibits. Ethan had fun walking on the rubber bridge with Aidan, playing a jelly bean game on a computer, and playing with some Mega Blocks. We also checked out some of the human body exhibits. Ethan and Aidan had fun throwing balls into a giant nose. It was fun to explore the museum, but we would definitely recommend avoiding it on field trip days.

After the museum, we headed to Barro's for some pizza and let the boys play for a while. After a few incidents, the boys had fun playing with dinosaurs and riding on a dump truck. It was a fun morning - thanks Anjie, Daniel & Aidan for inviting us to go!

Last week we had offered a trip to the Zoo to our friends, Christina and Emerson. Unfortunately, Addy had to babysit our nieces and couldn't go. We gave Christina a rain check and went today while the weather was still nice. We love going to the Zoo and Ethan loves to walk, walk, and walk. Christina and Emerson are the perfect kind of friends to take - they didn't care where we went or how long we stayed at each exhibit.

This time we went a different route than we typically do and enjoyed a new view of the Elephants and the Monkey exhibit. For some reason, Ethan really wanted to see the Lions and the owls.




We had a great time with the Harrisons and hope that we can take more trips to the Zoo this year... if it ever cools down.

Ethan has also discovered our light sabers - his favorite scene in Episode 1 is the fight between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan.


At first we only showed him one, but then he started calling the baseball bat a light saber so we pulled out the second one.



He is increasingly vicious with his attacks.


Watch out Dad!

After the Saturday morning session of Conference there was an ad for a DVD about Mormon Myths. You know, those stories that have been passed on and changed each time or if Steve Martin is a member of the Church? The best one is that Yoda was based off of the 12th President of the Church, Spencer W Kimball. Here's a new one... was Darth Vader a member of the Church? With Ethan's recent interest in Star Wars, we have been pulling things out for him. The latest is a Darth Vader helmet that Ryan got for Christmas two years ago. When we have shown it to him before, he only wants us to wear it. He got over his fear and this is him on Sunday after Church.

Ahh, Halloween is coming and it is time to prepare for the festivities. We've got most of the materials we need, but didn't find any yellow and red plaid fabric. A little extra work, but it will be worth it. Oh, how I love this holiday!
~Addy

Lunch at Cafe Rio and feeding the ducks at Freestone; an ideal way to celebrate. Our friend Christina was having a birthday, so we (Addy and Natalie) thought that it would be fun to celebrate our amazingly talented friend. We enjoyed some delicious food, laughed at the different personalities of our boys, and chatted. Thanks to Ryan - he forgot to put the twisty tie on the loaf of bread and it ended up on the floor - we got to go feed the ducks. Bryson and Ethan had fun throwing the bread in the water, running up and down the hills, watching a crane, and exploring. It was beautiful outside and we enjoyed the afternoon. Happy Birthday Christina - thanks for being such a wonderful friend and great example to us!

Do you think that Noah remembered to take two of each letter of the alphabet?

Conference weekend quickly approached and we headed out early Friday morning with Addy's mom, Louise, to venture up to Utah for the glorious occasion and to spend time with the Isom's, Addy's oldest sister and her family. Before we got married we started making the trek and have continued to do so, except for last year - Addy excitedly purchased tickets to a TMBG concert and then realized it was the same weekend, ugh! We decided to leave early, hoping that Ethan would sleep part of the trip. The DVD player was purposefully not set up and we prepared cozy accommodations - monkey neck pillow, blankets, and Lightening McQueen pajamas - to help Ethan get some sleep. The little stinker sat quietly the whole way to Flagstaff, got a power nap on Highway 14 (he missed all the beautiful yellow, orange, red, and purple changing leaves - good thing Grandma took about 200 pictures), and stayed awake the rest of the way to Salt Lake. This was our first road trip back to Utah since Ethan was just 2 months old, so it took us much longer than before. We arrived at the Isom's gorgeous home around 6:00pm, enjoyed a delicious dinner, and then headed to Alyssa and Kenna's Young Women's volleyball game. Ryan was beat and stayed at the house to get a jump on sleep. Ethan had fun playing with a balloon and basketballs with his cousins, Jace and Tate. After the game, we headed back and enjoyed some chocolate cake - Ally always spoils us with yummy things to eat when we come - and then to bed. However, Ethan did not want to go to sleep. After his bath, he wanted to play and ride in the car? You would think that after sitting in the car for 13 long hours he would have had enough. Everyone else had settled into bed while Addy was tackling a screaming 2 year old. She decided to try the driving around trick and it worked - he was out in about 2 minutes!

Saturday morning we woke up to drizzling rain and low temperatures - relief for those who stuck out three months of triple digit temperatures. We enjoyed playing fooze ball and air hockey, chatting with family, watching Conference, and seeing how the Isom kids mature from year to year while watching Conference - 'MOM... he's staring at me!' The boys; Eric, Ryan and Jace, headed to the Priesthood session of Conference, Ally and Louise went for a drive on the new Legacy highway, Alyssa and Kenna were given chores, and Tate was happily playing Star Wars Legos, so Addy and Ethan went to burn some energy at Target (Ethan's favorite place to go). After bath time and the boys got in bed, we watched Iron Man and then off to bed.

Sunday morning, Ryan and Addy woke up super early to go to the morning session of Conference. For some reason, we have always been privileged to get tickets to this session of Conference which also includes Music and the Spoken Word. We arrived early in the cool temperatures of the morning with more drizzling rain and were able to sit the closest we have ever been able to. We were in the terrace section, but on the far right side in the corner of the Conference Center. Not the best seats, but fun to be able to see so many noble men. At one point, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was singing and Ryan noticed that Elder Uctdorf was tapping his foot to the music. After a long trip, it can be challenging to keep your eyes open while sitting still for 3 hours, but we managed... most of the time. It was awesome to hear inspired words from our leaders and our prophet - when you hear him speak; you know that he has been called by God. While we attended the morning session of Conference, the Isom's watched over Ethan... thanks for letting us go on a 'date'. We headed back to the house and enjoyed leftover homemade clam chowder for lunch, put Ethan down for a 'nap' (he ended up playing quietly in Kenna's room), and watched the afternoon session of Conference (Addy enjoyed the inside of her eyelids sometime during the second hour). Addy finished the inspection of her eyelids while Ryan and the boys went to a park down the street. We enjoyed a scrumptious meal of manicotti prepared by Chef Ally and then went to see Uncle Kent, Louise's older brother, and his family. We had a fun time seeing how much Addy's cousin’s kids have grown, visiting, and catching up. We finished off the night with Lemon cake that Tate made covered with homemade whipped cream and strawberries.

We decided to get some rest and planned on leaving the Isom's around 7:00 or 8:00am. It worked out perfectly, as we got to see everyone before they left for school or work. They are always so willing to have us come and sacrifice so much - thank you Isom's and know that you are welcome at our home anytime! We had a pretty uneventful ride home and enjoyed the leaves and SNOW on Highway 14. We were making good time and Ethan actually fell asleep for a while, so we booked it down the road. We made it back to Tempe around dinner time and gave Ethan a chance to play with AnaLyn while we all enjoyed some Pei Wei. We loaded Ethan back up in the car, picked up Ryan's van from a co-worker, and started unpacking. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but always worth it! Spending time with family and hearing inspired words from humble servants of our Lord - it doesn't get any better than that!