Fall Fun

Here is our pumpkin princess, unless you hear her speak.  Last weekend we went down to Thanksgiving Point for Cornbelly's Corn Maze.  I took a gamble in thinking the girls would be old enough to enjoy a corn maze.  I found some cheap tickets to help me make that gamble.  It paid off.  This place was more than just a corn maze and the kids loved it.  We met the Pumkin Princess and Kelsey sat in Cinderella's pumpkin carriage.  Macy cheered on a pig in the pig races.  Braden played in a water pump meant for racing rubber ducks.  They slid on slides and jumped on large bouncy things.  We even took them into a haunted house. We didn't realize what it was but thought it would be okay because the spooks that would fill it weren't coming until the next weekend.  The guy at the entrance said it was just a dark walk (we walked through after dark).  Well I was definitely a haunted house set up.  The first bit was so dark that you didn't know which way was up.  I held unto Macy and Kelsey's hand to try to help keep them brave and so I wouldn't lose them.  Macy must have been touching the wall because she led us into the next room complete with strobe light and maze like partitions.  At this point Kelsey is starting to cry and Macy is thinking this is neat.  Luckily we find an early exit because Braden was starting to whimper.  We get outside and Macy wants to come back when the ghouls are there.  I was praying the rest of the night the girls wouldn't wake up with nightmares. 

Brian and I could barely pull them away to actually do the corn maze.  Macy really enjoyed the corn maze.  Her drama came out along with the attitude "I know which way to go and you don't so you better follow".  When we would take a wrong turn she would say it was her fault.  We spent 40 minutes to an hour in the maze.  We cheated to get out mostly because it was about 8:30 and Kelsey was so tired she wasn't having fun and Braden was loopy because he needed sleep.

Check out the last entry.  I added a photo.

Happy Halloween

Oh wait that was a month ago. I thought I would check in and document some major events. Halloween came and went. Macy was Rapunzel. The first time she put on her wig and looked in the mirror she said "I don't look like Macy any more." Kelsey was a cowgirl. The little guy was a monster. I thought I took more pictures of him but I could only find the following. It is that third child syndrome.

Macy had a huge haul this year. She went out for at least 2 hours. She was quite the trooper and liked getting candy. Towards the end of trick-or-treating she said "I should bought the bigger bucket." Kelsey only lasted about an hour. Her endurance is not like Macy. She would have still preferred the stroller this year. Brian and I were able to take the kids out together because grandma stayed home to hand out candy. Brian took Kelsey home when she was through and then he left for the University of Utah football game. Who in their right mind schedules a football game on Halloween at 6 PM in Utah? Don't they know that this is a very family oriented state and it can get really cold at night at that time of year. Next time they need my approval before scheduling games.

Once Upon Another Fall Day It Snowed

So yesterday the weather was beautiful. A little chilly in the morning but great for raking by afternoon. This morning I woke up to this:
Arizona anyone?

Kelsey asked if we could move back this morning. Then when we getting ready to go get Macy from school she came out with flip flops on. This was right after I showed her it was snowing. I didn't allow this. By the time we got out to the car it was blizzard like. She turned around to go get a coat. She came back outside without anything because her light jacket was in the back of the car. As a note she had already played outside this morning in her winter coat and boots. The picture above was that time. In the car she said she hated snow. So far to date she is 100% better about playing in the snow than last Christmas.

Well it snowed for about 2 hours so the picture above is out of date. We now have 2-3 inches of snow on the lawn and the kids are headed outside to build a snowman.

By the way, I am on a roll for postings. Don't expect too much from me.

To finish off the perfect fall day

We carved our pumpkins last night. Macy is like her Grandma Wendy and had to pick out every seed from the innards. She wants to grow her own pumpkin where grandma likes to make roasted seeds. I think my dad rolls his eyes when my mom tells us not to throw away the seeds. We hate to do this but enjoy her roasted pumpkin seeds.


The finished product. All designed by the individual owners.

Once upon a Fall Day...

Yesterday we had a leaf birthday party for my grandma. Her birthday falls at the end of the month so my mom, sister, and my kids went to her house to celebrate. We took in Paradise Bakery for lunch and then of course we went out to play in her leaves that fell off the large tree in her front yard. After the playing she opened presents and we sang Happy Birthday and made her blow out a candle. It was the perfect fall day and a fun party.

I have always gone over to my grandma's house to play in the leaves and then help her bag them when done. I can't remember when this started but I believe my older cousins did this before me. Some years I remember a foot or two of leaves covering her lawn. My memory may be exaggerating this but there is usually a lot of leaves. We used to pile them and jump. Sometimes we would make pathways through the leaves or outline rooms of a house. Grandma would let us just imagine and have fun. She even let us have fun with the leaf blower when she purchased one. It was one of the best chores (if you could call it that).

Now that my siblings and I are grown, my mom likes to make sure we go over and still play in the leaves especially with the grandkids. Of course we still help clean up but it is still not a terrible task. In fact, raking the leaves stirs up the most wonderful fall aromas. When I smelled the fallen leaves my mind quickly return to autumn days of the past.

My kids enjoyed piling up the leaves. It took us awhile to get them to stop and play in the leaves. They found baskets to fill and dump. The basket idea was the first in all these years. The girls didn't think there were enough leaves so they went to the neighboring yards to gather more. This year many of the leaves were blown by the wind into the neighbors yards. But there were still plenty so the rest of us kept to our yard.

So what do you do once the leaves are in one big pile?

Well you can ...

...eat them. Only Braden recommends this. Or bury yourself in them. We buried Braden and he didn't seem to mind.

... you get your picture taken. The little baby is my sister's brand new baby. When she is around Braden gets demoted to the number 2 spot. Macy wanted to take Ellie home the other day. My mom told her then Emily wouldn't have a baby. So she said that Emily could take Braden. She also told my mom that Emily could just have another one.

Another funny story about Ellie. Kelsey asked when she was going to get her bump.

Back to what you do with a pile of leaves. Of course there is the classic, jumping in them.

And jumping some more.
Then have mom jump in them.

Or throw them in the air.

I loved visiting my grandma and I love all the memories I have made with her. I am so glad to have wonderful family. I am glad my mom gets to join in on this tradition.

I just thought these pictures were cute.

A month in review

This month has been filled with ups and downs. It started out with a beautiful drive through the Uintah mountains on Labor Day.
The kids love to stop by the lakes and streams to through rocks or sticks in them. Above is a picture of Macy at Teapot Lake.

Here is the happy family (ignore my hair I didn't really do since we were going to be in the car all day). I bought Brian a place-anywhere tripod for his birthday so he didn't have to set the camera on rocks, ledges or anything somewhat stable. Well we keep forgetting it so he found another somewhat stable rock for the family photo-op.

The following week our buyers cancelled on our home, so we had to start looking for someone else to purchase our home in AZ. If anyone needs a real estate agent in AZ I know of a guy I wouldn't recommend. He either doesn't understand what a contract is and that it is legally binding or he is just flat out dishonest and unethical. By the way it is not our agent. Now I get to spend time filing a complaint against the guy.

On to happier times. Braden went in for his four month check-up at a little over five months. He is tipping the scales at 19 lbs. 6 oz. and has grown to 26.5 inches tall. The big guy is pretty much out of his infant carrier. He still likes to scream, really loud. His second tooth came in so no Jack-o-lantern for his Halloween costume.

Here he is practicing how to sit up. This was earlier in the month. Today he does a lot better but I still place the Boppy Pillow around him just in case he tries to reach for something too far away. His eczema cleared up once started giving him 1/2 tsp. of a probiotic every day.

He started rice cereal some time after his doctor's appointment. He does pretty well and is so far a clean eater. The jury will decide once he starts fruits and vegetables.

Macy was off-track at school this month (This means her class didn't have school. It is a way to allow for more kids in the elementary school. There are 4 tracks with 3 tracks being in school and one track out. It rotates as to which one is out of school.) Since she didn't have school, she and Kelsey were able to have a sleep over at grandma's and grandpa's house. They went down to the Gateway Mall to play in the water fountain.

They also came home with Build-a-Bears. Macy's was Hannah Montana Bear and Braden's is the U of U monkey.

I took the Utah Real Restate exam and passed. Now I am looking for a broker to hang my license with so I can start using it. Brian is itching to look at the MLS. He was very sweet and brought home a balloon bouquet to say congratulations.

Here is Braden enjoying his balloon.

Of course to avoid any fights, Braden was given the largest balloon. The girls had to have the smaller two. This did stop all fights relating to the balloons.

We made it to the Utah State Fair this year. When Macy found out that we were going to see farm animals she quickly volunteered to stay home because it would be stinky. We made her go and she said it did smell. Kelsey saw the bunnies and immediately fell in love. All night she begged to take one home. The girls had the chance to milk a cow but they turned it down. Their cousins didn't miss out. To make it all complete we rode the ferris wheel and ate funnel cake.

My Grandma Lue and I hosted a baby shower for my sister Emily. This is her first and will be my kids first cousin on my side of the family. She received many cute things. We played a two games including the candy bar in the diaper. Did you know that the most number of children born to one woman was 66? And did you know that heaviest baby ever born was 23 lbs? The most amazing thing about these facts is that they happened in the 1800s. Ouch!

Since we are back in Utah we had to take advantage and see the fall leaves. Last Friday we drove the Alpine Loop. The aspen trees have not changed color yet but the drive was still pretty.

We stopped at Sundance Ski Resort for lunch/dinner with Brian's parents (they were taking the same drive and we didn't even plan it that way).

While there the girls had to play wish stick would pass under the bridge first, aka Pooh sticks (for any of you who have seen the old Winnie the Pooh).


Our last stop on the drive was Cascade Springs. It was beautiful and the kids got the wiggles out.

Here at the springs Brian practiced his photography. The 2 pictures above were taken by him. He is really quite good. I might have to get him a better camera for Christmas. I will post the rest of his fall leave pictures on facebook. I am not going to give him credit for the last 2 on this post. I took those.

On our way down the canyon we saw a bull moose. Brian took a picture but it didn't turn out very good. It was about 15 feet from our car.

When we got back from our drive we had another offer on our home. It is now under contract. Hopefully this one will go through. I am grateful Heavenly Father is looking out for us.

I failed to mention one of Brian's big excitements of the season, football. Brian has put in some time to watching all the college football he can. This year we purchased season tickets. We watched our team (the U of U) win 2 games at home and had to watch them lose one on TV. We have also been cheering for BYU and were sad when they lost. Don't get me wrong. Come November we will be cheering red.