What A Happy Halloween!

Avery didn't have school the day before Halloween and since Dustin is retired, we decided very spur of the moment to go visit my parents. We piled in the kids, costumes, dirty laundry (Friday is laundry day, you know-no clean undies for the kiddies otherwise), and we were off! It was fun to go trick-or-treating (er, I mean to have the kids trick-or-treat) at the houses where I did as a kid. Grandma and Grandpa were a great help with our little dragon, chicken, Jessie the yodeling cowgirl and mermaid. We got tons of candy and even saved some of my parents candy for the actual trick-or-treaters. It was great fun. What a great holiday! You give a little candy, you get a lot in return. You could just go buy a bag for yourself and skip the trick-or-treating entirely, but come on! Who wants to miss all these great pictures?

P.S. Merry Christmas!

Harvest Time

We have been harvesting and canning for the past couple of weeks. Even after years of participating while my mom canned peaches and pears and made jams and jellies, I still don't know how to do it. Thank goodness for big sis, who does, or at least pretends to. Jen and I bottled pears and apple pie filling and made plum jelly and jam. It is so fun! We spend the day talking and peeling and slicing and sweating and neglecting kids (not total neglect, we do feed them and turn on movies for them). And after all that work, this is what we have to show for it:


This is only my half of the spoils. Jen has the other half.

Here is some of what we got from our garden.






The beets aren't looking too hot.

I love gardening. It is in my blood. Both of my parents were (are) farmers. Granted, if you saw how much my garden didn't produce, you might not think it. But let's not focus on that. Let's focus on the positive. For instance, we got three pumpkins of differing colors and two varieties of squash! We got two whole cobs of corn (won't be planting four rows next year for sure).
We also have about a thousand little apples.



Not bad for our first ever garden.

Math

This:



Plus this:




Equals this:





It was inevitable. What spunky-two year old boy can resist the utlimate thrill ride? Well, not mine for sure. Those marks are where his ribs are. It looks like a hand print, but it is because there is no fat at all covering his ribs. He also got his face and arm, but you can't see it in this picture. I guess he is just toughening himself up for bikes and motorcycles and football and other painful experiences later in life.

Dustin's Geburstag

Well, a little older, a little wiser as I like to say. Happy Birthday to dear old daddy Dustin. In lieu of our recently remodeled cat room and Dustin's allergies to the pesky creatures, I found the perfect cake (Thanks to a little inspiration from my kooky friend).

I promise, this cake is better than an alternative. And doesn't Dustin look nice and thin? (His body, not his hair, people). He is such a great dad and husband. What a lucky gal I am.

It's Always Fun When Grandma Comes

Gramma Lana came to see us for 10 days this month. Oh, it is fun when Grandma comes. It is endless presents and crafts and games and treats and we love it! Here are the kids in all their new church clothes Gramma brought.

And Grant learned a new trick just for Gramma.

And no, Ryan, those are not girl Halloween pajamas. Gramma would never do that.

She was here for General Conference this year. I love General Conference. I was able to go to the General Relief Society Meeting with Lana and my sister Jen and her friend. It was awesome to be there. Conference was amazing with helpful and timely counsel from living prophets, which is so cool. That same weekend we drove around and saw the Autumn leaves and it was beautiful. We also went to Dustin's mission reunion and saw friends we hadn't seen in years and ate these yummy Brazilian chickeny-bready thingys and drank Guava juice. What a great 10 days! Thanks for all the fun, Gramma Lana!

Help Wanted

Hey does anyone need a Landscape Architect? Ya know, just wondering.

No Valium Needed

This is how we spent our morning:

Maren had a run-in with the edge of tub last night after Ryan was being wild and swiped her on her way out. She ended up with 5 stitches, a cool blue camouflage band aid, a pony sticker and a happy meal. Bribery does amazing things. She was so brave and didn't scream or wiggle or even really cry. Oh, it breaks my heart to see my kids in pain. But even more heart breaking is when they are trying so hard not to cry when they are being put into more pain. I couldn't even watch while they numbed the wound or stitched it (I have this skin thing: blood ok, skin not ok). I was very proud of her. I'm pretty sure when I had stitches at age 5 that they had to strap me down. As anyone can testify who knows both Dustin and me, any calmness in my children is not inherited from me. So thank you, Dustin, for how great Maren did today.