Wow, the time flies!! I cannot believe this year is coming to a close and so quickly. We have had quite the adventureous last few weeks. Last month we had a delicious dinner with the entire bishopric and all the clerks, including our families. Our bishop served his mission in Japan and fried us some breaded chicken with rice and sauce. He also made a seaweed with tofu soup. I loved the chicken and rice, I ate the seaweed soup, but definitely the one and only time I will.

The next Saturday, I took lil' K with me to an enrichment group to make pies. F took lil' L fishing with his dad. After making the pies, I went shopping at Old Navy. While trying on clothes, F called asking me how long I would be shopping. I asked why, and he told me we needed to take lil' L to the doctor. Come to find out, F was carrying all his gear and holding the hand of lil' L , came to a stream. He held lil' L's hand and lifted him over, as he did, lil' L twisted and F heard a pop. Out came the elbow. I knew exactly what had happened. We called the pediatrician, but closed. Headed to a clinic, closed. Called triage at pediatricians, just as I had suspected...Nursemaids elbow and need a doctor. Look up online for clinic with extended hours. Find one, go to it, doesn't take our insurance (even though it showed up on our insurance) Call another clinic. Open!! No one was a the clinic so we got in real quick. The doctor popped it back and showed us what to do next time it happens. She watched lil' L play to make sure he was alright. He was finally talking and being active. Up until then, he was quiet unless we were moving him, then he cried. It took us longer to find a place open late in the afternoon on a Saturday, than to have his arm taken care of. It was sad to see him in so much pain, but glad to have him better.

F and I went with a bunch of people to Body Worlds 3. Wow!! It is amazing what we are composed of. We then went a grabbed a bite to eat at Hires with Derek and Tawna afterwards. Yum!! When we picked up the kids, my dad was telling lil' K how long her hair is getting and she came straight over to me and reminded me to get scissors. She has been wanting a hair cut for a while now. I had told her to remind me and she did. The next day, snip..snip..snip..off with about 4 inches. I think she looks so cute and she loves it.

I have been quite busy. Rooting for our favorite college football team and member of the top ten, I have been sewing and being somewhat crafty...this one is for another day. By the way...what a game!! Very exciting! Go Utes!!

My sis had her baby the Monday before Thanksgiving and was a whopping 9.5 lbs!! What a boy! I love just holding newborns, they smell so sweet and just cuddle. The kids were able to see him on Thanksgiving. We spent most of the day with F's family and had a blast. We don't see all of them too often and was great to catch up. Because I had made pies with enrichment, I made 5 pumpkin pies and whipped topping to go along with the peach and apple (click for the recipe) pies I had already made. The pies were a hit. We did have way too much. My mom made the entire dinner for them, so I offered to bring pies since I was already taking some to F's family. I had 8 pies total, we gave 1 pie to F's parents, 1 to my parents, 1 to my sis and still had about 1 pie of left overs to take home. F's mom also sent us home with a full turkey dinner that we have had twice since Thanksgiving. Whew.. I think I will have to continue with more another day. I am grateful for this time of year to be be thankful for all the Lord has given us.

Halloween Fun!

My apologies for my recent hiatus from blogging. We have been having computer troubles....aka: we just completely wiped and reinstalled all of our software for the second time (yes, second). Now we are back in business.
I did not take many pictures from Halloween this year, just enough to document costumes. In late September, lil' K was beginning to really dream of her costume. We had discussions of Princesses, but she finally decided on being a black cat (good, we have black clothes). All we needed was the ears and tail. lil' L kept saying he wanted to be a horse or a pumpkin (where he got these ideas, I'll never know). Those two ideas were vetoed by papa (being the Superman fan he is) So, we bought costumes early in October and were ready to bring on the festivities.

Each year my family does a Halloween dinner before Halloween actually arrives. This year, the little ones wore their costumes (also a great chance to get their pictures together and not hopped up on sugar). We enjoyed a great dinner including Dirty bath water, Creepy Crawly Jell-O, Pumpkin Chili with Monster Nose Hairs, Witches Brooms, and more.

The week of Halloween, we carved pumpkins for FHE. By this, I mean, the kids helped to take out the pumpkin guts, decide what they wanted their pumpkins to be, and then for me to play pumpkin artist. Later in the week, we decorated treat buckets. Both of the kids had plastic buckets in which we covered with Halloween paper that the kids decorated with their names, pumpkins, and other pictures/words. I think they turned out great (sorry, I don't have a close up, but trust me).
As for Halloween, a great party at preschool for lil' K where we decorated pumpkin cookies. lil' L was excited to wear his costume and run around pretending to fly. lil' K wanted everyone to chase her around, including my parent's dog. We kept the night simple. We visited my grandparents, and both of our parents with lots of food (pizza and halloweenies)

We took the kids trick-or-treating around to a few houses in each of our parents neighborhoods. The weather was absolutely perfect, no jackets or coats needed for the cat and superman. I was glad we didn't have to say "He's Superman, see the pant legs." We rolled back home just in time to clean up the kids and get into bed. The kids had great fun and I'd say as parents, we did too.

Am I the Only One?

...Or is anyone else "Pavlov"ed to salivate for a Crystal Pepsi whenever they hear Van Halen's "Right Now"?

Wasn't that the song on the commercials way back when?
I heard that song while driving today and suddenly I am back in jr. high (yuck) craving the shortly popular drink.

Another Birthday

I can't believe another year has come and gone. Now my baby has become a little boy...and everything that comes with it, such as sound effects, sword fighting, tackling, throwing the football around, getting into everything, and so much more. We enjoyed a great birthday celebration for lil' L. On his birthday, F had to work part of the day and then we decided to head up to the zoo. Just as we were walking to the gate, I got a phone call from my mom to tell me that my grandpa was not doing well in the hospital and they didn't know how much longer he had. F told me to go and be with my family while he spent the afternoon with the children. F had a great time taking the kids around the zoo (usually I am the one, so it was good to have some time for just him and the kids.) Quite a busy day, but the majority of the birthday celebrations happened the next day. In the afternoon, I decorated the cake and then we went to walk around Silver Lake. It was a bit cold and sprinkled rain. We warmed ourselves up with dinner from Wendy's (lil' L's choice). After dinner, we made homemade peach ice cream and had both sets of grandparents over. Lil' L couldn't wait to open his presents. He was trying to open them and kept them close to him until he had free reign over opening them. He was extremely excited about all of the cars and trains, we had to open them almost immediately. Bad idea, especially since he wouldn't give them up to have us sing and for him to blow out the candles. When we did convince him, he began blowing out the candles as soon as he saw them and I mistakenly got close enough for him to do so before we were finished singing. Of course, he jumped right down to play again. He definitely knows what birthdays are all about! I love this guy. He is so loving and imaginative. It is incredible to see the changes that happen every day!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A Day We will Not Soon Forget!

Yesterday was our Primary Progam, and lil' K's first one. If any of you know her, she has a hard time with new things. She'll wail about going to someone new's house, she cried about going to swimming lessons (even though afterwards she had great fun...and would even do it again!!) So we were prepared for the worst. She said she wasn't going to say her part. At all of our practices, she did great saying her part..."How do we know God loves all His children?" lil' K: "Because He gave us butterflies and flowers." (That was her exact response to the question which became her line) After the practice on Saturday, she actually told me she would be partcipating!! But I knew that could be very wrong. I imagine all the little children filing up to the front, quietly, while she is taken from the chapel in tears and screaming. Because I help out in the Primary, I went up first and then the children came. lil' K filed with the other children, quietly!! I was so excited! The sunbeams were at the beginning, and I began to fell anxious again. The children lined up and each took their turn at the podium, lil' K said her part just right all by herself and even into the mic so everone could hear!!!! Hallalujah! I almost started to bawl just because she said her line! We were proud parents, seeing her sing all the songs she has worked on learning this year. Despite our fears, the program turned out beautifully. The other children were so wonderful and things ran smoothly. The Spirit spoke to each person in the chapel that day confirming the knowledge the we are all children of God. I know I am thankful for that knowledge. I hope that each of you remember you are a child of God, too.

Ahoy, hoy!

Alas, Me Hearties!! SeptembArr 19th be speak like a scurvy pirate day. Be preparin' yerself with this here tavern. Dust off ye eyepatch, raise th' Jolly Roger in celebration. If ye don't be knowin' how to shout scurvy pirate, here be th' way. Fer ye land lubbers, who not be participatin'...t' th' planks!!

Yellowstone

August was one busy month. Every weekend was filled with some adventure. The first weekend, Lake Powell, then came the opening to a record breaking Olympics and Family Reunion Relay Day (we had 5 family reunions, but only attended one, which was more than enough). Followed by my weekend of "Living the Good Wife" in which I "allowed" my hubby to leave me for fishing with the boys. While he was gone, I completely cleaned his truck (this included using a carpet cleaner) What a difference!! The third weekend was "Rockapulco Fest 2008" a.k.a. my family's trip to Rockport. We got the kids out on the boat. lil' K and I along with her cousin got out on the tube. I waterskiied in which I have not done for years...just like riding a bike. F took the 3rd of 4 certification tests, then off to Yellowstone for Labor Day weekend. Our calendar hasn't taken so much abuse before. I think it will miss me and all the scheduling, now that things have calmed down a bit. Anyhoo... this brings me to Yellowstone. This is an annual trip we take with F's family... The same crew from Lake Powell.

(Elk, Brink of the Upper Falls)

We left early Friday morning, stopping only for gas and breakfast. We had lunch in Yellowstone National Park, walked around Norris Geyser basin, saw a small group of elk and relaxed in our hotel. This year, we forfeited the portable crib for lil' L. He and lil' K shared a queen bed (we did push it against the wall for safety reasons) He had no idea what was going on. I was constantly laying him down for about 30 minutes, before he finally fell asleep. By the third night, he had it down, and was asleep in a matter of minutes with no persuasion.

(Uncle Tom's Trail, Yellowstone Lake Hotel)

Saturday, we went through Canyon. After seeing the brink of the upper falls, we rounded to the other side to do a hike...more like stair stepping. Uncle Tom's trail took us to the opposite of the falls and to the bottom (great view!!). The downside, 328 stairs. lil' K even made it down and up the stairs. Whenever we stopped to wait for others, she would be itching to keep going. We had to tell her to slow down and rest. lil' L would always ask for water when we took water breaks (I guess he was breakin' a sweat being carried around in a backpack complete with sunshade) Along our drive through Hayden Valley, we came across a buffalo herd, just before that, we got up close and personal with a buffalo (see video). On our drive back into town, we saw the group of elk again, which had backed up traffic and we also saw a bald eagle in a tree top. We were back in West Yellowstone in time for dinner. The boys we looking forward to watching their recorded U game, but something got messed up, so no game.

(View from Hike behind Old Faithful)

Sunday, half of us drove down to Lake to the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. Today was kind of chilly, it did rain a little bit, but only when we were driving. The buffalo were gone from Hayden Valley. We spent lunch through dinner at Old Faithful. We hiked up behind Old Faithful to see Old Faithful go off from above, which was awesome. My sis-in-law worked in Yellowstone in the Old Faithful Inn some years ago, but still knows people there. She pulled some strings and got F's parents a special trip up to the top and onto the roof of the inn (most people can only go to the third floor). The inn has a crow's nest in which an orchestra used to play music ages ago.

(Parents on top of Inn, Firehole River)

The best part...I went to take pictures of them as the came back down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is a huge gate which gives history and tells readers they cannot go further. A mother is telling her children that "no one" can go up any higher, when along comes the bell hop (their guide) carrying the flags he had just retrieved from the roof. The mother explains he gets to go up there to bring the flags down. Seconds later...F's dad wearing his rain jacket, shorts, and sandals. The mother looks and totally had to retract what she has told her children. A few seconds later comes F's mom with her camera taking all sorts of pictures. The mother didn' t know what to say, so she just went back to explaining that the bell hop goes to get the flags at night.

(Comic Relief at Canyon)

Labor Day was spent shopping around town and driving home. We were going to stop at Big Spring for lunch, but it was co-o-old. We arrived home and unpacked, what a month!! Lots of fun and memories, but now it is time to breath and catch up on sleep (most of the damage down through the two weeks of endless Olympic footage). The next vacation on our list? None planned... for this year.