SG Halloween Party

My mom sometimes throws a Halloween party for the grand-kids. She decided to throw a shin-dig this year, and since we are closer we jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, Richie is saving up his days off so I was flying solo. Although it was a wonderful trip, I was pretty tired out by the end. All the single parents out there have my respect! We left early on Friday and managed the one-parent car ride fairly easily thanks to movies, snacks, books, peeing on the side of the road, and a stop at Cove Fort. I always feel pretty special telling the missionary guides that my great-great grandfather built Cove Fort. "Yeah, Ira? Me and him are totally related. See my name on that plaque over there? That's my name, no biggie." I recently started reading his history and so this short stop at the Fort had more meaning to me. Hope I can pass that on to my kids.

The party that night was fantastic! (Of course) Mom always puts so much effort into these things. She must love her grand-kids a lot. :) There was a ring toss, bean bag toss, minute to win it games, roasting hot dogs, roasting marsh mellows, and a make your own costume station. Everyone had a bag of the same things and then the option to use other things.

Gwen's latest obsession is turtles. In her own little language, one of her favorite phrases is, "I'm Gwen, I'm a turtle." Since I'm not indulging in her fetish for her real Halloween costume, I figured now was an opportune time. She thought it was so cool!

My brother has often remarked that Miles is a great Billy Idol look-alike, mostly due do that white blonde, spikey hair. So we ran with the idea and Miles got a kick out of it. He'd show us his muscles and say, "I'm a rock star! I'm Billy Idol!" (I'll admit, I'm so glad he doesn't really know who Billy Idol is)

The most memorable part of the trip however might have been our visit to Great Grandma Crosby's house. I had stayed up late the night before reading parts of her life story and looking through these awesome old-photo albums. I was excited to chat with her the next day about her mission pictures and how she met Grandpa, and on and on. We spent about 15 minutes chatting and I felt like we could have been best friends if we had been born at the same time. Although she's on in age, she sat on the floor, picked up my kids, played matching games and built towers of blocks. She told me about how handsome my Grandpa was in his army uniform and the first time she saw him in Eager when he was on leave, she just thought he was something else. "I fell pretty hard" she said. It was picture perfect. A little too perfect.

It was then I realized it was quiet, and that's never a good sign. I found Gwen in the front bathroom stuffing the last of an entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet. Now, I don't want to brag or anything, but I've become somewhat of an amazing toilet plunger-er since we moved into our home, where the toilets aren't the best of flushers. "No big deal." I thought. "Grandma, where's your plunger? There's no problem, I just need to get this toilet paper out of the way real quick. Do you mind getting the kids a snack to keep them occupied?" She got me the plunger, got the kids cupcakes and milk and I went to work.

A few good solid plunges in, I decide to flush. It usually does the trick, but in this case the water kept rising. So I plunged some more, and flushed again. This time the water raised so much it started coming out the top. I'm a toilet flooding virgin, so I start to freak out. I start messing with all the gadgets inside the top of the toilet, but this only seems to make it worse. I grab a sheet from the linen cupboard above and create a barrier to the water so it doesn't get into the carpeted hallway and run into the kitchen. I frantically call my mom and beg for assistance, but my dad can't come at the moment. I run across the street to her kind, elderly neighbor, Brother Larson and ask him to come save the day. By this time the water has stopped flowing, thankfully, and Brother Larson and I take turns plunging the toilet and breaking a sweat, but to no avail. He heads back home and gets his snake and takes operation toilet to another level. Meanwhile, Gwen sneaks into the other bathroom and poops her pants. (I should mention that she is potty training herself. She's done marvelously, especially since she's only 19 months old, but it's still potty training, and that means accidents.) I run out to the van to get her a new outfit. Once that's cleaned up, my mom shows up to lend assistance. She isn't there more than 5 minutes when Miles screams because he's got his finger stuck in the magic, old-person, up and down chair. Followed my Gwen throwing the phone off the bookshelf in the hallway. I give up. I bow at brother Larson's feet, apologize for the one millionth time to Grandma, gather up the sopping mats and sheets and head out. But not before taking a group shot while I hold a screaming Gwen hostage for the photo op. Oh memories.

We finished up with mom helping me create the kids Halloween costumes and dinner with the Lambs. I got the kids in their pj's, pacified them with Toy Story 3 and hit the road. We pulled in about midnight and slid the kids into their very own beds. They were so happy. They never sleep great in other beds. What a whirlwind trip. So good.

Family Pictures Part 2

I realize most people who read this blog have probably already seen the family pictures in their entirety on facebook, but just so that one day I have all the family pictures on the blog, for the blog book....here's the rest of them.

Family Pictures 2012 Part 1

We were really lucky the past couple of years to have a ward friend take our family pictures for ridiculously cheap. (Hi Kelly!) I was bummed that being here in Utah, I didn't know anyone that would be as good, or as reasonably priced. Luckily we found a gal in our ward who is very talented and is also very low priced. Thank goodness! It seems like in ID, we'd have pretty fall colors for a week, and then it would snow, or get so cold, all the leaves would fall off. I'm loving this Northern Utah Fall and all the leaf eye candy. I've always wanted to have family pictures with all the beautiful leaves. We attempted it last year around this time, but like I said, the leaves were pretty much non-existent. So this year, I knew I had to get them done quickly! I thought the hiking paths up by the Draper temple that I've blogged about before were perfect for the occasion.
I'm posting ALL of the pictures, so be prepared for lots! Knowing our kids' personalities and ages, we know it's impossible to do lots of posing and holding still. So I've been trying to bring along a prop or activity that will allow the photographer to get lots of candid shots. Right now, our kids love reading and blowing bubbles, so Janelle (our photographer) let me incorporate those ideas into the shoot.

*There are more pictures but I can't get them to load at the moment. I'll post them later.

Babies in a basket

One of the things we were most excited about when we went home searching was land. We've been waiting a long time to put in our very own garden and work OUR land. We definitely couldn't afford multiple acres for cows, chickens, bees, a garden etc etc etc. But we were able to afford a decent plot of land, and this past weekend we started turning our dream into a reality! Cue loads and loads of manure! Richie's brother Jacob helped Richie haul loads upon loads of manure/compost/mulch. Have you heard of the "Back to Eden" gardening technique? It's they way we've decided to garden, Youtube it if you're interested. The only logical spot for a garden on our property just happened to be right where the nicest, most lush, weed free grass was, of course. So we put the newspaper down, covered it with mulch and said goodbye to the pretty lawn. The next step is to cover it all with wood chips and then wait all winter while the nutrients sink deep into the ground. In spring, we should have optimal soil for the food we want to grow! Yipee! We also put in 4 new fruit trees; 2 apple, 1 more pear and 1 more peach. We couldn't find any nectarine trees, so I'm still holding out for 2 of those. Hopefully in the next 3-5 years we should have 9 producing fruit trees on our property! 2 apple, 2 peach, 2 pear, 2 nectarine, and 1 cherry. My mouth is watering already! These pictures don't show how big the garden will be since they are just starting the process, but once it's all prepped, I'll document the size more accurately. According to Richie's vision, this is only phase one. He wants lots more producing plants in our landscaping, but that will all take time and money. One thing at a time right?

The kids and I "helped" putting the garden in a little. But mostly, I worked on laundry while the kids played in the empty baskets, and I have some pretty cute pictures to prove it.

Gwen's fake laugh

Miles' fake cry

Miles practicing his "I'm too cute for you to punish me" face.