Pumpkin Carving

Dave is such a good sport about pumpkin carving. However, for the past four years he hasn't had to actually do any carving! We did them at his ward activity and then last year Tim came and helped us again! With Tim getting married and moving far away it was just us again. So-out came the power tools. I thought I got a shot of the saber saw but I didn't! Is has been probably thirteen years ago that he decided to pull out the power tools to carve the pumpkins. Makes quick work!


EewwH!!! Pumpkin guts are gross!

The Pumpkin Patch!

Saturday we headed out to Patch's Pumpkin patch! We have always picked up pumpkins for Emily and Justin. Usually from a farmers front yard where they are laid out in huge mounds. Sometimes we have picked them up at the grocery store.

This year I wanted to take them to a field where they can wander and pick their own out of thousands of choices. I remember taking Mitch and Ashley when they were really little.

These two little boys were so excited when they saw the acres and acres of pumpkins to choose from!


Little cousin Josh is starting to really hang out with us a lot. They all call him Joe! He was almost overjoyed with all the pumpkins. He really took his time selecting just the right one.

We told the kids that they had to be able to carry the pumpkin that they chose. Josh picked one but couldn't quite pick it up. He and Justin had a team effort to carry it to the cart.

Justin had no trouble carrying his pumpkin of choice.

This shot of the two of them pulling that pumpkin cart just melts my heart. I think I know what a certain Grandma is getting for Christmas!

Beautiful Miss Emily-not such a little kid anymore!

Pumpkins are just such a happy plant! That bright orange color popping out when everything else is turning dead and brown. Pumpkin orange is one of my favorite colors!

These two little boys, both little bonus babies on the end of our families. We are both pretty lucky to be able to have little people around a bit longer.

Fall Break-Sand Hollow Oct 20-22 2011

Even with his cast Mitch caught some good air!


The sun was so amazing during the "golden hour" before it gets dark!




Em's getting better and better!





It is still very surreal to look up at that big boy and realize he is MY CHILD! How did he get so big? I was having trouble getting the board off the boat and into the water-he just picked it up and dumped it in!

Nothing graceful but I was up momentarily!!

Ash is a natural at the slolum ski!

Remember when you were a young tween and you wrote in your journal-"I haven't written in a long time"? That is where I constantly feel I begin here. I recently read a post over at 71 toes about how she has had to only allow herself fifteen minutes on her blog posts because she has so much to do. Perhaps that is what I need to schedule myself. Perhaps fifteen minutes, just enough to get the details. I guess that I can always do fifteen one day and fifteen the next finishing the photos! They seem to take forever to upload.

Our family went to Southern Utah last week for Fall Break. It was absolutely gorgeous weather! We could not have asked for more beautiful or lovely conditions. We went to Sand Hollow Reservoir and just had a ball. Miss Ashley came over from college a couple of times and we took her to dinner once. It was good to see her. She is loving college life. I don't know how much she is loving the actual "college" part but she certainly is enjoying the single life. I am certain she hasn't gone to bed before midnight(being conservative) since August 15 when we left her there!

Mitch was able to go wakeboarding! We had requested a water proof cast when he got the full one changed to a half cast.

I never did write about his half cast--He was able to play the last two games of the football season!! It was so great!! I will add some pictures of that later!

The temperature was lovely! The water was a bit chilly for me, about 66 degrees but it didn't slow Mitch and Emily down. I actually did put on the full wet suit and tried wakeboarding!(imagine a European swimming athlete--not so pretty!) I had only tried one other time about four years ago before we got the smaller girls board. I crashed and crashed but I did finally get up for a few seconds! I will have to try again more often. I just have to suck it up and put on the wet suit!

Little Justin is like me, he gets so cold, so he was in the water but not as much as when it is warmer.

Emily is starting to get better at the wakeboarding. She really struggled to get up this time. She has done it numerous times. However, finally after about ten tries she finally did it! She will probably start to be a natural next year.

I took over two hundred shots of Mitch jumping the wake. It is so hard taking moving pictures! I get so frustrated because I just don't understand the connections between aperature, shutter and exposure! I am trying. This is the winter that I am going to just really focus some time on learning to shoot in manual and figure it out!! I did get a few(maybe ten) awesome shots of him in the air.

We had to leave Hollie dog home. She is allergic to Southern Utah. We don't know what it is but she has gone with us two times and about died. She just can't breathe--it is horrible to watch her suffer. She stayed with Grandma and Susie dog!

Letters

Oftentimes I feel like I want to write and then I just don't make the time to do it. This week has been one of those weeks. Numerous things have happened that I have felt I should write about.

A week ago my sweet friend and neighbor Michele's sister passed away. She was only 37 years old. It was sudden. There was no illness or accident. She played with her family during the day and that evening told her husband she hurt and then was gone.

I am blessed to know Michele and her parents. I have met this sister a time or two. However, this loss has just shaken me. I really didn't know Natalie. Yet I know that Natalie has left behind a husband and three very young children. The youngest is only two.

My heart just aches for these little children. Will they ever truly know how much their Momma loved them? Will they always wonder what she felt about them?

A few years ago when Anne Peterson died I had many of the same feelings. Her family was so young. They knew she was going to die, however. I wonder if that made it so that she thought about saying those important things. I know that she made a point of having pictures with her children.

If I died tomorrow would my children know how I feel about them? Would they know that I would do anything to help them? Do they know that I love them more than life itself? Would they be able to find a picture of me with them? All the little stories that are locked inside my heart-are they written down anywhere? I have work to do.

If I am very honest I don't think that my children would really understand how I feel about them. I don't know that a child can understand that until they have children of their own. However, during this last week I have had the impression more than once that I need to write letters to my children. These are letters that I will not give them now. Hopefully, they are letters that they can all have when I am old, old. I am going to start writing my children letters and putting them into a special box. I hope that they don't ever have to grow up without me, but if they do, I want them to be able to have a letter from me telling them what treasures they are to me.

As I write this I feel like maybe I should write them more letters that they can read now. The problem that I have with this is that often my children look at me like I have lost my mind when I talk about emotions and feelings. They also react to me telling them what I feel is important by saying I am preaching to them.

Not quite sure what or how, but I know that I must write down these feelings for my children. I know that I would love to have one letter from my Dad that told me how he felt about me.

For now I get another day with my children and husband. Every single day needs to be treated as a blessing. These people in my life need to know that I feel that THEY are MY BLESSINGS.

Justin is 7!!!!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Justin stayed home from school with a fever. A bit sad because he was planning to go with Grandma Janet to Salt Lake to Build a Bear. He will get to do that later!
After a few hours he started to feel much better and was able to go outside and try out his new bike!

Justin picked out his cake yesterday--loves some football! He was excited to have friends and family over to celebrate with him!

Happy Birthday, sweet boy. Don't get too big to give me hugs and kisses! Love, Mom

1. Justin loves Lego's.

2. Justin loves listening to music at night.

3. Justin is learning to read.

4. Justin is a sweet morning boy-lots of loves and kisses.

5. He thinks his big sister Ashley is pretty special-misses her while at college

6. wants to be a lawyer when he grows up!

7. His favorite colors are blue and hot pink(perhaps his big brothers cast helped him decide!!)

Happy 7th Birthday! Sweet Justin

Happy Happy Birthday to you!
October 10, 2011
Poor little Justin. As I was showing his VIP poster at school he got sick. He didn't even get to enjoy his raspberry filled powdered donut! He was sick again in the car, at the store and then many more times at home. Poor little guy! He got out of bed long enough to open his presents. A new bike!!! Lego's and hot wheel cars as well.

His birthday cake will have to wait!(it is waiting patiently on the counter)

General Conference

Twice a year our church has General Conference where all the members get instruction and guidance from our leaders.

We are blessed to be able to watch the sessions of conference on television. This year however, Dave was able to get us tickets to attend in the conference center. We hadn't been for over 20 years and never in the new center.

We took the kids( Justin was too young) and Parker. The Sunday morning session is preceded by the Tabernacle choirs "The Spoken Word". It was lovely.

I always enjoy conference but it was wonderful to be in the room with our leaders.

As we were leaving the building we ran into Elder Perry. I was shocked at how big of a man he is! He shook Mitch's pink casted arm and asked him if it was from football! He asked him if he played the line and told him "tough guys play the line". It was a neat experience.

Another Birthday! September 30th

(1972-my 4th birthday)

I had a birthday. September 30th. I am now 43! It looks strange to see that number but not terribly strange to be it! I am at that point in my life that I remember very vividly my parents at these ages. How am I old enough to now be there myself?

I now have a child in college, high school, middle school and elementary school. I have been married the same amount of time I was single(moving to the other side of that), I have lived in my "new house" for ten years and every wall needs painted. My Dad has been gone for 23 1/2 years. I have clothes older than some of my children. My sweet husband buys me new camera lenses and takes me to dinner.

I don't really have a hard time with birthdays. I don't really get too worked up about getting older. However, it is still a very strange reality when I look at all the experiences I have now had in my life.

Strange to remember that I was ever that little girl in the picture with the little Thumbalina doll(which I still have), with all my brothers and sister and my Daddy in the picture.

Still more to do!

Out of my 30 some odd posts that I put up earlier to fill in I still have at least 10 to finish! I guess I better get to work!

I also have numerous new ones to post!

"just do it"

This must be my motto! Focus, focus, focus!

Anyone want to come and help me with my other projects?

Funny

"you all need to learn how to peel your own peaches" as I peeled the fourth one.

"but you do it with love, mom!" said Justin.

Ok then!

Rain

It is raining.

I am not entirely in love with rain. I feel cold, wet and slow. It seems to make everything feel like I am trudging through vaseline. Just super slow and demanding.

I have things that I want to write about. But my thoughts are running slowly. If I write them down I would want to find a picture, then I would want to edit the pictures but I don't know how to do that. Then I would spend three hours editing two pictures.

Once again--everything feels slow! I hope that the vaseline brain doesn't last too long because my house and everything in it feels like I have been in a five year coma. It is like I just woke up--I don't have time to go back to sleep!!!!