Sunday, October 24, 2010

Pumpkin Guts and Fun

Today was a great Sunday . . . church, out to eat with Nana and Poppy, and pumpkin carving!!

Here are our attempts with the carving . . .


Well, I thought I took a few more "before" pictures, but apparently, I took a lot of "after pictures!"




Choosing what we wanted to carve was a bit of a challenge. Everyone wanted to go with the traditional jack-o-lantern until we looked up some different templates online. I figured Parker would really want to try something crazy, but he told me that he thought he should go with something easy because we hadn't had a lot of experience doing this!! Ha!! Finally, after looking at a lot of options, we settled on a spider (Parker), a kinda scary face (Luke), a kinda happy face (Payton), and a guy screaming with his hands on his face (Landry). I tried to convince Landry to go with regular eyes so it would look a little more real, but no can do!! He and Payton teamed up to give him some awesome triangle eyes!!
And the nighttime view!!


So, I must say, this little project wasn't one I was really looking forward to just because I knew my patience limits might be tested a bit! But, after all is said, done, and the seeds are roasted, it was a super fun time and I think I might even do it again . . . but not for another year!!!


Friday, October 15, 2010

Gutter Diving

The boys were outside playing catch with the football one night and as luck would have it, the football fell down into the gutter. Eewwwww!!!

Alex, Reagan, and Parker were playing and Alex felt certain it was Parker's fault (of course!!). So, we got flashlights, we strategized, we plotted and planned, but neither Alex or Reagan were willing to risk life and limb and dive into the gutter!! (Parker had given up on it by this point and was back inside!)

Alex, still certain that since this was really Parker's deal, he should be the one to go diving, continued to plead his case. Finally, I told Alex to go get Parker because this kind of crazy thing would probably be right up his alley!! Sure enough, he came out, we explained the situation, and he was happy to help!! We lowered him down, he grabbed the ball, we pulled him back out!!! Here's the last-minute picture of proof!!

I still stick with my original statement ... EEEWWWWWW!!!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Fall has . . . . .

. . . . Fallen??

What does Fall do exactly??

Here are a couple of pictures to prove that cooler weather is here and maybe the changing of the season is just around the corner.


Acorns on the little baby oak tree!

Ok . . . only 1 picture! I think my camera might have died. I have put 3 sets of new batteries in it and it just can't do it!!

This whole post was started in my mind because my awesome friend Shellee made a really cool Fall wreath for my front door. We had talked about how easy it would be and that Hobby Lobby had everything on sale and that it would be so easy and did I mention that it would really be nothing at all to make??

So, I head out to Hobby Lobby on Saturday and immediately find myself surrounded by fall leaves, berries, pumpkins, flowers, beady things, corn, and so so so much more stuff to make a wreath with. (Be careful though . . . you might accidentally run into the Christmas aisles, already filled with stuff!!) I immediately text Shellee with a now-what-exactly-am-I-looking-for text and she, thankfully, agreed to meet me there! As we walked the aisles, she easily picked out things and stuck them into the grapevine wreath. By the time we got to the register, the wreath was made and we tried to convince the guy that the whole wreath was just $4.99 (the price of the plain wreath!). He almost believed us!!

So, to my good friend Shellee . . . you certainly have a gift!! Thanks for sharing a little of your creativity with me and my front door!!

Now if this post actually had a picture of that wreath, that would just be awesome!!! Will somebody drive by and take a picture and email it to me?? That'd be great!!!


Updated to add . . .

Yay for Emily . . . she did a drive-by and got this picture!!! Thank you thank you!!!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Happy Birthday to the Greatest Grandma and BigPa!!

Birthday wishes are in order to two of the greatest people on the planet . . . .

Grandma's 80th birthday was today and BigPa's 81st is coming up in the next few days so we headed to the Silver Fox for some amazing food and a really good time together!!!

Here's my food . . . a 6oz petite filet, mashed potatoes, creamed corn from off the cob, and snap peas. Wow . . . it was so incredibly good. I didn't get a picture of the III Forks Salad which is famous, according to the waitress!!


And for the birthday boy and girl . . . 5 layer chocolate cake which they were so kind to share!! One of my favorite lines of the night was when everyone was so incredibly miserable from eating so much and Grandma and BigPa were trying to finish their cake. Grandma says to BigPa, "Wayne, now you know you don't have to finish all that cake." To which BigPa says immediately, "I will!!" And he did!!

Here are my dinner mates and amazing family . . . Dad & Mom, BigPa & Grandma, Deb & Jeff.

Thanks to all of you for an awesome night of awesome food and an awesome time together!

BigPa and Grandma, you mean the world to me. Thank you for giving of yourselves so freely and for loving so deeply all these years!! Love you both!!