Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Despite the cold and wind, we had a great time at the pumpkin patch for Syd's preschool field trip. Carter's was at the same place later in the week and it rained a ton! He came home soaked to the bone.

The apple part of the field trip is anti-climatic for my kids. They have all the apples they could want at Norm and Ele's farm.

The kids donned their tacky light-up Halloween shirts to carve pumpkins.

Why is it that pumpkin carving always starts like this . . .

But ends up like this.

Are You Ready for Some (birthday) Football?

Wow! Carter is 7 years old. For his birthday he really wanted to have a "football party." I personally loved the idea because that meant Garth carried out the whole event. They did all kinds of football skills tests, came in for cake and presents, then went back out for a game of flag football.

Preceding the football party, he had a joint party with my sister's kids (both with mid-October birthdays) at my mom's house. She even made them each their own cake. Carter had been saying he wanted a 20 dollar bill for his b-day. My mom was happy to oblige (easy shopping!)

He got to press cider and have more cake and presents with the Hamilton's.

He also got to have a birthday sleepover with Garth's mom. She took him out to Red Lobster for dinner (shrimp is the way to this boy's heart!) then to Wal-Mart to pick out a toy.

On his actual birthday I made his favorite dinner (manicotti) and he got his presents from us.

When he saw one big package, he said hesitantly "Mom, if that is something I NEED, I'm going to be a little disappointed." Fortunately, in the pocket of the snow coat that he NEEDED, was an Ipod shuffle that he was thrilled to get!

The Wedding I Missed

This weekend marks 4 months since my baby brother Jordan married the lovely Kailee in the Columbia River temple. Here is what I missed.

The girls were so excited to be the flower girls. Sydney loved her "real flower crown."

The story is that they took their job very seriously. Apparently Sydney floated down the aisle tossing petals in a very balletic way.

But they are 4 years old so naturally they began swinging their buckets around, then banging them together until someone had to take them away from the front to sit in the chairs. It's a good thing they are so cute!

Carter was technically the ring bearer but seeing that his clothes were exactly the same as the groomsmen, he promptly took on that role. He was very smitten by Kailee's big brother. He is an interesting character. Tough on the outside (a navy seal, sleeve tattoo's, a girlfriend that had an MTV show) but was apparently the nicest guy ever. He treated Carter like one of the big boys and helped him through an emotional moment when he was breaking down about them getting married and moving away. (Deep down I think he hoped Kailee would wait for him!)

Bummer that I missed it but at least I had a good excuse!

Field Trip Follies

Carter's first ever field trip in preschool was to Greenbluff (a local area packed with fruit farms). Even though I have lived here my whole life, I am great at getting lost. . . so I called the place and got directions. There are two highways that head North and I just couldn't picture which one I should take to get to Greenbluff. I dutifully followed the ladies' instructions. . . only I ended up in Deer Park. She told me the wrong highway. Needless to say, we were very late to the field trip, the last ones there, and Carter announced cheerfully that "We went to Deer Park!"

Fast forward three years and Sydney had her first field trip a couple of weeks ago to the fire station. The teacher said it was station #something on Hastings road. No problem. Carter went to the same one with his preschool. We get there totally on time and much to my surprise, we are the first ones there. After waiting almost 10 minutes and still no preschoolers, I went inside to see what was up. Apparently, there are TWO fire stations on Hastings road, and our preschool was at the other one. I jump in the car and fly down the road a couple of miles and found her class. Better late than never. Right?

The benefit of being the younger sibling is you get to participate in all the fun field trips. Derek LOVED the trucks and was only a little scared when the bell went off and the truck exited the garage with lights and sirens on.

Just Because

Olivia is 3 1/2 months old and Garth says she looks like a boy. I disagree. I think part of the problem is that I am always frantically getting the other kids ready and out the door that I don't doll her up nearly as often as I did Sydney. We never left the house without a bow glued to Syd's head. Poor Olivia leaves that house without accessories and sometimes in pajamas.

I love her little ski jump nose. My other kids don't have it and I have no idea where it came from. It makes her unique!

Ski Summary

After an amazing Indian Summer, ski season is officially closed. The boat is winterized, covered, and hibernating in the garage. My friend Alexis took some really fun pictures when we went out skiing at Porcupine Bay in August. Here is the rundown of the year for us. Carter: He is a skiier!! He skied willingly mulitiple times this year. He crossed the wake over, and over. He started out with the "kid rope" and when we felt like he was too comfortable, we pushed him to try the real ski rope. He got confident enough with the "adult rope" that he even let go with one hand!
Garth: He got really good on his "off side" this year.

Garth got to enjoy some 6a.m. ski runs with my cousin before I had the baby.

I think he pulls through the wake so well. He never stops cutting.

Kacey: I got in 7 weeks of skiing! Thank you mother nature!

My off side. (this is my second week skiing for the year, so I am very pleased)

Alexis had this cool camera that took tons of consecutive pictures. It was so fun to scroll through and see your whole turn instead of just one picture. These are three consecutive shots of the same turn.

Sydney: Unfortunately, no pictures this year. She tried skiing twice. In between cries, she said "hit it" then would let go almost immediately after she felt pressure from the boat. We are super proud of her for trying!

Conference

Last weekend we had the opportunity to hear our prophet speak in General Conference. It is always wonderful and inspiring to hear the words of the General Authorities of the church. However, the more kids we add, the harder it is to listen to conference. This time, for family home evening the week prior, we talked about King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. We taught the kids about how the people pitched their tents with the doors facing the temple so they could hear the words of the prophet and how King Benjamin built a tower so more people could hear his voice. We compared that to today how we have awesome technology that allows us to watch President Monson on TV so we don't have to go all the way to Salt Lake. Then for conference, we pitched a "tent" in our living room and the kids got to sit in it to listen to conference. They were still a little squirmy, but much better than last conference. Hopefully they learned something. . .from the FHE or from the prophet.

How Camping is Like the Prom

Since I had the baby, Garth has been wanting to take the older kids camping. Partly for fun, partly to give me a break. Well, a couple of weekends ago, they finally went. They took off Thursday afternoon and were supposed to come back Saturday. When they showed up at home late Friday night, I couldn't help but think how camping is a lot like prom.
Prom: You anticipate it for months. You make sure to keep the weekend free and hope the right guy asks you.
Camping: You want to go all summer but weekends are just packed full. You finally pick a day, take work off and miss a day of school.

Prom: You take all day getting ready, you go to the mall to get your hair and makeup done. You take a really long time putting on your overpriced dress and carefully selecting just the right accessories.

Camping: You take all week getting ready. Slowly pulling out the insane amount of gear needed for three people for a couple of days. You go to the General Store and buy overpriced camping gear that you MUST have to make it a great experience. Then you spend hours prepping food, packing coolers and filling the truck.

Prom: You get there and although you look fabulous, the dance is sort of lame, you really aren't that in to your date, and it's over before you know it.

Camping: Despite all your hard work, the kids still fight with each other, they still ignore what you tell them. you can't sleep, and the water is too warm to catch any fish. So before you know it, you are headed home wet, tired, and frustrated.

Better luck next year.