Fall Break

During Fall Break this year, we did a family "staycation". On the first day, we took the kids to a u-pick raspberry patch. Each child had his own bucket, including Joshua, and we ended up picking 8 pounds of berries! Since it was nearly the end of the season, we hated to see any of those beautiful raspberries going to waste! I hadn't anticipated how engaging this activity would be for our entire family. Even Joshua was kept busy and happy, alternating sampling berries, dropping some in his bucket, tipping it over, and putting them back in. It's great to have lots of berries in the freezer for all sorts of recipes.

After the berry picking, we went to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin to enjoy their yummy, cold, FRESH apple juice and some apple cider donuts. We were hoping to pick apples, but they didn't have a pick-your-own option at the orchards there. When we got home, the weather was still so beautiful, that I decided to go for a run along the trail by our house. Elizabeth and Emma tagged along on their bikes.

The next day, we loaded up the kids, some food, and warm coats and drove up to the Uintah mountains. It was literally the end of the season there-- I think the road was set to close within a week or so. There was already snow in the shady areas. Even though it was cold, the scenery was breathtaking. We saw two moose right by the road, roasted hot dogs at a picnic area, visited Upper Provo River Falls and took an icy walk around Mirror Lake. I ended up having a respiratory infection that day that was making me miserable, plus I had no voice, which is a challenge as a mom! So Brent insisted I go into an instacare when we got back that evening, and I was glad I did so I could get started on antibiotics.

The last day of Fall Break, we tackled our List of Things to Do Around the House & Yard Before Winter. Brent did an amazing job and got so much done. Now I think we're ready for winter!

I just had to throw in a picture of the maple tree at my parents' house.

We stopped at the summit to catch the view

These waterfalls were gorgeous!

Upper Provo River Falls

It's getting hot around here!

Check out the "current temperature" as posted by KSL on the day of the BYU-Utah game-- 158 degrees! No wonder things were heating up! We had to take a picture to make sure it was real!

Halloween 2011

Emma getting ready to carve her pumpkin



Rachel with one of the big pumpkins our neighbors gave us




Elizabeth and Joshua busily prepping pumpkins. This was quite the production! Luckily, Brent's pretty handy with a knife and a mini carving saw. Sorry I don't have pictures of the finished products!

Elizabeth (Lady Liberty), Rachel (Tinkerbell), and Emma (Dorothy) ready to go trick-or-treating

Joshua was not thrilled about being dressed in his lion costume at first. But he finally tolerated it enough to ride in the wagon as Brent took the kids trick-or-treating. I honestly thought Joshua would only last about 20 minutes, but they were all gone for about an hour and a half! He is quickly catching on to the concept of "treats!"

Elizabeth showing off some of her stash (she and Emma and I went out for more later!)

Matthew in his Lego costume at the school costume parade. It turned out amazing, thanks to a dedicated daddy!

Everyone in their costumes, except for Joshua: Elizabeth, Rachel, Emma and Matthew

Joshua

I love that face. And his ability to fit in tiny spaces.

Joshua had so much fun taking the seeds out of his pumpkin. He stayed messy and busy for the longest time, which was great for me!




Joshua on his rocking horse




Bathtime Blackmail pictures! Joshua is usually thrilled to be taking a bath, until it's time to actually wash him. Then it's a different story. You can see his eyes crossing without his glasses in these pictures.

The Many Faces of Rachel

The title of this post is pretty self-explanatory. Rachel is just so cute at this age, I can't help but take a disproportionate number of pictures of her! I love some of her expressions.

Rachel dressed for her dance class. She calls this outfit her "tutu", and the hairstyle "balls".

Ahh, the emotional ups and downs of a four-year-old girl! Or maybe she was just hamming it up for the camera.

Elizabeth

For Activity Days, Elizabeth got to go with her dad to a Daddy-Daughter Disco Dance. It was a little tricky finding disco-ish clothes at DI, but in the end they had so much fun. Brent was a great sport to wear the afro wig and bright yellow shirt. Elizabeth loved the platform shoes. I think it made a really happy memory for them both.

I have been having fun trying new styles on my girls' hair. I've gotten a bunch of ideas off a blog, Cute Girls' Hairstyles. They have video tutorials that show a mom fixing her five girls' hair in lots of cute ways. This is my first attempt at a Dutch crown braid, although I have lots of room for improvement as you can see. I keep telling my girls to be patient while "mommy is learning"!

Fall 2011

For a preschool field trip, Rachel went to a local farm that had tons of fun fall activities, including a hay ride to a pumpkin patch and a corn maze. I went along with Joshua and the camera, and we had fun enjoying a beautiful fall day.


Rachel in the corn box

Joshua loved seeing the farm animals and carrying around a dried cob of red Indian corn around everywhere.

Rachel waiting for snacktime with some of her preschool friends

Every year when the fall colors are at their peak, Brent likes to take the older kids on a ride on the ski lift at Sundance.

Matthew & Elizabeth at Sundance

Matthew

Matthew turned 11 in September! He is growing up way too fast. He still loves Legos, video games, and Pokemon cards.


Matthew with his new Pokemon card binder. It's amazing how many he has, and we've never bought any! He somehow trades and acquires them.

Elizabeth, Matthew, Emma and Rachel

Matthew at his fourth and last Pinewood Derby. We actually bought a book this year, Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets, to see if using the techniques would improve his time. The competition is crazy in this area! He actually won a third place trophy, and was so proud.

In August, Matthew earned the Arrow of Light Award. Luckily, we have great scout leaders in our ward, because we as parents definitely hadn't been staying on top of all the requirements! Scouts has been a really positive experience for Matthew and has helped him build confidence.

So tiny

Our neighbors have cousins who live on a farm. One of the cats there had a litter of kittens, then died when they were just a few days old. Days! So our neighbors took care of them for a couple of weeks, feeding and bathing them around the clock. When we heard about these kittens, we asked if our kids could come over and see them. Instead, they brought the whole litter to our house for a bottle feeding! It ended up being such a neat experience for my children, to witness the fragility of life and to help care for such helpless, tiny creatures. I have to admit, I was a little worried about their chances for survival, but when I asked after them a few weeks later, I heard they had returned to the farm, healthy and growing. I believe the kittens were a couple weeks old at the time.

Elizabeth holding a kitten

Matthew has always adored cats, which is no surprise since Brent and I are both cat lovers.

Emma loves animals of all kinds.

Rachel

Another School Year

Sorry about all the late posts! I figured I'd better update the blog before the end of 2011, at least. Here are some pictures of the girls on their first day of school.



Rachel started preschool the day after the other kids started school. It is held three days a week at a house just three houses behind ours. Her teacher, Miss Barbara, has over 20 years of experience and 9 children of her own-- she is fantastic. Emma also went to her preschool two years ago. Rachel was so excited to be old enough to go, and is still so happy to go each day. We're a little nervous about her starting kindergarten next year just about one week after she turns five (she'll be one of the very youngest in her grade since the deadline is September 1), but she has made a lot of progress since starting preschool with her development. She is finally starting to draw pictures and is learning to write her name and recognize some letters and numbers. She is also doing very well socially.

Elizabeth started 3rd grade, and Emma is now going to a full day of school as a first grader. Emma adjusted really well to the longer school day, and once she adjusted to the structure and rules, decided she really likes school and her teacher this year. Elizabeth reads every chance she gets, and can't wait to tell me about everything going on at school once she's home. They are both social butterflies and have made so many friends.

Garden Bounty

This year our garden was amazing! We try to grow some sort of garden every year, but with varying degrees of success. We've built a couple of Square Foot Garden boxes in the backyard, but I wanted more space for some of the plants to spread out, especially the squash and pumpkins that take over whatever area they're planted in. So we pulled up some old bark and landscape fabric bordering the back fence, loosened up the soil, and planted. I wasn't sure what to expect, without knowing how good the existing dirt was. But as it turned out, the plants that we planted in the plain old dirt did at least as well as those that we planted in the Mel's Mix in raised boxes!

We had so much zucchini, tomatoes and summer squash that we ended up leaving baskets on the corner with a "free sign" for people to take. I loved having fresh basil and parsley whenever a recipe called for them. We even had a volunteer mini-pumpkin plant that popped up in one of our front yard flower beds!

Rachel next to a really long pumpkin plant.

The garden taking over

Rachel with our very heavy peach tree.

Those peaches, a few days later. Brent and I canned dozens and dozens of jars of peaches and pears. We were so blessed this year!

Broccoli plant

Emma was proud to show off the veggies she picked.