the farmer and the turkey

I'm sitting here in disbelief that it is already Thanksgiving weekend. For those of you in Utah, or those hearing the weather reports, last nights "Utah Blizzard of 2010" was more like lots of wind and a skiff of snow. The temperature has dropped into the teens...I think I'll take fluffy snow over the sub zero temps that are on the way. The last few weeks have been packed with the usual craziness, and a few added surprises. Kelly and Nicole sold their house, bought a new house in AF, and just signed the closing papers yesterday. Lindsey and Tim had a foundation sinking issue, and got to have 5 massive pillars drilled into their foundation and pushed 100 feet down into the bedrock. Messy, messy, messy.... So we've all spent the last few weeks packing, moving, cleaning, and all that stuff. We're hoping December will be less eventful. Jace's kindergarten class put on a Thanksgiving program yesterday. I pulled out my camera and found these gems on the memory card....bored and babysitting....with a camera

Jace played the part of the farmer
looking for his three Thanksgiving turkeys

The night before Thanksgiving, when I had gone to bed
I heard 3 turkeys talking and this is what they said.
The 1st turkey said, I think it would be nice
to sleep behind the haystack and stay warm and dry.
The 2nd turkey said I think I'll find a tree
and hide up in the branches where no one will see.
The 3rd turkey said I think it will be fun
to hide the farmer's hatchet and run, run, run, run.

farmer Jace...asleep...sort of

Then on Thanksgiving morning when the farmer came around
those 3 turkey gobblers could not be found!

Bowing to the audience

The perfect way to start our Thanksgiving break!

turning twelve

That's right...our little Maddy turned twelve on Friday.
Although you wouldn't know it by her size,
she is all growin' up and becoming a young lady.
She is one of those rare 12 year olds
that still loves to play polly pockets and barbies with her little sister.
And her bookshelf is still full of books on fairies,
and she can read your palms and tell you
exactly what type of fairy you would be....
and we love her for that!
Maddy is already hard at work on her
personal progress for young women's.
She is determined to earn her recognition award
before she leaves Beehives....and knowing her, she will.
Tim took her to the temple on her birthday
to do baptisms for the dead.
Maddy words when she bore her testimony about it today
"it was the most spiritual experience I think I've ever had,
since my baptism day". Such a sweet girl!

...ever wonder what you feed 12 year old girls...
tiny little finger foods....LOTS of tiny finger foods...

all the BFF's

our family party was tonight

...ahh the keyboard...she's been waiting and wanting
this since last Christmas

yep...12 candles...

If I know Maddy, she probably wished that fairies were real...for sure real.
Happy Birthday Mads! We love you!

trick-or-treat....smell my feet....give me something good to eat!

Halloween....can't believe it's already here.

Having Halloween fall on a Sunday results in
many extra dressing up occasions and parties.
We dressed up Friday for school,
Saturday morning for a ward party,
and again Saturday evening for trick-or-treating.
I don't think it's ever rained so hard during
prime candy getting hours,
but the kiddos still managed to fill their buckets
(thanks to a last minute trick-or-treat at the church
and a good daddy who went out with them in the rain).

Mr. Harry Potter himself.

Cruella de'Ville and her dalmation puppy.

the "we are awesome" dance

Tinkerbell....fairy dust and all

our cowgirl

It was all treats and no tricks....just the way the kids like it!

treats and tricks

TREAT:

Tonight was the annual FHE pumpkin carving night.
The kids worked and worked to get all the stringy, sticky, seed filled goop out of their pumpkins.
Tim finished them up by scraping the insides with a spoon.
Everyone picked a design, traced it onto their pumpkin
and got busy carving.

you know exactly what he's saying just by
looking at his face!

seriously concentrating

waiting for some parental guidance before
digging in on her own

the throw-up shot is also becoming a tradition

check out the carving ability!

TRICKS:
A couple of weekends ago, I woke to this lovely sight in my yard.
I haven't gone toiletpapering for years, in fact, I didn't think
it was done much at all anymore. The boys responsible did bring me
a plate of cookies and hershey kisses...almost enough to make
up for the mess!

Last nights storm blew down the rest of the tp that I couldn't reach
...at least that's the one positive about the storm.
And please, rest assured, Tim is already working on the
payback plan!

barnyard boo

Can you believe it's already fALL bReaK?
This year has flown by...
and I have finally found my fall-ish spirit.
The house is pumpkin'd out and we finally pulled out the
Halloween boxes and found the costumes.
My house smells like apples and pumpkin spice and
I'm getting the itch to start baking
and making big pots of soup.
Yesterday morning we took the cousins and grandma to the farm
which was all decked out for Halloween.
I love that my kids...even my teenage kid...
can't get enough of feeding baby goats, petting horses,
and picnicking at Thanksgiving Point.
There were Halloween games set up around the farm
for the little kiddos which Lindsey was kind enough to spring for.
The older kids waited in the very LONG line for the wagon ride.
I was later informed by both my girls that the ride was "totally lame"
....next time they can wait in the longer line for the horse rides.

"BE SILLY" = "BE WIERD"!

baby goat lips

our musketeers

c'mere little goatie!

so busted!

Warning: Do not feed your hair to the goats as it could cause
digestive problems.

no idea why Carter's making that face....

mama! quick, take my picture with the llama!

this was the extremely awesome prize at the spider throw...
nice.

Nothing like a day that leaves everyone happy!

morning routines

Once school is in full swing, we dive head first into all the crazy routines that keep me sane during the school year. All the big kids start school by 8:00, so Jace and I have an hour every morning before Kindergarten. We clean up breakfast dishes, wipe the counters, comb his hair, and almost always go the the office to turn on computers and check emails. While I am busy on my computer, Jace turns on Tim's computer and finds a game. His new love is adventure quest...I don't even understand it, but I get a full account of every new level, weapon, bad guy...once in a while, I even get entertained with some singing and karate moves. My camera happened to be on my desk this morning...I tried to snap a picture of Jace playing his game, but he heard the beep of the camera, and all the "natural shots" were over. So, I took these silly pics anyway, cause he just looks so darn cute!

Nice to have some not so "routine moments" every so often.