Hardware Ranch

First off, let me preface this by saying that I LOVE SATURDAYS!! Having Jake all to ourselves on weekends is heavenly. Thank goodness we are done with those studying days of long ago.

So this weekend we went to visit Hardware Ranch, which is right up our little canyon by our house. It is a game reserve where they feed the elk so they won't wander into our yards. The elk were a little shy, so we only got to see them from a distance, but we did get to go on a sleigh ride, visit with Santa, and have hot chocolate and cookies.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a two-horse open sleigh, hey!

Actually, we were freezing.

Gracie and the Clydesdales

Thawing off and eating cookies in the visitors center after visiting with Santa.

Sophie, frozen solid.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Yeah for Christmas!! It was quite the exciting day as we put up our tree and decorations. Gracie was so excited that she officially declared that she would not be playing with any friends that day because we had LOTS of work to do. I think the tree was un-decorated then decorated ten times this week between the two girls. Here's some scenes of it all...

The crowning moment of the whole evening.

O Christmas Tree


Nothing helps you feel all festive like a huge dumping of snow. Gracie and Jake made a cute snowman. Take note of Jake's cool furry Russian mission boots.

Giving Thanks

We had a very small and peaceful thanksgiving this year. It was very relaxing....just what we needed! We have much to be thankful for this year. And thanks to mom and dad for going all out, even though there was just Kev's family and ours. Here's a photo montage of the event (sorry-there's a lot of pics!)

The preparations, which included soaking the turkey in crystallized ginger....so fancy!

Here's the beautiful Thanksgiving spread. It's all about presentation, right?

Everyone enjoying the feast.

Sophie has a love affair with olives. I think she ate 17 of them. She even looked like an olive that day.

Gracie LOVED the turkey. She gets so excited over holidays, it's so fun.

This is my favorite picture. Thanksgiving tends to make you want to just sit and snuggle on the couch. Sophie is such a daddy's girl.

My Deadbeat Dad

I couldn't resist posting this amazing photo of my Dad. I always knew he had some rebel in him...even if he is the Stake President. He's so cool. Also, that's not a beer that Uncle Mike has in the background. It's root.

Halloween

This is Gracie's first costume choice...she wanted to be an angel, so we used about 50 safety pins to wrap some fabric around her to make her look angelic. She wore this costume to her preschool Halloween party. And no, this isn't Sophie's costume of a poor orphan child.

This is a photo of our girls getting ready to trick or treat in their WARM costumes. Gracie consented to being a cat for the 2nd year in a row when she felt how cold it was outside.

Trick or Treating was quite the experience. Gracie wanted to run from house to house, discovering that the faster she went, the more candy she got. Sophie, on the other hand, was happiest just being pushed around in the stroller while eating her candy. Gracie was very careful to make sure that she picked up a good piece of candy from each house for Sophie's bucket. She is a good big sister.

Pumpkin Walk

For family night we decided to go to the Pumpkin Walk in North Logan. We highly recommend it. All displays used pumpkins and gourds for their theme. Our favorites were the Sesame Street, Charlotte's Web, and Click, Clack, Moo displays. Here's a few photos from the event...

Gracie's dream come true.

"Seek Vader, you must"


Of course, one of our favorite displays of the evening.

Our family in front of pirate pumpkins

First Snow

Winter comes a little earlier here in Logan! Saturday morning brought us our first snow. Gracie and Sophie were out there immediately, but we quickly decided to send dad to the Utah State football game alone. BRRRRR!!

Attempting the impossible

This photo is proof that we really did try to get all four Shaw grandkids to smile and look at the camera all at once. Between Sophie crying her eyes out, Gracie nearly dropping Jordo, and Ty eating fruit snaks that colored his mouth blue, we threw in the towel and just decided to get good individaul pictues of the kids. Who knows, maybe in 20 years or so, this will be our favorite picture.

Piglet

This is our effort to contribute to the ward pinewood derby last weekend. We let Gracie decide what the car would look like, so of course, it was a pink pig. But little piglet proved to be quite talented, as he won the loser race (note: loser race). For Gracie, who is starting to show some competitive traits like her father before her, this was the grand first place win. It was so cute to watch her face during the races. She told me later, "I just don't know how piglet got to be so fast!" Good question, Gracie!

A New 'Do'

After over 19 monhts of trying, we finally scraped up enough of Sophie's hair to put it into piggy tails. Gracie's morning routine always includes sitting in the 'pink chair' to have her hair done. Sophie has always wanted her hair done, just like her sister. When I finished doing Sophie's hair for real, she turned and posed for me so I could check it out, just like her sister does. Gracie said she looked like a bug.

Delicious Fall

After a morning that was filled with whining and tears, I decided that we'd better get out of the house before my brain turned to mush. So we decided to head up Blacksmith Fork Canyon for a picnic. The leaves were beautiful! We were all alone up there, but it felt like heaven. We picked a a whole bag full of leaves, pretended to fish, and just sat and enjoyed the beautiful creations. And no one cried. If it weren't for a piano lesson waiting for me at our house, I think we would have stayed until dark.

Fire Station Tour

We were invited by some friends to tour the Logan fire station. It was so cool! We got to explore inside an ambulance, climb on a fire truck, and even try out the fire pole. We had a blast. Sophie was a little nervous until the end, when the firefighters gave her her own hat. As we were leaving, she blew the kisses over and over.

First Day of School

September 4th was Gracie's first day of preschool. She came home talking all about being an "explorer" and using her explorer hat and magnifying glass. Little Sophie didn't want to be left out of all the excitement, so she put on her backpack and waved goodbye to me, just like her sister did.

Salmon Run

We discovered that Jenny's ancestors settled Southern Cache Valley, so we thought we'd do some visiting with family, since we don't have any living family close by. It was cool to see how many grave sites we were related to. The spirit of Elijah was definitely flowing. Jake calls our moving to Cache Valley the "Salmon Run", because we are returning to our roots. Or maybe we should say "ruts".

Swiming Lesson Tales

Our little Gracie has turned from a fearful side liner to a regular fish all in two short weeks. Well, maybe not a FISH, but at least into a little guppy. She has learned to overcome her fear on going under water. She even passed off the dreaded "bob". All her prayers this week included the phrase "...and we're thankful that Gracie gets to go to swimmin' lesson today..." It was very cute. So the next challenge is to keep up this new found bravery. Not so easy to do in Logan during the winter, but we'll find a way!