Well, we've been on the loose, I guess. Missing. Misplaced to many. Rouge maybe. Sadie, obviously, has guilt all over her...look at the eyes, the glowing hair, the yogurt mustache...It's only obvious it's her fault. We've had some very fun times lately, and I would like to refer you to the family historian, Liz Bates, who offers much of the information you desire. In reverse time line below, Halloween was a success. The plan was to be Kaden the Caterpillar, mom the chrysalis, and Sadie the butterfly, but the logistics of our 10 sec. changing period concluded with me stealing Aunt Sue's absolutely stunning witch costume grandma Melling made while she lay aching and horizontal for the holiday.

Amazingly, Sadie kept the outfit on the whole time...it took a minute to figure out that you don't have to eat the candy between stops, in fact it's actually discouraged...but you will get more at the next stop, even though it is somewhat painful to only take one candy. Lucky for us, we only visit people who love and adore us so we consistently got multiples without even digging in for fist fulls.

Can you even imagine how much fun it was to jump with all 22 Caterpillar feet raising and lowering simultaneously...no, you cannot imagine. Try it some Saturday night, it's very entertaining.

Kaden makes a pretty cute butterfly too...he's going to hate this picture when he's 16.

Deseret Industries is a fabulous thrift store. Liz and I picked up these frames for 50 cents or so and then created a masterpiece of a craft project. Although I haven't decided on the contents of the frame, it's easy, fun, and cheap...check it out before and after.

Well, Liz has called it quits, at least for a couple of weeks. She officially moved to Florida. This picture makes it very clear Kaden has no idea what life is about to be like :(

Sadie continues to be resourceful...seen here doing the cleaning. Yes, that is water draining from her rag and flowing freely over her head.

During the previous weeks, she's also become quite adept with the pen. She enjoys it much more than any of my boys ever did and has already developed her fine motor skills to exceed that of her brothers...not kidding. She doesn't know the alphabet, but she can make the tiniest scribbles the boys don't even pretend to notice.

Well, we've totally ignored our 4 wheelers this year, but we primed the motors and headed out to 3 peaks. It went pretty well except that thumb. The thumb is the only thing that gets soar on Kyson.

We borrowed Sue and Shawn Rhino and I may be arrested for shaken baby syndrome, but it was totally fun.

We don't get dad in town too often these days, but when he is here, we abuse him as much as we can. He's a good sport even though he's tired and home sick, and the boys don't seem to mind pushing him at all! :)

Something everyone should know is that uncle George is an omelet professional. For two years he and his brother perfected the art after early morning paper runs...folks, he has this down. We were not only the beneficiaries of delicious breakfasts, but lucky for me, I won an omelet pan and spatulas because of my sub-par utensils.

Well, it finally happened...the frost over-came us and we decided to no longer cover it with our winter blankets and chunks of plastic. Kaden, Sadie and I went to clipping vines and we are still, to date, eating tomato basil sandwiches for lunch. The tomatoes are ripening faster than I can make salsa and spaghetti sauce, so I'm hoping the Thanksgiving crews will lighten the load.

Kaden has frequently commented that he wants to stay up late. So, remembering a wonderful lesson Grandpa Jerry had when he was growing up, we put it to the test with Kaden. It was hilarious and worth the photos and videos. We told him that he could stay up, but he had to sit up and not lay down. He couldn't complain, and he had to stay up until we said it was time to go down. He made it until 11pm before we called it dead man walking.

First day of snow...it was fun and exciting.The kids ran around like crazy maniacs and wrestled each other. It was especially fun for Sadie she couldn't stop laughing.

One of my favorite things on earth is a warm peach from a tree. To top that, this is the first year I've ever had my very own peach-producing tree. For breakfast, you walk out the front door, snatch one, rub off the lip tickling fuzz, chop it, cream it, and deliciousness is the only thing you can think about!


I've also recently found that another favorite thing is liquid fabric softener. I'd never used it before and then one day my sister-in-law, Susan, was cleaning out her closet. She said to come see if I wanted anything. It was the softest, most enjoyable fashion show experience ever. I asked her the secret and she exposed them like it was nothing! Downy. Humf. I always wondered why she would rather hang her clothes in the kitchen, weren't they scratching her? Wasn't it painful to put jeans on? Wasn't it worth shrinking shirts so that you didn't have to "loosen" your clothes up after a line dry? Now I know, nay, now I love that softness feeling. My towels have taken on a whole new sensation. My socks are like brand new. AAAAA, it's beautiful!


So, we decided to party it up for George's September departure...one of our worst experiences ever is saying goodbye to uncle George over and over again for the past few months! Well, we put on a good show and set up a monstrous surround sound and a projector screen in the yard. We had two showings, one for the kids started at dusk and then another at 9:30 for the adults. It was fabulously fun but annoying to pick up afterwards to avoid the dew in the morning. The kids thought it was the party of the year. We played baseball, soccer and badminton until the sun was gone.



One of our best toy investments was a spider man fishing pole and a rubber spongebob bobber. We got it two years ago before a fishing adventure and it's been held up in the cargo trailer for some time now. Well, it emerged recently and has become the yard's best item. No hook, just the bells and whistles of a pole. Kyson has on safety glasses (because he sustained a black eye from a bad cast) and Kaden is using his "pointer" finger (which we are trying to unlearn) to show where the roof line is on the house. They stand on this dirt pile with desert 360 degrees around and laugh to the point of peeing their pants about the little yellow sponge flying in every direction and then running back to them as they reel him in. :)

Sadie is very busy these days. Here she's spotted traipsing across the yard with her favorite garden vegetable...the carrot.

Sadie is also very talkative these days. She frequently reviews directions, stories, outlines, plans, and history in her native tongue...undecifered as of yet, but she's certain of how things were, are, and will be.

I'd also like to pay tribute to Sadie's "aura" as seen below very clearly. We comb the aura under control a couple times a day, but it only takes a few minutes and it's more of a turbulent storm than any resemblance of control.

A couple of weeks ago we added a friend to our clan. This is "fudge cake." He doesn't complain very much, stays to himself as much as he can and has been really helpful in eating extra garden grub such as out of control zucchinis and such. Kaden and Kyson like him but Sadie seems indifferent. We snatch alfalfa from our cousin's field in back, and that seems to be his favorite food so far. We really want to let him run around like wild, but I'm pretty sure the dogs in the neighborhood would find him quite easy and delicious to snack on!

The leash is something that helps retrieving him from the lilac bushes. When he can, he takes off and hides in the bushes and eats the grass in there. He's kind of silly and we love having him around.

This is quite fun entertainment. A miniature roller coaster found on craigslist...I thought is was going to be much more poplar than it is, but it seems we need a better staging area. The kids like the ride you get after you go over the two small humps and ride on the smooth concrete. Unfortunately, the only concrete at our house is between the door and the cars in the driveway and it's somewhat bumpy at that. We hauled it to grandma's basement and they like it there, but it's so dark and lonely over there in the deep, dark basement with just Sadie and Kaden. I'm sure the winter months will prove to be very exciting, but for now, we play with it now and then.

On August 1, 2009 Kyson Joe Melling made it official. He became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Kyson must have a lot of people who love him because we ended up moving into the biggest room in the building to make sure everyone could fit!

Dad and Kyson make quite a good team. They love each other so much I think they both are going to explode! They take care of each other, watch out for each other, play with each other, and genuinely adore one another.

Kyson was buzzing around like a maniac, the anticipation was overwhelming! He used the energy by jumping up and down and doing karate chops for the picture shoots.

Here we are together as a family. After the bapism we all went to the park and had a picnic. It was such a fun day!

Well, in reverse the last week and a half have gone like this...first, we got some new neighbors. We lovingly call them the jerks because they are big fat tomatoe worm pig hogs! We cam home just in time to save the tomatoes from total anilation...it was fantastic!

Below are the first three we pulled off, but since yesterday afternoon we've totalled 6 and we are still checking a couple times a day. Luckily the tomatoes look like they might actually make it through the ordeal. Hallelujia!

So, prior to the "jerks" moving in, we were spotted living the big life in Las Vegas. We made out huge as Joe was able to pull some strings and we stayed in a fancy smanshy pish posh pent house overlooking the whole city basically free. It was very cool and we had the whole pool to ourselves almost the whole time we were there. We did however sqeeze in a 3-D movie, as you can see to the right...mom, Kaden, Kyson, and Breeann looking sniz snaz.

We also made a stop at the m&m factory and collected a variety of colors, flavors, and deliciouslness. Below was definitely our favorite though. The coke factory has the most wonderful pit stop. You can try 16 different flavors of cokes/sodas/pops from around the world. Some of them border on disgusting...i.e. no flavor club soda and toothpastey thing, but some are rather delicious. We were steaming hot from a walk in the dessert pavement, so the treat was delightful. We immediately lost track of which flavors were what, but it was so fun to share our favorites and pass them around.

This is Sadie admiring the pool from the 44th floor. Ceiling to floor glass made the room quite elaborate for the chillens and the adults alike.

Quite in contrast, we also made a canoe trip a week or so back. We jaunted up to Yankee Meadow Resevior and enjoyed a ride and walk around the lake. It was awesome, pleasant weather. Liz and George have a hitch extention we are "storing" for them which makes canoe travel much easier. Sadie was getting into the paddling too.

Our favorite part about this day was hanging out with dad. He is one of our favorite people and we have missed him dreadfully lately. We are so happy he works hard for us, but we totally cherish our seconds together.

Sadie LOVES flowers, shoes, clothes, and pretty things...I'm not totally sure if she is embracing some feminine things?!

We have been so lucky to have aunt Liz around. We feel bad for uncle George (for a second) because he's in Florida without her, but for us it is pure heaven to have her around!

Sadie worked very hard on this canoe trip. Her job was to counter the rowing taking place...she did very well but it was hard work!