Pumpkin carving party

What do you do the Monday before Halloween? Carve pumpkins of course. The perfect family night. We had my sister Megan and her husband Kenny join us. This is Meg with her creation-she's holding Jack who is trying to eat pumpkin. Yum.

Eliza had Kenny help her carve out a scary face. She was funny, she wanted him to make cheeks on it. Thanks Uncle Kenny.

Okay this is Aiden and Russell's masterpiece. We actually grew this pumpkin in our garden (my dad was disappointed to hear that we had planted pumpkins, but we still took some if his). Good job boys!

I carved this small pumpkin that our neighbor Brother Heaps found in his garden. Our vine snaked it's way over and produced two pumpkins. The other one was bigger. Eliza kept calling that little pumpkin Jack's, but it was really mine. :)

Megan wanted to come over because she likes digging guts out of the pumpkins, so why am I working on the biggest one? :) Jack had to be right where the action was. We are drying out some seeds tonight and we are going to roast them tomorrow. It was a great night. Thanks for coming over Megan and Kenny.

Oh if your wondering about the huge one we brought back from my dad's wonderful garden, we think we might tackle it tomorrow night. If we do I'll post the amazing pictures. We'll see how ambitious we feel.

Hi-Dee-Ho For Idaho

Where the big potatos grow-or in the case of my dad where the big pumpkins grow. My dad loves to grow pumpkins and give them away to the grandkids. Of course Aiden had to pick the biggest one. I'm pretty sure that Russell threw his back out trying to get it out of the car. :)

This is Jack by the big pumpkin on our front porch. It's bigger than he is!

Here's one more shot of it on the porch. Anybody want to help carve it?

While we were in Idaho we stopped by the green belt and took some pictures and chased some ducks. It was a beautiful day. You never know what the weather will be like in Idaho. There could have been a foot of snow.

Here is Russell, Jack, Eliza and Aiden in front of the Idaho Falls Temple. We had such a great time. Tricia came with her kids and the cousins just ran around the house, jumped on the trampoline and made a huge mess. I am glad that they love their cousins so much. My mom cooked up a storm for us cinnamon rolls, pulled pork sandwiches, swedish pancakes - Thanks mom for all of the hard work! Jean, Jane and Reed were up visiting as well and we had a great time playing cards on Saturday night. I love my family and I love going home!

Nachoooo

Eliza's favorite movie in the whole world is not Cinderella, not Little Mermaid, not Sleeping Beauty - it's NACHO LIBRE!! If she ever asks to watch a movie it's always Nacho. She will sit in front of it for the entire movie and not move. I think that it is so funny that my little three year old girl thinks that Nacho is the best. She wants Russell to dress up as him for Halloween.

She said, "Mom you know on Nacho when he eats the eagle egg and gets eagle powers-I love that part." We were driving in the car the other day and she had two pennies in her had and she put them over her eyes and said, "Mom this is what Nacho does to the dead guy", and I said "Do you think about Nacho all of the time?" and she said, "Sometimes I think about you and dad." She is so funny.

So if you haven't watched Nacho in a while, check it out-it's fantastic and think of Eliza. :)

a little R rated

Jack loves to take a bath- he loves to look in as the water is being filled. Look at that cute bum!

He got so excited this time that he peed on the floor while I ran to get the camera (Russell was supervising).

Finally in the tub. He is such a fun baby!!

I was running...

Joleen and Becky have been running with our friends Jennefer and Janell for years. They have invited me to come quite a few times but I have always had the excuse that Russell had to go to work so early in the morning and I couldn't leave the kids. Well now that Russell doesn't have to leave quite so early I decided that now would be a great time to join the running party...

Monday was my first day and I don't think that I realized what I was doing. Joleen and Becky were the only runners and they run for an hour! A HOUR!!! They were very sweet to there sister-in-law and we walked for over half of the time. But when I got home I was so shaky and I felt like throwing up. That is hard work for somebody who hasn't run one step since 9th grade track. :)

I decided to try again this morning, so they took me on a 20 minute loop and dropped me back home as they continued on. And even then we had to walk for a while. But I feel pretty good about trying something new. I think that I am just going to have to start out small and work into it.

My sister-in-laws are so strong and in shape--they really motivate me and are very kind to the new runner. Thanks Joleen and Becky.

So if you see me hobbling around town it's because I can't really move my legs. :) But just like Forrest Gump says, "I was running!"

Out to the Pine Nuts

Russell's dad Sherril goes to Nevada every fall to pick pine nuts. He usually lives out there for a couple of months and Russell and Layne have started a tradition of taking the boys to visit him. This year they went on a hike to Lexington Arch. From left to right is Zach, Grandpa, Aiden and Kyler. They all look really excited.

This is Aiden and Kyler under the Arch. Now there is some enthusiasm!

Not only do they visit Grandpa, they sometimes help him with projects. This is Aiden, Kyler Layne and Grandpa painting a storage shed. It's nice to see Aiden does know how to work. :)

Since it's a fun boys weekend, there has to be shooting involved. Russell is helping Aiden with his aim.

The last stop on their trip was Leman's Cave. Here is a picture of Aiden, Russell and Grandpa inside of the cave. Russell let Aiden loose with the camera inside of the cave so we have tons of pictures-anybody is welcome to come and see them. :) They came home dirty and happy so it was a success.

Change

I find change to be hard. I like things pretty consistent. I get into my routine, my habits, my life and I don't want things to change to dramatically. We recently bought new furniture, and we sold our old stuff. We moved everything out and Aiden was sad. I asked him why and he said,"that was the only furniture I've ever known." It was hard for him to see that the new furniture would be just as great or better. He didn't want things to be different.

Because I like to know what my schedule will be like each day it's been kind of hard to have a new baby. Jack changes often. When I think that I have him all figured out and he gets teeth, he stops taking two naps, he learns a new trick and I have to figure him out all over again.

A big change just happened in our family's life this week. Russell resigned from Designer Marble. I've know that it has been coming for quite awhile, but now that it happened I have been a little stressed. I haven't been sleeping very well. I've been thinking about how things will be different, how they won't be the same. Kind of like how Aiden felt. I know that Heavenly Father gives us change in our life because He knows that things can be just as great or better. He knows that for me, I need to have change put into my life, because I probably wouldn't choose to change. But just like Jack, with each new change I learn something new and become someone better. I need change.

I am a little scared, I am a little nervous, but I am ready to see what is going to happen with this new adventure.