arbor day

Tyler used to tell me about arbor day up in his small north-Idaho hometown.  He and the forestry club would volunteer to hand out free trees.  I was excited to see a sign for a local arbor day event, so we made plans to go!

Earlier that week, TJ and I had sprouted some pumpkin seeds from our carved pumpkins.  Right now they are (hopefully!) growing in a little pot on the window sill.  Pumpkin plants are big and invasive, so we'll have to toss them eventually, but it's a start on the whole growing cycle.  With that in mind, I was really excited to bring home a little tree sapling to continue teaching with!

 We showed up right when it started at 2:00.  We wanted to make sure the kids got to do all the fun activities, and in Utah, free stuff is always a mob scene.  However, we were the first people there and it barely got busy at all! 

The kids did some crafts - they got to make their own button with a button clamp, do some stamping, and they each painted a wood cutting tree ornament.  Then we had to go the the bounce house.  It was too fun to resist!

 TJ was crazy about it.  He was so happy!  Eli was pretty freaked out.  He smiled and was excited about it but did NOT want to get on!  So we just watched.

 Eventually we pulled TJ away to do a few more activities - painting rocks, looking at the live birds (they brought owls and eagles!).  Each boy got a native plant to take home, and we also got a little tree sapling.  We'll probably plant it in a bucket and try to keep it alive as long as we can, and when it gets too big we'll go find a forested area to plant it.  We also got a few envelopes of flower seeds, which will be fun to cultivate with the boys!

 After we got our plants, we went back to the bounce house.  Several other kids were jumping and TJ was so happy about it!  It was windy but also really sunny - I could feel my face burning, so we sat in the shade until we were ready to go home. 

It was a perfect Saturday afternoon activity!  I wish we had registered to do the fun run.  If we are still in this part of Dallas next year, we'll definitely go again!

pumpkin patch

Hooray!  It's pumpkin patch time!  I was missing our comfortable, familiar little patch in Springville (2015, 2016).  I moseyed around looking for something fun here, and when a friend posted about taking her family to a pumpkin patch nearby I was ready to commit. 

I remember the pumpkin patches of my childhood being dirty and awful.  We (my elementary school classes) would walk into the field and try to pry our pumpkin off the vines.  That was never fun to me at all, and I have no fun memories of pumpkin patches at all.  In Utah, pumpkin patches are crazy.  It's like a crazy pumpkin culture thing, so I figured I could try it because it looked pretty fun.  I'm so glad I did, because now I love taking my kids every year!  I love that they have all kinds of fun activities and we can make picking pumpkins a special tradition.  I love going and doing something different besides the usual playground outings during the week!

 We went right when they opened (at 3 in the afternoon) so it was pretty quiet.  The boys went and did the corn maze, then played on the playground for a while.

 TJ was just thrilled about all the pumpkins.  He wanted to take all of them home!

 Eli had fun to, but he was a little on the grouchy side because he missed his nap.

 Also, it seems like from 2.5 to now, it's been crazy hard to get a good picture of TJ smiling!  He was anti-photo for a while, then he just made funny faces.  Suddenly he's taking the cutest pictures and smiling all the time for me.  I love it!  I'm so glad I can capture how happy and cute he is on camera again.  Funny, isn't it?  Because Eli used to be super photogenic and all the sudden he hates photos and only glares at me.  Must be that age. 

 ^This would be such a cute picture if I hadn't chopped off the top of TJ's head!

 ^This is just so TJ.  He's happy and goofy and silly!

 They had these super cool bicycle tractors.  They were really hard to peddle over the dirt but TJ did a pretty good job of it.

 Eli could not do it at all, but TJ was happy to help!  Since it was hard to steer he drove Eli right into the hay bales.  It was so funny!

 

 Of course, the animals were fun too.  They had fewer animals than we were used to, but it was still fun!  TJ liked the llama and the rabbits best.  I think Eli liked the cow and the rabbits.

 Another little boy started climbing the fence so TJ had to figure out how to do it too.

 ^This is the chicken pen

 At one point, TJ and I ventured on to look at new things and Eli stayed behind with Tyler on the playground.  When they finally caught up to us, Eli got so excited and ran right up to TJ and gave him a big hug!  TJ was having none of it and pushed him off, but it was SO cute and sweet.  I know that brothers do not always get along, but I'm so glad that they love each other and are good little friends.

 They had a few other things to do, like tires and stumps for climbing and jumping. 

 About this point, Eli was getting super done with me asking him to look at me or say cheese.  This look just says it all!

I tried to take a cute selfie with Tyler, but he looks dorky in one and I look dorky in the other.  Oh well.

 I have to tell you, every year, I go to the pumpkin patch expecting a cool fall experience, but it's always so gosh darn hot and sunny.  I mean seriously.  It was so bright.  Which makes for a nice day, but if you dressed yo self and yo family in cute fall clothes it is just too hot.  Thankfully, it was mostly cool when we weren't in direct sunlight!

 One of our last stops was the farm equipment they had for kids to sit on and "drive."

 ^Of course, the cutest picture of the kids is the one where Tyler is pointing at me and saying "look at mom!"  Tyler looks so cute in all the ones where the kids are looking away.

 ^Eli tells me what he thinks about me trying to take a cute posed picture at the end of our adventure.

 At the very end, we grabbed a wagon and picked out our pumpkins! 

 ^TJ was SO excited to show me the baby pumpkin he picked.  We got each boy a small pumpkin, one big carving pumpkin for dad, and each boy got to choose a baby decorative pumpkin.  Eli picked the pretty white one Tyler is handing him.  I love white pumpkins, so he is a boy after my own heart!

 Another fun year! 

tyler becomes a lawyer

The whole reason for our trip was Tyler's swearing into the bar, which made him a licensed attorney.  Yay!  It was on a Monday, so we had a day to recover from the Balloon Fiesta.

My sweet Momma traded her shift at work so that she could come, and Haley watched the kids for us.

 I was expecting it to be long, but oh. my. word. people.  It was three hours.  And Tyler had gone an hour before us.... ug.  It was way worse than graduation. 

The supreme justice's of New Mexico were all there (except one, who was home sick).  They had to announce everyone who passed the bar exam and was a candidate for bar admittance.  Some had people to move on their behalf - this had to be someone who is already admitted to the NM bar, and they make the movement before the court that the new attorney be admitted.  Which was mostly obnoxious.  It's obviously some leftover ceremonial tidbit meant to make everyone suffer, because everyone who passed the bar and the background inspection is going to be admitted anyway.  The special movements would get a mike and then give a long speech about how this particular candidate accomplished so many things and blah blah blah, but most of the special movers ended up talking about themselves and their firm and how they had contributed to the attorney's career.  There were a few that were short and really sweet, such as "May it please the court, I move that my daughter, insert-name-here, be admitted to the New Mexico state bar."  It was awesome.  My favorite was someone moving for his grandson!  How cool is that?

Also, there was a Native-American woman being sworn in named something something Kickingwoman.  Which is honestly the coolest name I ever heard, and I wish I knew the story behind it. 

After listening to them announce ever other bar candidate in the alphabet before S, plus three other Smiths, Tyler finally had his moment to stand up and be acknowledged by the court.  Then each of the supreme judges talked to the new lawyers for a little bit.  By this point I was playing solitaire on my phone so I don't really know what they said, but I do know that one read a Eulogy to a judge who recently died.  I don't know how that was relevant but we still had to listen to it.

We snapped some quick pictures afterwards, then mom went home to relieve Haley while Tyler and I went out to celebrate!

 And just like that, I'm married to a lawyer.  A very handsome lawyer. 

 We went to a sushi/grill place.  I had to take pictures because I feel like sushi looks so fancy.  Tyler love's sushi.  I was perfectly happy ordering cooked food!

Since we were already there, we went ahead and rented a moving truck and emptied out our storage unit in Albuquerque.  I got my darling sister to agree to drive with me to help with the kids, since Tyler was driving the truck.

She wasn't thrilled about this picture but ITS TRADITION.  Sorry. 

 We left crazy early, hoping the kids would sleep, but they were awake right up until we hit rush-hour traffic in Fort Worth.

It's so nice to have a couch again!  And my sister was a life saver.  I could seriously have her around all the time.  She helped so much, and it's just fun to have an adult around when Tyler's gone during the day.  My kids looooove their aunt Haley, but she is pretty much as strict as I am, so I know they aren't getting away with anything when she's watching them.  She made us dinner the first night we were home, helped move and unpack, helped watch kids, and slept in our living room and shared our single bathroom while she was here.  She worked and worked and it was so much help to have a third adult. 

She could only stay for a few days, but I was so glad she came.   Thanks Haley!

balloon fiesta

After a few short weeks in our new Texas home, we discovered that Tyler had passed the New Mexico state bar.  Hooray!  While he will still have to take the bar again here in Texas, we were so excited and proud.  He had to be in Albuquerque for the swearing in, so we made a trip of it.  It happened to be the last weekend of Balloon Fiesta (!!!!!!) which was the happiest coincidence ever.  We went two years ago, when TJ was a baby, but I was so excited to take both my kids.

Traditional picture of Tyler driving

We drove up on Friday, and hit up Balloon Fiesta the next morning.  It was two days in a row of getting up at 4 am, which was exhausting but so worth it.  When we got there Friday, I drug Mom and Haley with me to the dollar store to get glow sticks so we wouldn't have to buy the overprices souvenir light-up stuff from Balloon Fiesta.  We also went to wally world to stock up on snacks and to pick up a onesie (sp?) for me so Haley and I could be matching.  (Mine is actually pooh, but we were trying on the night before and I wanted to try Eeyore).

 The glow sticks were a huge hit.  We like to go crazy early, so that we can get a good parking spot and a good spot on the balloon field, but balloons don't take off until dawn, so that leaves a few hours to fill.  The glow sticks+hot chocolate+donuts kept everyone entertained.

My uncle James had flown down specially to go to Balloon Fiesta with his family.  We were all staying at my parents' house and it was so fun.  James' kids were always so sweet to my boys when we lived in Utah, and my kids were so happy to be around fun cousins again.  

My favorite was when TJ asked Caleb to build a hot air balloon out of glow sticks.  Caleb said "OK" and I thought he was just trying to get TJ to leave him alone but he actually did it!  He built a super cool hot air balloon out of glow sticks and everybody, especially my kids, loved it.

Dawn patrol is the traditional start of any BF launch.  It is amazing to see the fires and the balloons lighting up the night sky!  Just so cool.  My kids were going crazy for it.

 After the dawn patrol goes up, there's a little time while other balloons roll in and get set up to fly out.  Traditionally this is when we go buy burritos for breakfast, but everyone was pretty stuffed on donuts.  Instead we did more glow stick playing.

 Tyler decorated himself as glow stick man.

 One important thing to mention is most people do not do balloon fiesta like the Skousen's do it.  We take a big drink cooler of hot chocolate, loads of blankets and chairs.  Dad always puts a tarp down, in case the grass is wet.  It gets really, really cold before dawn in October, so extra blankets are a must!  I remember doing it this way even when I was a little girl.  As I got older, I would lay out and take naps all snuggled in blankets until the balloons started going up.

 Because we'd gone early, we had a prime spot right on the edge of the balloon launch.  We had to move our camp back a little because we were actually on the balloon field where they were setting up a balloon.

 It was totally worth it.  It got crazy busy, probably because it was the last Saturday of the event.  People were just mobbing around the balloon that was setting up in front of us.  We had our territory clearly marked by our spread of blankets and chairs, so we had a great spot and a little bit of space from the crowd, which was so great.   We got a few dirty looks, but we also had tons of people taking pictures of our camp and saying "I want to be with those guys!"  How funny is that?

 We decided to stretch our legs as the first round of balloons started going up.  (Check out my sweet pooh-bear onesie!)

  I don't love crowds, and it was especially crazy, so after a little while I went back to our camp where we had a break from the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

 With all the balloons going up, my kids could not stand to stay in camp.  Tyler and my Dad took them around to see all the fun hot-air balloons getting ready to launch!  My sweet Dad followed Eli all the way across the balloon field and back again.  Don't let his face fool you - Eli was having a blast!

  It was a mass ascension day.  Mass ascension is always my favorite.  One wave of balloons sets up to launch, and once they leave, more balloons come out and blow up in their place.  It's seriously amazing to watch.

 ^ A shot of our camp.  Haley is all bundled up so you can't see she was wearing her Eeyore suit!  I was a little sad because my pooh-bear suit attracted a little attention and nobody even noticed I was matching with my sister.  Because she was asleep under a pile of blankets.  I can't be too mad though, if I didn't have kids I would have slept too!

 ^ I thought TJ perched like a parrot on Tyler's should was hi-larious.

 ^ Mom and my cousin, Jack

 ^ Selfie with my sweetheart

 ^ I don't even know how many donuts my kids ate.

 ^Haley, me, Madre

 ^ While Dad was out chasing Eli, Haley stole his super awesome recliner chair and went to sleep.  She had gone earlier that week with friends so she didn't miss out completely.

 Seriously, it's so cool!  Pictures just don't do it justice.  I think everyone should go.  It's amazing.

 Eli returned from adventures and came to lay down with me while he ate.  I loved it and he actually stayed for several minutes, pointing out the balloons to me, before he got too restless and needed to wander again.

It was such a great experience, I'm so glad we went!  I hope we can take our kids every few years.  I loved going as a little girl, and it's even funner to share something I love so much with my own kids.