Pumpkin Carving

This year my parents grew quite a few pumpkins in their garden so on Sunday we went down and let the kids pick out a pumpkin. Naturally, Corbin chose the largest one in the entire patch and Makelle ended up with a cute little round one.



Then last night for family home evening we ended up carving the pumpkins. So far we have always just carved one nice family pumpkin together that somehow relates to our costume theme for the year. So here is a little preview of what our costumes will be.




Makelle was all for digging out the gunk from the center of the pumpkin, whereas we had to force Corbin to touch one handful so that I could take a picture. For some reason that boy has always shied away from getting dirty.

Weekend in Paradise :)

Every summer we like to take a trip down to Southern Utah and visit Caleb's family and my grandparents, but Caleb has been working so much the past umm... 9 months or so, we weren't able to make it this year.

So after hearing Corbin ask when he would get to see the "really old Grandpa" for the umpteenth time, I talked to my mom, who agreed to accompany me and the kids down to Hatch for a quick visit.

Bean is really attached to my Grandpa, he doesn't see him very often, but for some reason he is quite enthralled with with Grandpa Nash. Luckily Grandpa is pretty willing to hang out with him, although I am sure he welcomed the peaceful calm after we left.

There is only so much to do in Hatch, Utah, but I think we covered pretty much all of it. Playing at the park, feeding horses, shopping over in the "big town" (Panguitch), four-wheeler rides, and of course loads of fun card games and chit-chat.

Messy Masks

For Family Home Evening tonight we ended up painting Halloween masks. Needless to say I think the kids liked it.






Also... Makelle now has a patch of green hair that I think will likely take a few more days to completely fade out :)

Adams Canyon

We have had the nicest fall weather this year so I was excited when my mom and Matt invited us (me and the kiddos, Caleb unfortunately does not get work off for UEA :) on a hike up Adams Canyon on Friday.

We started out at a little picnic area north of the trail head and within 10 minutes Corbin started asking how much longer we were going to hiking before we got to the waterfall. Not a good sign! I thought for sure we were going to have to stop along the way and let the kids run around while my mom and Matt went on ahead and we'd connect back up with them on their way down. But somehow we made it through the sandy dessert path that led back into the forest area and once we hit the rocks and trees Corbin started loving every minute of it.

The worst part was simply his desire to do everything himself. "Sorry buddy, we are climbing vertically up a bed of loose rocks, you have to hold my hand." In the end we somehow made it all the way up and it was fun to see his sense of accomplishment, I think he was pretty proud of himself.


It was pretty fun, and I am so impressed that Corbin hiked nearly 5 miles round trip. (I did put him into the kid carrier the last little bit when we got back to the boring, hot sand part again. I figured Makelle could probably walk the last little bit if he did get tired, but since we got a later start she fell asleep about the time he started saying his legs were tired. Luckily my mom was willing to haul a sleeping toddler through the dessert for nearly a mile for me :) It was a fun hike and let me just say, those kids slept well that night!


Corbin later told me that playing on this rock with Matt was his favorite part of the hike. Why do I bother? :)

Corbin Quote

In response to asking if he can watch a movie, I reminded Corbin that he has to finish his daily assignments first.

To which he responds, "But Mommy, I don't do work during Halloween month. I just spend my time with my family."

Nice try kiddo, but we don't take off a whole month to celebrate Halloween.

Not to mention... how many 3-year-olds use phrases like, "I just spend my time with my family?"

Conference

In following with our new family tradition, we woke up and made some delicious pancakes with strawberries and whip cream for breakfast. Then we laid around and watched general conference together as a family all weekend. I remember having a hard time sitting still and focusing for so long when I was younger, but now conference weekend is something we look forward to. It is so relaxing and inspiring. We love it!

Celeste was in town for her med school interview at the U, so we got to spend sometime visiting with her. Corbin still expresses his gratitude for her visit almost daily in his prayers, so I guess you could say he enjoyed seeing his Aunt.



This year I broke down and bought some overpriced vegan whip cream and let Corbin try some on his pancakes for the first time, and he is in love! The simplest little things, like watching your child eat whip cream for the first time is such a delight... obviously something I never would have imagined myself saying.


My favorite part was when Makelle took her first bite she looks up at me and says, "teat!" with a giant smile on her face. Yes Makelle, we are calling it breakfast, but let's face it, pancakes, syrup, strawberries and whip cream basically are a full on treat.

Tiny Little Miss

Makelle is such a tiny little thing. This really hit me today as we dragged out the old Halloween costumes and I discovered that her costume from when she was 6 months old still fits her. Not like, "oh it was tight, but she was able to squeeze into it." I mean full on, a little loose in the front still, length fits different since she can stand up and walk now, but otherwise it's a perfect fit.



Should I be concerned?... grow Makelle, grow.

Vegas Vacation

Last week Caleb had a training for work in Las Vegas. His company put him up in the Four Seasons , a super nice 5 star hotel, with a killer view.


My mom was kind enough to take our children for 4 days and I tagged along with him. It was the longest we have ever been away from them, and I have to say it was weird not having two little kiddos. The first day I slept in, took a hot bath, read my book, watched Man vs. Wild (it is my new favorite TV show lately), worked out in the fitness center and it was only 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It would have taken me a full week to find time to myself to get all that done at home :) So relaxing!


At night we were able to hang out together. We went to dinner and a show and somehow ended up spending our entire evening with senior citizens. After a night out with his coworker the first night, we wanted a break from all the noise, lights, smells and sights of the strip so we ducked into a Denny's where I am certain we were the only ones not getting 15% off our bill that evening. Afterwards we went to the Frank Caliendo show, which we had read extensive reviews about ahead of time. What we neglected to consider is that clean, comedic impression shows on the Las Vegas Boulevard apparently don't appeal to anyone within at least 2 decades of our own age range. He was hilarious though, and we had a blast.

It was nice to get away for a little while and enjoy sometime together without the demands of home and kids and work etc, but coming home we were so excited to hug those little guys, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Beauty Salon

Makelle is PURE GIRL! She loves accessorizing (rather scary for a tom-boy of a mom, but we'll survive :) So this week we bought her some nail polish and she got her first manicure. Caleb held out all the bottles for her to choose from and she of course instantly grabbed the pink, glittery one. (How does she know?) So we set her up and painted her fingernails pink for her.


For the most part she sat perfectly still and helped blow on them when they were drying. I told her to hop down and go show Daddy and she ran over to him grinning from ear to ear saying, "pitty, pitty!" (Meaning pretty, pretty.)

Then she immediately ran back and handed me the bottle sitting on the table, grabbed the paper, set in on her lap, and started saying, "mo, mo" while frantically signing more. So naturally we followed it up with her first pedicure. If anyone sees her this week, be sure to compliment those nails, because boy girl, is she ever proud of them.

Fun on the Farm (err... garden?)

My parents let us plant some stuff in their garden and my grandma gave me an old pressure canner. The result has been learning a lot about cooking and storing tons of produce. We have bottled enchilada sauce, chili, white chili, tomatoes, green beans, and pears... so far. I have also frozen some bags of corn, carrots, pesto and zucchini. As well as dried plums and pears. We eat fresh fruits (from the wonderful Bountiful Baskets program) and veggies all day everyday, and I absolutely LOVE it! Here are some of the highlights of our abundant summer.


I was pretty focused on helping to can the green beans and apparently not being a very attentive parent.





As kids living on the farm, I still remember 'corn days.' There are several steps in getting the corn from the field to the freezer and everyone was always assigned a job based on age and ability. That combination always left me as the 'scraper.' My job was to take a butter knife and scrape the old cobs to get off all the little pieces still clinging onto the sides. This year, I decided to impart my extensive knowledge of corn scrapping onto Corbin. He lasted through about 1 1/2 ears before he got bored and wandered off. But don't worry, Makelle was more than willing to pick up where he left off. She also worked as an unofficial and unwanted taste-tester who ate massive amounts of corn, indigestible by her little tummy. Lovely.


The kids were pretty excited about this gigantic carrot that grew (I guess you really should thin those things out :)



Last year my parents gave me a juicer, which we LOVE to use for all sorts of veggie and fruit juices. In combination with our trusty blender we have been enjoying lots of healthy (and not so healthy) smoothies. Some of us clearly show our love of a good concoction more than others.


We have also enjoyed massive amounts of fresh picked, made from scratch recipes. Our favorites include spaghetti sauce (Corbin thoroughly enjoys squishing the tomatoes), salsa, roasted veggies, grilled veggies, flavored ice cream, pie, stir fry, homemade yogurt and tons of different salads.