Monday, November 3, 2014

Happy Halloween!


 Maggie this year wanted to be a "MEAN witch with a green face."  Well, she was the most adorable mean witch I have ever seen.

This year Jared borrowed a Darth Vader costume from his cousin, and Evelyn wore a frog costume that I borrowed from a neighbor.


 Unfortunately, the Stout family Halloween party and the Curtis family Halloween party were on the same evening this year (and will be forever, I guess) so we tried to go to a little bit of both.




Maggie had a short Halloween preschool program this year.  They were super cute, but Maggie wasn't really interested in singing, I guess.  Ha ha.  











This was from the Halloween parade at the elementary school.  I also was able to help our with Jared's classroom party this year.  

Uncle Mike, Aunt Laura, and Uncle Mason (not pictured) invited themselves over to go trick-or-treating with the kids this year.  It was so fun to see them!  Evelyn went trick-or-treating to just a few houses, as well.



Jared wanted a picture with his light saber




Sunday, November 2, 2014

Warm, warm October

We have had such a nice October!  It has been amazing.  Twice our family went up the canyon close to our house to do some last minute hot dog and marshmallow roasting.  

Evy crunching leaves with Grandma C




 We have loved playing in the backyard in the warm afternoons, too.







Farm Field Trip

Maggie's preschool recently had a field trip to a local farm. We enjoyed looking at the farm animals, taking a hayride, walking through the mini-corn maze, and picking a pumpkin to take home.

Maggie's little class


Goats

Sheep


New pigs, less than one week old!


Never looking at the camera when I want her to...


Tractor/hay ride






 Oh, yeah, and then there's the super fun corn box.  Evy sure had a diaper full of them when we were done.




Sunday, October 12, 2014

My cute girls

Here are some random pictures from early October.  Maggie will often just ask me to take a picture of her for no reason.  Apparently I don't take enough pictures.  :)


Fireman Evy 

Evy will latch onto certain stuffed animals and carry them around for hours.  We have Aunt Shawna to thank for this very loud monkey.
 Maggie has been learning how to write her name at preschool.  She has been able to spell it for a very long time, but I just love her little girl handwriting!


 These dolls were gifts last Christmas from Grandpa Kent and Grandma Janice. The girls love them (and I love them, too!)  They are supposed to be the Princess and the Pea.
She loves to say "cheese" and pose for the camera

Friday, September 26, 2014

Fall Soccer

Thinking really hard...

Jared has been on a team this fall with other 2nd- and 3rd-grade boys.  (I was bummed out that they had to combine the grades because, once again, that made Jared the youngest person on his team. Last year they combined the 1st- and 2nd-grade boys.  We seem to have bad luck.  Not very fun for a kid who doesn't like to compete for the ball.)

Jared this year has really been enjoying being goalie.  His coach has had Jared and one other kid rotate being goalie for pretty much every game.  Jared has LOVED it, especially since he doesn't love chasing the ball and competing with all the other kids to kick it.

During one particular game, Jared was doing so amazing!!  Jared saved EVERY single goal that came his way (like, six or seven goals--the other team scored only when the other kid on Jared's team was goalie.)  Jared's coach chose Jared to be the MVP for that game and gave him a special MVP patch to wear on his jersey. (Don't worry, I think the coach makes sure that every kids gets a chance to be MVP at some point.)  Jared was soooooooo proud of his MVP patch and has loved telling relatives all about it.

Drop kicking


Jared "at the ready" :)


Soccer is about over for the fall, but it will start up again in the spring with the same team and same coach, so hopefully he will have even more of a chance to improve.  We are so proud of Jared and the strides he has made this fall!

Canning, AGAIN

This is just a random picture of Evelyn.  She loves to climb in and out of the dryer and also the bathtub.  

I feel like the entire month of September has been spent canning.  Ugh.  Seriously, does anyone actually like canning?  I mean, I love having the canned fruit, but the process is just hot and messy and horrible.

Our apple tree had a bumper crop this year.  WOW.  In the 5 years we've lived here, we've never had such a big crop.  I guess it makes up for last year's crop of like six apples.  Ha ha.  We had plenty for ourselves and lots to share with neighbors. I've been making dried apples galore, and the kids have been eating them almost as fast as our dehydrator makes them.

We got tons of peaches, plums, and pears from neighbors this year.   I've REALLY enjoyed making fresh peach cobblers, plum crisps, pear crisps, and apple crisps this fall.  Mmmmmmmm.

Alan and I spent an evening making applesauce.  Jared (and Maggie) were genuinely helpful!  It was really nice to make it a family affair. Doesn't Maggie look cute in her apron?


Peach pie filling in back and applesauce in front
This year's results:
14 quarts pears
8 quarts peach pie filling (We already had enough canned peaches in the basement)
21 pints applesauce (we should have made more, but it was sooooooo sticky!)
42 quarts apple pie filling (These are going to be my neighbor Christmas gifts this year, as well as families we visit teach and home teach...)

We have already had two peach pies.  Yum.  Sounds like all we've had to eat this month are fruity desserts, doesn't it?

Now I need to clean my house, which I have been neglecting for the past several weeks!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Birthday presents (and surprises)

Last week I had a birthday.  It was lovely.  My mom took me out to brunch in the morning, and Alan and I went out to dinner (alone!) in the evening on the way to the airport.  (Alan left that evening to fly to Seattle to visit his Washington family for a few days.)  

However, I found out in the early afternoon, that our painter we were hiring was going to be ready to come the very next day!  That was a bit stressful, but we were excited to finally have the job done.  I spent all afternoon removing things from the walls, moving furniture to the center of the rooms, and taking off outlets and light switch covers.  

Here is the finished product.  Our front room and hall are now gray instead of green. (I have not finished hanging pictures or decorating yet.)



Our basement TV room and hall are now light gray instead of taupe. Yuck, I need to organize this TV stand.  Don't judge. Ha ha.


It was totally worth hiring out the painting instead of doing in ourselves this time (been there, done that!)  They were done in a day and a half, and I feel like it was a really good deal.  Plus, we have a really high ceiling above our staircase.  Not fun to do ourselves.

Alan bought me a 6-qt. crockpot I've really been wanting, plus we bought a new yellow storage ottoman for our living room.  It arrived right on my birthday!!  (See living room picture above.  The ottoman is in front of the fireplace.  It fits all of Evy's toys so nicely, so now our front room is more organized.)

Alan also wrote me a sonnet for my birthday.  I LOVE these poems he writes for me.  They have so much thought and time put into them, and it is a special gift he has to write them:


Inheritance

I often contemplate our life ahead,
When we will be together without end.
It is magnificent that we, though dead,
Will come forth from the grave and live to spend
Eternity in love as man and wife!
We've been endowed with sacred priesthood power
To magnify the Father's Plan of Life;
Creating worlds where we will teach to our
Posterity all things that they must do
As they progress along the narrow path.
As equal partners, we will go forth to
Inherit everything the Father hath:
Eternal lives and endless worlds above,
With hearts and hands entwined in holy love.


(To read more sonnets by Alan, click here and here.)