October Festivities

Here's just a random assortment of pictures I just found on my camera.

This is Maggie in her darling dress that her Grandma Stout bought for her in Chinatown in New York.

October wouldn't be October without getting a Jack o lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's!  Yum!

Halloween black cat cookies we made

This picture is of me and two of my former roommates, Caroline and Ann-Marie (two of the Billies).  We got together a little bit ago to say goodbye.  Both of them are moving this week, one to a different country and one to a different state.  I will miss hanging out with them!  Sad.

Stout Arches Trip

In September we went with Alan's family on a little trip to Arches National Park.  It was awesome. Alan and I and our little family had just gone last spring, but Jared was begging us to go back.  He loves it.  We camped for two nights at the campground in the park, and then the third night we stayed in a condo in Moab that Alan's parents rented out.

Maggie hiked a bit, too, on the way to Landscape Arch

Lizard

Alan and Maggie in front of Landscape Arch.  We have a picture of Alan and Jared at this same spot when Jared was Maggie's age, shown below.

Aunt Angela was Jared's special "hiking buddy" on the very long hike to Double O Arch.

The first view of Double O Arch. Jared was a pretty good hiker on this long and hard hike, but he did need Uncle Spencer to carry him back the last mile back to the car.

Dark Angel, as seen through the bottom arch of Double O

Jared and me in front of Double O.  You can also see Dark Angel in the back.

Our family in front of the petroglyphs on the Delicate Arch trail

This is as close as we got to Delicate Arch.  Jared is still too young for the hike.

Jared and Aunt Emma at the campground

 These next few pictures are at Sand Dune Arch, one of our favorites.  The kids loved playing in the sand and the grown-ups had a long jump competition.

On the way back to the car after Sand Dune Arch

In front of Double Arch (not to be confused with Double O Arch).  Maggie was so cute in the backpack.

 A lot of us went hiking in an awesome place in Arches called the Fiery Furnace.  You have to get a special hiking permit to go there, and they won't allow kids under 5.  Jared was really excited to go (although he had actually been in the Fiery Furnace when he was 2--before they made the rule about being 5.)

Everyone underneath Surprise Arch

Alan helping Jared on the slick rock down from Surprise Arch

Alan and I kissing underneath the Kissing Turtles arch.

Alan and Jared in the Kissing Turtles

Everyone at a natural bride-looking arch in the Fiery Furnace

Jared playing in a pothole in Raven Canyon by Skull Arch

Skull Arch in the Fiery Furnace--one of my favorite arches

We can't wait until our next Arches trip!!

Flooding, again...

Three months ago I posted how we had a minor flood in our basement due to a problem with a pipe in our neighbor's yard (only about 1/2 of one bedroom got wet, and we were able to dry out the carpet and mat quickly.)

Well, two days ago, imagine my surprise and horror when I went down in my basement to grab something and heard what sounded like a WATERFALL coming from the window of that very same bedroom!  It was so awful!  The whole carpet (and all the furniture we were storing in there) was drenched in gallons of water, plus the water seeped under the wall into the neighboring bedroom and down the hallway as well.  I called Alan first to ask him if he could come home from work and then he and I both made phone calls to neighbors to get some help.

We had about 7 or 8 people come to help clear out the water in the window well (it was 2/3 full--likely from a sprinkler problem in our own yard this time--we haven't had time to diagnose it yet, although the water outside is turned OFF) and also the rooms in the basement.  We ripped up the carpet completely in one bedroom and then got fans blowing in the other room and the hall.  People who came to help were so nice!  Seriously.  Several of them stayed several hours and one couple in my ward even left to bring back a couple of pizzas and some root beer.  Wow.

Yesterday, after talking to a couple of people that had dealt with floods I got all freaked out about mold in the drywall, so we decided we needed professional help.  We called our home insurance company and had them send out a restoration company, whom we are paying a LOT of money to use their big fans and de-humidifiers for three days.  They also sprayed some kind of anti-microbial cleaner under all the carpet that is still intact downstairs.  We are going to have to repaint the room ourselves, replace the carpet padding ourselves, and get our carpet re-installed (we saved it--it is currently draped over our big playground in our backyard.  I hope it doesn't rain soon.).  Furniture is scattered all over the basement and I sort of hate the chaos that our basement will be in for the next couple of months until we get this all sorted out.  As anyone else who has had flooding knows, it is totally lame.

I'm having kind of a lousy week.

Kazoo

Jared got a cheap little kazoo for his birthday this summer.  He loves it.  A couple days ago he said to me, "Mommy, did you know that my kazoo can play Halloween songs and Christmas songs?  Cool, huh!"

Jared is growing up so fast.  He already has two loose teeth!