The Pumpkin Patch

There's a family owned pumpkin patch I have been going to since I was a little girl. It's out by my Mom's house in Riverton. It started out as a simple patch of pumpkins in the field next to their family's farm house and it's been fun watching it evolve over the years. They have added a corn maze, a bunch of old farm equipment, wheelbarrows as shopping carts, and even an area for parking since cars used to line both sides of the road every October.

This year was the most fun I've ever had picking out pumpkins. It was bitter cold, but well worth it. I told the kids they could have the pick of the place; any pumpkin they wanted, as long as they could lift it into the wheelbarrow themselves.

Jackson found his pumpkin first but it was huge and he couldn't lift it so he got creative. Him and Ashleigh worked together by tipping the wheelbarrow all the way to the ground and rolling the pumpkin inside. It took quite a few attempts and was hilarious to watch. About 10 min later, Jackson was pushing the wheelbarrow and  it dumped over then he hit a bump... and the process started all over again. Haha.

I knew my mom would be driving home from work soon so I let her know where we were and she stopped by for a while to visit while we walked through the patch.

Ashleigh just wanted to get a pumpkin bigger than Jackson's. She scoured the place and passed up some good looking pumpkins because they weren't big enough. In the back of the red pickup truck were tons of pumpkins and Ash's spotted the one she wanted when we were taking pictures. It was towards the bottom. Rusty dug it out for her and she felt very accomplished to get one that was big enough.

The kids had fun playing on the old tractors and we all got lost in the corn maze for a little bit. It was a blast and we got a great price on the 7 pumpkins we picked out.

    

  We headed home to watch the next movie in our Harry Potter marathon, drank cocoa, carved pumpkins & I roasted the seeds. It was the perfect Autumn evening.

and the award goes to...

With all the award ceremonies we hear about this time of year (video music awards, Emmys, etc.) we decided to have our own birthday award ceremony.

Russell, Jerrick (my brother), Glory (my Aunt), and Mark (my stepdad) all have birthdays within a day or two of each other, so we all celebrated together at my Mom's house with a delicious pot luck dinner.

My mom and I surprised them with an award ceremony after dinner. It was, of course, cheesy and a little silly but it was really fun. Granted, there was no red carpet but each 'winner' got a trophy (certificate) of their achievement and a gift card to go along with that particular award.

Russell's Birthday

 It was Russell's birthday earlier this month, it was on the 14th (a Friday) so we all had school & work. It was his first birthday with us so we wanted to make it special. 

The day before, Jackson and I went to the party store to get a bunch of balloons. We hid them in Jackson's room under a blanket so we could put them out in the morning.  It looked like some dis-formed, hunchback creature in the corner of his room. After wrapping presents, Jackson asked if he could make Rusty a card, it was the cutest card wishing him a happy birthday and thanking him for playing games with him, he even drew a picture of them playing basketball together. Rusty was hanging out in the family room so Jackson and I were trying to be sneaky going back and forth from the sun room to his bedroom with wrapping and card supplies. It gave us away that we were up to something when I put the roll of wrapping paper down the back of Jacskon's shirt & shorts to hide it and we couldn't stop giggling. 

Jackson actually woke up early the next morning and came into my room to ask if we could put the balloons out yet. I thought it was sweet how excited he was. Rusty's birthday ended up being an all day celebration. He loved the balloons and gifts in the morning. Coworkers also celebrated this birthday at work with cake and treats. After work I surprised him with a cookie cake (kind of a family tradition started by his parents when he was little, since he doesn't like cake) then the four us us went out to dinner at Wingers. Of course I told our waiter it was his birthday in hopes of an embarrassing rendition of 'happy birthday' from some of the staff. As we were finishing our meal, we hear, "ladies and gentleman can I have your attention please!" The whole restaurant sang him happy birthday, it was over the top!

As we were leaving the other guests, along with servers and the manager were telling us 'bye' and 'happy birthday Russell". It was great. It will be a birthday to remember.

Pizzas

I might never buy pizza again. We've made pizza at home before but the one I had last night was probably the most delicious pizza I've ever eaten. I've never been a fan of traditional pizza because I don't care for marinara sauce. Luckily, I have discovered Vodka Sauce (marinara with parmesan cheese and cream..yummy). I topped my pizza with cheese, mushrooms, sausage, spinach, olives, and tomatoes ,basil, chives & tomatoes right from my garden. I bit into the crispy crust and tasted that fresh basil and creamy sauce... it was fantastic!

Jackson's pizza was just mushrooms & cheese. Ashleigh created a square pizza with pepperoni, sausage & cheese. While Rusty's was pepperoni, sausage, onion, olives, cheese... and more pepperoni. I'll have to incorporate homemade pizzas into our menu more often. Plus, it's kinda fun for everyone to make their own!

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have I am thankful for:

• Scarves
• The pumpkin patch in Riverton
• Finding the perfect pumpkin
• Corn mazes
• Roasted seeds
• Homemade juice
• Toast with raspberry jam
• Chapstick
• Cough drops
• Vitamin C

Sun Room turn Greenhouse

This is, hopefully, the last year of my tiny container deck garden. I'm wishful of a huge backyard garden next year!  In the meantime, I do want to get as much as I can out of my humble little garden. Last week, I took a folding table in my sun room and set it up in front of a huge window inside. I didn't want to have to run out and spend money on drip trays to put under each pot to catch overflow from watering.. so I started brainstorming!

 After walking though the house I decided to take a plastic drop cloth (left over from my last painting project) to cover the table, but needed to form a 'reservoir' so water wouldn't drip off the side of the table... then I spotted the empty water bottles in our recycle bin! It was the perfect (free) solution. Jackson helped by covering the front side of one of Ashleigh's old science fair project display boards with foil and we placed it behind the plants to reflect some of the sunlight back onto the plants.

I am hoping to grow through the entire winter season. I will be starting some lettuce soon, when the flowers are done blooming in the containers I want to use.

    

I might have to get a growing light if we don't have enough sunshine this winter but 

so far so good, everything is growing well! The carrots are coming up as well as the basil I planted from the seeds on my old plant. I have tons of new tomato flowers!

    

    

 My silly Jackson in a tomato cage!

Thankful Thursday

Be thankful for what you have;

 you’ll end up having more. 

If you concentrate on what you don’t have, 

you will never, ever have enough.

- Oprah Winfrey

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Cookie cakes
• Balloons
• These warm days
• Unexpected opportunities
• My indoor garden
• Courteous drivers
• Burt's Bees
• Foot rubs
• Sunsets
• Clear sky full of stars

The Band-Aid

My kids and I have a nightly routine. It usually looks something like this: we take turns in my son's and daughter's room. We read a book or a chapter from a book (although, I admit, we haven't been reading lately. Note to self: start reading every night again). We visit for a bit or talk about the story. We take turns each night saying prayers. Hugs, kisses, snuggles, and off to dream land for the night.

Lately, Jackson, my 8 year old, hasn't wanted to say prayers. After his sister left the room tonight, I asked him what was going on and why he didn't want to say prayers. He buried his face in his pillow and started to cry. After some coaxing he told me he didn't like church. He didn't believe in church (which he attends every other week when he is at his Dad's). I wanted to find where the disconnect was so I started at the top; do you believe in God? That Jesus is God's son? That Jesus came to earth to teach about God? Each question followed by a "yes".

The road block came when we started talking about the stories. Bible stories. Stories from the Book of Mormon.  He told me, "no one in the world has that much power". I told him he was right. No one in the world has that much power, but God is not in this world.. he is in heaven.

He then asked about people dying and how much we miss them. I'm holding back tears at this point, as I watch my sweet little baby cry because he misses his grandma oh so bad. I told him, that's another wonderful thing about believing in God, that when people die, it's not goodbye forever since will see them again someday.

I went on to tell him that we can pray for anything. We can pray to tell God how grateful we are, to ask to protect us, ask for forgiveness, or ask for him to comfort us. We can pray alone, or in a group, you can even ask someone to help you or for them to pray for you, if you aren't quite sure what to say, but God will always answer your prayers. He might not answer right away, but he always answers. Jackson said something about having to wait a long time, even a whole year. I told him (still choking back tears and trying not to let my voice crack), "What if you handed me a Band-Aid right now? I would probably look at you like you are crazy! I would wonder why you are giving me a Band-Aid when I don't need one. But what if, next week, I fall and scrape my knee and it's bleeding.. and you hand me a Band-Aid. I would say thank you! I need this Band-Aid." I explained that sometimes our body or our mind isn't ready for God's answer just like it wasn't the right time to give me a Band-Aid. We might need to learn a lesson along the way, or meet a new person or new people will be brought into our lives, there are any number of reasons and we just need to have faith.

I'm not sure where that analogy came from. I'm sure it was divine intervention because it rolled of my tongue as if I've said it a hundred times before, and Jackson felt reassured and understood why we should be patient. After that we prayed together. He asked for comfort for all the people that are sad because someone they love has died (I finally broke down).

I grabbed a blanket out of the living room, that his grandma had made. I had him sit up in his bed and I wrapped the blanket around him, telling him, "think of this as grandma wrapping her arms around you and giving you a great big hug." I tucked him in with more hugs and kisses and he was asleep within minutes.

I'm thankful that I had the right words to say tonight. I want him to grow up close to God, no matter what religion he chooses. Whether he chooses the Mormon faith like his Father, basic Christian believes like myself  or something completely different, I hope that he, and my daughter, have a strong faith to lean on for those hard times that we all know are bound to happen throughout their lives.

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I am, I am thankful for:

• My job & the benefits it offers, especially my 401K. Which I'm borrowing money from to fix my car and buy new tires before it snows.
• Jackson belting out a song and not realizing how loud he is singing because he's wearing headphones.
• Documentaries
• Warm socks
• The changing colors on all the trees.
• Flannel sheets 
• Warm drinks. Cocoa, Tea, Ciders, etc.
• Soup in a bread bowl
• Windshield wipers
• Ashleigh helping her brother with homework. 

Autumn Hike to the Peak

Sunday night, the four of us hiked up Ensign Peak.  It was a surprise for the kids since they had been wanting to go for a while.  The trail head is in the hills up above the Utah capitol building and it's a wonderful hike, especially once you get to the top and can see the entire valley below. We timed it to hike up at dusk, enjoy the sunset from the top and watch all the valley lights come to life. Beautiful.

  

At a glance - Last week

Kids are both doing great in school, Work is going well for Rusty and I. It was our usual busy week but it was great and we've been really enjoying these beautiful evenings we have been having. 

1. Jackson reads for at least 20 min everyday during the week as part of his homework. Sometimes he heads to his bedroom if he needs a quiet place to read. I walked by his room and saw this sign hanging on his doorknob, I thought it was adorable "Shhh, Homework Zone". 2. Delicious. This actually makes me so happy. Fresh fruits, veggies & eggs, all from family and friend's gardens. Two kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, red sweet peppers, red potatoes, green beans, sage, chives, thyme, apples, plums, pears, and fresh cut flowers! 3. We were diving home from karate with all the windows down, it was a such a nice night. The kids kept sicking their arms (and face) out the window as we drove down the street. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Ashleigh making a heart with her hands. 4. Ikea. We always have fun walking though the store and seeing the new displays. We also got a pack of cinnamon rolls for the road. Yum 5. Ashleigh's unwelcome visitor. We left him alone hoping he would fly away but he looked quite at home so we flicked him off after a few minutes... Ash immediately walked over and stomped on him for scaring her so bad. Sorry little guy. 6. Horse back riding!