We are still here!!

I can’t believe it has taken me so long to get back to this blog.

Reasons why I haven’t blogged:

• canned 14 pints of chicken
• canned 21 quarts of applesauce—and still have 40lbs to go
• caught a yucky cold
• had to figure out a new computer
• hadn’t taken enough pictures
• been enjoying being outside in the nice fall weather-today and yesterday it has been 65 degrees.

So here is our last few weeks in picture form…..

Beautiful fall colors…..

 

 

Eli making sure everyone was working hard while raking leaves.

The deer got into our garage(I DID leave the door open for a little while) and helped themselves to our apples. Can you believe them? It did make a little less work for me though. These are all the apples that had deer bites out of them. We just decided to make it easier for them and put them right out in the open for them to enjoy.

 

Luke had training in Provo and we enjoyed some time with cousins. Here is Eli sitting with James and Micali snuggling next to Justin.

And last but not least HALLOWEEN! We decided at the last minute to go ahead and dress up the kids for the little carnival and dinner they were having at the elementary school. We borrowed the Turtle costume from Luke’s sister Beth and raided Micali’s dress-up drawer to make her a ballerina princess. She loved it! Afterwards we stopped at a few friends houses to give Micali her first try at Trick-or-treating. We had to coax her at each door but by the last one she finally had it down.       

This morning Micali found that her pumpkin had been knocked off the porch and eaten by “the Deerds.” She asked me where they were and then told me she was going to kick them. She means business when something messes with her things!

Saturday was a Special Day!

 

We had a very fun filled Saturday. We heard about a U-pick for apples and decided we should try it out. We came home with 100 lbs. of apples. Micali loved carrying her little bucket and figured out that she only wanted the big ones without spots. Eli mostly just sat by the tree eating apples and watching everyone else. I am sure next year he will be a good little helper though. It took us less than an hour to pick our apples because the trees were just loaded. We will see how the applesauce making adventure goes this week. The guy at the orchard couldn't give us an estimate on how much it would make but I am sure it will feel like plenty before I am through with it. Luke is hoping for some fresh apple pie too.

 

After our apple adventure, we headed over to a house that had advertised in the paper they had pumpkins for sale. He had 3-4 pumpkins sitting in his front yard, so I thought we better hurry before he didn't have any left. Luke and Micali went and knocked on the door. The lady waved them around back and this is what we found in her yard. A TON of pumpkins. I couldn't even believe it. She had even sold a couple hundred before we got there. Micali had fun looking for just the right one and found a little tiny one that she decided was just perfect for her. We helped her out a little and got a couple more so that we can carve them in the next few weeks. The weather was wonderful, and we enjoyed a day spent together as a family and being outside!

Not only did we do some fun fall activities, we also got some new(to us)things for the house: a book case, an entertainment center, and toy shelves for the kids' rooms. After our morning adventures outside, we spent the rest of the day inside organizing and getting rid of even more boxes. I was so excited to finally get closer to being fully moved in. We just had random boxes stacked in almost every corner because we didn't have a place to put anything. Now my goal is a "place for everything and everything in its place." We are getting much closer and it is SOOO exciting.

Inspired by a dear friend....

 

Lastweek I was reading a friends blog and came across a post about a game she played with her toddler called "Paint the Rock." (Thanks Alicia) I have been looking for ways to entertain my two little ones especially, in the morning since Eli no longer is taking a morning nap. This idea was perfect and had them entertained for quite some time. It started with a hunt for the rocks. We ventured around our yard and the neighbor's yard and found some very exciting rocks. Eli mostly liked throwing them and calling them balls but Micali was very diligent about putting them in her bag. I was kind enough to fill my pockets full so that Eli could have some rocks to paint when we went back inside. My camera died right after I took the first pictures of them painting but you can see they did think it was pretty cool to see the rocks change color. That special "rock paint" we used was of course water so they didn't even make a mess. I will definitely repeat this activity in the near future.

 

Ball and Hat Man

 

Eli was given this hat a couple weeks ago by a friend of ours. Since then he has pretty consistently had it on his head. He just loves it. Sometimes I even let him sleep with it. He also loves carrying around his Buckaroo football that is dad caught for him at the first game we went to. If he doesn't have a ball in his hands he will come up to us asking us where a ball is so that we can help him find one. He really doesn't care what kind of ball it is as long as he can have a ball in his hands.

Love this picture

 

This picture was taken by our good friend, Leaca Young. She does great work. I was just looking through the family pictures she took before we left Alaska again because I am finally printing them off to frame. I decided this one needed to be shared on the blog. Luke is such a great dad and makes me smile daily as I watch him interact with the kids. My favorite lately is when he walks in the door from work. Micali screams as the door opens and then yells(in a deep "manly" voice) "Who's in MY house?" Eli hears that and starts giggling and runs as fast as he can to give his dadda a hug and kiss. I love my little family!

Artwork

 

Last Saturday I left for a meeting. Luke took the kids out to get some fresh air. This is what they came up with.

Half way there!!

 

Well, this week marks the half way point. I think I am past the sicky part from the beginning. I am hoping that I can get a lot done with organizing our home before I get to the to big to do much stage. I will be going back in for a second ultrasound on Monday because she was laying in a really awkward position. They tech wasn't able to get all the shots of her she wanted. I think mostly along the spine. Micali says that I have a baby sister in my tummy but she is having a brother in hers.

Eli has figured it out!

 

This picture doesn't really go with this post but it was a collage that disappeared when I went to blog it a few weeks ago. He was pretty cute. I wanted to write about Eli's progress. When my sister was down here for Labor day two weeks ago Eli was taking 3-5 shaky and careful steps away from furniture before he would fall over. This weekend as we watched Eli around her apartment we both watched in awe at his accomplishments. He was walking clear across the room. He could stop in the middle pick something up and keep going. He could turn around and go different ways. He could be sitting in the middle of the room and decide he wanted to go somewhere and just stand up right where he was and walk. It took him a long time to decide to do it but now he has it figured out. Micali loves watching him walk and we both giggle together to see him toddling all around the house. I don't think I will have to worry about carrying two babies around come February. He, I am sure, will be quite independent by then! We love our little man.

A lot of driving

 

We decided to make the drive up to northern utah to stock up on groceries, see friends, and spend time with our sisters. The drive took us close to five hours and we had a packed schedule the entire time. The kids stayed up the whole way there until 10:30 at night. We were sure they would pass out way before that. The next morning we loaded up our van with groceries, had lunch with some great friends,visited with my Kendra and Austin---where we SCORED on lots of clothes and baby gear from her neighbor. Then we headed back to Luke's sisters for games. Sunday we just spent the day driving back home and due to our AC going out we made a lot of frequent stops for cold drinks, slushies, and ice cream. The pictures in the collage were just of our last hours drive home. I was sad I didn't get the camera out the whole weekend!

The coach

 

Luke had his first home game last Thursday. The kids and I went up to support him. We had a good time eating popcorn and watching daddy. We made it until half-time and the score was already 34-0 so we decided he could get the win without us. He is learning a TON about football and enjoys it more and more everyday as he works through the learning curve. Football is so much more complex than we ever thought.