Halloween pics!

"Prince" Puppy!

Lee the creepy farmer (Illianna wasn't amused)

Happy Halloween 2010

Seth the Mad Scientist

Adree the Lil' Devil

Drake the chinchilla

Adree and her classmates performing with the Southwest Symphony!

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone who has had the chance to already to celebrate or who is celebrating today has a great Halloween! We had the opportunity to celebrate yesterday and it was a smashing success for sure! Ha, I say yesterday although we had fun Halloween activities all this last week. The kids had a blast...Mom? Well, I'm a tad worn out of course! ;0)
On Tuesday Adree was able to go to Halloween party of a friend that lives a few houses up and had a great time! On Wednesday the kids had a Halloween Primary activity to go to as well. Drake had insisted all month that he didn't want to dress up this year, which is fine. At the last minute Drake decided to go to the Primary party and since he didn't have a costume, donned his chinchilla ears and went anyway. At the schools around here the Elementary kids can dress up in their costumes and attend the Halloween parade before school lets out and at the Intermediate level they let the kids wear their costumes all day. After the Primary party Drake asked if he could dress up and go Trick-or-Treating, I asked what  he wanted to be. "Can I be a chinchilla?", he asked. Sure. It took just a minute to think up a way to turn him into a chinchilla and get him a couple of things he needed anyway and got to work.
He needed another hoodie (his had seen better days from chronic winter wearing) and so I looked for a brown one (one of the few colors he'll wear) and a pair of brown pants, what can I say? He loves brown! I stitched a couple of  pipe cleaners to the sides of the hood and made a tail out of a pipe cleaner and some scrap brown material and stitched it to the bottom of the hoodie. Took me five minutes and I took off the pipe cleaner whiskers and tail and he has a new brown hoodie for school! I put all the costumes I made on my other blog, click here to see!
On Thursday was the school carnival and Seth went with a friend to that and I went shopping for the things Drake needed for his costume.
Friday was really fun though! Adree had the opportunity with her class to perform with the Southwest Symphony at the Cox auditorium on the Dixie State campus, it was really cool! We only received one free ticket per student and had to pony-up 30 bucks for everyone else, but it was really fun to listen to all the musicians and to see Adree perform. Totally worth it!
Yesterday, even though it was only the 30th, was our Halloween and Trick-or Treating! 'Tis what happens when you live in Utah my friend! What a great time it was though! Instead of your traditional Trunk-or-treat that many wards have, our ward has a huge block party instead! All decked out with food and music and even a haunted house, it was great! It felt just like Halloween used to be when I was growing up, yes before the world became a much scarier place. I bought about 10 lbs. of candy in anticipation of the Trick-or-Treaters and Lee gave away most of it. We stationed Lee on the front porch swing where he sat motionless and took great fun in scaring the kids by grabbing them when they reached for the candy! He must have looked pretty scary because he freaked out the kids running the haunted house and someone even asked to have their picture with the "creepy farmer guy". Haha, it was pretty funny!
Our friends Camilla and Steven and their baby came over to hang out with us and Camilla and I took the kids Trick-or-Treating around a couple of blocks. The kids had a lot of fun. This is only the second year they have gotten to go traditional Trick-or-Treating, we lived in an old person's neighborhood before and just took the kids to the Mall instead. They had a great time running ahead and going to our neighbors houses and Drake stood in the shadows and jumped out at whomever had the misfortune in answering the door. Silly boy! Our friend Annelise (Miss Rogers) stopped by for a little bit as well and she went through the haunted house with me and the kids. The haunted house might have been more scary if it hadn't of broken down while we were in the middle of it!  The room we got stuck in had a teenager in a "Scream" mask behind a curtain, he kept poking his head through the curtain saying nothing and getting right in Drake's face. Drake just looked at him and said, "What? Are you trying to scare me?", as he chased him down and stomped on his foot. Apparently, when we got going again he was ahead of us and told me later that he had slugged someone else that was trying to scare him as well...hmmm...he did run from the chainsaw guy at the end like everyone else though! ;0)
As you can read, we had a fantastic, scary fun Halloween! Happy Halloween from Among the Lambsfold...BOO! ;0)

In the spirit....

We started out attempting caramel apples...

next time I'll use different butter!

Somebody murdered that pumpkin!

Seth was thrilled to get his hands icky, really! ;0)

Look who got to carve them all!

Adree's shot of Lee scooping out his pumpkin!

They turned out pretty spooky, mine on the left, Lee's on the right...

The kids' are cute too, Drake's on the left, Seth in the middle and Adree's fell asleep on the right!

Our house is spooky too!

I've been neglecting this blog and I apologize for that, I have a five day a week publication blog I write and with the kids being so involved and Mom as acting taxi, I run out of time frequently! I'll try to update this blog weekly at least and keep everyone abreast as to the happenings Among the Lambsfold!
One advantage to not working, is that I have plenty of time to do fun seasonal things with the family this year! Including decorating the front of the house, making goodies and we even carved 5 pumpkins this year, fun!
I wish the caramel apples had turned out better, the soy butter I used was too oily to have the caramel set up properly. It tastes just fine, it just doesn't stay on the apples. Looks like we'll be cutting them up and dipping the apples instead, eh, such is life sometimes.
Lee got a head start on the house decorating, much to my chagrin. I came home on the last week of September and had a grim reaper hanging in the entry. He didn't understand my annoyance when I complained. "I think it looks great...", was all he said until I pointed out that now I had to do the rest of the house because just one decoration is kinda lame looking. Poo. It took a couple of weeks of gathering things up and hanging them, but it definitely looks like Halloween at our house now! Scary!
I remember thinking that carving pumpkins was so much fun growing up, although I don't know why! I was elected to do all the carving at a young age and as you can see...nothing's changed! This kids had cute pumpkin designs this year though and Lee did his own gigantic pumpkin (all 29 pounds of it, thank goodness they were on sale for 25 cents a pound @ Albertson's!) and it looks great! Adree's pumpkin refused to stand up straight, so we carved it on it's side and made it look like it was sleeping, it even had a bump on the side that looked just like a nose! Drake requested hexagon eyes, an octagon nose and the scariest face possible, I obliged! He looked when I was done and said, "Hmm...that is pretty scary!" ;0) Sethee wanted square eyes, a triangle nose and a scary mouth, he's so funny! Mine was last of course and I just finished mine up while Lee took the kids outside to light theirs. My pumpkin had green "warts" all over it and a great stem, so I cut the hole in the side and put the mouth and eyes on the top and laid it on it's side to use the stem as the nose! Not too bad for just a few minutes!;0)
In the spirit for Halloween we are and I'll post all the costume pictures next week! Boo! ;0)

"Fall"ing for you

A) Cloudburst over Navajo Lake

B) Road to Navajo Lake

C) Foreground Aspens

D) Dry spell

E) Quakie grove

F) Pine boughs  and aspen

G) Leaves of change

H) Golden hue

I) Contrast

J) Autumn skies

K) At attention

L) Navajo Lake overlook

I love this time of year, don't you? The summer's heat is melted away by crisp mornings and cerulean skies, nature sheds to rest till Spring time abloom. Lee the kids and I took a little time over the weekend to go and enjoy all of this and spent the night in Sink Valley at Mom and Dad's cabin. Which they were so gracious as to abandon for us! THANK YOU!! ;0) It was a great and peaceful time and the kids loved being able to wrap up and sit on the porch and roast marshmallows over the fire and amused themselves by singing silly songs and making up stories. Lee and I were better able to enjoy the quiet the next morning by insisting everyone stay outside and the kids ran through the trees, up and down the hill playing Pokemon or what have you!
I was also able to take many pictures on Cedar Mountain, where the colors were at their peak in many places. This is why I have so many on here for you, I need your help! I have a very large and very blank wall in my Family Room and it has always been my intention to have some of my quaking aspen shots blown up and mounted for it. I have sooo many good ones, that I'm having a hard time choosing...take a minute to look them over and let me know what ones I should definitely choose! You'd be a big help!;0) Some of them are from last year, the orange/gold shots are from this year.
I sure love this time of year, don't you? ;0)

Of course...

Adree with her choir group and "conga town" drummers in the Rodeo parade

How cute is this?

Seth the skateboarder!

Of course if Adree was in the Rodeo parade that means Mom and the boys we standing through all most all of it because Adree's float was one of the last ones to go by. Yep, standing there and sweating and being peppered with questions from Drake about all aspects of the parade. Of course we were standing on the wrong side of the street from where Adree was, that's why I drew a little arrow to show you where she was...even though you can't see her! Of course as well, Lee got out of all of this by having to work! Oh well, she had a good time and that's what counts, right? ;0)
I took Sethee with me to Wal-Mart this week and they and skateboards on clearance for 5 bucks a piece and excitedly wanted one, telling me, "Momma, I will leawn how to wide the skateboawd so I can take it to school and not have to leawn how to wide my bike!" Stinker has still been to much of a chicken to master the bike yet. I haven't decided why the skateboard is less scary, but hey, whatever! He looks so cute standing on the back of it and pushing off to go and he has been super excited about learning to "wide it" too! He has gone out before school to practice several days this week and after as well! Adree wants me to go and get her one too now of course, that girl never met a sport she wasn't eager to master!
Of course this how life goes and we along with, following the sun to change as we live. With each passing year they grow as you give, of course we go forth like sand through a sieve. ;0)

As the summer winds down

We painted our house...

and sealed all our concrete...

and Lee built a new gate...

and reused the planks...

and got the pad all ready for the pool, just in time for the summer to be over! ;0)

As jobs go and time diminishes and money refuses to stay in your pocket book, we find that our shortened version of summer is nearing it's end. Several things have been accomplished and the kids are back into the swing of the school year. Our summer was short and hot, as it is in the desert, and some things got accomplished and some things did not. We got the pad ready for the pool just in time for the summer to be over, but hey that means we can get it up early for the season next year! I imagine our Fall type season will be spent in the yard in the attempts to beautify the back yard to match the front and make it enjoyable. We repaired stucco and painted the exterior of the house (Jutland) the pictures don't do it justice, it is green even if it looks more yellow!;0) We also sealed all of our concrete in attempts to make it as watertight as possible and it freshened up the look of the entire house. This is where you'll find us as the summer winds down, in the backyard enjoying a BBQ and enjoying our beloved home! ;0)

Ain't life Grand?

We walked all the way out to Bright Angel Pt. and then Adree refused to go to the edge...

I did finally get her out there a little further...;0)

Lee took lots of pictures with his new camera...

and all the kids wanted to sit in the window below the lodge!

We had a very clear view, as you can see! ;0)

As you can see, we visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon yesterday! I'll have you know that not working every single holiday has it's perks, like being able to go and visit and do things together! I know we didn't go very far, but the kids have never been (well, to their remembering) and we decided it was about time! Actually Lee has only been a couple of times himself, so he quite enjoyed it as well.
We amused ourselves by picnicking at Jacob Lake and teaching the kids to smell the trees...hmmm...chocolate, vanilla, strawberry? Strawberry, definitely! ;0) If you want to see more pics (sorry I am to lazy to post anymore) click here.
The kids were quite impressed, although I couldn't get Adree to go all the way to the railings...which is weird considering she loves all the scary roller coasters at Lagoon! The boys thought it was very neat and even Drake thought it was "very beautiful and an awful long way down..." ;0) Of course we had to ban the use of video games once we got into the park...sheesh! children! ;0) Adree complained most to of the way out to Bright Angel Pt. that she was going to fall and Sethee shouted loudly on the trail that you would definitely die on the way down if you did fall, which wasn't helpful! It was a chore trying to keep Drake out of the way of other people and not walk teetering along the edge of the trail. Adree kept a death grip on him on the way out but, I made her walk ahead on the way back and I shadowed Drake on the way back, pulling him out of the way when necessary. Yes, thankfully it wasn't that crowded. ;0)
At the end of the day Sethee said on the way back to the car, "No wondew I was so excited to go to the Gwand Canyon, it was vewy beautiful!" We really did have a good time and it was fun to show the kids where I went as a kid!

Surprise!! She's 10! =0)

Miss Adree sitting in her new chair...

*Gasp!*

So excited for her new bed!

Yes, it's true...I have officially gotten older, wait?! It's wasn't my birthday? Haha, as I'm sure most parents know, when your child gets older you instantly become old. Seeing as though my baby girl turned 10 yesterday, then I aged an entire decade! I mean, I can still see in my minds eye with vivid detail, my baby girl in my arms and her brother in tow...and since I have opened my eyes and realized that we have added 10 years, then I for certain have gotten old!
Little Miss Adree announced yesterday before bed that this had in fact been the best birthday ever, largely impart for the big new surprise waiting for her when we got home! She got up and opened a few things that were wrapped for her at her place in the morning, had breakfast, got dressed and let me fix her hair with curls and a pretty new barrette before I dropped her and her brother off at school for the day. When I arrived home, I got to work disassembling her bunk bed and removing it from her room. When I was finished, I moved some of her furniture around and Lee went out side to fetch her birthday present surprise. He and I put it together and he went to go get ready for the work day and I put the rest of her room together. After school I picked up Adree and Seth and we traveled to Wal-Mart to pick up the things she wanted for dinner. We wandered around the store and she picked out a couple of things from the clearance racks she wanted and went up front to pay. I discovered that I didn't have my wallet and informed the cashier of this and went outside to see if it was in the car, it wasn't. I called Lee and he found it at home and drove to Wal-Mart with it for me. That really sucks by the way, when you forget your wallet at home and you live in Santa Clara and Wal-Mart is in Bloomington! After getting my wallet, I payed and we made our way home finally. We got there and Lee wasn't home yet. Funny, he was just at Wal-Mart...hmmm...I called him and asked where he was as he pulled into the driveway behind me. I told Adree she had to wait for Lee before going in and she pointed out her bunk-bed, that was disassembled in the living room, and made her way to her room with Lee by the hand. She gasped as she came in to the room, "You got me a new bed!?, The one I wanted!" As you can see from the picture, she was super excited and that's the biggest smile I've seen from her in ages!
The bed. The bed was a bed she spied at Furniture Row when Lee and I were actually looking at mattresses for our bed. We walked by the beds and she was pointing out all the pretty beds they had there. Lee had wandered off and I could see her climb up on a bed in front of me and when I got closer I could see what a pretty bed it was. Black wood with slats and sleigh style curves, a very girlie, but not immature bed. She was in love! "I LOVE this bed, Mommy", she told me. I assured her that it was very pretty and practical too, being a day bed with a trundle she would still have room for people to come stay over. She wouldn't outgrow this bed, unlike the bunk-bed and it would serve her well through the rest of her school years. She went to find Lee and hauled him to the bed by the hand and announced that this was only thing she wanted for her birthday. Lee checked the price and sighed saying this is all she would get for Christmas too. Adree wandered off and I told lee that this would be perfect and practical as well. He said he would consider it and shooed Adree and I home and promptly ordered it for her when we left. Adree was never the wiser!
Yes, how on earth Adree got a new bed out of Lee and I needing a new mattress is beyond me, but as far as birthday surprises, this one takes the cake! 10 years and countless hugs, brush-snagging snarls, polished toenails, all things pink, and incessant bossing of her brothers later my little girl is growing up. Of course that means I'm growing old as well, but oh well! =0)