Over the River and Through the Woods

The week of Thanksgiving we pulled the boys out of school a few hours early on Tuesday and headed over the Snake River and through the sparse woods of the Nevada mountains to Grandmother's house. It wasn't too bad of a drive and we got there at 10:45ish p.m. We got a good night's sleep and then we were there all day Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday! What a fun visit.

Grandpa had set up the GeoTracks in the garage on top of several carpet remnants, so the cousins had a place to play together that could stay up the whole time. On Wednesday they were going to go to the Bass Pro Shop, but only Dallin wanted to go with Grandpa and Lance. Grandma had some places to go thought up for our visit, but the boys really didn't want to go anywhere. They just wanted to play with Emma, Lacey, Kent, and Ethan. Cousins are great!

We did go to see Emma and Lacey in their choir performance of The Nutcracker at their school. The cousins really all loved making gingerbread men with Grandma. YUMMY! They also made suncatchers with her. We also enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with the best turkeys ever! I actually enjoyed the turkey. Mom did a turkey breast in the oven and Dad smoked a turkey outside in his smoker. Very good stuff! Elisabeth makes fabulous rolls (even the pan Ethan stepped in turned out really yummy and not too funny looking :).

Black Friday shopping in Las Vegas is the BEST! Lance and I left around 5:30 to head around the corner to Target, then he hit Kohl's , we went to a game store, Walmart, another Walmart, Kmart, Burlington Coat Factory were we ran into Elisabeth (that was fun), then we checked out another Burlington for Elisabeth and went to Michael's, a party supply store, two dollar stores. (Las Vegas has the best dollar store ever--I bought spray on Banana Boat sunscreen--the big bottle--for $1 instead of $8! I got 10 bottles!) Later in the day I went to JoAnn's for some flannel with Elisabeth and Lacey. And I think Lance went a few places too--BestBuy and Office Depot probably. So much fun! I love shopping with Lance like that. I do know Lance took Lacey and Emma with him to Home Depot once and they had fun! He was getting wood to make his Dad's Christmas present. I headed out with Mom and Elisabeth on Saturday too. There was plenty of "stimulating the economy" going on between all of us that weekend!

Sunday morning we headed out pretty early to go to Hinckley. We stopped for church in Enoch and got to Hinckley just in time for Sunday dinner with Lance's parents and DeAnn and Darren and kids before they headed home. Then we got to visit with Sandra, Eldon, Chad and Traci that evening. We like being able to stop by and visit some. Monday we went to Pleasant Grove and visited my Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth. They can never believe how big the boys have gotten. We don't get to see them enough. I really love them. It's fun to finish our trips up with a visit to their house.

Say "Aardvark!"

Family Pictures! The dread! The bribing! The planning!

I love having a good family picture, but honestly they are a lot of work! Lance has really hated getting them done ever since this picture.


We were at JCPenny's. We waited for a while. The camera only went one way. Thayne and Bruce were doing pretty good, but Dallin, the older child, would slump down when he smiled or go up really tall on on his knees. At that point I'd have never guess that the four year old would be our hardest to get a picture of. (I've learned a lot since then!) Then Thayne threw up! It all went forward and not on our clothes (whew!). What a mess! Finally we got a decent picture. That experience was by far our worst! So when we get pictures done now Lance is usually pretty apprehensive before hand.

Linsday, of Steele Photography, is my visiting teaching companion. She knows the kids and she is fast and has a fast camera. Plus, she's a pro! We're pretty happy with her work! We'd been trying to get this done since January or February. Between her schedule (a new baby) and the leaves on the trees we finally got together. We even introduced her to our favorite (and much closer than Boise's Kathryn Albertson's Park) spot for outdoor pictures. (Lance has decided he doesn't mind family pictures outside. Must less stifling than a studio.) The park in the Island's subdivision close to our old house. We've been there for several of our family pictures. Lance told this kids something while I was out of the van before we started too. It was some big secret that they were all agreeing too. I still don't know what went down, but we were all posed and then he said, "Aardvark" and they all started smiling and laughing! It totally worked until we got in the second pose and Luke got mad and cried. Then Lindsay bribed him with a nickel! She's amazing and it worked! Thanks Lindsay and Lance for good pictures!




I also wanted to get some pictures of just me an Lance since it was our 15th anniversary this year. We feel like we look old in these pictures, but I really want them for our 50th anniversary so we can think of how young we looked in our thirties!


Lance is so cute to me! I love him lots! Thanks for the great family to take pictures of!

Corn Maze at Linder Farms

One thing that grows really well in our valley is CORN! We LOVE corn. It grows in a field behind our house and I was a bit nervous that one boy or another would go into the corn field and get lost. After taking them to a corn maze they know what it is like now. Our cub scouts sold discounted tickets to the Linder Farms Corn Maze (what a great fund raiser!). So we actually went to the corn maze as a family. It was an adventure we'll probably do again with a few adjustments. Dallin went with his friend a few days earlier so he was a bit unfun and bossy with his brothers--teenager time. He got in big trouble and did much better by the time we went to pick out pumpkins. So next time, he'll act better or we won't let him go with friends first. Thayne enjoyed the corn maze until the corn pollen or dust or something caused him to have an asthma attack. The poor guy could not breath and we didn't have an inhaler with us and we were as far in the corn maze as we could get. Next time: Thayne takes allergy meds before we go and we take an inhaler with us. He'll have much more fun when he can breath.

The rest of us had a great time. Hunter and Luke have an amazing sense of direction. They did really good getting us to the check points.

The boys loved the bridge between a couple of the mazes. Thayne, Bruce, and Hunter. We were just starting so Thayne still had some good smiles in him.
Hunter in the corn. After a few days people try to take short cuts through the maze, so the flags are put up to prevent cheating!
Bruce really had a great time finding the check points.


Here we are all together. I find it interesting that strangers volunteer to take a picture, but they don't look at the screen to see that most of our eyes are closed when it was taken. Poor Thayne. I can tell he doesn't feel too well in this picture.
Left to right: Melissa, Dallin, Lance, Hunter, Luke, Thayne and Bruce

After the maze we went on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick our future jack o lanterns! Bruce was pretty happy and Luke was thrilled. Luke LOVES LOVES LOVES hay rides. He went on his first hay ride that he could remember on July 24th. Well, he went on several that day because he liked it so much. So we had to go on hay ride in October too!


After we picked our pumpkins, Lance asked anyone if they were hungry. Then he whipped out a loaf of pumpkin bread out of his trusty fanny pack! Okay, it wasn't a full sized loaf. It was out a 2/3 sized loaf. I was just shaking my head at him, but I was secretly grateful he brought food. Dallin was so funny! He took his chunk of pumpkin bread, looked at the pumpkins, and put his other hand up by his mouth to shield the pumpkins view of what he was eating and said, "I'm so sorry you have to see this, pumpkins."

Football Fever!

One reason fall is my favorite time of year is because it is football season! I have always loved watching football! So I am quite happy that Dallin really loves playing football. It is the best sport that he has tried. Soccer was fun to practice, but not too fun to play. He was a great goalie,but he didn't like running after the ball and he's a bit like his dad and not aggressive enough to steal the ball. That's okay--there were more sports to try. Basketball was the same as soccer. He only did one year of that. Baseball was better once Dallin figured out how to hit the ball--sometimes it's hard being a lefty. But baseball players really don't spend a lot of time at bat--they mostly spend a lot of time standing around--especially if you are in the out field during little league! So football. Okay. Dallin LOVES hitting people. He loves TACKLING. He loves playing DEFENSE! He doesn't even really mind doing up/downs (or down/ups) for conditioning. He is getting some serious muscles too!

The whole experience is made even better when you get to play on a team that won every game by A LOT! They had a great year and the Kuna 8th grade is the District III Champions. They ended up playing South Middle School, which is the team they lost to last year for the District Championship. So it was a really sweet game.

Through the season Dallin played on special teams for kick off. Which means, he got on the field lots since his team scored lots. I really should have kept track of their scores, but I didn't. Now I'm bummed. I have this number though plus or minus a few points--Over the session they scored something like 181 points and the defense only gave up 34 points! Impressive. I hope Dallin continues to play and that he works really hard at it and runs faster! Congratulations to KUNA 8TH GRADE FOOTBALL TEAM! GO KAVEMEN!

Dallin is #73. This is on a kick off against West Middle School.

Dallin is in his three point stance playing left defensive tackle against West Middle School.


Dallins says, "Football is AWESOME! It's the best sport in the world and I wish it didn't have to end."

Hunter's New Career

Hunter has always liked coloring and drawing. He really does have some pretty good skills. This past month he's had much success. I think he should make it a childhood career!

All the first graders at his school entered into a coloring contest at the Nampa Edwards theater. Hunter won 1st place in his class and he got two tickets to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. He took me on a date there the beginning of October when we were out of school. It was a fun movie and Hunter had a great time. I really enjoy going to the nice theater and enjoyed the comfy chairs and nice smell (the cheap theaters have a scent to them that takes a few minutes to get over--but hey, I don't mind it since I spend less money.)
His picture was with the other winners in the lobby of the theater for a month. His picture is the top left corner.

The week of Halloween Hunter and Luke both colored pictures for a coloring contest at Paul's Market in Kuna. I got called on Halloween morning and told that he had won the contest for his age group. He won five dollars! Luke was bit bummed he didn't win too, but he got candy while he was there--so he was okay.
Hunter used his money at the book fair at school to buy a Sponge Bob book. The book only had black and white drawings in it, which he colored immediately!


So now I'm on the prowl for more coloring contest! Maybe he'll win a big prize sometime! I got a $75 saving bond from a fire prevention poster contest when I was in fourth grade. I cashed it out my freshman year of college for$72 and some change. It would have been one more year to reach full value--not worth it to me to wait--I needed a homecoming dress! I think Hunter enjoys the immediate rewards more! He's quite rich!

Trick or Treating Time

Lance and I dressed up this year for our couples party as Fred and Daphne. I think Lance looks great in the pictures, but I was not too photogenic this year. But I liked my costume--I felt like a cartoon character.

Yeah for Halloween on a Saturday! It was fun this year. Our neighbor, Alex Sawyer came with us around the neighborhoods. We do our street and a few places close by. The houses are pretty far apart so we drive. The boys get about 1/2 a bucket full of really good candy. They even scored some full sized candy bars too. We don't get many trick or treaters--about 7. I think I'll get some full sized candy bars for them next year too! The boys didn't even get ONE Tootsie roll. Yes, I'm complaining. I really like them.

Here's our cute younger boys as Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

We took them with us to Paul's Market in Kuna and they entered into a very casual costume contest. I think they won 2nd place--it was based on the applause of about 7 employees. They went for the little 1 year olds both times in pretty normal costumes. There were some really creative costumes there that were much better. The boys both got some candy from the service desk so they were really happy.

Thayne was much more excited about dressing up on Halloween night since Alex got to come with us. Bruce is on the left, then Alex, and Thayne is on the right. It's a good thing that they have different shoes!


Dallin, who had professed to be too old to trick or treat, stayed home to scare people coming to our house. He decorated the porch a few days before Halloween and he made a stuffed person to sit up on the porch. Then on Halloween night as we were getting ready to leave he brought the person in and started putting the clothes on! I had no idea he was planning to do this. He dressed up just like his stuffed person and sat in the same chair on the porch. It was great! Too bad for him we get so few trick or treaters. He sat out there for an hour. He did get to scare a couple of Alex's siblings when they came a bit after 7:00. The others didn't come until almost 9:00, and it was bit chilly by then.
Dallin's Trick: Sorry this is sideways--I forgot I was holding the camera that way.

Happy Halloween

The boys, except Dallin, seem to be super excited for Halloween this year. Luke has been asking since September, "When is Halloween?" I'd say, "Next month." "ugh! That's what you said last time!" Things got better when we got to October and I could say weeks.

Wednesday was Hunter's school party and the ward party, so we all got to dress up. Luke is the most excited of them all. He is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and so cute. He just bounces around all happy. I found him some brown valor sweats at Savers to turn into his costume. They have worked out very well. We added fur, ears, antlers and a tail. He didn't get a red nose for the school party, but he came and reminded me for the ward party.
(Hunter's 1st grade class & Luke --Miss Recanzone's class)



Hunter is Santa Claus. He has been trilled to team up with Luke. He has also put lots of people on the Naughty List. If anyone teased him about his costume or told him he had the wrong holiday, etc. he told them, "I'm putting you on the Naughty List!" It always brought a chuckle. Those that told him what they wanted for Christmas, asked if they could sit on his lap, or said "cool costume" he put them on the nice list.


Thayne and Bruce both wanted to be Ninjas. I just bought costumes and they were happy with that. They were even okay with the fact that they matched (I wasn't willing to spend and extra $10 for a different costume so they could have different ones--they got the matching cheapest ones I could find!) until it came time to get dressed Wednesday night. Thayne was refusing to match Bruce. He wanted to spray paint his a different color. We told him NO. Then he said he'd color it with a marker--still a NO. I finally told him if he didn't wear it I was going to make him pay me back for the costume out of his commission over the next month or so. He finally got dressed!

Dallin is TOO OLD to dress up this year! But, he still had fun at the ward party in the deacon's booth. They had a William Tell theme. A piece of plywood with three characters on it and holes for the deacon's faces. Then the kids got a toy bow and arrow with a large marshmallow dipped in pudding. Fun shooting those at the deacons! It didn't work out as good as they hoped, but the deacons all had a great time doing it. Eventually the kids just started throwing the marshmallows at them.

At the party I got to hang out with Luke the whole time. He really liked the donuts on a string. It was fun to watch. The wind was blowing enough that it was hard for the kids to get the donuts in their mouths (we were at the Nampa South Stake Center Outbuilding). I was actually relieved to not be working at that booth with the MiaMaids since I got released. I hope they had fun doing it, even though it was cold, since I gave them the idea. The Priest and Laurels did a spook alley in the huge winter scout tent. Luke was bouncing with excitement to go in. He was so brave and he looked for the jokes once he got in. He would be a little scared and nervous at first to touch the "brains" or "eyeballs" but then he laughed when he figured it out.

Next update will be a Halloween recap!