Punkin' Carvin'

And to think, all these years we've been throwing that slimy pumpkin pulp in the compost pile...



What other use could you possibly have for hollowed-out pumpkins?


Wrasslin' with Mommy.


The finished product.

Max's B-Day & Halloween Party #1

On Saturday we joined Brooke's family and friends in celebration of Max's 4th birthday. Max is way into superheroes and quite a few heroes showed up at his party. Even Super G showed up! Gavin had a great time not only at Max's party but at Max's grandma's annual Halloween party later in the evening. While Gavin was having the time of his life with his cousins, Brandon and I went to Sean & Emily's house to have dinner with them and with Tom & Paula before the 6 of us donned our costumes and went to Jason & Gabriella Hunter's annual Halloween bash in SLC. Lots of great costumes, two kegs of Fat Tire, a DJ spinning party tunes, and not much sleep.

The Crazies

Every evening before bedtime Gavin gets a little C R A Z Y....

San Juan Birthday Float

We had the extreme pleasure this year of spending my birthday floating down the river on Stella, our faithful, inflatable raft. Our group consisted of 14 adults, 3 kids, and 3 toddlers floating on 5 rafts, a cataraft, 2 duckies, and a kayak. We floated the San Juan River from Sand Island (near Bluff) to Mexican Hat over the course of 3 days and 2 nights. The weather was fabulous - warm and sunny during the day and bundle-up-and-snuggle chilly at night. It's late enough in the season that the cottonwoods were aflame in a gorgeous golden yellow. We saw a few bighorn sheep and geese along the way.

Gavin was happy and content pretty much the whole time (special thanks to the Zierchers and their wooden Thomas & Friends train set) and he slept like a rock in the tent. I'm thrilled not only because it made the trip that much nicer, but it also bodes well for future floats. His favorite part was the rapids. Seriously - he kept saying, "mo' bubbooes?". Now if only we can figure out how to get him to take a mid-day nap on the boat...

Jen Z. made me a special birthday tutu and a birthday crown to wear during the day, and in the evening she and the rest of the crew cooked up a heap of the best enchiladas I think I've ever had (the margaritas may have had something to do with that, but I still think they were the best ever).

We forgot to bring our camera so on the drive down we stopped and bought a new one that's much more compact than our forgotten one, while also boasting twice the resolution in a shockproof, waterproof body. The battery only lasted a day, but we managed to get a few good shots. Check back for a link to the PicasaWeb album.

Little Bear Bottoms

The fall festivities continued this evening. Little Bear Bottoms is in the south end of Cache Valley. It houses two of the Valley's many corn mazes, but its real claim to fame is a giant straw bale pyramid. The pyramid itself is a wonder to behold and beneath it is a mini-maze of twisting tunnels. The most amazing thing about it is that they don't make you sign a waiver absolving them of fault in the event that you tumble off of it, or worse, get crushed by one or twenty of the giant straw bales. The Stulls managed to join us on short notice, which made the otherwise tedious and frustrating corn maze experience kinda fun. I'd like to say that there are no pictures from the corn maze because I want it to remain a mystery to those who haven't experienced it yet, but the sad truth is that the camera battery died.

The eyes have it.

I especially love the part at the end where he laughs like The Count from Sesame Street.

Paradise Valley Orchard

This morning Gavin got stuck with two needles and he's now done with his immunizations! Until kindergarten, that is. The doctor said he's a "well proportioned kid" and was really impressed when Gavin showed off his ability to name a few colors and body parts. Our little genius. Gavin was very brave and was rewarded with a sucker and a few hours of fun bopping around town with Daddy while I put some time in at work. They stopped in at Magical Moon Toys to play with their elaborate Thomas the Train set and from what Brandon said Gavin enjoyed it almost a little too much - and he was NOT impressed when it was time to go. Nuff said.

This afternoon we went out to the Paradise Valley Orchard along with Brooke, McKenzy & Max who drove up from Ogden. The kiddos had fun pulling each other around in the wagon and we all ate more than our fill of fresh, crunchy apples. The Crispins were my favorite. I learned today that they're a northern type of Granny Smith and that regular Granny Smiths don't grow this far north. Who knew? Brooke took home a gallon of cider and tomorrow Brandon plans to go back and pick up a few gallons of a special, freshly pressed "hard cider blend" to ferment into MommyDaddyJuice. I love autumn. Click here for more pictures.

Bubble Boy

We decided to try the new Johnson & Johnson "no more tears" bubble bath. It wasn't real impressive (no perceivable difference in bubble-ocity over plain old J&J bath wash)... until I turned on the jets.

CCC Camp just cuz

Today was the nicest day we've had in a week and probably the nicest day we'll have in the coming week. We ran some errands this morning and then Brandon and I did some fall cleaning and organizing while Gavin napped. We rewarded ourselves with a little stroll through the CCC camp this afternoon.

Trials of Life

I myself have a hard time killing anything. I rescue spiders and I've even been known to escort a wasp out of the house. So I'm glad that I wasn't around when Brandon and Gavin decided it would be interesting to see what happens to a grasshopper (one of a bazillion evil raspberry bush eaters) when it's run over repeatedly with a toy truck. FYI, anything insectual is classified as a "bee" in Gavin-speak.