That spooky time of the year

Since Halloween is on Sunday this year, we did the Saturday 3 ward "trunk and treat". We had Kurt's 3 and went with Kim & Deven. I don't have photo's of the other 7 -yet. Hopefully next year we'll have them all together and that will be an event to look forward too.
We were given some great big pumpkins so the kids and I spent part of the morning cleaning out and carving. Didn't they draw some great faces for their pumpkins?

McKayla and Kurt were adorable zombies - so when I wanted to take Jake and Ellie's photo- I said "Hold Hands" and they stuck their hands out in front - just like the zombies. I shepherded Jake and Ellie. They were so funny. Jake got into it and would skip his happy way to the next candy bowl. He had to hold his bag himself and got the straps all tangled up. People managed to tuck candy in his bag anyway. He even managed to say "shank ewe" Ellie would give the "who do you think you are?" stare and walk backwards away from the cars. Normally she chatters a lot, but she was a silent princess this time. People thought they were so cute, they got lots of candy.

And this is what kids waiting and waiting look like. - By the way - our afternoon activity was to make the great bags for candy. We used big paper sacks and stapled heavy duty handles on. Then the kids decorated- lots of glitter. The house is chaos at times but the fun makes it worth the effort. We pray that our little ones are great friends all through their lives as they have some pretty great adventures now.
I've never gone to the trunk and treat before. Our kids were grown before that tradition started. I had a lot of fun with this one. It solves the "what do we do when Halloween is on Sunday" delema. The kids got lots of candy, we saw lots of people we love and like and some really great costumes. (headless horseman) We were home at an early hour and today, Sunday has been a really wonderful day.

Sleep over

One of the best parts of being grandparents is to be able to have cousin sleep-overs. We went to Hannah's soccer game on Friday- She is an "awesome" soccer player and came home with a couple extra girls.
McKayla, Hallie and Emma settled down (sort-of) The truth is that they really did settle down well. They had soccer games on Saturday to go too- So they had to go to sleep. We tucked them in and when I went up stairs-
This is what I found. Stella, Bree and Aspen. Good night girls, come and stay with us again.

Pumpkin Yummy

Doesn't this look good? Carlee made pumpkin casserole for Sunday dinner. IT had a sausage/burger and rice mixture. When you serve it, scrape a serving of pumpkin onto your plate and enjoy. It was yummy.

A FHE to remember

We have been blessed this week to have Tyler, Christy and Jake here in the evenings while Kurt works and Carlee coaches Volleyball. Kim had prepared a wonderful family home evening on the word of wisdom.

Jake and Ellie didn't listen to the lesson, but they really enjoyed sitting by each other and being cute. Ellie decided that Jake needed to take off his shoes, so she did the honors for him.- Back to the lesson.... Kim had made some beautiful bananna cupcakes to illustrate that somethings that are not good for us- look really yummy and good. She said the kids could have any cupcake they wanted, but strongly recommended that they do not take ones with sprinkles on. Carter and McKayla wanted the sprinkles, but because their mom "strongly recommended that they don't" took plain ones. Tyler couldn't resist.

There was sand mixed the cake batter and even though the cupcake tasted good- it was really bad to eat. Tyler's so nice, he would hae eaten it anyway- but we traded him a sand-less one.

Deven did a much better job of illustrating how nasty it is to pick something that Heavenly Father recommends "strongly" that we not partake of. They decided that next time (if there ever is a next time) use too much salt instead of sand. Sand is very crunchy on the teeth and the cupcakes tasted good. Salt would have made the cake nasty.

spur of the moment

Are you ready for an adventure? Load 7 kids and 3 adults into the motor-home and head for Kirkham Hot Springs.

Kirkham has natural hot water springs that flow down the rocks to the middle fork of the Payette River. It's right by the road- and very popular. We like to go there after a back-packing trip and just because it's a nice place to be.

And rocky. Wear water shoes, and if possible - get Opa to carry you.

Some of the water pours like a shower into a pool below. Most of the little kids didn't like the spray- but the fine sand and rocks at the bottom of the pools were fun to play in.
We climbed over the rocks to get to other pools and explore - Gil climbed over and over because the little ones all wanted his help to get there.


Christy's first step into the water wasn't what she liked, so after some lotion and a good hug, she joined the kids in the water and had a great time after all.

The boys went through the rock tunnel- on the other side is a nice soaking pool.

The water on the other side of the line of rocks is the river. Yes, it's cold in the river. The kids were trying to skip rocks (ie: throw lots of little rocks into the river) when Jake hucked a shoe into the river. It was rescued.

After we dried off, we took the nature hike. The steep downhill was not fun for those in flip-flops. One of the springs had 120 degree water. Stay on the trail!

Do you want to come here again? YES!

Discovery Center

On Thursday and Friday last week, there was no school. What to do? Carlee remembered that the kids all had passes to the Discovery Center - adults admitted free with child- so we decided to spend the afternoon there. We picked up Emma and Aspen and met Carlee, Tyler, Christy and Jake there. What a deal. It turned out that every Friday in October admission is FREE and the Discovery Center was packed! We decided to stay, after all we had driven downtown just for this.
The Discovery Center is like a warehouse divided into rooms with multiple hands-on exhibits exploring sound, light , motion, color, etc. The first thing the kids did was wait in line for the air-brake swing.
You pull your self up until the swing hits the pulley then when you let go, the swing gently glides down to a stop. That's it. But look at these smiles.

Jake and Ellie didn't swing- in fact, for most of the exhibits they were almost big enough to try
And a few knobs were at their eye level. I think they had more fun watching the older kids and trying to do what ever they did. One of my favorite displays was a working camera with a green wall and green blankets. The camera had a background projected onto it and the kids on camera posed and played "can't see me", and bodyless heads with the green blankets. No picture. It was really fun though.
We had parked at Julia Davis Park and so afterwards, we had snacks and let the kids play. It was a little chilly, but the kids didn't seem to mind- especially when they were playing tag.



Jed's family went camping and had a great day too.

We had given the girls some warm calli to drink, I turned around and saw Ellie had spilled. Next thing I knew she was cleaning up the spill all by her self.

Of course, standing on the table while wiping it off, isn't kosher, but she was really cute.

So Bree decided to help her clean up too. (and after I got them off the table, I cleaned it again. Lucky me)

She's eleven

This is kind of a funny photo of our fun loving Hannah. Are you ready to join in the fun?
There is never a dull moment
And she is awfully sweet and a really terrific cousin and granddaughter. Athletic and talented too.

So Hannah, Happy Birthday to you!