Pumpkin Carving Party!!

Monday night we invited my parents and my brothers family over for a little pumpkin carving party! First we had a festive dinner, complete with"witches brew."

(It was crazy hair day at school... that's why the Mohawks, spikes and fun colors!!)

I had my brother in law Richie who is a doctor, scoop these fingers out of the ER garbage can at the hospital where he works...They came in the mail packed on ice.... the boys were all pretty freaked out!!! heee heee!

gummy body parts...actually pretty tasty!!
a nose, a severed foot and and an ear are shown below in the chips!

I sort of get a kick out of the blood and gore of Halloween. Thanks to my two uncles Jeff and Jason who teased me and scared me my whole life until I just became insensitive. However scary movies... I DO NOT do, and haunted houses, forest, corn mazes etc... FREAK me out... I don't like moving creatures out in the dark...
I can do blood and gross stuff though! Maybe its the nurse in me? Get this... Glen was seriously feeling sick to his stomach when he saw the fingers and even the gummy body parts??? They are tiny pieces of candy that don't even look real??
He said that looking at them made his stomach flip flop... silly... but I still love him!

My dad is a goof ball!! He had a little to much fun with the fingers!!

oh, and he is thee best pumpkin carver ever... I have never seen pumpkins so clean and scraped out, he's a bit of a perfectionist! And the faces he carves are always the favorite!!

My HOT hubby!!

Evan deep in concentration...
what is it with sticking their tongue out that helps boys to do their best work??

My mom and dad reading Gabe his bedtime story while we all finished our carving

the jack-o- lanterns and some rowdy boys!!

This year Glen thought it would be fun to illuminate the pumkins with glow sticks! It was pretty fun to have all the colors. We turned out the lights and layed around singing Halloween songs about witches, ghosts, skeletons and pumkins... A tradition we've had since I was a little girl!
The perfect ending to a fun Halloween night!!

Calling All Hero's... North Logan City "Pumpkin Walk"

wash the pumpkins

paint the pumpkins

decorate the pumpkins!!!

We always look forward to the "pumpkin Walk" For those of you who have never been, you are missing out! It works something like this... There is a committee of several crafty, talented, creative people who do LOTS of work to pull this off. Each year they choose a theme and then people in the community sign up to decorate pumkins, squash, gourds... etc to be part of a scene that fits under the theme for the year. This year the theme was "calling all hero's" Lots of people come together to make this fun tradition happen and this year I was able to have a glimpse into what a big production it really is!! I remember back when the pumpkin walk was first started by a local family named the Beutler's. My grandparents new them and so we went to see their creations each year when I was little. They invited people to their farm where they did all the work and set up scenes of people and animals made out of pumpkins... well it became so well known, and such a big thing that it was too much for them to handle!! So they combined with North Logan City and I think several of their kids and grand kids are still heavily involved too (The Beutlers who started it have since passed away) but now they do it at a local park and lots more of the community is involved in helping with it! This year I got to know one of our neighbors, who is one of those crafty, talented, creative people on the committee.... I told her that I heard that she is involved with the pumpkin walk and how I have LOVED it for years! She said "do you wanna help with it?" of course I answered "YES!" and was excited to take part in such a neat Fall tradition!!! In years past I was always impressed with the scenes and the creativity but I never truly appreciated all the work that goes into not only doing a scene but ALL the other STUFF- pumpkins lit up everywhere, hay bales lining the path, fire pits all around the park, the dressed up witches, the cookies, the corn stalks etc.... It is a big deal and we had a blast decorating a few pumpkins for the Noah's Ark Scene, along with some of our other neighbors!!

We made the bears

the pigs

and the snakes.

For our Family Home Evening Activity we got started... and my boys were so excited to help and then to see the final "look" when it was all put together!! Evan and Eli are below by the sign that lists all of the AMAZING people that helped with the scene. I couldn't believe some of the animals... and the details... so CUTE! hippos, elephants, giraffe's, lions, tigers, monkeys, sheep, beaver, crocodiles, hedgehogs, mice, skunks, ladybugs, frogs, swans... I think that's all of them and then there was the back drop, and Noah and his wife and the grass and the lake, and I was just so in awe of these ladies that I got to know... WOW! So next time when you walk through the pumpkin Walk really try to soak in not just the cuteness and creativity.... but the skill and hard work of so many people who just do it for FUN and for everyone else to enjoy!!! Pretty impressive if you ask me!!

We went and walked through the scenes pretty much everyday that it was open!! We had to check on our animals! :) One night we went with my parents and my brother's family and then walked up to my mom's house after for hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls!! I love my family!!

Handsome Gabe all bundled up

Can't wait for next Year!!

Five a day??

I get so tired of "food battles." If you have no idea what I'm talking about than I am an even worse mother than I thought! I swear that there are like 4 maybe 5 things that Evan and Eli like to eat. ( and that includes one being candy) I find myself negotiating with food saying these dreaded words a lot... "just eat 3 more bites" or "If you don't eat all of your food, no dessert" oh I've even used "there are children starving in Africa right now who would give anything to eat a baked potato. So you better be grateful." and "small children in central America only have rice to eat... you are so lucky that we have grilled cheese sandwiches...EAT THEM" I was never that picky!! Most days I just try to let it go and then some days like today... with all the treats around because of Halloween.... It just drives me crazy!! I hope that they are getting the nutrients that they need and I try real hard never to give in about the "you eat what I make for dinner, if you choose not to than your done eating for the night" rule. My one bright shining hope is my baby... Awwwww He LOVES all fruits and all vegetables and he has at least his share of 5 a day and probably his brothers too! Here are some cute pictures of him wanting "more trees" and he couldn't get enough corn on the cob from my mom's garden this summer. I loved to watch him eat it. He would stay on a perfectly straight row all the way down the cob and then turn it a bit when he got to the end and start on the next row... like he'd been eating corn on the cob forever! I'm sure that when he hits two he'll start only eating frozen waffles and hot dogs for every meal like the others did... but until then, somebody besides me is eating the veggies that I cook!!
Bless his heart!

"A fair is a veritable smorgasbord orgasbord orgasbord ..."

One of my all time favorite movies is Charlotte's Web.... As a little girl I longed for a little pink runt of my own and dreamed of pushing it around in my doll buggy, swaddling it in blankets just like Charlotte did... It just didn't work out to have a pet pig (or any pet for that matter) so my sisters and I settled for the neighbors kittens. Every summer... we dressed them in our doll clothes and bonnets and carried the poor things around all day playing "house"... we survived through lots of scratches and I can still picture half dressed kitties who managed to escape scampering off to hide. But my childhood dream of owning a little pig is not the only reason that this movie is a favorite... the best part, in my opinion, about this movie is the description of a FAIR! What would summer be without the Fair?? I love the part in the movie where Goose sings to Tempelton the rat telling him all about the fair.... He has visions of hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, hamburgers, snow cones, donuts, watermelon, corn on the cob.... etc... I love the smells at the fair! Well, that is until you get to the rabbit/chicken building. I try to inhale a deep breath just before entering, run in show my kids one or two of the chickens and rabbits as I hold my breath then run for the door gasping for air!! I seriously detest the smell in there! But awwww the other smells are heaven!! It has been a tradition since as long as I can remember to go to the Cache County Fair every August. Most years we try to see the rodeo too. There is this little shack down by the rodeo grounds where they sell "posse burgers." It is a fundraiser booth for the local law enforcement and these burgers are to die for! Each year as the fair approaches I make the decision that once a year it's ok to indulge in a posse burger! I love em! Well since Evan was about four years old I started helping him to enter little items into the fair... we grew up doing 4-H. I remember my mom and several of our friends mom's teaching us skills for 4-H. I loved summer time and having those 4-H classes... we learned to cook indoor and over a fire outdoor too. I remember entering cookies and pigs in a blanket. We learned about gardening and entered produce into the fair. We learned how to do needlepoint and how to sew and entered those items into the fair also. It was always exciting to work so hard and to feel the anticipation... wondering what color ribbon we'd recieve. Yep, the fair brings lots of great memories for me. I love seeing the same sparkle in Evan and Eli's eyes as they find their creation on display at the fair...

Elijah

Evan

This year we decided it might be fun to try a big project, since they are getting older. My sister's were both in town and although they live in the BIG cities of NY and LA the fair is a summer highlight for them too!! So we got our kids together and they worked on making fleece blankets to enter into the fair. It was a big undertaking but turned out to be really fun... the kids were so excited about picking out their fabric and being able to make their very own blankets. They worked hard and it was a time consuming project. We loaded up the kids early the next morning so that they could enter the blankets officially. Well we had a "run in" first thing.... some snippety blue haired lady with her nose in the air told us those blankets did not count as a craft????? She couldn't really explain why but mumbled on about how there is no skill involved in tying knots around fleece.... we reminded her that you first have to cut the fabric just right since there were two pieces of fleece and that little hands had to then cut strips in the fleece all the way around the blanket and then they had to tie them... it took about 5 hours for these kids to complete this project.... She refused to enter the blankets and was very difficult and rude to work with.... she was saying all this in front of our kids who were starting to catch on and wondering why their project may not be accepted!!! we couldn't believe it!! Well my sister Sara gave that lady a piece of her mind and finally that old geezer waved her arm and told us we'd have to enter them as an afghan which they clearly WERE NOT so they'd only be getting a WHITE ribbon!! And then she sort of smiled, I'm telling you she was mean!!...although disappointing after all that work... a white ribbon would do, and that's what my sister told her, she said these kids worked hard, this is not fair but the color of ribbon doesn't matter, the thing that is fun is learning and accomplishing a new task and then being able to display your work! I think the lady might have realized that she was making a big deal about nothing but she still had to win so she just left in a huff!!! At first we were so mad and couldn't believe her but then we started feeling bad for her that she is so miserable! I hope it was just a bad day for her and that she is not that sour everyday!!! anyway here are a few pictures of our proud kids and their projects with the dreaded white ribbons!!:)

Grant

Claire My sisters little girl, decided at the last minute to decorate a denim purse that she purchased at Walmart... she bought two of them and had my little cousin Tristin make one too! They stuck stickers on them... not to take away from this project but seriously it just goes to show that the system is a little screwey... Blue ribbons on these and white on the 5 hour blankets??? I can feel the heat boiling in me now which is ridiculous after all these months... so I'm done talking about it... the kids had fun it was totally fine and doesn't matter but next year we will avoid all blue haired ladies that's for sure!!!

Gabe LOVED the animals at the fair... He can name them all and does the cutest animal sounds. My favorite animal noise that he makes is the goat! He says maaa maaa in his
highest little voice. adorable!!

Since we have horses for neighbors Gabe is quite the little expert on feeding animals. We feed the horses practically everyday!!!...trouble is, he tries to feed chickens, dogs and cats handful of grass too!!!

We bought "all day" passes for the carnival rides. It was especially scary this year for me though because I had recently read an article about the dangers of amusement parks and the research showed that these types of set- up's, that pop up in a day, put together by ex cons...were particularly dangerous!! I had nightmares after I read the article and wondered if I'd EVER let my kids go on another ride, to a playground for that matter... But Glen talked some sense into me and I caved in and they had so much fun going on ride after ride!! What's a mother to do...Can't protect them from everything although, sometimes I think it would be nice to place them inside a glass bubble and put them up high on the shelf for safe keeping!! :)

Eli looks a little bored with this one...

The all time favorite ride!!!

On to the next one....

Gabe loved the lights and seeing all the action!! The best thing was that he was so freaked out by the cotton candy... he didn't want to touch it or eat it! Finally like only a dad can... Glen shoved some in his mouth... Gabe whined and spit it out but then the flavor sunk in and he couldn't get enough, every once in awhile he'd do a whole body shiver because of the texture, then he'd taste it and be fine!! It was hilarious!!

Now you know pretty much EVERY detail of our Cache County Fair experience this year...
We love it!!

I have got to work on LESS details... I know!!! I have one more summer post to get through and then hopefully I can get to fall leaves, pumpkins, and Halloween before Spring....

The Real Deal

Tough Guy
Just before moving Evan kept telling us he really wanted to play football. It's his "favorite sport" and he even wanted to play the real deal tackle football with pads and everything... so I put Glen in charge of getting it all set up for him to be able to play this fall...
He paid the outrageous amount (I found out what it was after the fact) and Evan was on the team!!... no big deal I thought... well pretty soon we received a booklet in the mail telling us the rules and regulations and before he could practice with the team he had to have a health physical???? This was my first red flag... Keep in mind these kids are only 8 and 9 years old!!! They run around at recess what's the difference?? but whatever I thought, it's good to be sure they all check out I guess... and then came more "fine print"almost on a daily basis .... Practice 5 days a week from 5 -7 PM and games EVERY Saturday... I was a bit peeved and this all started in AUGUST... the hottest month of the year!! These poor boys had 8 POUNDS of equipment on them and were doing serious drills... oh, get this- If they were late to practice they had to run laps???? it was totally for real football! Boys were throwing up!!!! So at this point I'm wondering if it's too late to bag it and get our money back... meanwhile Evan is SO excited about it so I'm trying not to complain in front of him... He never did barf but was always bright red and dripping wet after practice and he had to show up late to all of our end of summer BBQ's and I swear he never got a descent dinner... none of us did!!! well we couldn't bag it, so I figure he wants to play we paid a whopping amount for that cute little uniform not to mention all kinds of other "fees" so he's going to play and we're going to make the best of it! Then we got the game schedule and of the nine games SEVEN were south of Ogden....EVERY Saturday!!! and I figured out why they needed that physical... you'd have thought this was NFL. Yelling coaches, screaming fans, jumping jacks, push-ups, ab crunches, running, tackling, hitting and then there were the cheerleaders, banners, crazy mothers etc... I couldn't believe these people were so serious about these little boys and football, what's the big deal??!! isn't it just for fun!!! apparently NOT!! But even after all of the complaints I have to admit the excitement in the air got to me and Football turned out to be sorta fun!! I found myself cheering a litttle, nervous for Evan and his team, my palms sweaty... hoping they'd get that touchdown... sitting on the sidelines eating a hot dog was not too bad and it turned out to be OK.... Evan played great as a lineman... great little blocker and he is smart... one of only a handful of boys on his team who were able to memorized all the plays (he got a booklet to study them... are you kidding!!!) anyway he did it and he LOVED playing... although, next year he'd like to be the running back or reciever... I'm pretty sure there's not going to be a next year...until he's about 12....but that's about the time when Eli and Gabe will want to be starting.... Ahhhhhh!!!! "welcome to raising boys" is what Glen tells me and I guess it's not too bad!!

I was so mad about all the hubabaloo... I figured it didn't need to be so "official" but the first time Evan put on that little uniform one layer of ice melted off of me, maybe two... I've always loved a guy in a football uniform... they look so tough and manly and then there were all these mini guys running around tough and ... so cute! those tight little pants and big shoulder pads... He looked, well... like the real deal!!

Grandma and Grandpa came to cheer him on at one of the few games here in Logan!!

One good thing about the games being so far South is that Grandma and Grandpa Huber were able to see him play too!! ( oh and I can't forget a few stops at Target for me which meant a little shopping!!!)

After the season... The "team mom" (yep there was one of those) planned an awards banquet. Dinner and trophy's and farewell to lots of new found friends!

This picture says it all... Exhausted, but having fun!!
oh, yeah and that #1 is for my little NFL star!! We know your #1 Evan!!