Carving pumpkins

What a night! We had a blast carving our pumpkins tonight.

We grew them in our own pumpkin patch.

Not really much of a patch since we only got 3 pumpkins out of it.

Josie is pretty proud of our pumpkins that "she" grew.

It was fun watching them grow all summer and

then to finally be able to pick them was pretty exciting.

This was Josies first time carving pumpkins and she had so much fun!

Josie wanted us all to wear aprons for our big project.

She loved getting the guts out! I always loved that part.

We baked the seeds to eat. I always loved that part too.

Charles helped Charlie get some of the guts.

He was a little unsure at first but then.....

He decided that he really liked it!

Josie was pretty giddy about every step. Charles and I were too.

We haven't carved a pumpkin since we were kids ourselves.

We had so much fun doing it.

Josie loved drawing the face on her own pumpkin.

She drew the eyes, mouth, cheeks, ears, arms, and fingers.

Unfortunately we could only fit the eyes, mouth and cheeks on there.

She is quite the little artist!

Josie had a great time watching her daddy carve it all out.

Charlie had a great time eating everything.

Josie was so happy about her pumpkin and that Daddy helped her.

We all had so much fun!

Halloween at the Zoo

Josie's wildest dream came true this weekend.

The zoo and Halloween at the same time!

We went to the trick or treating at the zoo on Saturday,

along with the rest of SLC.

It was a totally perfect day and the kids had such a great time.

Josie was in heaven!

It is always so great to have Charles brother Aaron around.

He makes everything fun!

Josie loved having Daddy there.

Ususally it is just boring Momma and Charlie.

She wouldn't let go of his hand! I love her costume from the back!

Charlie just chilled as usual... but was really pretty hot in his lion suit.

The weather was unbelievably wonderful!

Cruising around the zoo on October 25th in just t-shirts!

It was great!

Josie and Eliza had a great time holding hands and looking adorable!

Drew is the best big cousin! He takes such great care of Josie.
She loves Drew. They were dancing to the music having a great time.

The daddy's were great! And ready to go by the end.

Pretty much all the candy was eaten before we even left.
It was definetly another great day at the zoo!

The zoo with Moni!

This week we went to the zoo with Moni. Josie loved sharing it with her.

It was exciting to have her there and see her have such a fun time with Josie and Charlie.

Josie took her binoculars so that she could see the animals better.

It was so funny to see her look at the animals through them.

Josie HAS to sit on the gorilla's lap every time we go.

Moni took Josie and Charlie on the carasouel. It was very special because I always tell Josie that we have to wait to go on it until someone comes with us to help. Josie LOVED it! And was glad that Moni was there to help her go on it.

It started out cold and then turned into a beautiful day.

We had such a great day at the zoo with Moni.

Thanks Moni! We sure love you!

It's coming along!

It was another excitng night at the lot.

Look how far it has come! The roof is on so at least next

time it snows, everything won't get soaked inside!

Blaine, Stewart, Andy and Charles all worked really hard tonight!

Well.... at least Blaine did!

They were all on the steep, I mean really steep, roof putting on the tar paper.

Here is Andy ... I'm sure he is being very careful.

We don't want another Uncle Grant incident!

It looks like they were just hanging out up there on the tippy top of the roof!

At least they were able to get an amazing view of the Hunter's Moon.
It was MAGNIFICANT!

Thanks boys... for all your hard work tonight!

We almost have a roof thanks to the Smity's!

After a quick sloppy joe dinner, Charles, Uncle Grant, Blaine, Lori and Truman Smith all went to work on the roof. The Smith's are our neighbors and some of our favorite people.

Blaine is a builder and was kind enough to offer to come and help with the roof.

Chalres is learning a lot about all this construction stuff and Truman watched a lot!

We love you Turbo!

Charles is a little... or a lot... afraid of heights, so way to go babe on helping put the roof on!
Lori is AMAZING!! She just get's down to business and helped where ever she could!

It was another successful night at the bunkhouse! Thanks so much to the Smith's for all your help! It is always great to spend time with you guys!

A cold Saturday!

My darling niece Victoria runs cross country for Timpanogos High School and she is only a freshman. Her Region meet was on Saturday. What a day for a 5k! It was totally cold and wet, but that didn't slow her down. Her JV team took first. Good job Tori!

Josie loves her "friend" Tori! She was cheering for her.
I ran Cross Country at Mountain View HS (go Bruins!)

and so I was totally excited for Tori when she made the team.

Being at the meet brought back so many memories. It was really fun.

Next Nick, Tori's younger brother had a football game.

By the time the game was over it was sooooooooooooooooo cold. Charlie had had it!
Even though it was cold, it was so fun to go the these events. It makes me excited for my own kids to be involved with things as they get older. I am afraid that will be here before I know it! Yikes!

Snow already?

Josie was so excited this morning when she woke up, to see 3 inches in our yard. She was ready to go out and play in it, but unfortunately we have early church so she had to wait to play in it after church. The second we got home she ran to get her boots and was out the door. I barely cuaght her to get her coat on.

Her hands were so cold from picking up the snow to eat it,

she found it easier to just bend over and eat it right off the ground.

I am excited for Fall, but I don't think I am ready for Winter... yet. And I just posted how much I am enjoying an Indian Summer. I guess that is good old Utah weather for you!

Indian Summer

I always know when Fall is really here, and it's when our grapes

are ready to pick and turn into grapejuice.

Josie has been eating them since August (yuck) but is really enjoying them now.

She plays with them more than she eats them.

Our garden is pretty much done for the year.

Charlie made quick work of the last of the veggies.

There is nothing like kicking it outside during the last of the Indian Summer days.
The snow will be here before we know it!

Josie LOVES Boo!

Josie is in love with Boo right now! We had him shaved last week and now that he isn't a hairy mess, we all love to pet him so much more. Well, Josie can't keep her hands off of him. He has to sleep in her room, he has to lay by the couch if she watches a movie and he has to be outside with her when she plays. She calls him "little puppy", "big buddy" and "sweet Booy". He is a sweetie and we are so glad that he is part of our family.

It finally is starting to look like something...

... a bunkhouse! Yeah!

It used to just look like a tall, skinny box, but now it is our bunkhouse!

This is the view from the main road that goes by our property.

It has totally amazed me how fast they have bulit this thing.
Before you know it we will be sleeping in it. I can't wait!
The other night driving home from working on the bunkhouse, Charles and I were talking about how exciting it all is and Josie, who must have been listening from the back seat said "I think the bunkhouse is great! I love the bunkhouse!"

So I guess we aren't the only ones stoked for the bunkhouse.

Hair cuts for the kiddos!

I finally gave in and took the kids to get their hair cut.

I attempted to cut Josie's once and it was pretty bad

and Charlie's mullet was getting out of control.

So off to Cookie Cutters we went.

Josie loved sitting in the pink car and watching Lion King.

Charlie loved flying his airplane.

Josie's hair finally looks cute and curly. WOW!

Charlie looks like a little man.

I took them to the elementary school today for school pictures and their hair was adorable!