Pumpkin Walk

Cassie and I went with Dylan and his kindergarten class to the pumpkin walk last week. I wasn't as impressed with the scenes as I was when I was in college, but here are some of my favorites...

Yes, Dylan is dressed like a police officer. It was super hero day at school and he was told he couldn't dress up like any of the super heroes in the movies. Hmm, that leaves us with a police officer costume.

Fall Fun

A couple of weeks ago we went to the American West Heritage Center for family night. We did a lot of fun things: potato sac slide, jumping in the hay, a big train ride and a little train ride, pony rides, popcorn by the fire, stare at goats, corn mazes (which we may or may not have cheated in), hay ride, and some good bonding.

She looks like a deer caught in headlights...

My Grandma

My sweet little grandma passed away last week after a 2 year battle with lung cancer and it was a bitter sweet time. The darn cancer won again. I feel a little robbed because she was only 77. Now I know a lot of people die earlier than this, but I know a lot of grandparents live 20+ years on top of that. I thought it would be easier to see her go, because she was suffering so much, but it was really hard. I have so many memories of her, which I am so thankful for, but the more I think of the memories, the more I miss her.

My sister had every family member write down our memories of grandma and she created a really cute memory book for her. We gave it to her on her birthday, just a few weeks ago. I am glad she was able to read each of those memories before she died. She really enjoyed that and I think we will do this for our remaining grandparents for Christmas. There were some pretty funny memories of her. Anyone that knew my grandma knew how funny and scatterbrained she was. She made us laugh so much, and half the time we would be laughing at her and she didn't even realize it. She was also the most caring person I knew. She was always taking care of someone and she always had random people over for our family dinners. And trust me, some of those people were rAnDoM, but she still took them in because they had no where else to go. The compassion she had for others is just one of the reasons we named Claire after her (middle name). I won't go off about all the good (and funny) things about her, but I am just so glad I was able to grow up just down the road from her and my grandpa. Oh, the good times we had.

The funeral was so good. Lots of crying and laughter. I was so impressed with the things my dad had to say. Love that guy!

My pictures will NOT reverse order, so we will start with the back of Claire. She just kept getting into my sister-in-law's bag and trying to get all the good treats in there...



Random shots at the dinner...

And the quilt we made 7 years ago for my grandparents...

Earlier this summer...
(my grandma had been going through chemo)

Love you grandma!

Canadian Thanksgiving

I am trying to catch up here. Things are going really well for us and we are as chipper as larks (that is one of Nate's sayings). We are loving life here in Cache Valley and we feel very blessed with where we are at in life and hope things keep going well. We are really enjoying the fall season, which is my favorite. Aside from the many trips south to see family, we have just been hanging out here keeping busy and having fun.

We managed to get to Price to finally see Tanya's new place. Minus Nate, he went on a fishing trip and worked some too. And wouldn't ya know, Claire got sick. Always, when the doctor isn't with us, Claire gets sick and makes my time with family a little less enjoyable. But it was okay, I just stayed awake half the nights wondering what to do with this sad and very sick baby.

Here are Dylan and Cassie with their cousins at my grandparent's place on the way down...




And since we were there so close to Canadian Thanksgiving, my sister put together an awesome Thanksgiving meal for all of us. It was so fun to be with them, all my siblings were together except my youngest brother, Chad.



Me and my wonderful sisters...

Oh, and I forgot my camera that weekend so these are all stolen from Candace's blog. Thanks!!

Craft time

My kids are constantly wanting to color or make crafts. Dylan especially. He thinks really hard about what he wants to make and creates some very creative things. Things I had no idea he knew about. And he is very thorough at what he does. For example, I went to parent teacher conference a few weeks ago and his teacher told me that Dylan is the only student in her class who will add grass, trees, birds, and clouds to a picture. He even adds luggage and lights to an airplane...




Okay, so maybe that is normal. It is just weird that I have a child old enough to do these things. Silly kids, I sure do love them and have fun with them.


Dylan loves tape. He uses it for towing cars and holding anything you can imagine together. He also loves taping his projects to any wall or door space he can find.

Okay, so I am a slacker. Sorry. I will try to get caught up on here soon. For now, here is a picture of the cool tree fort in our back yard. Complete with a slide, rope bridge, climbing wall on the back side, and a picnic table underneath. The kids love it, and so does every other kid that visits us. Too bad this won't move with us if we ever decide to buy a house.

First days of school

Cassie started preschool last Monday and has been waiting for this day ever since Dylan was in preschool. The day finally came and she was a little hesitant to go. She didn't want her picture taken either, but I snatched one anyway. She is going to a preschool in a ladies basement, which is a lot different than the huge fun classroom that Dylan went to last year. Cassie has asked if she can go to the preschool that Dylan went too. I am sure this one will be just as good once she gets to know the other kids better and gets more used to it.



Dylan started Kindergarten on Thursday and loved it!! I think he liked the bus ride the best, which I thought would scare him the most. And I only shed a few tears as he stepped on it. A lot better than I thought I would do. I really can't believe how much he is loving Kindergarten since he didn't know anybody and he tends to be so shy around other people. Yay for him.

The bus stop kids. They are standing on a slanted driveway, hence the shortness of Dylan.

As if my life has just taken another step forward. Weird.