Gettin' Ready for Winter

My favorite season is fall. I don't know about anyone else, but I just love it. I love all the seasons, don't get me wrong, but fall is my favorite. With Halloween behind us and Thanksgiving a few short days away, it feels like fall is coming to an end as well. Last month, before it got cold enough to freeze, we spent some time cleaning out the garden. We mostly just had tomatoes to worry about so...

we pulled up the plants,


pulled all the green tomatoes off,


and put them in a bucket.


I ended up turning into a family affair.

Grandma

Grandpa


Oakley-of course

Abi even found a friend in the garden



Gardens are fun and can also be amazing.

Example: Check out these ginormous carrots uncle Aaron grew.


There were actually bigger ones, but these were the biggest that still looked like carrots, the others sort of looked like... well, blobs with arms and legs. Dang, I should have got pictures of those!

Halloween 2011

Halloween has come and gone and this year. It's interesting how you celebrate the holidays differently as your kids get older. Last year Abi didn't really get why we were doing the things we did on Halloween, but this year, she got excited about it which made it more fun for Mommy and Daddy.

I decided to make Abi's costume again this year, and she decided she wanted to be princess Belle (from Beauty and the Beast, obviously). Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it turned out pretty cute.


Abi liked "trying it on" before the big day.




And here is Abi all dressed up and ready to trick-or-treat.



As for my costume, I decided to be Katniss from the Hunger Games books, but my costume was sort of lame, and Kevin didn't dress up as Peeta like I wanted him to, so it made it even more lame. My dad asked me when I went over to their house, "So, are you supposed to be a Jedi?" Sigh. Maybe in a different life, Dad. So yeah, I didn't get pictures of my costume.

Then, of course, there were the pumpkins.

Since sharp knives are not the best thing for a two-year-old to handle, Abi's job was to clean out all the pumpkins.




It was messy, so she loved it, naturally.

Here's what they looked like when we were done.

Abi's- Surprised Face

Mommy's- Jack Skellington

Daddy's- Pac-Man and Ghosts

And of course every pumpkin looks better when it's lit up.

They looked so cool. The Pac-Man one was the favorite among trick-or-treaters who came to our house.

Halloween night my siblings and I and our families met up at my parents' house for a chili cook-off and snacks. I say "cook-off" but we left the competition out of it and just ate the chili. That's how we like it.

We also took the kids trick-or-treating around my parent's neighborhood. Here's our gang.


Later that night Abi decided to lose the dress and relax for a bit...


while Rowan entertained the rest of us with his craziness.

Happy Halloween!

Kennecott Day Trip

I have spent a little time watching my nephew Rowan and one day while he was over to play, we all took a day trip to see the Kennecott Copper mine.

Slurpees in the car on the way

At the visitor's center


In front of the mine



Rowan adored this little mine-car thingy


The essential standing-in-front-of-the-giant-truck-tire shot

I hadn't been to the mine since I was a little kid, so it was fun to go again. Plus it was a great place for Kevin to try out my camera's miniature setting.

They look like little models. So fun!

On the way home, we had to stop at Copperton Park to let the kids play.

That mine is really huge, and I actually learned something not only about the mining and refining process of copper, but also what a bunch of buildings and structure were used for around the valley. A lot of them I would see nearly every day and wonder what the heck they were used for; now I know. See, you can learn something new everyday.

Fair Play

It's September and that means it's State Fair time. The last time we were at the State Fair was a couple of years ago, so we decided it would be fun for Abi to go again this year.

Abi has a little apprehension when it comes to animals, especially bigger animals that aren't dogs or cats. I was hoping that she would have fun anyway.

The first thing we saw when we got to the fair was the pigs. Most of them were sleeping (under a blanket of flies- ewww), but Abi didn't think they were cute. She cried. I got a little worried and hoped that this wouldn't be the norm for the night. Then we got to the sheep and goats and she started to cheer up a little bit.

This goat kept trying to eat Abi's stroller.

We also saw the pigeons/poultry (they even had an emu), bunnies, and cows. Next we saw the fruits and vegetables, which is one of our favorite parts. You get to see some crazy stuff. Like this onion.

Biggest onion I've ever seen.

And this watermelon.

90 lb watermelon

And these pumpkins.

This pumpkin weighed almost 1000 lbs!

They also had some honey bees working in a hive that you could see inside.


Next we saw a Utah wildlife exhibit were they had some stuffed native game animals and birds and tanks with live native fish.

Abi and I compared our wing-span with these wild birds.

Then we looked at some beautiful blooms.

I'm growing these next year

After that, while we were looking at the photography on display in the art gallery, Abi asked, "Abi ride a horse?" I was a little surprised, again because of the anxiety she seems to get around larger animals. I sort of put it off, but she kept asking, "Abi ride a horse, please?" over and over. We couldn't say no; she said "please".

She's only two, but she rode like a big kid, all by herself. I was really proud.

To finish off the night Abi rode a few rides...






...and ate some cotton candy.



Abi had a blast and when we got home she would not stop talking about it.

"See the amimals?" (I didn't misspell, that's how she says it)

"Abi ride a horse."

"Piggy's scary."

"Goat eat Abi's stroller."

So fun. Can't wait till next year.