Halloween 2017

 For Halloween this year we had Captain America, The Joker, a Vampire and Walter was the cutest dalmation! Complete with dog tag with his name. Amanda was Cruella DeVille and Nate was Jasper.  Everyone looked great!  Watler was dressed as Mickey to take the kids to school and watch their parade. We made Jack-O-Lantern pizzas and little decorated pizzas for dinner.  Then they all went out for some fun trick-or-treating.  Dave and I stayed home to pass out candy but I bet our door bell didn't even ring 10 times, and that's with our own kids ringing it.  Crazy how much candy we have left!!

 

My birthday starts earlier this year...

I love going to Wayne County and I try to go every year around my birthday.  The best weekend was the end of October.  We stopped in to visit Auntie Bev, she showed me a picture of her in a dress her mother-in-law had made for her and then she got out the dress and showed it to us.  It is beautiful! After a short visit there we went on to Torrey to have pizza and cake for my birthday with Lew and Curtis. It was a lovely and fun day and of course I can't leave Wayne County without buying some honey candy! 

Indexing, Bears and Acquire...

After attending a stake conference and some talks about indexing and family history and temple work, I felt inspired to teach David to index.  There was a story of a young girl, age 11, that did it a lot and taught a younger sibling to do it.  The grands are great on computers so I was excited to show David.  Turns out, Jacob is the one who loves it!  He was happy to sit and index WWII draft cards.  I would double check his work and then he would submit it.  He did several batches! (A batch has 10 cards). He loved it so much that the day he stayed home sick from school he wanted to do more.  So I let him!  We showed David another day and he tried a few cards, but he really wasn't interested. We will have to try Lilly next and see what she thinks.  I love spending my days with Walter, even if the only time I can get him to stay asleep is by holding him.  I gladly accept!  David earned his bear badge at this month's pack meeting.  We are proud of our little cub! He got to pin his mom and growl like a bear with the cub master.  My favorite picture of the evening!  And last but not least, Grandpa has had fun teaching the kids to play his favorite game, Acquire. They do pretty good and seem to want to play it a lot so that makes it fun for Grandpa.  And of course Amanda likes to get in a game when she can!  Grandma is more than happy to watch Walter while they play!  Not my favorite game. Here's to more indexing and game playing!  

Donna, Crafts and Food Storage...

I love October.  Not just for the beautiful fall colors but for General Conference weekend.  I love hearing conference and learning.  But it is also a chance to get out the painting table and work on some crafts! I had several unfinished crafts that I was able to get finished.  Lilly helped make the Jack Skellington wreath (she LOVES Jack Skellington). I finally finished my Halloween mirror and really like how it turned out. Then, Donna came to visit and we worked on some more crafts.  She just came for a couple of days but we did some crafts, drove up to Squaw Leap (the colors were already fading - boo) and went to Super Saturday at the church.  It was amazing! Debbie Kent was here from "Store This Not That."  She gave a great presentation on food storage and 72 hour kits.  We are stoked and on board to get this ship floating!  Donna and I are going to keep check with each other and cheer each other on and as we do this job correctly!  The church Home Storage Center is 3 blocks away so I can go each month and add to my storage.  As soon as I inventory what I already have.  Then Donna left with her daughter Emily and I went in to lunch and crafts (the rest of the Super Saturday) where I worked on her Christmas gift!  Amanda came for lunch and crafts and we had a fun day! I love October!

Stewart Falls

We decided we haven't done enough hikes this year (hardly any!) and we wanted to do our favorite one while there was still some color in the mountains.  Amanda carried Walter and we invited cousin Cooper to join us.  Nate and Joel were busy with school work so Grandpa was our scout and leader.  It was a gorgeous day and we had a fun time.  So very pretty on the back side of Timp.  The water was cold but that didn't keep the kids out of it!  We enjoyed stopping for snacks and water breaks when needed.  It really is one of our favorite hikes because it isn't too hard and is just so beautiful.  It's just above Sundance.  We are grateful for good days to be out in nature and enjoy time together.  

Squaw Peak

Dave and I took a drive up Squaw Peak.  The fall colors were amazing.  Picture do not do it justice.  The colors were so vibrant and right up to the sides of the road.  It was a short drive but very beautiful.  When you get up to the lookout you can see over the valley and clear across the lake.  It was so beautiful.  I am glad we found this short drive and we will be hitting it every year as soon as the colors change!  It's a great place for family photos too...there were several people doing just that!