It is 35 Degrees This Morning...

Brrrr.

How did that happen?  (At least it doesn't stay that way all day...yet.)

It seems like the leaves on our trees just turned green, and now they are yellow and falling.






Don't get me wrong, I love fall, but 35 degrees is pretty wintery.  Hopefully the snow will hold out for a little while.  Thank goodness, (well, according to the weatherman), it looks like it will be nice on Halloween.  Last year it was raining...not the most pleasant trick-or-treating experience.

On the other hand, the sunsets this time of year are beautiful.


This weekend we're going down to a Fall Festival at Wheeler Historic Farm.  We went last summer and really enjoyed it.

I wonder if all the ducks and geese will still be there.  (Ack, look how little he was!!!)




I wonder if this guy made it through last Thanksgiving, haha.


Moo!


Jason's favorite: the barns.


Plenty of stuff to climb on.


Brennan has already requested another "ride" on the tractor.


The backdrop for the farm.


Piggies. I'm sure they are much bigger this year.


There are also goats, rabbits, sheep, chickens, walking trails, picnic areas, and plenty of other things I'm sure I'm forgetting.

The festival will have music, hayrides, a pumpkin patch, arts and crafts, and of course will be surrounded by fall leaves...LOVE.

I can't wait!  And since it is my birthday weekend, it will be even better. : )

Happy Grandparent's Day!

So, in my last post I said that this post was going to be about our vacation.  But apparently, it's going to be about Grandparent's Day instead. : )  The vacation post got back-burnered yesterday because I had an impromptu date with my house and a Mr. Clean eraser.  It's amazing where dirt (food, paint, crayons, play-doh) shows up living with a 3-year-old, and a slobber-slinging dog! Yuck!  Of course that led to cleaning out the refrigerator and reorganizing Brennan's art cabinet....

But anyway...

Little Man brought these home from school on Wednesday, and now they are on our refrigerator.  I would have mailed them, but he only had one set, so I took a picture.

Happy Grandparent's Day Nanny, Poopah, Ha-wee and Gramma Gremba!  (That would be Brennan speak for Nana, Papaw, Harry, and Grandma Brenda.) : )

He's so funny.

Some other Brennan-isms of the moment are Hippee, and basketball whoosh.  Hippee is a cross between yippee and hooray, usually said when Daddy gets home. Hippee!  A basketball whoosh is a basketball hoop. I personally like basketball whoosh better myself.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  We plan on spending lots of time outside enjoying this nice fall-ish weather.

Ahhh.  Pretty.

The Weekend

I was worried.

Since Jason has been so busy getting ready for an ORI inspection at work, (Which was last week.  He finds out the results today, so keep your fingers crossed!) we hadn't had a chance to take a family picture for our Christmas cards.  Thankfully winter decided to delay just a little longer on Saturday and we were able to head out for a little photo shoot. 

Honestly, I didn't have very high hopes for getting any good pictures.  I was so frazzled before we even left the house from trying to get everyone ready (mostly just myself, seeing that my wardrobe is in crisis mode right now).  Then to add another zing to my frayed nerves, we got almost there and I realized I forgot my tripod.   So...

Since I can't hold the camera and be in the picture at the same time, we had to turn around and go back home to get it.  Grrr.  I was ready to scrap the whole idea at this point and just draw some smiley faces with our names printed under them inside each card, but Jason talked me into trying anyway.  I was glad he did.  We got a couple of really good family pictures, and as of now I have our Christmas card designed and ready to send to the printer.  Yay!

I'm not going to show you the picture we're using or the card because, well, where is the surprise in that?  But I will show you some outtakes.  I have plenty of them!

The place where we took the pictures is called The Duck Pond.  And rightly so.  There hasn't been a time we've been there that there haven't been ducks everywhere.  Shouldn't they be flying south right about now?


Brennan being goofy.  Or as he says, "boo-key." : )


This is how most of the pictures turned out.  He had to keep track of what those ducks were doing.


There was also a picnic table that needed to be climbed.


And sticks that needed to be picked up.

A mommy with a camera is no competition compared to all that cool stuff. : )

The rest of the weekend was good, though yesterday felt like the longest. day. ever.  The time change just kicks my butt every time.  I guess growing up in a place that didn't participate in daylight savings time will do that to you. 

Saturday morning before the photo-outing, we went to Lowe's for awhile with no particular reason.  We ended up coming out with some weather stripping for the back door, and a new curtain rod.  Take me to a home improvement store and I can come up with a honey-do list on the spot!

Brennan also made a list while we were there.  Everything on his list are things that he now thinks he needs, which mostly consists of those blow up Christmas yard ornament things.  It used to be when were at a store and he said he wanted something, my usual answer was "You don't need that."  So now he has one-upped his requests to, "Need that."  Smart kid.

Yesterday we mostly stayed around the house.  I made a pot of chili.  Jason mowed and weed-eated the grass for the last time AGAIN.  The last two weekends were supposed to be the last time for the year, but then a couple of blades of grass poke up and get unruly through the week so he thinks he has to do it all again.  He explained to me that there has to be a nice flat base for the snow.

In my mind I am thinking that in a couple of weeks the yard is just going to look like this for the rest of the winter.

Then nobody will know that we even  have grass under there, let alone whether it is cut at a uniform height, but hey, it makes him happy. : )

Happy Monday, Everyone!

Whee!

Last week we went on Brennan's first school field trip.  (Nice, huh, he's in school two weeks and it's field trip time already.)  We went to a local pumpkin patch.  Brennan was kind of over the whole pumpkin field thing, but they did have a huge farmer's market, a petting zoo, and an awesome play area.


Brennan loves slides!  This one was huge, but he had no fear going down.  I love his little feet in the air.

We also got to see a pig race.  Let's just say if you've seen one pig race, you've seen enough.


The pigs were running for animal crackers.  No wonder they weren't in any hurry.  Maybe some Oreos would have been better?


After that we just stuck to the slides.  The tunnel was Brennan's favorite.


That evening he was out like a light.

I think he had a good day.
 

What a Difference a Year Can Make

It's hard to believe we've lived in Utah a year now.


This was Brennan last year right after we moved into our house.


And here he is now.

Where does the time go?

Carving Pumpkins

After our trip to the farm on Saturday, we had to come home and carve up our finds.  We'll we actually only carved up one of them, because carving pumpkins with a two-year-old can take awhile.  I carved up the rest of them (mostly) by myself Monday morning during Sesame Street. 


I got one of those kiddie carving sets at the Dollar Tree.  If anything, Brennan enjoyed wielding the carver like a scepter.  This set of pictures also made me reconsider growing out my bangs (again).  I actually cut them Sunday morning, but I don't have a picture of them because that would have meant me fixing my hair today.


It fits!


Daddy gets in on the action.


After our day at the farm I was feeling all Pioneer Woman-ish, so I saved all the seeds with the intention of roasting them.  I didn't realize what a pain it is to separate the seeds from the goop.  We'll see if the effort was worth it.


Brennan didn't know what to think about the pumpkin goop.


He thought he'd check out to see how tasty the top is.  (Or the "hat," as he calls it.)


I thought he needed a closer look at the pumpkin goop.


I don't think he thought that was such a good idea. : )


OK, maybe that wasn't quite so bad.


"Smile for Daddy!"  By this time Jason thought this project was taking forever and was going back and forth from the living room to the kitchen.  Hmmm, football or hour long pumpkin carving.  See the dilemma?


Brennan looks like he's ready to retreat with Daddy.


Wow!  The pumpkin got much more interesting when we started on the face.


Finally done and by the front door.


I think he was happy with the finished product.

The only bad part (besides pumpkin goop all over the kitchen)?  Brennan liked him so much he didn't want to leave him outside.  We had a big display of tears when it was time to go in.

If Brennan had his way, Mr. Pumpkin head would be sleeping in his bed next to him.

Ewww.

Fun On The Farm

Over the weekend we went to the American West Heritage Center for their Farmtastic Farm Festival.  The weather was perfect and we had a good time.


First on the agenda was a ride on the train.  Brennan wouldn't have it any other way.


"Choo Choo Whoo Whoo!"  (We heard this all the way around the track.  He wasn't excited about the train or anything.)


Awww, a new friend.


More baby goats.


A little pouty. 


An old "cool car."


A photo with the scarecrow family.


Feeding the chickens some corn.


I hung out with these horses while the boys went to see the pigs.


Driving.  He's in heaven.


One with Mommy.


Checking out the equipment.  Brennan couldn't get over that this car didn't have a "map" (GPS), or seat belts.  He was concerned about that the whole time.


They had a really cool corn maze.  Brennan decided to start a corn collection.


Pointing out a horse foot print.


Following our fearless leader.


Has anyone seen that episode of "The Middles," where Brick gets lost in the corn maze.  Yeah, that kept going through my head, especially when Brennan wanted to keep darting in the rows to pick up more corn.


We were way in the mix at the point.  I was wondering if they've ever had to send in a search party for corn maze participants, and glad that no one had to pee.


Jason decided he needed to take pictures for awhile.


We had sustenance (kettle corn) along with us since we didn't know how long we were going to be in there.  Brennan loves that stuff.  (Oh, and I did consider dropping it on the ground Hansel and Gretel style.)


We made it through!  This was Brennan's collection by the end of it.  We brought it all home to feed the birds.


Gold at the end of the rainbow.  Nope, just some pumpkins. : )


Brennan wanted to add this one to his collection.


Another ride on the train, and a failed attempt at a family portrait.


Jason wants this barn.


And another horse that decided to pose for me on the way out.

Like I said, a great fun fall day.