Carving Pumpkins....& Carameled Apples

This year for my birthday, I thought it would be fun to carve pumpkins and make carameled apples. After a little bit of grumbling, (mostly from the boys) us gals Love doing stuff like this. They all dug in and got started. And I think they had alot of fun!


Mckai watching everyone carve, deciding he needed to carve too. So we found a very dull butter knife so he could carve his pumpkin.


Sometimes its a little harder than you think to get that top off!

Nathan ..."Are you sure that knife is big enough?"

Erin's got her pumpkin...actually it is Jason's, and since he was done first he let Erin have it.

Mckai's favorite part was just getting his hands in the pumpkin seeds and squeeshing them. He kept trying to put the seeds back in the pumpkins! Because of course at grandpa & grandma's house "when you take something out, you put it back"

Emily made carving pumpkins look way to easy.

Mckai was smelling the pumpkin and trying to blow the candle out.

Finally the Masterpeices are all finished...Great Job Guys!!

And of course here are all the artists.

On to carameled apples......it was alot easier than I thought it would be. We just melted caramels, and then swirled the apples in the caramel. We found out it works better if the apples are really cold.

Heres Nathan giving it a try. He kept trying to double dip, so he could get as much caramel as possible on his apple.

Erin's got hers. Now the hard part....eating it without getting sticky!

Thanks everyone, it was a wonderful birthday. I loved celebrating it with my family, And thanks for the new chair, it is very much appreciated.

Visitors.....

Old Man Lewis and his Sweet Wife Em, paid us a visit last night. They are such a cute couple.

They are never ones to complain even though poor Lewis' knees are going bad. And bless Em she just keeps getting shorter and shorter.

They have been together for such a long time. I hope Bruce and I can hang in there that long!

Oh but wait.......Its Nate & Emily..... HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

Pumpkin Patch

We headed to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday with Erin and Mckai. Its always fun to pick out just the right pumpkins!
Mckai loved climbing all over the pumpkins looking for just the right one.

Stopping to take pictures with the Scarecrow before heading out.

Erin is always such a big helper with Mckai

Mckai helping out Grandpa with the wheelbarrrow.

Erin found the one she liked best....now the hard part getting it in the wheelbarrow!

Believe it or not, Mckai with a little help got this in the wheelbarrow.

Standing in line so they can weigh our pumpkins....we got over a 100 lbs ! Notice Mckai off to the left. He is still looking for pumpkins. He just knows grandpa needs a few more.

Tagged?.....No Way...Me?

Ok I was going along visiting some of my favorite blogs, and low and behold I got "tagged".....I wasn't quite sure what "tagged" was so I had to ask a few veteran bloggers, so I wouldn't mess it up....! So here goes. It is supposed to be eight things but I changed it to 5 cuz, well because there was only 5 questions....so I rationalized that I only needed 5 answers!

5 Television shows I watch
*Amazing race
*Dancing with the Stars (Erin's favorite too)
*Law and Order (all of them...reruns too)
*CSI
*Survivor

5 Favorite restaurants
*Mimis
*Applebees
*Chilis
*Sizzler ( I think Bruce and the boys would disown me if I didn't include this one)
*Marie Calendars

5 Things I did Yesterday
*Went to pumpkin patch with Erin & Mckai
*Put pumpkins on the graves in Murray & Provo
*Moved gravel in the back yard
*took old carpet to the dump
*Stopped at store and got roast for dinner tomorrow

5 Things I'm looking forward to
*Thanksgiving
*Christmas (I just love Christmas)
*Getting the yard done
*Remodeling the kitchen
*An overnighter with Bruce

5 Things on my wish list
*To travel more
*To have a washer and Dryer upstairs
*To get the yard done
*Less traffic out front
*An overnighter with Bruce

On the Way....

On our way to feed Blue "The Nibble Horse"
I have said it before, but Erin just loves to feed blue. In fact it is one of her rewards, if she has a great day at school. But today Mckai asked to go feed blue.

Blue loves carrots and apples....Mckai made sure he had his carrots before we left home.

Blue is usually in the barn around back so you have to call him to get him to come over to the fence. It is so cute to hear Erin yell "HERE BLUE". and to see him come running.

You need to be carefull when feeding Blue the carrots, cuz he can't tell where the carrot ends and your fingers begin...thats why we call him the "Nibble Horse" It's a good thing Bampa Bruce was there to help Mckai keep all his fingers!

Erin's turn, and she has learned when to let go, before she gets her fingers nibbled.

One carrot filled horse.

On the way back home.....

Happy Birthday Nathan

September 27th 1985 at 11:56 A.M. Happy Birthday Nathan.....23 today!
Here you are at 1 week old...you weighed 8 pounds 9 oz and you were 21 inches long.

You were able to sit up at 6 months old...but you quickly tipped over, if we weren't watching!

1 year old and such a sweet boy....always wanting to do what your brothers were doing.

You always loved taking a bubble bath so you could make a bubble beard.....and now you have a real one growing and growing, and growing on your chin.

You and your brothers always loved going on outings...here we are at kennicott looking at all the big equipment they use.

5th grade school pictures.... What a handsome young man.

Here you are at 9th grade graduation......who knew that the next day we would take you to the emergency room with an acute migraine that made the left side of your face droop!

You have always liked sports. Soccer, baseball. I finally gave in when you wanted to play football.

You thought it was GREAT when both of your brothers were gone on a mission, cause you finally got your own room, and didn't have to share. Just sometimes when Erin came in.

I think Lacross was your second most favorite sport....It wasn't so much mine....especially when you got hit in the throat with that ball!!!

How much FUN was Honduras? Didn't you just love it? When you weren't sick of course! So basically that would have been the plane ride home!!

Senior Pictures....Thanks for being such a good sport about it.

Your Senior present "The Scooter" although you did have to pay for half of it....I think this is the only picture I have of you wearing a helmut.

Graduation Day......All done with school....But Wait!

Yeah, Off to Snow College to play a little football and....

........ make a few new friends.

I thought you were done with Halloween. Who knew it took college to get you to dress up.

And then you met Emily....bless her...she puts up with your family, and never complains.

Wedding day May 5th 2006.

Your new toy....I like your excuse about saving gas.

Hope you have a great birthday today Nathan. You are a wonderful son. Remember to look at the bright side, cause there always is one.

We Love you very much. Love Dad and Mom

Happy Birthday Jason !

Wow I can't believe you are 25 years old today!!

Boy I'm getting old. I remember the day you were born.....you came so fast I barely had time to jump up on the bed before you came. ( actually there was no jumping involved)

I dont think they even admitted me until after you were born. The first thing we noticed was that you had red hair, and that you had such a sweet nature about you.

Here you are at 1 week old, you were such a good baby. All you did was sleep and eat. But you have made up for it now. You never eat, and who knows when you have time to sleep with work and school going on.

Here you are with your big brother Brandon. He would always come and get me whenever you started crying so I could come pick you up. (although he probably was the cause of the crying)

You were such a water baby, always wanting to play in the water!

2 years old....what cute little cheeks. It was hard not to always kiss them, and squeeze you.

Then along came Nathan.....and suddenly you became a middle child, and I must say you have handle it well.



You couldn't wait to start pre-school.....they did such fun things. You have liked school every since!

Then along came Erin.....your little budda. thanks so much for entertaining her so I could get things done. She loves you tons!

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs.....I remember when you came home and told me a lady up the street had given you and Nathan a bunny, for helping her chase a bunch of them back in their pens. You decided to call him "Bugs Bunny"

Remember how I wanted you to learn to play Titanic? So you could play it ALL the time. I'll bet to this day whenever someone mentions Titanic.....you cringe!!

It was so nice to have the elementary school only a couple blocks from our house.

Your sophomore year in H.S. you decided to give track a try.....and the hurdles no less.

I think the funnest time you had in High School was when you were on the cheer squad....maybe it was because you got to go to Florida for Nationals.


And for Choir you got to go to New York....

Dad helping you out before the Jr Prom

You really enjoyed your job with the police department as a cadet....it was even more fun when you made sergeant, and got to boss people around, but in a nice way of course!

YEAH Graduation...you made it!

Off to Buenos Aires, Argentina for your mission....If I remember right you did alot of bike riding. You loved Argentina so much you were home for a year and went back for a visit.

Here you are in Paris at the Louvre...but you forgot to take your mom with you!!

Have a super GREAT Birthday. You are an awesome, kind, loving, and helpful son!! We love you very much Jason, Happy Birthday!

Love mom