thoughts on snow

It is no secret snow and I are bitter enemies. Since we are now pretty permanently situated up north among the snow for the next few years, I am just going to have to learn how to deal. This week brought our first snow storm of the season and I caught a glimpse of what this winter will be like living in the mountains. Let's just say I miss the sunshine. A lot.

Let me take you through our family's thought progressions as we realized those little white flakes were going to stick.

Wes: "I hope the lawn will be okay." and "I guess I can't wear shorts today."

Me: "oh crap!" and "You're killing me smalls."

And sweet little Halle. This is the first year she can actually comprehend that there is snow around her. I took her out while the snow was still on the ground to let her experience the white doom for herself before I force any of my own opinions on her. I photographed her very first thoughts on snow:

First touch = "cool"

Second touch = "not so cool"

She thought it was pretty neat that I made a snowball and her fascination probably ended there. She did come inside without a fight a lot sooner then she usually does, so this white plague had some affect on her. This might be a long winter.

Our cold little runny nosed rudolph:

pumpkin art

This year I decided not to deal with the massive amounts of pumpkin guts and seeds and scooping and clean up that come along with the pumpkin carving tradition. Plus, the pumpkins will last much longer and won't shrivel up and turn into a nasty nest for bugs if they haven't been sliced open. And since they are the only Halloween decorations I have outside, I really need them to stick around for awhile.

I bought some colorful permanent markers and a pumpkin for each member of the family and decided that we would each turn our pumpkins into art. It was a little risky giving a one year old permanent markers, but we kept her close and she only got marker on the pumpkin, her hands, and the purple marker only took a journey into the dark recesses of her mouth once (success!). The result: a beautiful, scribbly, mini pumpkin piece of Halle art. She actually loved coloring it. I have never seen her sit and color for so long.

The rest of us have no excuse for scribbles, but that seemed to be the direction my pumpkin was headed. I have never been very good in the art and symmetry departments. It came out as some kind of a mix between Miss Piggy and I'm not really sure. Wes, on the other hand was made for this type of thing. I bet you can see why Halle absolutely adored his pumpkin creation.

I liked the aftermath of this pumpkin art much better then the traditional pumpkin carving: no nasty clean up or pumpkin smell. This last picture was supposed to be a picture of me and Wes with our pumpkins, but Halle was pretty excited about the self timer on the camera and that mom and dad were laying on the floor. The result: one of the best pictures of Halle.

all weekend

we have been enjoying this little guy.

and these two have been doing some serious bonding.

i think i need visitors from st. george more often.

excited

This is how we feel about the newest addition to our family... our iMac!

I no longer have to wait 20 minutes for my laptop to start up. Mac goes from off to on in less than a minute. Wes and I have been talking about getting a family computer for-ev-er. We were waiting for the newest iMac to come out this week before we bought anything. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door two mornings later and found a fedex delivery man dropping off my new iMac Wes secretly purchased for me. What did my face look like when I realized what it was? See picture above.

messages from the road

I am pretty happy about Wes's decision to ride the bus every day to and from school. It makes his commute longer (about an hour one way), but I feel like he is safer and he can actually use that time to get his homework done meaning more free time at home. I love that one of the bus drivers looks like santa claus and gets off the bus at the exact same spot every time to go to the bathroom and I also love the older woman that gets on the bus and always asks to use other people's cell phones (after she used Wes's phone once he always tries to act like he is using his phone whenever she comes around), but I must say that my favorite thing about his commute are the text messages and stories I get chronicling all the happenings and conversations he sees and hears on the bus. Here are a few of my favorite messages from the road:
"still on the bus. i'm so new at this. do i have to pull the string to make him stop? i don't know."
"the bus driver honked at someone and they flipped him off. It was so funny because we were stopped so the guy held his flip off for like a minute."
"major b.o. on the bus!!!"
"the lady in front of me was talking on the phone about jail and her community service."
"someone on the bus had pneumonia. luckily they just got off. oh my freak! i was going to get off if they didn't."
and my all time favorite:
"the kid in front of me just said, 'i'm not going to compromise my creativity just to cater to the public.' hahahaha whatever kid."
you may think it is rude that my husband is people watching on the bus and giving me all the details, but hey, i miss him during the day and we're just making lemonade out of lemons.

club halle

*stomping is definitely her best move.

barnyard boo

Thanksgiving Point has transformed their barn into a Halloween barnyard for little tots complete with wagon rides, pony rides, and access to all their regular animals. We decided cornbelly's corn maze was too big of a trek for a little one year old's legs so we took Halle to the barnyard instead.

We saw lots of "bapa's" (translation: pumpkins)Saw many different "malmals" (translation: animals)Went on a wagon rideAnd just plain enjoyed ourselves all afternoon.

number one reason

...i am glad we had a girl.
that and the whole no peeing in your face thing when you change them.

a few things

i got a flu homecare guide from the medical surge capacity coalition of central utah in the mail
ryan comes home in t-minus 5 months and counting
my nail polish is called steel-her heart. i don't know why, but it is fantastic.
enrique iglesias makes halle dance. also fantastic.
i bought a new trash can today. trust me, we needed it.
i am making food for nine boys and a lady this weekend
halle knows most of the actions to "popcorn popping on the apricot tree"
i joined a book club
scrubbing a tub is on my mental to-do-list
sesame street songs are on repeat in my head all day
wes was wondering if he should be halle for halloween
halle and i shared some gummy bears
we officially teach nursery on sundays. oh help.

too much love

This little book has been loved to death by a certain little girl. Her infatuation first began when we read this book together and she could actually smell the flowers in the book, pat the soft bunny, play peek-a-boo with paul, read judy's book, and stick her finger in the hole of "mummy's ring." Eventually, reading this book together while I held it was not enough. She moved on to carrying it around the house and plopping down anywhere she saw fit to read it by herself. This book has been in diaper bags, sat with us on our bench at church, and a rode along as a playmate in the car. This book's little love wounds have been taped, it's corners have been chewed on, but Halle's love proved to be a little too much for it. The book is now in pieces, but oh what a beautiful life it lived.
*What things did you or your kids love a little too much?

happy birthday

Grandpa Bell!We hope your special day is filled with many greatfruits, vanilla folders, pay-for-view movies, banana ripening candle warmers, baby soothing tribal chants, chameleons, visits from chancellor garibaldi and a special musical number: willie nelson singing "consider the lillies."
We love you!

dinosaur museum

A few weeks ago we took Halle to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point (apparently it is the largest dinosaur museum in the world). We were not disappointed. Beautiful exhibits and many acitivity centers, including an erosion table provided a fun-filled afternoon for the little kikster. She even said a rare sentence as we were pulling out of the parking lot, "Bye-bye didos." Translation: bye-bye dinosaurs.

happy october

remember last year?Looking forward to another October filled with: family, adorable costumes, pumpkin carving, a corn maze, good food, conference, sweaters, scary movies, our first shot at trick-or-treating, and much more.