I Pulled an All-Nighter!

I spent Thanksgiving night camping out in front of Ultimate Electronics! I have never done the all-nighter thing, but was talked into it by my dear husband and his sister. We arrived at the store at about 8:30 that night, and there were already about 10 people ahead of us! I brought many layers of clothes, and we had a thermos of hot chocolate and a propane heater. Thankfully it was one of the warmer nights we have had in a while. That's not to say it was warm by any stretch of the imagination, but I have since regained feeling in my nose and fingers and toes, so I did survive! I think I dozed off for maybe 30 min. tops, but other than that, no sleep! I haven't done that in years! I cannot mention what we were able to get because my boys are too smart and know how to read my blog. (Hi boys!) But we were successful in getting everything we wanted, and saved a lot! Besides, I have a great story to tell now, and who knows, maybe I'll even do it again next year! (Maybe.)

We've Got Ourselves a SNOW DAY!!

Yes - it's true. It is still October and school was cancelled today because of a blizzard that hit last night! It has been snowing all day long and the wind is blowing it into large drifts. These are the kinds of things we expect to see in Dec. and Jan., but OCTOBER??? I love it!!

So what have we been doing today? Here are my photojournalist skills at their best!

Jetta has not left my side, and makes a great foot warmer!

Brayden has read almost an entire book.

Devin has worn his Halloween costume and has played Ninja while destroying a cardboard box. (Very entertaining to watch!)

I made homemade bread to go with our sausage and lentil soup for dinner. (Carrabba's recipe!)


This is what our front yard looks like.

This is what our backyard looks like!

It's been a fun day! Who knows, if the weather keeps up, we might have another one tomorrow!

Catching Up

It would be impossible to recount everything that has happened since my last entry. So I'm not even going to try! Suffice it to say that we have been very busy, and yet very happy. We took our annual camping trip to Rocky Mtn. National Park in July. It was cold way up on the tundra, and the boys got extremely dirty!

Then we made a trip to Yellowstone! We met Eric's brother and sister there and had a fun time watching all the cousins play together and seeing all the amazing sites of Yellowstone.
We've now started a new school year. Brayden is in 4th grade, and Devin is in 2nd grade. They are doing well. I am working at their school again this year on a reading literacy team. I get to work with many students grades K-5 and give them intense reading interventions. Love it!
So that is where we are now. Halloween is on it's way, and then the Holiday Season is in full swing. I love this time of year! We've already had our 1st snow of the season, and we can't wait to get even more. Bring on the festivities!

What? I Have A Blog?

I have been informed by a few people (who shall remain nameless except for Janelle and Blaine) that I need to step it up in my blogging efforts. Apparently not posting anything in over a year isn't good enough! So I promise I will post something about our goings-on and maybe even put pictures up soon! Until then, enjoy the new background at least - Fall is here!!!

Guess What I Did This Weekend?!?!

Enough Said!

(P.S. It was a great book!)

New Trees

I absolutely love fruitless pear trees! I never really understood what the Primary song "Popcorn Popping" meant until I saw a pear tree in the Spring. Beautiful white blossoms actually "popping" out at you! Then in the Summer their leaves are a dark green that have close to the same sound as aspen trees when the wind blows through them. Then Fall comes, ah cool, sweet, cool, beautiful, cool Fall time! (It's pushing 100 degrees here today - a cool Fall will be welcome!) In the Fall they turn an amazing dark burgundy color. Absolutely gorgeous! So with that said, you can understand why when I found myself walking around a nursury that was going out of business, everything was 70% off, and I found myself face to trunk with some pear trees, there was nothing I could do but get some! These were BIG trees, and they HAD to go in our yard!

This is a before picture of a corner in our back yard.

There was no way that Eric & I could have done this by ourselves, so we paid a company to do it for us. They only charged us $50! That was the best money we've spent! Four men came and they all struggled to get these trees out of the back of the truck and down the steps to the backyard! They dug the holes for us and planted the trees. And all that was done in about one hour! It would have taken us at least 2 days!

Here is one of the trees in:

Here is the second tree in:

And here is the final result!

Now we're just keeping our fingers crossed that they get established and I can enjoy all the brilliant seasons of my new pear trees!

Life is good!

Summer's Half Way Over!

I can't believe that Summer is half-way over for us! I realized this the other day and couldn't believe how fast it's gone. But then I remembered all that we have done so far, and couldn't believe what we have packed in already!

We did our annual pilgramage to Rocky Mountain National Park the week after school was out. We rented a pop-up trailer and headed up to that beautiful place for 5 days. We had a great camping spot and had fun experimenting with dutch oven cooking. We did some hiking, saw the famous big-horned sheep, and actually took a nap or two - great memories!

The boys loved being out in the wilderness. We took them on some pretty long hikes, and they never once complained. We even got in a few snow ball fights - in July!! (That tells you how high up we were!)

We've also started our family "reading parties". Since Devin is such a good reader now, we all love to grab our books and lay down on our bed and read. It's a little crowded with all 4 of us on a queen size bed, but it is so much fun. After a while we take a little intermission break and go get some ice cream. We put our PJs on at 7 the other night and read until 9! (The ice cream was at 8. Have you ever had Brownie Mud Pie? Fabulous!!!)

We've done play groups with friends, pool parties, cub scout activities, and X-box game tournaments. (Not particularly my strong point, and the boys love taking advantage of that!)

So with Summer being half-way over, I looked at my list of things I wanted to get done this summer while I wasn't working. It included cleaning carpets, organizing closets, and a myriad of other things. Needless to say, I haven't gotten to those yet! But that's what Summer is about, right? We've made some good memories and had lots of fun. Second half-here we come!