October Fun

 

This year we joined a home school co-op called LEAF. The kids take classes every Friday and we go on little field trips together. It's been great for the kids and they love making new friends. We went to the plant farm's pumpkin patch again this year. I love that they bring the pumpkins in and put them on the lawn so we don't have to trudge through the muddy fields to get our pumpkins!

They have a little tractor train ride.

Hello PINK! Emma just had to climb on this tractor!

Kendall and I have a tradition of going to a corn maze every October.  We went to a corn maze 13 years ago on our 3rd date. It was a special date, cause he held my hand for the first time that night and he told me he loved me on that date. We usually make it a date night thing, but this year was so busy and the kids really wanted to go so we went as a family. The kids had a great time running around the maze. This is them at the entrance to the maze.

Wild Children

 As a parent of 5 children some times (okay, let's be honest, from the time they get up to the time they go to sleep) the kids can be a little loud and not listen to what you say. So last night I jokingly said something about hog tying our wild children to settle them down. It turns out they do listen to us! (I call it selective audio disorder, all children have it) Emma and Daniel ran out  to the garage and grabbed the rope!

Once they are all tied up we have a little peace and quite while they work and wiggle to get themselves untied. And we get a good laugh.

 Emma was the first to get herself untied! They had so much fun and got all tired and were in bed and asleep by 7pm! (Part of that was due to the fact that the time changed and 6pm felt to them like 7pm)

Temple Leaves

 Every Fall I take the kids to the temple and we look for leaves to bring home and do crafts with. The kids love running around the little trails they have and try to  find the best leaves. I always bring the camera and force them to sit for just a few minutes for pictures.

 My boys are so handsome! Noah was a little miffed at me when I told him he couldn't wear any camo cause I wanted to take nice pictures today. That boy would live in camo every day all year if I let him! It reminds me of Kendall when he was that age!

 I love the girls blue eyes!

 My mom came with us this year!

 My kids can't just do nice smiley picture.....they have to have at least one silly picture! Ha, and you can't really tell in the picture but we noticed after the pictures were all taken that Jacob not only has his shoes on the wrong feet, but both his pants and underwear were on backwards! Sadly, that's not abnormal for him!

 I even got out from behind the camera and let my mom take one of the kids and I.

This has always been my favorite tree!

Encampment

Noah is an 11yr old scout so he was able to go up to encampment Friday and Saturday. They had a great time hiking

They hiked to a rock garden and had fun climbing around.

They even got to go to the shooting range and shoot 22's. They had a great time and he can't wait til next year when he can go to camp the full week.

Noah Meets Elder John H. Groberg

Have you ever seen the movie The Other Side Of Heaven? If you haven't, I highly recommend it! It is one of Noah's favorite movies. It's about a guy, John Groberg, who goes on a mission to the Tongan islands in the 1950's. It's an amazing movie! Noah has always wanted to meet him. Well we found out that he was going to be a speaker at encampment this year so Kendall took him up to hear him speak. After they went up and met him. Noah asked him if he had ever eaten grasshoppers. He said that he's eaten insects before but he didn't think he'd eaten grasshoppers.

They both came home super excited about the whole evening. I love that Noah got to meet him and speak to him! 

Water Fight!

 Last night around 7pm the kids were outside playing with the hose when the missionaries arrived home from an appointment. I was in the house when I hear this loud yell coming from outside and the kids all start screaming. I look outside to see wet kids, an elder with an umbrella and lots of water! From what I heard, Noah was teasing them when they got home with the hose....then the elders come out in plain clothes and cups of water and it all went down hill from there!

 The Elders didn't really have much of a chance since Noah had the hose and longer range, but the Elders did the best they could under the circumstances. We helped out by turning the hose off every once in a while.

 

These Elders work well as a team! Elder Young (in the red) held back at the start and just refilled Elder Udall's cups for him, but towards the end he was right there with his companion.

 The missionaries are supposed to do lots of service. Tonight they watered our lawn, created a great memory for my kids, and helped get the kids cooled off and tired so bed time would go smoother for us. That's awesome service!

Blog's name change

I

 Look closely, can you see IT? (By "it" I mean the big ugly grasshopper.) We have been thinking that the blog needed a name change and Kendall came up with Grasshopper Ranch. It seems to fit on lots of different levels.

Noah caught IT today at the garden and it's the biggest one caught this season. So far the kids have caught over 70 of them and they are all in a bag in the freezer (with their heads pulled off, cause you don't eat the heads, of course). Noah says they are saving them for the winter when there are no grasshoppers to be found. (If you think I'm teasing you about this, sadly I'm not.) We can blame this whole thing on Survivor Man. Noah saw this guy eat a grasshopper in one of his shows and decided he was going to try it. He was hooked from the first grasshopper, says they taste like french fries. If I ever meet that survivor man I'm going to give him an earful! Every summer for the last 5 years Noah looks forward to summer time. For that is grasshopper season. I think every kid in the neighborhood has tried one, even the Elders living next door have come over to try one of his fried grasshoppers. I have to say I have NEVER eaten one, and NEVER will! Also I have to have to say I do not encourage this in any way. I wonder if they will out grow the grasshopper hunting. I guess they won't ever start to death.