Adam's Canyon

While CJ was hunting my parents came to visit. My mom came on Wednesday night and then my dad came on Friday. We had a great time. We went to the Children's Museum, Gardner Village for the witch display, to a pumpkin patch, and on a hike to Adam's Canyon. The hike was really nice. The trailhead is about five minutes from our house. The weather was perfect and the colors were beautiful. Maria did great and was our fearless leader, and Carly was in heaven being carried around outside all day. It was a pretty good hike and we got about five minutes from the end and Carly and I stopped. There was a hard to get up rocky place and I could have gotten up it with Carly, but coming down would have been a little scary. Maria and my dad kept going and said that there was a big waterfall at the end. They said it was beautiful, but that it would have been pretty scary with me carrying Carly. We made it down and it was just a really nice day. It was a nice long weekend and I hope that my parents enjoyed it as much as we did

Maria taking a break on the hike to pose for a photo.

Maria in front of the waterfall that Carly, my mom, and I didn't get to see.

Along the trail with all of the beautiful colors.

Happy Halloween!

I have never really gotten into Halloween, but with kids you are kind of forced into it. This year Maria decided she wanted to be a witch and Carly a bat. They both looked great in their costumes and have gotten to wear them a number of times. They had a day at CJ's work where the kids could walk around the clinic and all the different departments handed out candy. It was nice because it was inside and they got a ton of candy. I let Carly have a sucker and she was in heaven. She had a death grip on it and would have eaten the stick if I would have let her. We then had a ward trunk-or-treat which was outside and a little chilly, but they still had a great time. Maria also had a Halloween program at school and a party. I don't know if we will be going trick-or-treating on Saturday, because I think that they have enough candy already, but I'm guessing Maria will talk either me or CJ into going.

Bat Carly enjoying her first sucker. She's in love.

Maria being a cute witch.

Mitchy is Family

We have a new member of the family. Her name is Mitchy (Maria named her), and she is an 11 year old mare that we bought from a family in Tremonton, Utah. CJ is the only one that has rode her, and he thinks she's going to be a pretty good horse. The price was right so I was happy. She is living in Lyman, so I hope that she gets rode enough to keep her in good health. CJ took her hunting and said that she did really well and loves to walk. She only ran him into a tree once, so I guess that's good. Maria loves Mitchy and talks about her all the time. I do wish that we could have her closer so that the horse could get use to Maria. Maria insisted that she needed a cowgirl hat and boots for when she rode Mitchy, and so guess who got a new cowgirl hat (no boots as of yet) Maria. We are happy to have Mitchy.

CJ at camp while hunting.

Mitchy trying to figure out hobbles. CJ said it was very entertaining for awhile and then she just decided not to move at all.

Maria and Sylvie on Flicka. CJ is by Mitchy but you can't really see her. We went to spend a day in Lonetree and they went for a ride around the ranch.

Soccer

Maria has been playing soccer now for a month and we still have another month to go (it's a long soccer season for 5 year olds I think). She has enjoyed it, but is not super intense. She has gotten really good at handstands though. I think she has spent more time on cartwheels and handstands than on soccer.

Maria is number three for the blue team. She's waiting with the rest of the team for the throw in from the goalie.

Classic middle of the game handstand from Maria.

Finally a Happy Carly

So I realized that I have not taken hardly any pictures of Carly and feel kind of bad about it. I think that a lot of the reasoning is that she just hasn't been the happiest girl, and who wants to have a picture of a crying baby. She has come a long way in six months though and is turning into a very happy and fun little girl. She is now 15 pounds 13 ounces and is 26 1/2 inches tall. We love Carly and are so happy that she is in our family.

Carly posing and showing how happy and cute she is.

Harvest Time

We got to Utah the middle of June and it was a little late for a garden, but we decided to try and grow one anyway. We got things planted about the second week in July, and after a few months things actually started to grow. Here's what we planted: corn, tomatoes (3 types), eggplant, lettuce, carrots, beets, onion, chili peppers, green peppers, cucumbers and Maria tried a watermelon. Everything grew except our onions, and Maria's watermelon didn't ripen, but got to a good size. We also have a plum, a nectarine, and a peach tree in our back yard that produced quite a lot. We have a cherry tree and strawberry plants as well, but the birds ate all of the fruit before we could get them covered. We had a lot of fun gardening and it wasn't even too bad having to weed every other day. I think that it was the highlight of the day for Maria when CJ got home and they walked out to the garden to check on things. With all of this produce we had to do something with it. We bottled peaches and nectarines, froze corn, made plum jam and fruit leather, pickled beets, and made pickles from the cucumbers. We have had some great salads and salsa, and I hope that we will be having some roasted eggplant salad soon (my favorite Turkish salad, and the main reason why I planted an eggplant). We have had a great time with this garden and plan on making it bigger and better next year.

Maria posing by the garden, you can see her watermelon in front of her that she is so proud of.

Maria picking peaches. Carly spent a good deal of her summer under that peach tree. It was by the garden and she loved to lay on the grass in the shade of the tree while Maria and I weeded. Well while I weeded and Maria jumped on the trampoline.

Plum jelly, dill pickles, pickled beets, peaches, nectarines, and fresh cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and chili peppers.