Moving Time

Dan was offered a new job on the 23 in Klamath Falls, Oregon.  We are excited to move and very excited to be closer to family, but sad to leave all of our friends in Cheyenne. A new chapter to begin, an old chapter to end. d It seems hard to turn the page sometimes, but we are excite for another new adventure.  We are hoping to stay there until Emma graduates which for us is next to forever.  We'll see what happens.  More news to follow along with some Christmas pictures hopefully.

Happy Halloween!

 The kids decided to do a pirate theme this year with their costumes. Eliza was the parrot.  Gabby, the princess hostage, Emma, the undead pirate, and Gideon and Ben were Captain Jack Sparrow.  It's not perfect, but the closest that we have ever been to having a theme.  Ben really looked like Jack Sparrow. Gideon lost parts of his costume throughout the numerous parties we went to, so by the time Halloween came he was pretty bare bones.  We were excited to have decent weather for trick or treating and the kids had a lot of fun.  Then next night we got about 6-8 inches of snow!

 Here is the pumpkin line-up:Ben, Emma, Eliza, Gabby, Dan, Ben, Me/Dan, Gideon.  Ben did one for cub scouts as well as ours.

Here they are in the dark. Ooo-ooohhhh!

Anderson Farm 2011

We made our Annual Trek to a Corn Maze this year to Anderson Farms.  We had gone there two years ago and loved it much better than the one we went to last year.

Here are the kids on the hay maze.

Check out those GIANT PUMPKINS!

They weren't as big as some, but they were still pretty big.

The kids still enjoyed the barrel cars, although they weren't as fast as they were the last time we were there.  The last time, they flipped, but we weren't on them at the time, so we think they might have made some new speed rules.

The kids were able to feed the big cows and bulls.  They ate right from their hands!!

Don't worry we bailed them out before we left!

The new addition this year were the pedal cars.  We had a lot of fun racing them!

And of course we can't forget the corn maze.  Kudos to Dan for making punches in about 10 different cards at each of the 18 different stopping points only to come home and have all of the kids throw their cards away. :)

The Itch

I grew up in the same house until I left for college.  Dan lived in the same house from the time he was two until he went to college.  Why do we feel the itch to move every couple of years?  We have lived in Cheyenne for two years now.  We have a beautiful home, lots of great friends, and Dan has a decent job, but we are feeling it again.  We are happy here and know we could be happy here for along time, but we still feel that itch.  I don't know if it inherent in our make-up or we are just weird or we are searching for something, but we feel that itch.  At one point, we were hoping to settle someplace for along time--you know five years or so--and maybe we will do it so our kids can be stable during their high school years.  We'll see what happens and where our next adventure takes us. Maybe we both have gypsy blood buried deep in our ancestries, but we still feel that itch.

October Conference

Dan, Emma, Ben and Eliza went to Salt Lake to see General Conference in person.  They were able to get tickets for the Sunday morning session.  They had a good experience and enjoyed being in the same room as the prophet and apostles even if it was with about 20,000 plus other people.

 Our niece, Kathy, her husband, Scott and their daughter, Myra, hospitably put them up for the night.  They enjoyed visiting with them. It was a fun road trip that we had been waiting for Eliza to turn 8 to do.

Eliza is 8!

Eliza turned eight a while ago, but I just downloaded the pictures and realized I never posted about it.  She decided to forego a birthday party in favor of a "try scuba" experience in Fort Collins.  Dan drove her down and they both got in the pool and got to use scuba equipment.  She loved it and can't wait to get certified.   

 Of course she was also baptized.  There weren't very many people there, but it was a lovely service.  Her primary teacher gave the talk on baptism and I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Emma and Ben gave the prayers.  Now she doesn't get any freebies.  I have to write down this story and hopefully she will forgive me if she reads this. About a year ago, there was a book fair at school. She wanted money for it, but we told her no. Well, a couple days later she had this bug terrarium.  We asked her where she got it from and she said a kid from the bus gave it to her. It had a $20 price tag on it so we told her to give it back. The next day I asked if she was able to give it back and she said no that he wasn't on the bus. After a few more days of this, I was extremely suspicious, but wanted to believe her.

I was looking for something of Gabby's in her room when I found a receipt and a bunch of twenties. I asked Eliza about it and she had taken a $100 bill from our money stash in our dresser and bought the terrarium and a chocolate calculator. I asked her if she knew that it was wrong. She replied that she knew, but it was okay because she hadn't been baptized yet.  It took her over ten months to pay us back, but she has done it and she did not get to keep the terrarium.  We think she learned her lesson.

No More Diapers!

After 11+ years of changing diapers, we are now officially potty trained!  Gabby and I decided the time had come and so last Tuesday we went for the underwear.  She had lots of accidents on Tuesday and Wednesday and then on Thursday she didn't have a single accident!  She has had a couple of number 2 accidents so we are still working on that, but she has been doing really well.  It is strange not to have to change diapers all of the time anymore.  Hopefully I didn't gross you out too much.