A Mouse in the House! And some pumpkins, too!

Aaack! Yes! I was watching a movie the other night when a mouse (ugh!) scurried out from behind the T.V. stand! It took a couple of nights to finally catch it. I was still in bed when this lovely picture was taken--I would never have let the kids near the thing! Keiger thought it was sooo cool the mouse's eyes were still open in the trap. Yuck!

Anyway, October has been full to the brim. Jacob's grandpa passed away last week so he has been in Oregon for the funeral. The Primary Program was this morning. We got through it with no injuries so we can all breath a bit easier. The kids did great.

We've been busy each weekend with some fun activities. Last week, we drove into the middle of nowhere New Mexico to McCall's Pumpkin Patch. It was so worth the drive. What a darling place! It was like barn amusement park: hayride to the pumpkin patch, bouncy houses, rubber ducky races, petting zoo, corn maze, a big ol' trampoline jump thingee that I want in my backyard, and more. We could have stayed so much longer. It was so fun.

We had an "It's the Great Pumpkin Pajama Party" last week--made yummy caramel apples and listened to "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Kids had fun and it got them hyped up to ride the "It's the Great Pumpkin" train in Durango yesterday. We met my parents and all boarded the narrow guage train and rode for about 30 minutes to an area where there were all sorts of games, music, trick-or-treating, and a pumpkin patch maze. When Keiger saw Snoopy, he literally bolted from us and ran right over to him. He was so excited. We looked hard, but didn't see the Great Pumpkin. Maybe next year. Poor Linus.

Sage is dressed as a dalmation, by the way. Yes, their costumes are fairly hilarious this year.

So Jacob and I went to our first adult Halloween Costume party this year. The theme for the costumes was "famously dead." Think about that for a bit. Too fun. Anyway, I went as the scandalous Cleopatra and Jacob made a great Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter. There were some great costumes, but seriously, by 10 p.m. I was so ready for bed! I can't handle late-nighters anymore--could I ever? We've been lucky to have a good year with pumpkins in the garden. The kids, Sage particularly, were excited to pose with some of them.

Happy 1st Day of Autumn!!!

Hurray for Autumn, our favorite time of year!

So I've been doing a preschool playday for Keiger and one of his friends twice a week, one day at our house, one day at the other mom's house. It's been great fun. Couldn't resist putting in this photo from "BUG" day.

Goings-On

So I finally took the Hunger Games icon down, but, seriously, if you haven't read those books yet, you need to. Jacob even read them. And he liked them. Since our TV broke last July, and we just haven't really thought about fixing it, we've been doing a lot of reading at night. It's actually been really nice.

So about a month ago, I noticed a bottle of "no-scent" body wash in the shower and could only think one thing. Yep. Hunting season. The time of year Jacob lives for. He drew an elk and a deer archery tag this year, and, in a word, it's been...frustrating. "Lots of elk. No good shots," as Jacob says. He has until Wednesday before his season closes. We'll see. I keep telling it's going to be just fine if we have to get meat from the grocery store. He's not convinced.

We've decided to tear apart the yard again. Why not? No really, we've been wanting to get rid of some lilacs around the house that are just unwieldy and kinda ugly. It's turning into a big project, but once it's done, we're satisfied that the yard will finally be finished!!! Yippee!

Yesterday, we made our annual trip to the raspberry ranch. We've been waiting for the berries to come on, and I must say Sage and Keiger are good little pickers. They had a good time helping out, and we came home with plenty of berries to freeze and make jam. Yummy!

So Finn is completely unlike our other kids. He really is everywhere and into everything! Non-stop! I'm exercising in the family room the other morning, and I come into the kitchen to find that Finn discovered a measuring spoon and had been scooping dirt from an indoor plant and carrying it over to dump on the couch. So there's this trail of dirt across the kitchen floor and a lovely little pile of soil on the couch. He was so pleased. I have a feeling this little guy is going to keep us busy!

Finn's 1!

Happy 1st Birthday, Finneas! Finn celebrated his first birthday last Friday. Too bad he’s had a cold and has been a bit grumpy. The kids made him a great cake, we played some fun games outside, and Finn watched as Sage & Keiger opened his gifts for him. Of course, he enjoyed smearing his cake all over. Too fun. Finny is seriously such a goofy little guy, but he is so endearing that you can’t help but love him, especially us. Ever since he started to walk, he disappears into another room for a while and usually reappears with the toy stethoscope around his neck (he really likes that) or somebody’s toothbrush that he’s probably swirled around in the toilet a few times. We are all so grateful for Finn in the family.
School started last week, so it’s back to early bedtimes, lunch-packing, and new this year: homework! Sage loves 1st grade already and says it’s even better than kindergarten.

We did manage to squeeze in a little adventure on Saturday. We all packed into the truck and drove up past Red River on this narrow, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, long dirt road to Goose Lake. The lake was pretty, but we hiked up above it to the ridge of the mountains where we could look down onto Taos Ski Valley. It was beautiful and at 12,000 feet, the highest the kids have ever been. It’s also where Jacob wants to do his deer hunting this year. So is that why we want on this hike?

Trip

So we’ve been out of town for what seems like forever…nearly all of July. We were able to go to Idaho for Jacob’s cousin, Kendra’s wedding. Very nice to see all the family there. Then we went with Jacob’s parents and Justin & Maile’s family to a cabin near Park City for a little reunion. The cousins had so much fun together, and Shawnee planned some really cute things for us all to do…for the kids of course, although I’m pretty sure Jacob really enjoyed crazy hair day and learning a dance for Hawaii day. He was into it. And we all saw plenty of moose on our 4-wheeler rides.

The following week, we left the kids with my mom and went with my dad on his annual backpacking (“extreme-hiking”) trip into the Wind Rivers. There were 14 of us in all, quite a fun crew. We hiked in nearly 16 miles to a beautiful area, way up high. The Winds really are spectacular, especially high above tree line where it’s just rock and snow here and there.

As you can imagine with Jacob around, we hiked a lot and fished. I hadn’t fly-fished in two years and it is still just as fun. We found some fun spots and caught quite a few. Jacob even tried his hand at bow-fishing (yes, he packed his bow in. Are you surprised?). You should have seen the boy scouts who were with us. He had quite an eager audience when he tried to skewer the fish with his arrows. No luck, unfortunately. Yet, the scouts are completely in awe of mountain-man Jacob, and I’m sure they want to grow up to be just like him. In the midst of all of this rugged, manly activity (there were only 2 of us girls on the trip—and seriously, I was most glad to get home so I could have a little privacy. Trying to find a private bathroom spot with 13 other people camping around you can be a wee bit stressful! Anyway…), I still found time to read...a lot. There was one rainy day that gave me plenty of time to relax and read some good books—among my latest favorites: The Hunger Games and The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. Both very good.

And even though one of the scouts prayed that we would see a bear, another year went by without a sighting. I’m okay with that.

Here is a picture for all the "wildlife" enthusiasts.