Orange

Orange Basketball: Here is a picture of Alex going for the basket last Saturday.

Orange rolls: It is that time of year for orange rolls. Bro Bayer always gets a batch as well as our HT/VT families. I'll have some on hand on the 31st if you stop by for 'T or T'. Actually, I make them to give away and always make mine last as an after thought. They just smell so wonderful!

Orange Jack-O-Lantern: I made the boys dig in the goop this year. I told Alex if he wanted to carve it with Dad he had to help. This year's logistics included a day time cleaning with mom and a night time carving with dad. It may be a new tradition because the boys stayed involved through both processes. This year's design was of my own making. I have always been lame in ideas, but this one just came out. It isn't brillant, but it is scary, which is what Alex was going for.

(I think Ryan has made a new friend. Look how he has his arm around Spooky Sam.)

5 days...

Five more days to Halloween! I am so excited. Saturday Dan and I went with some of his co-workers to a Halloween shin-dig in Scotsdale. 'Scotsdale' should indicate that it was big doings and that we didn't fit in with the Merecedes or Range Rovers valet parked out front. But it was fun to attend. My Chewbacca outfit was mistaken for an ewok and Dan tried yellow paint for his face, but it just made him look sick! No, we didn't take any pictures, but we have 2 more events this week, so we'll have pictures soon.
Alex's basketball team is really improving. It is fun to watch them gain confidence and become friends. I'll put some pictures on later.
Dan over seeded the lawn Saturday. That was a lot of work. We have had to replace sprinklers that were mowed over. We have the sprinklers set for 3 x's a day. Is that enough? It is cool in the mornings now and I should get out there and plant some winter flowers and some trees.

Halloween Pictures

Here is the fruit of my labor. My sweet Jedi Knights! Regretfully, there are no shots with Ryan's Jedi robe. He didn't want to wear it because it was hot. The photographer said that there were many Star Wars costumes this year. We saw a clone trooper while we were waiting. Ah, but none are as unique as ours (only because they were my own creation, not necessarily out of originality!) We've had better photographers at JCP but these turned out OK. I won't be getting any 10 x 13 of costumes anyhow! However, I am hoping to get some nice home shots of mine and Dan's costumes. I couldn't get Dan to go out in public (in broad daylight!) in his C3PO for a family picture. I'm glad he puts up with my Halloween fascination, my attempts to sew, and my desires to have the most fun on our block on the 31st!

Finishing the fall break

Some have said that they can't wait for school to start again after 2 weeks. Not me. I'm glad to have Alex at home. He is so sweet and good these days. He really has played nicely with Ryan. I know I should really get down and play with him, but I'm just a board game and book kind of mom. I'm also an outing kind of mom. I'm always glad to take them somewhere. Here are pictures of Saturday bowling with Dad and a trip to the Children's Museum with the Wrights.
Alex will head back to school on Monday with his homework done (Did you remember Amie?) and lunchbox full. Ryan and I will put all our effort into the Halloween festivities coming up and then gear up for Thanksgiving. I hope Kirsten is hosting this year...

Cali

For Fall Break we left the desert for paradise. We went to Grandma Black's in San Diego. Alex thought we were staying the whole 2 weeks there. I'm sure Grandma is glad we didn't! We had a wonderful time, but keeping up with 2 boys is a lot of work when you are away from home.
Day 1:
We got up nice and early out of habit. The boys stayed in their p.j.'s most of the day. Grandma has a great stash of toys and games that keep the boys busy. We watched General Conference and went to the park in between sessions. It was Saturday so we had pizza night per tradition.

Day 2:
We all stayed in our p.j.'s most of the day since it was Sunday. We just did more of the same as Saturday, but got to have Grandma's roast for dinner instead!
Day 3:
Sea World is the biggest rip off of all time. We had to pay $12 to park for Pete's Sake! We cruised through the park skipping the big shows we saw last time. We did hit the new play area and watched the Halloween show of Seymore and Clyde. We really wanted to go on the Atlantis coaster but it was closed. Drats! We have season passes so could have gone back the next day just for the ride, but really, we weren't about to shell out another parking fee. I hope they are saving a lot of Manatees with the parking lot profits!

Day 4:
This started out as a work day we trimmed, cut and manicured Grandma's backyard. The boys played in the canyon mostly cooking, but Ryan did do some lasso-ing of pink flamingos. After lunch we headed to Pacific Beach. It was warm (well, Grandma thought it oppressively hot! but I know better now) in San Diego so a trip to the beach was OK. The boys packed up the sand toys and off we went. I did not put my suit on. 62deg water is too cold for me! We had a nice time playing and splashing. One wonderful side affect of kindergarten is that Alex will play outside. Before he always wanted to be inside, but this trip he was way into playing everywhere we went. Hooray! We went to Boomerang for dinner. It was a yummy hamburger joint. It was a lot to ask Ryan to sit still, but luckily it wasn't too crowded when we got there so we didn't bother to many other diners.

Day 5:

Alas, we had to come home. Thank you Grandma for hosting us once again. Alex was bored the minute we got home, so I can tell the next week is going to be LONG! Maybe all we need is a one week break, not two!

Six Random Things

Kristina tagged me with this and after reading her clever and unique random things I feel like I did in the seventh grade: LAME! But here goes...
1. I was co-captain of the flag corp in marching band my senior year.
2. I can't make gravy. I have tried for years, but to no avail. So if you have gravy at my house it is from a package or can.
3. I have a piercing in my upper left ear (it hurt like the dickens for a long time and I was very sad when I had to stop wearing an earing there.)
4. I have given birth to two kids without pain killers. (Not by choice!)
5. Meredith Hendricks and I won first place in the ACME Brick design competition in our 3rd year of college.
6. My favorite cookies are Nutter Butters.

Happy October!

Ok, you know I love Halloween. But here is why I love October.
1)There is no holiday rush. There is anticipation for December, but no mad dashing!
2) Although not applicable here, cold air
3)ditto, autumn
4) ditto, Mountie (I miss marching band!) and Razorback football
5) Fall decor
6) Apple cider and orange rolls
7) Costume making
8) Fall break (our family's first and we are going to San Diego)
9) Crips walks through bright leaves. (Downtown Rogers has the biggest, most beautiful Maple trees anywhere I've lived. Man, to take a break from PBA Architects and go for our 15 min walks was heaven!)
10) Pumpkin patches

Now, 3 reasons why you should go to the Sarival Ward Halloween party. Frist, Amie Wright is our committee chair and she is awesome! Second, contests. Pumpkin carving, costumes, chili and may I suggest Cornbread eating? Third, would you really want to miss seeing Dan and I as C3PO and Chewbacca? I mean really, The Force is going to be strong this year! So, pass out some candy at home, come to the party, and then hit the houses on your street on the way home. Perfect!

Apples to Apples

Amie and I canned apples yesterday. It wasn't difficult, but it was time consuming. Baby Aaron wasn't exactly cooperative, but we still managed to get our box of apples preserved.

The house was deconstructed by these two hooligans. But like all messes, it was cleaned up quickly and it was worth the mess for us to get the work done!

Here is Amie. To picture me, just think of a green shirt! Thank you Liz for the canner and encouragement. I would do it again (but perhaps on a Saturday when the dads can babysit!)