It's time to move on...

I keep thinking of all the things I haven't blogged about, but should.  I think it's time to move on.  (Though, maybe I will post some Halloween pics really quick, that wasn't FOREVER ago, not even two full weeks...)

Let's just pretend that I've been a better blogger and we're all caught up.  If any of you are stalking me, I apologize for the gaps in material, you will just have to work with what you've got.

So it is Fall.  I mentioned that last post.  I love Fall.  I was married in Fall.  I love the smells (I am not allowed to even enter a Bath & Bodyworks right now.), I love the colors, I love the treats.

I love that in just a couple of weeks I'll be gathering with family to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I don't get to go home as often as I'd like.  But we nearly always go home for Thanksgiving.  I'm not sure how ready I am yet, I think I'm doing okay, we'll see how many projects get finished this weekend.  But either way, I always look forward to seeing family, and a few friends, and enjoying this time of year with them.

Time to play "Catch Up"!

I've been a little completely MIA lately.  I can blame part of it on being so busy with the holiday season but there have definitely been times when I could have blogged and just wasn't feeling it.  I've got the Bloggy Blahs.  ;)

But the BBs have lessened just a bit and I think I'll take advantage of that and just shove my way past them.  To start, we need to back up a couple of months!  Eeks, yes, I'm really THIS far behind!!

Way back in October, before Halloween (that would be TWO holidays ago!), the girls and I went to the pumpkin patch for a fun day with my cousin, Sami.  Check it out!

We always love going to BiZi Farms and were only bummed that Ryan couldn't go this year.  But we still had lots of fun!

Rori even ran into a school friend on the huge hay pyramid.  They had fun having a little impromtu playdate!  Sami had fun with the Kettle Corn, we all got muddy in the corn maze, and Rori tried her hand at grinding corn... I know, these pics are kind of corny!  *hardy har har*

And before we left, we made a bunch of four-legged friends at the petting zoo.  Sami was going in for a kiss, I think. ;)

BiZi Farms is a fun way to spend a fall day!

Spook-tacular Party Pics

On Friday night we went to a Halloween party at the Hills.  It was super fun because they are super fun!  I think just about everyone who came had a costume on - yay for festive pary people! 

Sami was a unicorn with wings... um, in PJs (lol).  Joy'el was... I don't remember what.  She was going to be Adele but changed her mind and costume at the last minute.  Whatever she was, she looked pretty! :)  Quin was a vampire, Ki was a unicorn (Sami was her Unicorn Mommy), Chelsie was a mouse, Kris was a little kid, Acadia was a nerd, and Rori was Minnie Mouse...

Andy came sans costume but wanted to join the cool crowd, so Chelsie hooked him up.

Matthew was a rockstar and MaryJane was his groupie. ROFL!!! Spencer came as a hipster, but you will see that later his costume evolved some. ;)  I think only Debbie and Scottie were without costumes, but we like them and were happy they were there, anyway.  ;)



Let's see... who else?? Oh yeah!  US!  Ryan was Tom Brady and I was Wes Welker.  That's a good duo, right there! ;)

I brought some witch's brew to have as a special drink.  It looked creepy!  But it was very sweet.  Almost too sweet.  I couldn't finish a second glass.  Otherwise, it did taste good!  Ryan, as usual, was the favorite person for the kids to gang up on. lol  Cadi taught Joy'el part of a song she liked.  And everyone just had fun hanging out!

After everyone had eated and visited a little, we started the games!  First up, bobbing for apples!  Little ones went first and we let them just grab the apples by the stem.  They had so much fun that after everyone else was done, they kept doing it over and over again. lol

Next up - donuts on a string!  It was harder than it looks!  They had to keep their hands behind their backs and try to eat the entire donut as it hung on a hook, dangling from a string... swaying back and forth.  Everyone ended up with messy faces.  Messy, but tasty! lol

They had some fun props to take pics with, like these mustaches!  I love these pics of Rori!!!  Also, after the apple bobbing, Spencer's hair needed a make-over and that led to the next phase of his costume... like father, like son!

We gathered around the table to play some card games and ended up laughing an awful lot!!!

Thanks for another great night, Hill family!

I think I was in a Disney Coma.

Whew!  So, I think that was the bulk of our amazing trip this summer.  And as you may (or may not) have noticed, I am slow getting on with other things happening around here.  A little MIA.  But I'm trying to get back.

Let me try to catch you up a little, some of these things will hopefully generate their own individual posts with more detail (and photos) soon...

(In no particular order:)

• I went on our 3rd annual ward RS beach retreat earlier this month and had a fantastic time!  I always love going to the beach.  And I always love a good GNO.  Put those two together and I LOVE LOVE it! lol  I will definitely post more on this later, so I'll save the details for then, but until then, the weather was beautiful, the comany was wonderful, and we had a great time!  Lots of laughs, that is for sure!!!
• It's Fall!  And a little over a week ago I took the girls to the pumpkin patch.  Ryan had to work that day, so we didn't get to have him come with us, instead my cousin, Sami came and we had a BLAST!  This will definitely be posted about soon, too, so stay tuned for lots of fun pumpkin patch photos, including petting zoo, face painting, climbing huge hay pyramids, getting lost in a muddy pumpkin patch, launching pumpkins (I got a hole in one!!!), and of course the tractor ride out to find our perfect pumpkins!  Lots of great Fall Fun right there!
• Another sign of Fall... Football!!!!  I love Football season!  Our Pats are doing pretty well so far, they fought their way to the top of the division, and it wasn't as easy as it has been in the past.  Where did these Buffalo Bills come from?!?  When did they get... GOOD??? lol 
• Also Fall Football related is... Marching Band!  We don't have anyone in band at our house, but our good friends and neighbors do!  I love going to the HS football games (even though Evergreen's football team really stinks right now) to cheer on the marching band!  And I was able to make it to one of the band competitions this year, too.  It is so neat to see them perform!  I love it!
• Playing with the Hills.  We get together with the Hills at least once a month, usually more.  And if there is a camera present, you know you'll get some crazy, fun photos!  I have a bunch I need to upload and share and all I'll say about it for now is... JUMP!

I am sure there is more, but those are some of the highlights that stood out to me.  I'm sorry I have been behind on everything.  Now that I've finished blogging Disney, and am *starting* (still have a ways to go) to get a handle on some of my other projects, I'm hoping I can become a little more consistent in the blogging department. :)

Fall Curb Appeal

After we visited the pumpkin patch, we stopped by a farm supply store and got a bale of hay.  We used it, with some of the dried corn stalks from my garden, to help display our pumpkins in front of our house:





(The lone pumpkin on the walkway is the one that Cadi wants to carve, I think we'll leave the others whole, however, to keep as a display and then possibly to can.  I'm also planning on using the hay to cover my garden beds once we're done with the display.)

Family Fall Fun

Saturday was gorgeous and quite possibly the last really nice Saturday we'll get for awhile, so we took advantage of that and spent the day at the pumpkin patch!

We began by taking pictures right away - before we became muddy and covered in hay. ;)



Then we climb aboard the hayride to be taken to the pumpkin patch!




After finding our pumpkins, we took another hayride back to the farm and got them all washed, scrubbed, and cleaned up.  Then we deposited them in the back of our car so we could continue having loads of fun at the farm. :)



We started by letting the girls climb and play on the huge hay pyramid while I got our hot cocoas and some freshly popped kettle corn and cheese flavored popcorn.  Yum!  When the girls were done playing, we found a table near some live music and enjoyed our little snack.



The popcorn long outlasted the hot cocoas and we were thirsty by the time it was gone, so we headed over to watch them press fresh apple cider and enjoyed the samples.



After our thirst had been quenched by the delicious cider, we visited the petting zoo...





The donkey had an itch on his back while I was watching him:



After the petting zoo, we took our chances and entered the corn maze.  After about 20 minutes I noted that we probably should have visited the bathrooms before entering... thankfully, no one ended up having any problems and though we had fun wandering and getting lost for about an hour (we'd come across people who would ask us if we were on the right track and we'd tell them we have no idea, we're just following a four year old, lol), we did eventually make it out safely.



We had been at the farm for a few hours already but wanted to do one more thing before heading home... so we launched pumpkins!  And this year, instead of giving Ryan my tickets (he LOVES launching the pumpkins, lol), I actually launched a couple, too. :)



Finally, we called it a day.  It was a great day, filled with lots of family fall fun! :)

Never too busy for Bi-Zi!

As everyone knows, we've been super busy working on our deck (no, it is not done yet).  We are almost done with the roof of the awning and we still need to do the railing.  Today was beautiful!  It was the perfect day to work on the deck!  But, it was also the ONLY day we'd be able to take the kids to the pumpkin patch before Halloween.  What to do, what to do???

Compromise.

We went to Bi-Zi Farms as soon as it opened (10am) and stayed until noon.  Then we took Ryan home so he could work on the awning while I took the girls back for more farm fun!  We had such a great time! 
I took my tripod with us so we could take some fun fall family photos:



We love going to Bi-Zi Farms every fall!  It is such a fun place and it's also such a great deal!  Each paying guest gets to choose any pumpkin from the patch - any size!  We love picking huge pumpkins, which is why we needed Ryan with us for that part, at least! lol  The kids love all of the little activities they have for them, Ryan loves the pumpkin launch, and I love that so much is included in the admission cost that we don't have to say no to the girls about anything.  (Cost of admission includes one hot cocoa or apple cider for each person, so we even all get a treat.)  We do pay a little extra to get faces painted and for Rori to ride the ponies, but everything else we did was free with admission.  Love it!!!

Here's a slideshow of some of the pics I took:

Give Thanks... Pt. 2

As you know (if you had been reading my blog before Thanksgiving), I was preparing to run a 10K on Thanksgiving Day.  Well... I totally wussed out.  lol  The week before, when I ran 4 miles, I ended up so sick the rest of that day and I didn't want to be sick on Thanksgiving like that.  So, I ran the 5K instead.  Even at that, I was a little sick afterwards, but not nearly as bad as the week before.  I'm really glad I didn't try for the 10K, I would have hated the rest of the day.  It was still fun to run and we still helped to raise a lot of money.  There were well over 20,000 runners and we raised over $700,000 for the food bank. :)

Before the run:












Ryan took the camera with him and took these pics of the crowd.  This first one is just everyone gathering at the start line.  The starting line was down around the corner on the right.  The second pic is taken during the walk/run.




When I finished the 5K, I waited for Ryan to get close to the finish line with Rori and I met up with them.  Ryan took Rori out of her stroller and gave me the camera so I could take pictures of Rori walking and finishing the 5K.






After the run, we showered and headed over to my sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner.
















After dinner...




On Friday, we went to McKinley Park with Ryan's family. 




























On Saturday, we spent most of the day with my family playing games.  It was a lot of fun!  We specifically planned to play the long games that we never have time to play. 












And I think that's about it!  We love spending Thanksgiving week with family!  We're so grateful for them and for the luxury we have of living in a time when we have reliable cars, safe highways, jet planes, etc., that make it so much easier to see each other. :)