Halloween

We survived Halloween week!

First there is all the discussion and decision about costumes. Thankfully, this year Ellie and Hunter’s grandma did the work of making them. She also sent money for Ellie to buy hers. Hunter ended up being a pirate and Ellie a dead prom queen. Here they are ready to go after spending the afternoon with mom and dad getting ready.

We went to the annual Tortolita ward Trunk or Treat again too. It was a night of frustration dealing with the supervising needs when RandR are involved and all that entails. I have so much to learn and improve on with this situation. It is hard. Kelly keeps saying that we are in the refiners fire and will come out of this better people. I keep my hope in that. The kids had fun and enjoyed being with their parents, so I guess that is what matters.

I made yeast scones instead of donuts this year and they turned out yummy. We made honey butter with our favorite whipped honey.

Finally, the night for trick or treating came! We went with the Merrill’s and the Somerville’s in their neighborhood. The kids brought home pounds of candy. Hunter was completely pooped out by the end of the night-there were no arguments when we said it was time to go home.

Our Experiment is Working!

Here is a shot of our garden! It is growing and blooming and starting to show us just how much it is going to produce!The kids go out every morning and every afternoon to see how things have changed. Ellie is also collecting any caterpillars that she finds. No need for pest control other than that.

Kelly even said he was so glad I talked him into it! Nice!

Camping and Touring Globe AZ

We heard about some Indian ruins near Roosevelt Lake, so we decided to go on a camping trip and do some exploring. We left Friday after work and drove to the lake to set up camp. Maryn and Kelsey came from Phoenix after they were off work, to join us in the fun. It was dark by the time we got to the camp site, so set up and dinner were done by lantern light, but we were excited to be camping. The weather was perfect! The stars were out in full force, giving us a fantastic view.

The next morning we cooked some mountain man breakfast and relaxed around our campsite, enjoying the quiet. Ellie was hunting javelina and chasing them around camp, while Hunter explored the surroundings.

We packed up and got ready to go on our hike, only to discover that we should have been up early and on our way. It was a difficult hike, and we weren’t sure where it was so we changed our minds and opted for an easier, quicker spot where we could find arrowheads. We followed the map and directions in the book, only to discover that the map was so old, it was no longer just a wash. So we were out of luck! Now what? Here we were in Globe, the whole day with nothing to do.

We googled for some ideas and found some Indian ruins we could tour in an archeology park called “Besh Ba Goweh”. We walked around the park, learning about the ruins and the civilizations that inhabited them so long ago. It was very interesting to imagine what it would have been like to live there.

We decided to go to the historic part of downtown Globe and tour some of their old building. On our way, we saw an interesting Trading Post and stopped to see their interesting products. We went to an old church and the old courthouse before finding a little Mexican restaurant for dinner. Then we said our goodbye’s to the girls and drove back to Tucson.

Marana Pumpkin Festival

It’s fall and the weather is beautiful. Can you think of a better way to spend the day than at the pumpkin patch? That’s what we thought. So, when the kids got home from their visit, we drove out to the pumpkin patch to have some fun, enjoy the sun and pick out some pumpkins.

We let the kids run around and have fun on all the free stuff. They went to the petting zoo, climbed hay bales and jumped on the giant jumping pillow.

 

 

 

 

Then we all went for a walk in the maze. 

 

 

 

 

 

After we spent some time being lost in the corn stalks, we drove out to the big patch in search of  the perfect pumpkin…our four.

General Conference

It started innocently. We were just sitting around talking. When someone—I don’t even remember who—said it would be fun to take the kids to the conference center for conference. And that is just what we did.

We checked for tickets, but there weren’t any more available. We weren’t that surprised since it was such late notice. We decided we would go anyway and just wait in line. Then just days before we left, Sorena found some for the Saturday morning session. Sweet! We packed up the car, picked up Kelsey on our way and made a quick trip to Utah. We are warm here in Arizona, but the closer we got to Utah, the colder it got. The kids were freezing. On one of our stops, Ellie got out and then froze right in her tracks!

 

We arrived late Friday night, but dragged ourselves up early so we could get to Salt Lake. Ellie and Hunter were excited to be there and be in the same room as the prophet. It was fun to have Kelsey with us, too. She was excited to be there again. We took a few quick pictures to keep the memory in their books. Then again as we left and as we walked through temple square.

We had fun visiting with family and catching up as well. Gheen, Beth and boys came to see us at GG’s too!

The kids were on Fall Break, but we still had to get back so Kelly could get to work. We stopped in Cedar City to look at some more properties and to see Jared and Melanie. Then went on to St. George where we planned to stay the night with Grandma Hillman and Quin. We wanted to visit with them for a few hours then finish our drive home.