Lakeview Farms

I have REALLY been wanting to take Jemma and Carter to a pumpkin patch and there are so many around here in Oregon, but I had to find THE BEST...I think I may have lucked out! Last year, Jemma went to a couple of fun pumpkin patches with both my parents and Brandon's parents while we were out visiting, and at both, she got to go on a pony ride, so, that was a priority on my list of MUSTS! Come to find out, there are not many around here that offer that, but we found one...Lakeview farms...that had pony rides on the weekends. SO, Lakeview farms it was. We were probably only there an hour or two, but the kids had so much fun!

Jemma and Brandon...Brandon is quite talented...Jemma couldn't reach on her own, so he's holding her up and looking out for the pic! Impressive!

Carter!

Brandon and the kids, checking out how tall they are.

To get over to the pumpkin patch, you ride on a little ferry boat...they had a shark and a dragon that popped out of the water (I only got a pic of the dragon) that Jemma has talked endlessly about ever since.Carter on his pony, Fancy. He LoVeD it! I wasn't sure if he would stay on, but he did great! (Brandon walked along side him though, just in case.)

Jemma, however, needed no supervision! She is quite a natural on horseback. Her pony was named Bemany. (Kinda sounded like Emily...) Jemma gave her lots of pats on the neck and encouragement..."good girl Bemany", "What a cute little horse you are Bemany!" Etc. Jemma was convinced that these were baby horses...she hasn't quite grasped the concept that ponies are just small...even when they are all grown up! :)

Another shot of Brandon and Carter

Jemma again, having a BLAST!!!

Checkin' out the pumpkins...needless to say, we did NOT purchase our pumpkins there...not when we can get them for 8 cents a lb. at the grocery store! But they were sure fun to look at!

Brandon and the kids. I don't know that you can see it that well in the background, but this little spot had such beautiful landscape! Across the lake were all these trees changing color and the weather just happened to be PeRfEcT! Blue skies and sunny! (Those days are few and far between this time of year.)

To get back over to the parking lot, you took a little train back. Jemma and Carter loved this too. It took you through a little tunnel with all these scarecrows set up doing things like laundry, eating dinner, etc. (The scarecrow heads were, of course, pumpkins.) Very Cute!

Me and the kids on the train.

Brandon and the kids in front of the train after our ride.

We had such a good time and the kids and I were so glad to have Brandon along! It now officially feels like fall, and this little Saturday get-away has got me all psyched up to carve pumpkins!

6 months DOWN!!

My brother Reed has already finished 1/4 of his mission! I seriously cannot believe that. (Most of the time anyway.) I've been pestering him to send some pics to Sharee to post on her blog (My scanner doesn't work anymore) and here of a few of the ones he sent. To see more, visit Sharee's blog.

"We saw this car all over town so we stopped here and took a picture."

"PT's Bike
(our Branch President)"

"My trainer, Elder Rusk"

We love you Reed!!!

Fall Fun

It's official...Fall is here. Living in Oregon, that means lots of rain, but it also means baking, sweaters, crisp mornings, cozy nights, hot cocoa, autumn leaves and ... prep for Christmas (dare I say what I have not yet begun...) Here's a little of this that and the other...what we've been up to lately.

Carter escaped out into the rain this morning...I didn't have shoes on either so I was trying to coax him back into the house without having to go out myself... it took a little while. :) (The rain is too much fun! Especially in bare feet!)

Jemma and I attempted to make wheat bread the other day...it's quite a tedious process since I only have a manual wheat grinder. (Someday, I will have to invest in an attatchment for my kitchen aid that will do it for me!!!) Anyway, after a fabulous arm workout, we had enough wheat flour and turned out FOUR loaves of bread...

It doesn't get much better than fresh bread with a little butter and homemade strawberry jam! :)

A couple other moms and I have been doing crafts once a week with our kids...it fills in an afternoon and keeps their imaginations spry. :) One week we did these "Leaf Crowns" and another week we made swords and shields and turned the apartment play-structure into a castle...I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the castle...probably cuz it wasn't all that impressive...anyway, Jemma insisted on having princesses on her shield...how appropriate.

Here's Jemma and her friends Miles (left) and Trennon (right) in the "dungeon".

Cute kids! (Don't know if I've mentioned this, but Jemma is one of the only girls in the apartment complex in her age range...she seems to do fine playing "cops and robbers", "star wars" and other boy games...it keeps things interesting. :)

I spy Carter

Sometimes we all need a little "space". Somewhere we can just be alone...

Aprons

So, it turns out, while I was busy sewing aprons, my Mom was on a little apron kick too! She made matching aprons for all her daughters and their children for all the fall baking we'll be doing. :) (Carter actually doesn't have his yet, but he HAD to have an apron on too, so he's wearing the apron Jemma's Nina and Papa gave her for Christmas a couple years ago.)

My mom also knew that I was busy sewing for a craft bizzare (sp?) I'll be a vendor in on October 10th, and thought that making matching Mom & Daughter Aprons would be a good idea...for baking season. She even sent me enough fabric for THREE sets! What a mom!!! Here is Jemma modeling the small ones. The adult sizes look the same, just bigger.

Jemma was in an ornery mood, so I had to bribe her with jelly-bellies to model these little aprons. They were really fun to make...which one is your favorite?

Summer Sun Driftin' Away...

Here are just a few pics from the last few days of dwindling sunlight...I'm starting to feel just a little anxious about the impending darkness that comes with Oregon rain...I guess we'll enjoy the warm weather and sunshine while it lasts!

Carter is just like his dad! Already on a skateboard...no broken bones yet.

Carter really likes hats these days. He wants to wear Brandon's or Jemma's all the time (I don't have any hats...I would LOVE one, but they all fit my head a little funny...) Anyway, I found this sweet hat for $3 at OLD NAVY (Stuff & Save deal...I LoVe It!) and he has been so happy to have his very own hat. He puts it on and takes it off over, and over, and over again. Super Cute!

There won't be many more days comfortable enough to eat icecream outside...here are a few of Jemma and Carter livin' it up. :)

Jemma hammin' it up.

Just some of the last sunflowers from our garden. Enjoy! :)

It's been a while...here's my version of CATCH-UP!

The kids while we were out shoe shopping...after three stores, we still had ZERO pairs of shoes...lame, lame, lame! I guess the kids still had fun.

Jemma put on this pair of DC's (I think that's the brand...they're little "skater" shoes). I told her I probably wasn't going to get those ones for her to which she replied, "But Mom, they're COOL".


Jemma also started a dance class today. She LOVED it. When I took her out to get her dance clothes, I let her pick out the leotard...she didn't want light pink, black or light blue...it had to be HOT PINK!


Jemma and Carter have started wrestling each other. It is HILARIOUS! Jemma usually wins, but Carter puts up a good fight.

AHHHH! These kids are CrAzY!

A couple random shots of Carter...

Laughing at Jemma.

Wearing Jemma's shoes and watching Jemma out the window.

Our garden did pretty well this year...we had beans on steriods I think...seriously, we ate them for EVERY meal for 2-3 weeks and gave LOTS away. We could have supplied a Thanksgiving dinner for like 30 people with these beans. We also had LOTS of carrots, we're still getting tomatoes and green peppers (we've had really good luck with those this year! That's a first.) We have 8 pumpkins in our pumpkin patch and a couple of decorative yellow gourds. We also planted sunflowers and have loved cutting them to keep in the house.

The variety we planted in front of our apartments said they'd get to be 5-6 ft tall...these bad boys are WELL over that at about 8-9 now...seriously, they're like trees and we've had to trim them back a couple of times to keep them from blocking the front door.


Jemma wouldn't smile normal for this shot, but there's a few of the sunflowers from our garden.

I had to put this picture on here...the other day, Jemma pulled all the pillow cushions off the couch...it happens regularly...so I asked her to put them all back and this is what I got. Valient effort. (If I remember correctly, she was in a rush to get out the door to play with friends.)

Sewing...Again...I made a couple of aprons...this first one I just mailed off today to my Mom...her kitchen has plum and sage in it, so she had to have it. I didn't know how to pose for the camera, so it looks a little funny, but you get the idea...it's one of those "Retro Aprons".

Here's a pillow cover I wipped up the other day...

And here's the other apron...I don't EVER wear aprons, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one...too bad I didn't draw one of my sister's names for Christmas!