It's Fall

So in creating your first blog in a few years, where, or rather, when do you start.  Now or way back when you left off?  I'm choosing to start right in there here and now October 2015.  Fall is so beautiful and there are so many fun activities to share.

 We tried Wales West Pumpkin Patch.  It was a fun day trip for the family.  They each got to choose and decorate a pumpkin with train rides, inflatables, and hay rides sprinkled in as well.  We love taking our wagon on these trips because Paige is so happy in it.  

 This was our second attempt at crazy hair day.  Our first attempt was the WRONG DAY!  I was fearful the boys would be totally upset with me but when they got home and noticed my new haircut they commented on how weird my hair looked.  On the real crazy hair day they got off the bust and upon noticing that I actually curled my hair they asked "did you do crazy hair day too?"  

 Jackson has decided he wants to be an author and has started making comic books at night.  He is a natural motivator because he'll often recruit Sam and other friends to write their own books as well.  This was his first day setting up a stand to sell them in the front yard.  He told me he was a little disappointed his only customers were family, but he was happy to earn $1.15.

Paige and our friends the Emmertsons' son Ryker dressed up for the Trunk or Treat as Pebbles and Bam Bam.  

the best christmas ever.

so after enjoying the best christmas ever these are all the pics I have to show for it!  I'll get more from my mom later so maybe we can show those in february.  it really was the best ever.

Can you tell?

Can you tell which one is Sam and which one is Eva?

I might be bragging....

I hesitantly say, I think I'm ready for Christmas. I'm sure I'll go back to the stores. I'll do more cooking. But for the most part, I'm not stressed and I still have 15? days to go (if we're up to date on our Christmas countdown). Here's my proof.
Christmas at Chilhowie park. We go every year but I really don't know why. They have free hot chocolate, marshmellow roasting, pictures with Santa, carriage rides, balloon animals etc. Well, its free if you don't mine waiting with children in a 20min.-1.5 hour line! Jackson loves it. Last night we waited in the hot chocolate line until we realized they were out. He didn't care. He just moved to the end of the balloon line without ever complaining. He was thrilled the whole time he waited and honestly, I was proud, or rather grateful, for him. I found myself thinking good things come to those who wait and he just seems to know that. (He's been saving his money for Disneyworld for at least 6 months even though I told him we'll go when he's 8.)
Christmas goodies for friends and neighbors.

Christmas cinnamon rolls for the families Brent and I home/visit teach.

I know this just looks like a plate of cookies. It is so much more. I've made the same recipe for my whole marriage. It's awesome. It's my mother-in-laws and deserves a post of its own. Starting in July every time I made them they went totally flat and crumbly. It was so hard going from memorized, easy, always amazing cookies, to flat, crumbly, stressful cookies. I seriously made a dozen recipes of bad cookies and couldn't figure out what was wrong. Last night, I don't know if it was a Christmas miracle or new shortening but they were the beautiful cookies I love. I sang for their beauty and deliciousness but too bad for you, didn't record our festivities.

Well, this is the best Santa picture this year. oh well. nobody's life is perfect. :)

Garrett and Rhada came to visit.

It was so fun to have Garrett and Rhada come up. We spent a day in the mountains. They hiked the chimneys

we met them at the bottom for snacking, swimming and jumping.

For the 4th we did our annual Belmont bike parade and Brent ended up carrying the tricycle back again.
I don't know why it turns into this.

emptying the holidays from my camera

wasn't that so festive?

What do y'all do?

What do y'all do for your friends at Christmas? The sisters you serve with? the sisters you visit teach? the families your husband home teaches? neighbors? I've normally made cookies on plates with saran wrap but its so hard to get them to people before they all go stale. I also normally make different kinds which, again, by the time you finish all of them i feel like the first ones are getting stale. I'm wondering what recipes y'all use. New ideas? anything? i just need inspiration to get it done this year.

thank goodness for thanksgiving

wow. it's been so good. my family had thanksgiving dinner, christmas morning and a wedding all within 24 hours of each other! Garrett and Rhada got married the Saturday before thanksgiving and it was quite possibly the best sibling wedding ever. figures by the last one we'd get it down but it wasn't thanks to us it was what they wanted. they're having their open house in a few weeks and so the day of we just hung out together with the fam. after the sealing we all ate dreamland barbecue which brent claims defines his barbecue experience for his life. its that good.this is my imitation of my mom's stockings. i've always loved hers and the fact that they were homemade made them very sentimental. after 6 years of marriage i finally decided to do them. i think because at so many points of the process they made me want to swear i still look at them with spite but hopefully time will heal our wounds. for brent and i i went with our favorite christmas gifts ever so we have a gameboy and pink jambox for us.

the only part of thanksgiving dinner i didn't ruin...sams sweet potato and turkey. (i had to throw a doubled recipe of rolls in the trash. i balled. like totally lost it crazy crying.)

on saturday we took the boys to gatlinburg with the barnes's that are in town. it was so fun! this picture with santa makes me so happy. luckily santa was at the festival of trees there--for free. that saves us $20 and at least an hour of our time which we would have to stand in line to see him.

it really was a fabulous thanksgiving for us. we also went to the chimnies in the mountains but i don't have those pictures. i'm just eager to post what happened yesterday which you probably just read anyway.

halloween was awesome

kid size spider web for preschool
the elephant-jackson only called him "the elephant" if sam was in costume. "mom, the elephant is crying." "the elephant wants my candy."

oranges carved like jack-o-lanterns filled with jello jigglers. thanks brent for doing it and bonnie for the idea.
& the loot. our neighborhood is awesome for trick or treating. so many cute kids. so much candy.

our monster house

some things are too cute to not copy.

Quite possibly the coolest thing i've done

For Father's day we made this book for our dads. You know the Dr. Seuss book "The Foot Book"? Well we made the book but put our own pictures in it. Here are some of my favorite pages but I loved the whole thing.

Left foot Left foot Right foot right

Feet in the morning feet at night.

(Sam sleeps like me, with his blanket over his head.)

Slow feet quick feet trick feet sick feet

small feet big feet

here come pig feet

more and more feet 24 feet

here come more and more and more feet

the pictures don't do it justice.