Friday, October 29, 2010

pumpkin fun

usually nathan is the sole pumpkin carver, but last year i decided to give it a whirl. i did something super simple, and thought i would go for something a little harder this year. nathan decided to do the creepy skull face, in order to try and please colby. i went with the witch stirring her brew over the fire. they both turned out really well!! i am super proud of myself for managing to make something this cool looking, with the paper sliding all over the place in the "goo" as rachel was calling it. then, because i was having so much fun, i decided to go for it, and carve rachel's little one she got at the pumpkin patch. it was a lot harder to clean out!! let me tell you! i cut my hand trying to scrape it out, but i survived. i copied a picture rebekah made at school, for the face. what do you think of our masterpieces? i think we did a pretty dang good job!!


Saturday, October 23, 2010

pumpkin

this is my best friend since junior high, allison, and her son brandon. he was tired, but happy!! such a cutie, almost makes me want another one, but not quite....!



the girls doing the maze. rachel is taking the lead and getting them out of there!!









it was a really fun maze, even tat and i went through it, just to prove that we could do it faster than the kids!!









there were goats and cows the kids got to feed hay to. it was really cool. i had never seen a cow's tongue come out and scoop in the food before.


there were lots of fun places to take pictures of the kids in. the triplets (almost) posed together a lot. such cuties!!














and andrew rounds out the crew while caleb is in school.

rachel got to pick out her own pumpkin, and loved decorating it with stickers. very fun and worth the money spent!!







our kids hanging out with aaron and ajs kids. watching tv in our room.


grandpa gresko made rachel this rocking chair, and she loves to sit in it. especially when no one is watching her do it!! she is such a silly girl.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

tree destruction





the picture order is backwards, sorry!!

for anyone who doesn't live here, the last few days were filled with freak rainstorms almost like hurricanes. for natives of this lovely hot desert, we had no idea what to make of the horizontal rain and hail, crazy high winds, and booming thunder. all we knew was that it was loud, and we should probably stay inside!! when i finally did have to brave the rain, and go pick up the kids from school, i noticed uprooted and broken trees littering the roads, but assumed we got away unscathed. i was wrong. the kids have a music class after school on tuesdays, so i was didn't come back home, but nathan called me and asked if i had seen our tree. i told him i hadn't noticed anything, and he told me to just wait and see it. after class, we came home through flooded streets, and more downed trees, just taking in the destruction, and wondering what awaited us at home. we pulled into the driveway, and saw that half of the huge pine tree in the front of the house had cracked and broken, and was literally resting on our roof. i called our landlord and was assured someone would be here soon. we were afraid to have the kids in the back bedrooms, so the girls were in caleb's room, and the boys on the couch. if that tree fell anymore, it would go through their roofs. luckily, we had an uneventful night, and it wasn't until 3pm the next day that the workmen showed up. we got home, and they were on the roof, chainsawing the limb down piece by piece. they had wrapped heavy duty ropes and straps on to the tree, to lower it down, and scared us by telling us not to go in the main part of the house. according to one guy, if it goes, it is going straight through the roof, no question. it was a nerve-wracking few hours, but they finished around 7pm last night. needless to say, we said many prayers of thanks for our safety and being watched over!!
on a side note, my sister had 2 windows broken by the hail, and my parents had the neighbors tree break and fall over into their side, crushing the block fence, and sitting on their roof as well. thankfully, only property was damaged, and no one was hurt!! but what a storm!!!