Updates

It's been a bit since I've posted. Mainly I've been too lazy to break out a camera. We had a nice Thanksgiving break. We were able to have two Thanksgivings. One with Mikes family, which I have no pictures of, and one with my brother and mom, which I do have pictures of. Here are the pics from the second dinner...

 

 Kids playing before dinner. It was so nice outside, they didn't even need sweaters.

 Helping to prepare the feast.

 What is a trip to Jon's without visiting the falls. It had gotten pretty cold by now. The kids really enjoyed rolling down the hill and making a nest out of leaves.

My first semester of teaching is almost over. It has been a good experience. I didn't know everything, but we were able to figure things out, and I think overall it has been a good semester.One thing I learned is that teachers spend a lot of time grading papers. I think that this is something that I want to continue doing.

I have less than three weeks left, until the baby will be here. I don't think that I am ever ready for a new baby. We still haven't figured out a name.  After five names, I am named out, and I don't even want to think about it. If anyone has any good suggestions for girl names I would love to hear it. I am in need of help. The middle name will be Nicole.

Gardunia Gift Exchange

WOW, I can't believe it is time to think about Christmas already. Here is the annual Gardunia Gift Exchange list.


Marc has Rich
Brian has Marc
Anna has Brian
Jon has Anna
Rich has Jon

Busy Weekend

Mike has been helping his brother-in-law build a shop, and we decided to head to Emmett and spend the day with cousins while he worked. The kids love to visit here. There is so much to do. Corbin started out raking leaves with Bryce, and then they got to haul them off with a 4 wheeler.

The other kids jumping on the trampoline.

Corbin loves to vacuum with the built in vac system.

Mike working on the shop.

Making donuts.

On Sunday Mike baptized Anthony.

Here's a fall picture. Corbin refused to take off his coat because it was too cold. I told him he only had to take off the hat so we could see his face, but he thought it would be better to wait in the car.

Boise Temple

We went to the Boise Temple Open House today. I wish I could say that it was a really spiritual experience, but it wasn't. Today might not have been the best day to go to the temple. The kids stayed up late last night, they had had too much sugar. They were a little uncontrollable. But we did have a good experience. The kids were very excited. They thought they might see Jesus. The plastic shoe covers were a little scary for Merek, and even with a lot of pre-warning, he freaked out and would not put them on. We elected to go with just socks. We have decided that we might try to go through it again without kids, it would be a good date night.

Halloween

Halloween for us was really three days. On Saturday we went to the ward trunk-or-treat, Sunday grandma came over for an hour and helped carve pumpkins, and then Wednesday we went trick-or-treating.  Here are some photos...

Tyler, Brandon, Isabelle, Elijah, Samantha, and Merek. (The names you don't recognize are the kids' cousins who live with us.)

Madi

Boys carving pumpkins (that we grew!)

Grandma helping to carve pumpkins.

Brandon played with Madi while the kids carved pumpkins.

The finished products.

Merek waiting to go trick-or-treating.

Rylan "Hold your hands up!"

Corbin the magnificent.

Michael

Nicole came to help us trick-or-treat, and boy did I need her. We had seven kids and four 

adults. Mike and Mia took the older and faster kids, and Nicole and I went with Merek and Madi. We had a fun time.

Cats

I like cats, but I am allergic to them so I stay away from them. Lately, they seem to be invading my life. We have always had stray cats on this property, but they have never been a bother, and since they catch the mice I have never  been bothered by them. About a month ago, we inherited a cat, Jack. He is a really nice cat. He was suppose to be an outside cat, but he had other ideas. So one cat around, no big deal. Then when Mike's sister moved in, they brought their two cats. They are also suppose to be outside cats, but they also don't agree with that. I spend a lot of time throwing cats outside.

Two days ago, I got in my car and found cat poop all over. Gross, the kids had left a door open. I became vigilant to keep the doors closed so another cat wouldn't get in my car. That night I had a nightmare that I was getting into the car and cats kept jumping into the car, and I would throw them out, and they would just keep coming. The next day, I go to get in my car and there is more cat poop. The cat is still in the car.  I removed all the seats, searched everywhere, no cat. While driving to boise, I hear a cat meowing. I'm really starting to loose my mind. Where is the cat? When I get home I park the car and lock it. Later, I peek through the windows and a see a small black stray cat walking around in the car. I try to let it out, but it climbs into the dash.  We tried trapping it, and that didn't work. We left the door open all morning. I hope he left. He has been in there for three days. I am tired of the cat poop.  I have vowed to trap and remove all of the stray cats. They just can't stay.

More Fun

Today, Merek peeked his head in the kitchen to tell me he was muddy. I couldn't help but laugh.

One of our chickens laid this egg today. This is it next to a normal egg, it is hard to see how big it is in this picture. It is at least 2x as big as they normally are. It is so big I can't close the egg carton. Corbin is surprised it didn't get stuck in the chicken.