Fallin' for Fall

I LOVE Fall. I love going outside first thing in the morning and breathing in cool crisp air, a reminder that the holidays are just around the corner. I love orange, red, yellow and brown. I love pumpkins, scarecrows, the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg. I love sweaters and snuggling up in blankets. I love making plans for the upcoming festivities. I LOVE Fall!Fall has always been a time for collecting and gathering. It's a time to prepare for the long winter months that are on their way. So today the kids and I decided to go help Adam collect firewood. When the kids got home from school, we put on some work clothes, packed some snacks, Picked up some pizza and headed up to the mountains where Adam was already busy cutting logs. After a brief picnic we got right to work. The Trio all worked very hard.
Eliza always had to get logs that were bigger than Caleb and Sarah's. And no, Sarah is not wearing lipstick. She keeps licking her lips and they've gotten chapped. Ouch!
After all the hard work, we decided to have a little fun. The kids and Millie (the dog) all wanted to ride in the back of daddy's truck for a little bit. We drove until we found a great little hiking trail. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make this trail perfect for mountain biking. They built ramps and jumps all over the trail. Adam can't wait to go back with his Bike and a buddy to do some crazy mountain biking. Don't expect me to be joining him on that adventure.( I don't have enough life insurance coverage) Adam was so excited about the trail, one would have thought he'd found a buried treasure today! A day of work turned out to be a day of fun for everyone. We can hardly wait to do it again.

Gettin' Kicks on Route 66

Last Thursday when the kids got home from school, we decided to go to the County fair. The County fair is so different from the State fair. It's much smaller and the place isn't crawling with creepy red necks, there were just regular red necks... like us. The fair was located just off of Route 66 in Holbrook AZ. Our entire family got in for just $4.00. The kids enjoyed seeing all of the farm animals. We said hi to our friend's (the kids baby sitter's) Pig. Congrats on the blue ribbon Jessica. Gotta love the FFA! We had fun on a free train ride, Saw some great exhibits, looked at some cool John Deere tractors, and we ate some yummy food. The kids all got free balloons from the Wacky Balloon Lady. Eliza wanted an alien w/a blue space gun. Sarah wanted fairy wings, and Caleb asked the lady to surprise him. She made him a giant Balloon-a-saurus w/lots of teeth.



We were all having a really great time, but unfortunately it got really cold and started to rain. so we had to say goodbye to the fair. :(
We were planning on an entire day of fun so on whim, we decided to take a drive on route 66. While driving we saw the inspiration for the "Cozy Cone" in the movie Cars. It even had Mater all spiffied up. We saw Flow too, along with several other classic cars.
We drove for a little over an hour to a place called Meteor Crater the kids were amazed to hear that a meteor fell from the sky thousands of years ago, and left a big hole in the ground. The visitors center there is really neat and had lots of interactive things for the kids to see and do. It was definitely worth the drive. We took a picture of a piece of the Meteor. It weighs 1200 lbs. Eliza couldn't believe he was touching something that came from outer space. Awesome!





On our way home we figured the storm had probably blown over Holbrook, and since we still had on our wrist bands (tickets in to the fair), we thought we'd go back and ride the Ferris wheel and watch the crash derby.


We all had a wonderful day and made memories that will last forever.

Grandparents Day !

Yesterday was a Holiday! Happy Grandparents Day to all of you Grandmas and Grandpas. We are very blessed in our family with lots of grandparents who are such a wonderful part of our children's lives. In addition to having Grandma and Grandpa Quist and Gurr, we also have Great Grandma and Grandpa Gurr and Burk. All of these Grandparents are such great examples of love and service to our family.
We were very lucky to get to have Grandma and Grandpa Quist visit us this past weekend. We spent all day Saturday bottling homemade salsa, pickles, and tomatoes. My garden has blessed us with an abundance of produce and it was great to have help preserving our harvest.
My dad, aka. Grandpa Quist is the best story teller. The kids can sit for hours listening to him read. When I hear him read Dr. Suess it brings back fond memories of my own childhood, I still love all of the different voices he has for Horton the Elephant, Yertle the Turtle, and Those silly Sneaches.





In addition to being Grandparents day, Sunday was also our ward's primary program. Eliza, Sarah and Caleb all did a wonderful job. They had their lines memorized, and didn't sound a bit nervous when they said them. Great job kids. This picture was taken just before we left for church. See, I clean them up,...once in a while.

Life on the Funny Farm

I just wanted to share a few pictures of our little Farm. Enjoy!

This is Jewelry the chicken with Oreo the pig. "So Happy Together".(see previous post to learn why they're together.)



The kids are helping Adam put shingles on the roof of the chicken coop. They are such good little workers.



The Forbidden Fruit. Our dog Millie Peeking into the hen house.





The kids love getting their own snacks from our garden. They helped me plant these carrots. They feel a sense of accomplishment every time they reap what they've sown.

Sweet Corn Festival.

Adam and I often joke, that in Taylor there is a festival for Everything! I guess, in small towns you have to make your own fun. The festival was really great, but being the dork that I sometimes am, I forgot to take my camera along. Sigh. So Now I'll have to try to describe the fun for you since you can't see it.
The Andersons came up to enjoy the festivities with us. The weather was so beautiful. Overcast and cool. The Day started off with a parade. It was pretty hokey but the kids really liked it. They especially liked all the candy they got. After the parade we went to the little carnival that was held at the rodeo grounds. The kids all wanted to try the Inflatable obstacle course. They called it the "Wipe out Zone". They loved it, and they kept running through it until it was time for the "Horseless Rodeo". At the "Rodeo" the kids participated in foot races, and the Gurr's and the Andersons placed first and second in every race they participated in. (I know, I know "Beware of Pride.") They also ran stick pony races, had a tug-o-war contest and chased chickens. Before the chicken chase, I told our kids that I'd pay five dollars to whoever caught a chicken for me. We we're so excited when the kids said Graeden caught one, until he came walking over with it. It was seriously the saddest and ugliest chicken I have ever seen. It was almost completely featherless. I don't know if it was from the stress of the chase, or if the kids did it, or if the chicken was donated that way, but yikes. (shudder) Right after the chicken chase ended, It started pouring rain. We all ran to Heather's van and headed back home. The whole way home Graeden was holding his Chicken wrapped up in a towel. He was being so sweet to it. It was like he didn't see anything wrong with it. He named it jewelry. ( because it was such a gem?!!). We were concerned that our other hens would continue to peck at it, and Graeden was concerned that the other hens would make fun of it, so we put it in with our pig. (The pig has been lonely anyway. We took the other pig to the butcher already.) Jewelry seems to be doing O.K. in there. I just hope her feathers grow in soon or she'll freeze this winter. We may end up putting her out of her misery, and on to our dinner table. We'd have to find another Black chicken first, and name her Jewelry. (wink,wink.) "Wow look at how great jewelry looks Greaden!"
Saturday afternoon we made and bottled a ton of salsa. It was a big job, but with the Andersons here to help, the job was actually really fun. It seems like we ate as much as we bottled. I don't think I'll be in the mood for chips and salsa for a while.

One for All and All for One

I love this picture. And not just because it doesn't show my usual three chins either. I love it because it shows how proud we ALL are of Caleb. Last week when Caleb brought home a letter saying that he'd earned an "Outstanding Citizenship Award", I'd wondered if the girls would feel bad, or be jealous because they weren't getting an award. When I read the letter out loud their reaction surprised me. Eliza and Sarah both jumped up and gave Caleb hi-fives, pats on the back, big hugs, and said things like; "All right Caleb!" and "You're awesome.". I became overcome with emotion and pride. My children recognize that an achievement by ONE of us is an achievement for All of us. We are truly a team, every member has different strengths and talents and every member is important. Sometimes members of our team will win, and sometimes they will loose, but through it all we'll be standing with them, cheering them on, and building each other up.