Fall Festival at Franklin

The annual Franklin East Fall Festival is thankfully the only fundraiser our elementary school does the entire year. It is fabulous! We bought all-day wristbands for the boys and they loved the bouncers, the rock wall, and the velcro wall. Jacob won a football in the football throw, Noah won a basketball for making three shots in a row, and Isaac won a 2L soda for tossing a ring onto it. Add all the little prizes and candies they won at the booths and we made a pretty good haul. Noah played with the Firebird Band as entertainment while we ate our lunches. They sounded wonderful! Isaac wanted his face painted all day and he told the girl he wanted Superman. I thought that was a tough request and that she did a pretty good job! Noah got a skeleton. Right as things were winding down, Jeremy was able to join us after having attended a Youth Leaders Planning Conference. Another busy morning.

Veteran's Day

In a rare concurrence of events, Jeremy had a day off work when the boys had a day off school! When Jeremy went to pick Spencer up from Scout Camp this summer, he fell in love with the Mt. Lemmon area. So with a day off work, he wanted to take us on an overnighter to see the fall leaves on the mountain. We stayed at the Viscount Suites in Tucson on Tuesday night. Jeremy took Noah, Jacob and Isaac swimming while "sickies" Spencer and I just rested in the hotel room.

In the morning we drove up the mountain and saw a few trees with red and yellow leaves. What the boys liked, though, were the "hoodoo" rock formations.

When we arrived at the Scout Camp it was closed to the public, so we just drove on a little road just behind it and stumbled on to this cute LDS campground called Camp Zion: High on a Mountaintop. There was a family there who gave us a tour and told us the history of the site. It is owned by the Church and is used for family- and YW-camping (Spencer was kind of bummed when he learned that there was a girl's camp a stone's throw from where he camped this summer and he didn't know about it!). Each feature of the campground was named from scripture.

There were campsites named for Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith and others. The basketball court was the Court of Solomon. So fun!

This is the "Straight and Narrow Path" constructed as an Eagle project several years ago.

Then we drove a little further up the mountain to a cabin community called Summerhaven (8200 feet) which was destroyed by fire in 2003. It was fun to see the shops and cabins that have been rebuilt using leftovers from their former "lives".

We ended the day on Mt. Lemmon with pizza and giant cookies from the "Cookie Cabin" in Summerhaven. Both were delicious. Then it was time to head home so Spencer could get to mutual on time.

Please see Isaac's video tribute to Veteran's Day, below:

Scout-O-Rama!

Welcome to the Grand Canyon Council's 2009 Scout-O-Rama. After selling his allotment of tickets, Jacob was excited for his first SOR as a real Cub Scout! First order of the day: water bottle rockets.

Of course Spencer found the Dutch oven pineapple upside-down cake and ate more than his share. That, combined with the free Blue Bell ice cream and the free Carl's Jr. hamburgers made a great haul for the day!

Jacob got to make his own piece of rope to bring home...awesome!

Noah was able to complete his entire Fingerprinting merit badge. Way to go!

Tool Time: First Noah and Jacob built paper-airplane launchers...

then Jacob built a Pinewood Derby car holder!

Noah got to meet some Indians from the Order of the Arrow.

Jacob and Spencer participated in a hot-dog eating contest (more free food). Spencer set the day's record by eating three of them in only 5 seconds! It was disgusting, but he was so proud of himself and they had him pose for a picture for breaking their record.

Then Noah helped Jacob build a different kind of rocket to launch.

Spencer and Noah at their favorite jousting game. It got a little rough!

The classic SOR pasttime: the monkey bridge!

We met up with our neighbor Richy and his parents. I'm so proud of Jacob for inviting Richy to join our Cub Scout Pack. They are such good buddies.

Finally, we were able to squeeze in this Cubmobile race before meeting up with Aunt Emily and Uncle Jared so Jacob could spend the night with his cousins. What a great day!

Winter Garden

I harvested my first batch of radishes from the garden last week. Aren't they pretty?

It's really fun to have a winter garden. The plants just seem to do so much better than when I plant summer crops. We amended the soil this fall and things are growing like crazy! Jacob helped me plant the peas and we also have rows of carrots, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and romaine lettuce. We've also had lots and lots of plants "come back" from previous years. I don't know if their seeds were still in the soil or if using our homemade compost re-planted them, but there are so many plants in the wrong rows! And I don't have the heart to pull out a perfectly gorgeous, living, growing thing. I'll probably pay for that later. Anyway, I think I can identify swiss chard, but I don't know if there is a weird variety of peas, a tomato, and some kind of squash growing in there, too. Anyone? Should I post close-ups? Help!

It Sort of Freaks Me Out

I kind of don't like finding pictures such as these on my camera. It usually involves some interrogating of those involved and lectures on safety.

We Love the State Fair

Every year, the TJH Band, Choir and Orchestra perform at the Arizona State Fair. We love the good excuse to spend the day there!

Isaac really enjoyed the Band music this time. He was dancing up and down the aisles, Napoleon-like, and entertaining everyone within sight.

We had met a balloon-man on the way in and the lightsabers made decent drumsticks! (Don't you love the little monkey on Noah's shoulder, too?)

After taking advantage of the "Happy Hour" $1 food items (frybread, hotdogs, and snow cones) we tried to fit in as many $1 rides as we could before 6pm. This was the hands-down favorite: motorized bumper boats!

Then we had some quiet downtime riding mini-tractors and roping cows while we waited for Jeremy to join us after work.

Too-Tired Teenager Spencer had a nap on a bale of hay.

Crazy-Roping Jacob finally roped his cow!

Noah was our only son brave enough to go into the petting zoo and feed the animals. He did a good job figuring out the best strategy!

And Isaac. Oh Isaac. He was an eye-level witness to where the poop comes out of a llama and was fascinated from then on. I was laughing so hard I had tears, and so was the petting-zoo supervisor! I probably have ten pictures of Isaac doing his "inspections".

And then the Fun House! The boys had each earned three free ride tickets through the Fair's reading program and they all went together through the Fun House and had nothing BUT fun!

Surfer Dude Noah!

Spencer "going with the flow".

And, at the end of the day, Noah made us all sick to watch him on this thing! That's really him, spinning and swinging and holding on for dear life (in my perspective). Good times at the Fair. Good times.

Happy Halloween!

Fall is my Favorite. After enduring the scorching heat of summer, Fall is so soothing to my spirits. So Halloween is just perfect for when I want to get outside and decorate.

We took the boys shopping at Goodwill for Family Home Evening to see if we could piece together some costumes for Halloween. They did GREAT! This is Spencer as "Link" from the video game (of course) Zelda. We found the tunic at Goodwill, I sewed the hat (check it out!) and Spencer made the sword and shield.

Noah's is very creative. He bought the robe at Goodwill and wrote all over it: "Men's Room", "I wuz here", "NO + AH", "For a good time call Noah", "Hi", etc. He was a public bathroom stall! (Note the TP stuck to his foot.)

Jacob found a flag football set so he used a University of Utah football jersey and became a Ute Flag Football player.

For weeks, Isaac had determined to be an alligator. He had practiced the voice and actions and everything. Then he had a meltdown the day of the Trunk or Treat and wanted to be a Jedi.

So, he dressed up like "Ben Akobi One" (that's how he says it) for his Joy School Halloween party and to go Trick or Treating on Halloween.

Noah's First Campout, etc.

Noah (pictured with his friend Luke Eyring) went on his very first campout as a Boy Scout a couple of weekends ago. They went to Slim Jim Canyon for the District Fall Camporee. He pitched and slept in his own tent and worked on cooking and orienteering. The Scout leaders were very complimentary of his attitude and willingness to help out. You rock, Noah!

And believe it or not we crammed all this into that same weekend: Jacob's service project to pick up trash on 24th St., Spencer's Varsity Planning Summit, a Stake Service Project at the House of Refuge (the boys shoveled landscaping gravel while I sorted household donations and TRIED to keep track of Isaac), the Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation practice and program, our Neighborhood Watch street party, and a Stake Nursery training meeting. I thought weekends were supposed to be relaxing!