You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

At the closing of our pumpkin patch, we had several boxes of  mini pumpkins left over. I donated some to the school, and some to two ward parties. That left us with about 2/3 of one box left. The boys asked me multiple times if they could shoot them, to which I happily agreed. Finally, their wishes came true in the middle of November. They lined up all the leftover mini pumpkins outside on the wood logs we'd gotten in the mountains in October. Then they got their bb guns out, and shot at the pumpkins for an hour!

 

Jonah

Micah

Ammon

The 3 boys and the twins' friend Erik.

Josh trying Ammon's BB gun (which is actually Josh's from his childhood)

After watching the boys for a while, and shooting a little of the BB gun himself, Josh decided he wanted to try shooting with his pistol. Everybody else stopped shooting so we could all cover our ears since it was so noisy!

The boys were all successful, and every so often they would go check out the pumpkins with holes in them. One of the pumpkins on the edge kept getting shot off, and two of the pumpkins had some major craters in them. It was exciting for them to see the damage!!

I can honestly say this was something I never dreamed of doing when I was a child, but my boys all love having the opportunity to shoot their guns!!! It was a fun afternoon activity for them, and a good way to finish off the rest of our pumpkins. I'm grateful that we live on a ranch because it enables them to do this activity just outside our home without having to drive somewhere to shoot!

Eat, Sleep, and Be Merry for it's Your Birthday!

Josh's birthday was November 7, and we celebrated it for 3 days.

He was busy working & refereeing the actual day of his birthday, so we didn't start celebrating until the next day, Friday. We went out to dinner at the 28 Club because he'd been craving their Prime Rib for a while, and wanted that more than anything else. Our friends Amanda, Krissy, John, and Alex joined us, too. The 6 of us were seated in the back private room and we had such a wonderful time! We talked and laughed loudly and joked and laughed some more. It was the best dinner I've had in a long time! The food was delicious and the company was outstanding and we had so much fun together!! We didn't even realize how late it had gotten while we were there--we were there past the closing time of the restaurant! I so wish I had taken a picture of the 6 of us together at dinner, I had a perma-grin on my face the whole time!

On Saturday, Josh and I drove to Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in Montana. It's near Anaconda, and over a 2 hour's drive from Salmon. Neither of us had been there before, and it sounded like a nice retreat. When we arrived, the lady at the front desk bumped our room up to a suite at no additional cost. I was so happy! I just loved our hotel room.

Our bedroom--with a King bed

the bathroom--with 2 sinks!!!

in the kitchen looking into the living room

After we checked in, we went to Anaconda for some food. Then we came back and relaxed the whole rest of the night. I watched movies and edited photos on my laptop in the living room. Josh watched football and read a book in the bedroom. It was soooo peaceful and quiet!

We headed down to the hot springs pools later that night. There were a whole bunch of teenagers there from a nearby motorcross competition in the outside pools. The inside pools were filled with families with little kids. For over an hour, we tried out both pools, and soaked in both hot tubs, and then went back to our room to go to bed.

When we got up in the morning, we slept in (the bed was very comfortable), then we did the same thing as the night before: watched TV, read books, played on our laptops, then went swimming again in both pools for an hour. This time, the pools were a lot less crowded. We checked out of our room a little late, and headed outside to view the grounds. An 18-hole golf course is also part of the resort, but it was closed, so Josh walked around and looked at the course until it was time for his massage at the spa.

I gifted him an hour-long massage, and he just loved it! He'd worried that he'd have a male masseuse, but luckily that didn't happen! We decided we'd have to come back sometime with the kids: the resort also has a waterslide, a miniature golf course, a petting zoo, a duck pond, and an RV park.

We came home on Sunday afternoon for the final part of his birthday: dinner and gifts with the family. He made his own {giant} steaks, and I made some mashed potatoes and Ammon made some gravy. We had cheesecake for dessert. Edward and Kathy joined us for dinner, too.

Isn't that thing huge?! Can you see the blood? Josh likes his steak medium rare!

Then afterwards, he opened presents from the boys (I'd already given him my gifts of dinner out, weekend away, and a massage). The boys gave him two gnomes: a lime green one, and a boise state one, and lots of chocolates: white and milk chocolate kit-kats, and white and milk chocolate reese's. Also, Krissy gave him a reese's bouquet and Aunt Edna gave him a giant sheet of her chocolate/butterscotch/peanut butter bars that he loves so much!

Happy 37 Babe! You just seem to get better looking with age! I love you more each year!

Peaceful Resting

The first weekend in November, I took an unexpected short trip to Utah with my 3 youngest boys. Josh's Great Uncle Ed had passed away at the end of October, and his graveside funeral was at the Honeyville Cemetary on Saturday, November 2.  Uncle Ed was the last living brother of Josh's Grandpa Rex, and since Josh was unable to go to it(he was scheduled to drive bus that weekend for the Cross Country team to attend their state meet), I decided to.

 

I drove down Friday night and stayed at my parents' home in Tremonton. On Saturday morning, I took Jonah and Micah with me to the viewing at the church in Honeyville. Then we did a little bit of shopping in Brigham City, and went back to Honeyville for the graveside services.

 

It was such a beautiful day, and I loved the views of the sun shining upon the fall surroundings around us in the cemetery. I like how a camera lens' zoom gives the eye a unique view of our perspective that day:  

 

Up Close--

the sun shining on the beautiful flower arrangement on the casket,

and the headstone's list of all of Ed & Joy's 9 children

Focused--

a view of the the larger floral arrangements of autumnal colors,

the smooth, blue casket,

a glimpse of family members attentive listening to the speaker.

Broad view--

the nearby tree with so many leaves gone,

the shade of the canopy in a perfect square over the burial site,

the nearness and togetherness of family members attending.

Glimpses of family members in attendance:

Aunt Louise, the last living sibling of Josh's grandpa,
gave a very nice talk about Uncle Ed's life and legacy.

Josh's parents

 

Josh's cousins Craig & Glade--the two men he worked for
after coming home from his mission, and both were instrumental
in training him in occupations that helped him in his current job.

my boys Jonah & Micah

 Views of Headstones in the cemetery:

The front side of Uncle Ed's,
with a view of his grandson in the background placing a flower on the casket.

the front side of Great Grandpa Benjamin Hewitt's headstone,
and his two wives Ellen and Emily.

The back side of that same headstone, with the names and dates of all their children.
I've had the children of meeting all 10 of them before they passed away.
Vonda's and Ed's death dates need to be added to the list.

 

Josh's Great-Great Grandpa Benjamin H. Tolman's headstone.
In the background is the gathering at Uncle Ed's funeral.
This cemetery has at least 6 generations of Tolman's buried there.

After the graveside services, we went back to the church for a family meal. It was nice to see and talk to many family members there for a little while.

That afternoon, I went to the Logan temple with my mom while my dad babysat the kids. It was very peaceful and I really enjoyed it. When we got home, I went to the movie theater to see "Captain Phillips" with my dad while my mom babysat. I had a fun time going to the movie with my dad!

On Sunday morning, the boys and I left and drove back to Salmon. It was a very relaxing and restful trip. I got to see and spend time with family members, enjoy the fall weather, and spend one-one-one time with both of my parents!

Fall 2013 Top Ten

Here's our {almost} completed list of this year's Fall Top Ten:

1. Watch Ammon run XC [done 10/16]
Josh was able to attend all of his meets, and I went to most of them! He had an excellent season and medaled at every single race!

2. Celebrate Jonah & Micah's birthday [done 9/22]
They had a family party this year, and chose for us to go camping, swimming, and miniature golfing together.

3. Can food from our garden [done 12/13]
I will be doing a blog post about this soon. This year, I canned apricots, raspberries, tomatoes, corn, rhubarb, and pumpkin.

4. Go camping at Challis Hot Springs [done 10/5]
We went overnight in October. We soaked in the hot springs, watched Ammon run a XC race, and ate around the campfire. It was our last camping trip of the season.

5. Couples trip to McCall [done 10/8]
Josh and I went there for 2 nights and 3 days. He had golf meetings to attend, and I went for some relaxation and rest. It was a wonderful retreat!

6. Sell pumpkins from our patch [done 10/19]
We had very successful sales this year and sold out of pumpkins in just 2 weekends instead of 3!

 7. See P!nk in concert!
This was the only item on our to-do fall list that didn't get done. Pink had to reschedule her concert that was set for October to January due to needing vocal rest. I was very disappointed--especially since she rescheduled it twice and screwed up plans I had made.

8. Take the boys trick-or-treating [done 10/31]
I took the 3 younger boys to the Merchant's trick or treating on Main Street on Halloween afternoon. They also went at our church's ward Halloween party, so they got loaded up on candy this fall!!

9. Party for Josh's birthday [done 11/10]
I treated Josh to a very nice birthday this year--and will blog more about it later.

10. Have a family dinner for Thanksgiving [done 11/28]
We hosted Josh's family.

Halloween 2013

The Costumes:

 

Jonah really wanted to be a Viking. He'd gotten a Viking helmet at a costume store in the spring, and wanted an entire outfit to go along with it. Of course, I couldn't find any costumes locally or at Walmart, so I decided to just make one. I got a brown shirt, a brown fabric bag, and a mask with fur on it at Rags & Wags (our second-hand store) to start with. Then I cut the fur from the mask into four pieces, sewed them onto the shirt's shoulders and a belt. Then I cut up the brown bag into two and sewed them into two leg wraps. I got some gold ribbons from my own supplies and sewed them onto the sleeves, the leg wraps, and the chest of the shirt. He also had a shield in our dress-up box. When we put it all together (and added a little makeup), it was a homemade Viking costume for only $2!

Micah really wanted to be a Zombie. He'd gotten a mask earlier in the year, and also wanted a complete outfit to go along with it. Thankfully, he was happy with one we've had in the Halloween costumes for years, so his costume was very easy to assemble!

Kanyon wanted to be a ninja boy. I was lucky enough to also find a karate top at Rags & Wags. We added a red handkerchief to his head, a black belt and some black pants that he already had to complete the costume.

 I dressed up in two costumes this year: one for the ward party and school carnival, and a different one to wear all day at school on Halloween. My first costume was a devil. We already had the cape and devil horns in the Halloween costume box. I just added black clothing and red lipstick.

 

My second costume was the color Pink. I had planned on wearing an all-pink outfit to go along with Pink's song that I would be singing in Salmon Idol, but I never got the chance to wear it in front of the audience. So instead, I just decided to make a Halloween costume out of it. I also painted my fingernails pink, wore pink pajama pants, put pink makeup on, and changed my teacher's tag to say "I am Pink". I got asked all day long what I was, and nobody really got it, but I loved it! I was comfy wearing the pajama pants to school, and everybody loved my pink hair! My friend Krissy also dressed up as a Pink crayon that day. Great minds think alike!!

 

The Ward Halloween Party

The ward's Halloween party was on the 23rd. It was our traditional party: chili & soups for dinner, carnival games for the kids, and trick-door-treating down the hallways afterwards. The boys all had a great time and were so happy to have their first round of buckets full of Halloween candy!

Jonah helping with the miniature golfing

Ammon helping with the football toss

 

The School Carnival

Instead of being on Halloween night this year, it was held on the 24th. It turned out to be a family event: I was in charge of a pumpkin-guessing booth the whole night, Ammon helped out with the twin's classroom game, the three younger boys were independent and did all the games and activities themselves, and Josh came and bought them dinner at it before taking them home when their tickets ran out. Since I was working the whole night, I didn't take a single photo of the boys playing at the carnival. 

 

The School Class Parties

The three younger boys had class parties on Halloween afternoon with food, games, and the school's costume parade. I kept going back-and-forth between both classrooms so I could capture them all during fun times.

Mrs. Born's 1st grade class party

 

 

Mrs. Baker's 4th grade class party

 

School Costume Parade
All the students in the school walks through the halls and in every classroom so that everyone in the school can see everyone else's costumes. It's a fun tradition!

(notice the breastplate on Jonah's costume?! We found that at D.I. for just $1 in between the ward party and Halloween. It was a great addition!)

Merchant's Trick or Treating
 On Halloween evening, the stores on Salmon's Main Street host a merchant's trick-or-treating. All the kids walk on the sidewalks, and at the storefronts, employees hand out candy to all the trick-or-treaters.

We see lots of others in the process, too, which makes it even more fun! Kanyon met up with a fellow karate kid:

And we caught up with our friends the LaMont's and their family, and we trick-or-treated alongside them for a half hour, which the boys just loved!

I just love this awesome event! We live out in the country, so it takes forever to go trick-or-treating at houses, and the boys never get as much candy. But, they get an entire bucketful for just walking one hour down both sides of main street!

We had a great Halloween this year, and I liked how it was spread out over a one-week period, because it was more opportunities for the boys to wear their costumes, and it wasn't as stressful!