Halloween Fun

Halloween really isn't a super big deal at this house.  I'm kind of the Halloween grinch, I guess. I don't dress up, don't really decorate for it, and generally just don't care all that much for this holiday.  But my kids do.  So I tried to do a few fun (but extremely SIMPLE, since that's how I roll) things this year.  Here's what we did:

Carved pumpkins, of course!  This year, we grew our own and ended up with two decent-sized ones.  We did one traditional scary-face jack-o-lantern, and then tried Connor's idea of a bucking horse, which turned out awesome, thanks to our talented carver, Tony.

And then we ate the seeds!  I roasted these with a little butter, garlic salt, and pepper. I think the kids liked these just as much as their candy.  They sure disappeared in a hurry!

Family Home Evening treats at this house are usually extremely simple--instant pudding or ice cream.  But I really stepped up this time, and made these fun whoopie pies with Halloween sprinkles.  Okay, they were from a boxed mix from Walmart, but my kids thought they were awesome!

Since I was going all out this year, we even did a little craft for our candy to hand out at the trunk-or-treat.  These cute little ghost pops were extremely simple (a tootsie pop covered with a tissue, tied with yarn, and then a little face drawn on) and fun for the girls to help make.

And the best part of all . . . the costumes!  This year, we had a football player, Hermoine, a ladybug, and a bumble bee.  (I really should have gotten one picture of them all together, but it didn't happen. Oh well.)

One final word on Halloween.  I've heard many mothers complain that the worst part of Halloween is having to manage all the candy consumption for weeks afterward.  I have a simple solution for that.  Just don't manage it, and the headache will be over very quickly.  The candy in this house was all gone in just 4-5 days. And if you want to speed up the process, just sneak a few of your favorite pieces here and there.  It works great!!!

Bull Sale 2012

This year's annual Micheli Bull Sale started the same way it has for the past couple years . . . with SNOW!

Well, it was actually beautiful and not blizzarding or too cold that day, so it was okay.  I wanted to get a cute pic of my beautiful girls but with the sunshine and the snow it was just way too bright.  Still kinda cute, though.

Here are some of the pens.  They sell about 35 hereford and 35 angus bulls each year. 

Tony has the job of making them look good in the sale ring.  He starts a week or two before sale day by "torching the bulls."  Basically he gives them a nice short cut using a torch, which is WAY faster than clippers, although he does use clippers on the head.  It's about the stinkiest job ever!  If you've ever been branding, you know the smell.  Now times that by about a hundred and you can imagine how bad it is.  I think it should be featured on Discovery's "Dirty Jobs."  But it's totally worth it when they look as good as this guy!

Then on sale day, they blow them off and brush them before the buyers show up, then again right before they head into the sale barn.  I'm always amazed at how great they look, especially on a mucky, muddy day like it was this year.  (A funny little side note on torching the bulls: The week that Tony torched them, I asked Connor what he was going to do that weekend.  He said, "Probably help Dad torture the bulls." I wasn't sure I heard him right, so I asked, "Torture the bulls?"  "Ya, torture the bulls."  Apparently that's what he thought it was called all these years.  HAHAHA!  And really, it's not torture for them.)

And speaking of Connor, as I headed out of the sale barn after the sale, I looked across the ranch and saw this.  Ya, he's just hanging out on a roof.  No big deal.  What a kid!

Life in October

October was a great month for our family. I always love fall! Here are a few random things from our October.

Volleyball was in full force, and my girls get into it a little more each year.  This fall they played a lot of balloon volleyball. Mylie even came up with a way to make some sweet knee pads out of mismatched socks from the pile. How cute is that!

After months of the kids begging, we finally tried out the cabin with a sleepover down there. We relaxed, watched a movie, and had some popcorn.  The kids thought it was cool to sleep up in the loft.

One day, we discovered these baby raccoons hiding out in our garbage can. Why they thought this was a safe place is beyond me! Anyway, they stayed there for a couple days until Tony and Connor finally hauled them off.  Cute faces, but they honestly scare me to death. I hate raccoon hisses!

We had a nice harvest this fall with LOTS of potatoes.  We didn't get very many carrots--lots just didn't germinate--but the ones we did get were huge and tasty.  We also had a couple mutants like this interesting one.

Finally, October was filled with lots of loving on our little Brady.  He has his siblings wrapped around his finger.  They just adore him.  Mylie loves reading to him, and Brady loves it too!

Two Months

Somehow Brady is already two months old. Well, he was actually two months last week. He is a good baby for the most part. He has started getting kinda fussy (ok, more like IRATE) when he gets too tired. We have to really stay on top of getting him to sleep in time, or things can get bad. But as long as he's rested, he is so much fun. He sleeps great at night lately. He usually wakes up once to eat, around 3 or 4. But he has already slept through the night (like 10 hours!) 4 times. :) He smiles a lot and already laughs when tickled. I'm soooo happy about this, since Mariah didn't laugh until she was a year old, and I completely missed out on that cute baby laugh sound.

Here's the little chubster.  He reminds me of Mylie, except MUCH fatter!  He weighed 14lb. 7oz. at his 2 month checkup, which is exactly what Connor weighed at 2 months. I love fat babies!

September

September sure flew by in a hurry! The highlight of the month was definitely starting school again.  The kids are all enjoying school and their new teachers.

Mylie is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Walk, who we already knew since she is Tony's assistant coach's wife. She's super nice and a great teacher! Mylie loves her.

Connor is in 3rd grade this year, so he is at a different school from Mylie now, Fort Bridger Elementary.  He likes going to the "big kid" school.  His teacher is Mrs. Proctor, who we had never met before. They're getting along well and he likes school, although maybe not as much as Mylie does.

Mariah got to start school this year as well! I am doing a mom's preschool with some friends again, and we have a fun little group of all girls this year.  We just go once a week, but Mariah thinks she is pretty big!

Mariah has adjusted just fine to having Connor and Mylie gone to school each day. Twice a week, I babysit my 2-year-old neice,  so she has a playmate those two days, but the rest of the time, she stays busy playing by herself (which she does VERY well), helping Mom, and loving on Brady.  She's a pretty happy girl most of the time!

Mariah built the Salt Lake Temple with blocks one day.

This year we got our best ever corn crop--about 150 ears!

A Wedding and a Blessing

Labor Day weekend this year was a biggie for our family! Sullivan and Michelle got married and had their reception, and then we blessed Brady that Sunday and had all our family minus Sullivan and Michelle (forgivable, I suppose) and Tony's brother Matt and his family.  In all, we had about 50 people at the house for lunch that day.  We are so grateful to have big families and for the wonderful people that they are!
Here are the pics . . . horrible quality due to having to use my #2 camera at the time, but you get the idea.

The girls' favorite part of the wedding? Their new fancy dresses! Such cuties!

My handsome little guy wearing the same little blessing outfit Connor wore.

These kids sure love Brady!

Brady's Newborn Pics

When Brady was just a week old, my (now) sister-in-law, Michelle did his newborn photos.  This is the first of my kids that ever had a real newborn photo shoot.  Spoiled, I know. . .  And they turned out GREAT!  I am totally in love with these shots.  He already doesn't look like this, but all the more reason to have captured all his newborn cuteness in this way!!