Fall 2008

I was home sick from church today, so I decided to go through some old pics. I found some good ones that I thought I'd share with ya. Here they are:

Our dog 'Lucy' & Emily at the campfire.

Emily 'working out'-notice she is doing the ball work out & even has to have a ponytail like me.

Emily pushing mommy on the swing.

A sunflower in our garden.

Emily by our swingset.

The kids on the bridge in the Sacred Grove.

Walking down the path to the Sacred Grove.

Walking out of the Sacred Grove, this is what you see. I love this tree. The kids are looking over the bridge for tadpoles.

Craig & Lisa at the Sacred Grove.

Coming out of the Grove.

Palmyra Temple from the Sacred Grove. I love how the temple seems to poke through the trees. I love the trees & the moon too. My camera battery was dying, so it wouldn't let me zoom in.

This is my favorite tree in our yard. It's especially pretty when the leaves change color. I'll have to post a pic when it starts changing...it's a slow one to change.

This just looked fun!

Family Night at the Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch for FHE tonight. We invited Caroline & Gary (some friends of ours) to come with us. We had a lot of fun! First we picked out some pumpkins. The boys wanted BIG ones. Craig told them if they could pick it up, they could have it.

Notice Emily's tiny little pumpkin?

Cute.

Then there's Matthew, he can barely get his arms around it. So, Adam told him he would pick it up for him & Matt could have his, then they would switch at home. I thought that was sweet of him.....See my kids aren't all bad! LOL

The kids

Then we went to see the animals. They had 3 little pigs & 3 little houses in a pen, with the houses made of straw, sticks & bricks. It was pretty cute!

Mom & Emi

They also had a sheep, a cow, & a horse. When it was time for feeding time, the animals went nuts! I couldn't believe it. I thought for sure the pigs were going to jump right out of the pen.

Caroline, Emi & the Sheep

Lisa & Caroline

Next, we headed into the corn maze. The guys had a race to see who could get done first. The girls decided to follow the corn cop. Yes, they had a 'corn cop'. He walks through the maze to help lost people find their way out. Yes, we cheated, but we were there for the memories, not to see who would win, I think Gary won, but I don't think we're talking about that. I didn't want to be there all night. I was hungry. And we were going home for chili & cornbread!

Corn Cop

Caroline & Emily in the Corn Maze

Matt in the kids' corn maze

I had to duck to go in

Gary & Caroline

Craig & Lisa

The whole Family

My cutie, Eric

Matt & Emily on the train!

Eric, Emily, Matt & Adam (well, only Adam's hair!)

We got home & had dinner & Pumpkin Cake & pumpkin chocolate chip muffins with frosting, Yum! We had so much fun with Gary & Caroline that the kids would not let go of them when it was time for them to leave! This picture was taken down low, so they look like GIANTS! LOL

We had a lot of fun! I love the Fall. The leaves changing, getting sweaters out of storage, hot chocolate, snuggling by a fire & warm comfort food. Love it all! Thanks Caroline & Gary for making memories with us!

Pumpkin Patch

Emily had her first field trip today to the pumpkin patch with her preschool.

I got to go with her. We rode on a BIG school bus, went on a hayride, picked out a HUGE pumpkin & had cider & donuts. It was so much fun. I took way too many pics, but can you really have too many? Emily would say 'yes'. She was sick of smiling for the camera by the time we were ready to go. Anyway, here are some pics of our day:

The class

Emi & mom on the bus

Pickin' a pumpkin

Sitting on the pumpkin

Emily & mom at the pumpkin patch

Grandma Record

Well, this past week has brought many emotions, thoughts & blessings. Craig's grandma Millie passed away suddenly on Sunday. She was pretty healthy & doing fine, but had a massive stroke. She has been without her husband for 8 years now & she missed him terribly. I know she is so happy to be with him right now. So, we have had a houseful of family at our house since Sunday night. The viewing went great. I barely shed a tear. She looked wonderful (except she would NOT have chosen that lipstick!-LOL) Then the funeral...I really didn't think it would be that difficult, but it was. No matter how much I thought of how happy she is & where she is now, I just cried. Craig's father spoke at the service & that really made me emotional. He talked about Craig's brother- John (who had committed suicide 9 years ago) & that really got to me. He mentioned how grandma is taking care of John now until he can. It was sad to think she is gone, but she is so happy. We walked over to John's grave after the service at the cemetary. I hadn't been there since his death. That was really hard for me to do. We all miss him so much. He was only 26. Having family around all week (some we hadn't seen in many years) was great. It was like we were planning a big party for grandma. Some nights we had 25 people at our house for dinner, but it was just so fun. I loved getting to know everyone better & building those relationships. It's sad that it only seems to happen when something like this happens. We need to try better to keep in touch. It helped me realize that at any moment any of these people could be taken from us, life is so short. It's made me appreciate those I have around me & not take it for granted. Grandma lived 45 minutes from us & we didn't get over to see her nearly enough. I'm feeling really bad about that. She was all alone in that big house by herself. That makes me sad. I still have my grandmas. One in Orem & one in Oregon. I need to write them & send them pictures. I am so grateful for a loving family. I am so blessed. We love you grandma & miss you already.

Millie & Louis Record

I love this picture. They both look so happy.

Who's driving the boat though?

Irritated at the Librarian!

The kids & I went to the library many times over the summer. We checked out lots of books & movies & had a great time reading.Well, the other day I found a library book on our shelf that was due sometime in June! Oops! So, I was thinking 'no big deal' Our library has a program called 'fine-free Fridays' where they take the fines off if you bring your over-due books in on Friday. I waited until tonight (friday) to take our 'little brown bear' book back to get the fine taken off.
Well, I took the book in & gave it to the librarian & told her I was lucky to bring it in on Friday to get the fine taken off. She goes on to tell me that 'fine-free Friday' ended the last week in September, which was last Friday! You should have seen me just stare at her! I was SO irritated! "That'll be $5" she said. I just stared, like she was kidding. I reluctantly paid her. I asked if they announced it in the weekly email (that I get from the library) that it was ending. She said "probably" I thought 'yeah, right!' They didn't WANT to let anyone know. They just wanted to rake it in! UGH!
I don't even remember reading that book. It would have been better if there was some kind of bonding with the children memory of it or something!!Yes, it was only $5, I need to remember that, and it wasn't the librarians fault. I was just so frustrated that it ended last week! And why don't they have some kind of system that notifies you if you have a book that's over 3 months overdue? Needless to say, we checked out MORE books (I counted how many we had this time)& gave the librarian a VERY fake smile on the way out! I think I need to write someone a letter....

New Blog

I've set up a new blog that is all of our favorite family recipes. I've always thought it would be neat to put together a cookbook of our favorites, but I'm not ready for that....just yet. So, check it out & email me your favorite recipes as well. I'd love to add them to our site. My email address is on the blog too. I've just started, but I'll continue to add new recipes each week. I still need to work on a few things here & there on it, but let me know what you think. recordsrecipes.blogspot.com

Adirondack Mountains

We packed up the van & canoe last Friday & headed to a cabin in the Adirondack Mountains. We rented it from some friends from church. It was a much needed 'get away'. It's about 3 hours away. The cabin was perfect. Right on Deep Lake. The lake was RIGHT in the backyard, So, Emily & Matt wore life vests the whole time they were outside. We arrived around 6pm, got something together for dinner & put our sheets on the beds. The first thing Adam asked was 'where's the dishwasher?' I said 'it's you!' Oh, the things we couldn't live without! We had a great time fishing, canoeing, paddle boating & exploring. I think they found 5 or 6 salimanders & a ton of tiny frogs (I mean tiny, 2 could have fit on one penny) They were so small. The boys did find a huge toad. Emily wouldn't have anything to do with that! She liked the small ones ok, not that big thing though. We had a great time & hope to do it again soon. Here are some pics:

The Cabin

Eric & Matt on the small dock

Tiny frogs in Matthew's hand

Matt's huge frog

Matt, Adam & Eric in the paddle boat

Emily & mom on the dock

Dad & Emily in the canoe

We were in town for a parade one day & Emily decided they had too many weeds on the walkway. So, she started pulling weeds while we were watching the parade. That's my girl!

Lil' Firemen & woman at the parade

THE FISHING
There wasn't much to catch, but the kids had fun. Emily caught her first fish. All by herself. It flopped off of the hook before I could get a picture, so you'll just have to believe me. All we caught were small crappies. We were hoping for something more, but oh well. Here are some pics:

Adam & Dad

Matt's big fish!

Craig's big fish

(can you see it?)LOL

Boys in the paddle boat

Emily's first time fishing. She's using moms new pink fishing pole too.