Catching Up

The Culprits:

 You see that little bag with a couple of pennies?  When we bought the van a couple of years ago, everything on it worked great.  After a while, it started acting funny.  The doors would make an annoying sound when the car was running like we had the doors open.  The speakers would act up...sometimes they would work, other times, they would make a static noise while the car was turned off, not even keys in the ignition.  I took it to the dealership several times to have it checked and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. One day, the radio stopped working, completely. After a few months, I gave in and went to a car-radio place to have the radio changed.  They checked my old radio and found those two pennies inside the radio.  It looks like one or two of my children were playing with the radio, who knows when, and inserted those lovely pennies. 

Trip to California:

 On the 2nd weekend in September, we took a quick trip to California.  Newel really wanted to see the Utes play in Cali. So we drove there and stayed with some friends from Stanford.  It was so nice to visit them.  We hadn't seen them, since their wedding, I think.  I forgot my camera and this was the only picture I have of our visit...their amazing backyard.  The children enjoyed playing in the pool and running around the yard.  I really enjoyed hanging out with Kat.  She's so nice and so fun.   I really like her children...they were so cute.  I think if I would have lived in her area, I would have enjoyed hanging out with her and her family. We walked around their neighborhood, we went to a park, went out to lunch, and hit Trader Joe

Our children were disappointed when we told them we were heading back home.  I guess they really liked their house...I liked it too, but I really liked the company, most of all

Cousin Campout:

The Goebel cousins moved from Las Vegas to UT, in the summer.  At the end of the summer, they invited the cousins for a sleepover and campout.  Some people camped, others slept indoors.  Maya and Arden loved it.  We stayed over too, but didn't camp. This is a photo of some the fun that was happening. 

Fair Day:

This year we hit the fair during the day and only with the little cousins, while the big cousins were at school. This hit started with a concert.  You'd think the musicians were a hit...which, they were, but these little girls were the life of the party.  They were the cutest little dancers.

The kids posed on top of gigantic award winning pumpkins and petted some really cute bunnies.  Those bunnies were so cute, I wanted to bring home one or two for myself...but we already have pet fishes. 

Perhaps, when we have a house of our own, we'll get a bunny to pet and love.

The weather was perfect and we had a great time. Next, we hit the horse stalls.  The kids loved petting the horses.  It was time for the rest of the crew to leave...so Maya and I stayed behind and watched a horse show and then went over to the children's area to play.

Straight Hair:

On this particular Saturday, I was straightening my hair...Maya of course wanted her hair done and this is what we got...straight hair.  It was kind of odd for me to see her with her hair straight, since her hair is pretty wavy.  I also didn't realize how long her hair is.

Preschool: 
Maya started preschool this year.  She has classes twice a week and every six weeks, we do it at our house.  It's a great little group we have.  The children are great and Maya really loves going to school.  She'll ask daily if it's preschool day. She's the youngest in the group, but she does well. 
This is one of the first projects she did in class.  Isn't it great?
She's also learning to write her name on her own.  One of these days, I'll try to have a sample of her writing.




Gardening:
Who am I kidding?  I'm not a great gardener, but I try.  Okay, I'm not even a good gardener, but I get an A for effort.
This is what our patio looked like at the peak of the summer/harvest.  I was able to grow basil from seed and it grew well.  Pretty much the only thing that grew well.
I tried jalapenos, habanero peppers (Newel's requests), yellow peppers, and even spaghetti pumpkin...late in the season. 
I think I only got 3 yellow peppers, a handful of habaneros, and quite a bit of small jalapenos.   No spaghetti squash. Arden grew an orange tree from seed, without really trying...no kidding! I guess we know who has the green thumb in our family.