Autumn is so close!

I just love this time of year for a number of reasons. First of all Cole gets to start a new horizon in his life by starting a new grade in school. This year he is in 3rd grade and Mrs. Owens is his teacher. He is very excited for school this year so I am really hoping that is a good sign. My goal this year is take time every night to spend at lease 30 min with him in reading or homework. It Will be a good year.
The second reason why I love this time of year is I think the weather is perfect for me I love to have a nip in the air and actually want to have blankets on me at night. There is a smell that come outside when Fall is here.
And Now the biggest reason why I love the Fall is for Halloween. I absolutely love Halloween it is my favorite holiday. I love the decorations and getting the kids ready with costumes.
I also love this time of year because it is deer hunting time and that is something that we ALL enjoy doing as a family and lucky me I actually have a tag for the first time, it may be interesting.
If it was up to me we would have one season all year round WELCOME FALL!!!!

Getting in a "Jam" with my mom

Sorry it has taken me so long to write to any of you that actually read this blog. I have Internet access thanks to my parents so I am in bed and decided I better take advantage to some free time and Internet and write about my wonderful weekend that I have had.
Eric went Bear hunting with his dad so I decided to come and visit my Mom and Dad. We left on Thursday night, I was very grateful to my mom for watching my kids on Friday while I had to work. Well after work we bought a flat of Raspberries, Flatt of Blackberries and 4lbs of Strawberries. So right after we got dinner over we got to work with the great fun of jam making. Surprising too us or should I say to me (I think my mom new what we were getting ourselves into but because she is so nice and just goes along with whatever her daughter wants to do) of how many batches we would get. I had a great time with my mom and talking to my kids about all the different things that Grandma used to can. I have great memories of my mom being up late after she got home and canning so many fruits and vegetables and me thinking that I was "Helping".
After 4 hours we came up with 6 batches including one of those as a triple berry jam that is so yummy. But we are now set for quite sometime with jam.
On Saturday we got up and decided to hit the Yard sales. Because of the yucky weather there were not too many good ones. But of course we all found some sort of great treasure. After that we went and had lunch at Golden Corral. We then came home and Mom and I watched Extraordinary Measures. Than I wanted to show call where I used to ride my bike all the time during the summer and ride to the "Sugar Shack" up at the ball fields next to Orem Elementary. So Cole and I set out on bikes and rode up there. Unfortunately they were closed :-( so we just went on a bike ride the two of us and had a great time. When we returned home we got Payton, Grandma Nae, Grandpa Jim, and decided to ride up to Orem city's Summerfest parade in hopes to maybe see my cousin who just got back from Afghanistan who we heard was going to be in the parade. It was very cold and unfortunately Alex was not in the parade, but we all had a great time anyways. This picture below is a picture of the parents of a Marine who was killed while in afghanistan with my cousin.
I had allot of great Childhood memories come back to me this weekend and I was so glad I could share some of those traditions with my kids. Unfortunately we are leaving early in the morning so that we can get back to reality. Noe of us are ready to go but I guess all good things must come to an end. So of course this also must end. Thank you Mom and Dad for a great weekend. We love you lots and lots!

Coles First Pack Meeting

Well now that Cole is 8 he now gets to be in Cub Scouts. He is SO excited to be in Scouts. Last night for Pack Meeting they had two men from the Air Force come and teach the boys Flag Etiquette. This is really special to me because my mom raised me to respect my Flag and my Country and to bee thankful for where I live. I'm pretty emotional when it comes to anything patriotic.

Well they asked Cole if he would like to Post the Colors for his first time. After some coaxing from his leader he decided he could do that. I was so proud of him the way he handled himself and of course I welled up. He told me when we got home that when the "Soldier" gave him the flag he started to cry and got all "tingly" in side. I was a pretty proud mom last night.

My little Cole is growing up way fast!

Happy Birthday Cole!

My little (big) Boy Cole is 8 years old today. I can hardly believe it, I was telling him last night how on this day 8 years ago I was wanting him to come so badly but than when the doctor told me it was time to go I was all of the sudden not ready! I'm so glad he is here with us and so grown up that he will be baptized in less than 2 weeks. How time flies! We are so thankful that he is here in our family and we would not trade him for anything. He is such a great big brother to Payton and is caring to all of us when we are down or sick. I am going to surprise him this afternoon and eat lunch with him and than on Saturday he gets to have his first friend birthday party, He is so way excited. I will always love you forever!

Snowmobiling trip!

Last Saturday Cole and I finally got to go with Dad and Grandpa snowmobiling on Monte Cristo. We had a great time I alwasy enjoy going and watching Eric ride I could just watch him all day. I guess the reason being is because he Loves it and is really good at it and it is somehting that he excells in. And it was a beautiful day all day. We woke up and headed out about 10:00 in the morning. When we picked up Grandpa Mitch we dropped off Payton with Aunt CC and uncle Parker they were so nice to let her come play with them for the day and maul Hallie and be referees betwen her and Trey!

On our way up we stopped off at the Gas Station right before you head up on Montes and stocked up with snacks and sandwiches for the day. Unfortunaley the snow is dimenishing very quickly and iss tarting to show asphalt on the trail. But once we got high enough it was perfect snow for me to drive in.

We got to a place that they have named avalanche and unfortunaley these pictures don't do it justice.

So my boy (Eric) wanted to go up it was so awesome to see him fly up over the top. I was on the bottom at first but then told him to drive me to the top so I could get some better pictures and this is the outcome..........



pretty awesome huh!!!! Well than of course Grandpa decided he needed to give it a try on his little 670 (of course because there was a camera there:-) )

While they played Cole played in the snow..........he build his own trench.

and mom wanted to take pictures!

Then it was off to find a place for cole to ride around on his own (and yes he is wearing a helmet this time). When he was riding he turned the hill a little to sharp and this is what happened Listen carefully to what he says..........

We thought this was so funny him yelling "Not dead" and then looking at the machine like "now what do I do"

We then went to the Grand Canyon of Monte Cristo it was so beautiful it was my first time there.

Our final play area was what we call the playground it is a huge open area with some hills for us to climb this is where cole climbed his fist big hill by himself and he thought that he was the stuff. Need less to say I think his Dad and Grandpa are pretty proud to see Cole follow in there footsteps and love to ride.

My payton is sick today

Payton was sent home from School yesterday with a temperature of 102. Here dadddy was able to go pick her up and give her lots of love. The bummer thing is they have to be out of school for 24 hours after symptoms started. Today was supposed to be here last day at this Busy Bee's day care (her"School"). They were pretty sad because they were going to give her a going away party :-( She is now over at Grandma's/ Aunt CC's where she will get lots of care and watched over. Her fever was not as bad this morning but has a pretty nasty cough.Thank you CC for helping us out when your mom is sleeping I really appreciate it.
On Monday Payton will be starting to go to Dani's (Cole daycare) full time and she can hardly stand it she loves her so much and everyday asks me if she gets to go to Dani's today and now I can finally say yes and we won't have anymore crying! We are both very excited for Monday! :-)
Love you Payton and I miss you!

Cake decorating fiasco!

So I have taken on the task of decorating a cake for our Relief Society birthday party for a "cake Decorating Contest" am I crazy? Yes! I am. I baked the cake on Tuesday night and followed the guidance of a great friend Cindy(a.k.a "Professional cake decorator") to coat the pan with cooking spray and not flour. Well the cake baked nicely and I let it cool. Then the first of many scary parts of decorating a cake "Flipping the cake onto the platter or tin foil covered cardboard". So I flipped and to my surprise nothing came out, well of course pure panic came over me with a desperate call to Cindy to tell me what to do. "That's easy! Flip the pan back over and carefully scrape away the edges from the pan". So I tried that and again Flip! wait..... still nothing. So she than says" it will come out bang the top a little and let it cool a little more." "If some of the cake does not come out you can pick it out of the pan and place it where it goes than when you you freeze it, it will stick together." "But Cindy, I wont have all of my outline lines!" (I know you can here the panic in my voice right about now). "Oh Stephanie I never use the lines when I decorate!" " I know Cindy but you are a professional , me, not so much." Well yes we eventually got the cake out of the pan and pieced together so that I can see most of the lines. Cake went into the Freezer.
Last night when I got home I cleaned up the house a little then about 6:30 I was onto the second scariest thing about decorating a cake:"Frosting the cake". things went ok kind of. I had some pretty major issues with putting a white edge around the entire cake and after about an hour of doing just this I said forget it I'm not waisting more time just on my edge. Now Cindy puts a cute edge around the bottom of the cake with some swirly looking things, but I have yet to developed that talent. So I decided to use a flower tip instead which was much easier. Well after 3 hours of frosting the project was finally finished! For sure not Cindy quality but ok for me. I hate having to cut into especially after so much work but I guess that is what i get.
Hopefully with more practice I can become faster. I will post pictures tomorrow I couldn't take pictures because I was out of batteries for my camera.
Lesson Learned: Do not make a cake for a contest until you are a Professional like Cindy!
P.S. Thank you Cindy for all of your help including the use of the pan!