BREEZY FIELDS

Our second pumpkin patch- Jane and Sadie in their starring roles as Ghost Pumpkins Sometimes the boy cries. Sadie can finally wear pigtails. Ellie loved the table of squash. We couldn't peel Sawyer away from the inflatable giraffe. If you get it you get it. Our first pumpkin patch- Ellie was at school and the girls were on break. My pretty Sadie, she's growing up so quickly. Corn stalk teepee the labyrinth Sadie attempting to decide which pumpkin she wants. Jane attempting to model a pumpkin that was way too heavy. I kept laughing and shaking the camera. She was about to kill me. Sawyer and his "BAT" shirt.

Moment in Time- Sawyer is coloring, Sadie is doing homework, Ellyn is playing with me and two butter knives, Jane is practicing her flute, Mike is taking a well deserved little rest on our bed. I am avoiding getting up and fixing dinner. Mommy days are really long. So are daddy days and kid days.

Life has been busy at our house. When is it not? Last weekend we went up to Fremont for Mike's 20 year reunion festivities. Mike had a ton of homework and we've had issues with Ellyn's sleeping through the night so we decided to miss the Saturday night party and go to the picnic on Sunday. That was a mistake. At my mom's reunion tons of people went to the picnic but for this one hardly anyone went. Mike did get to see one of his best friends from High School, Steve Hansen, go to the dedication of part of the Sports Complex for his old football coach, and visit his old ward for church. I feel terrible that I was the one that suggested just the picnic. In hindsight I should have just sent him up by himself to his friend Dave's. Oh, well. Sorry Bud- again. Monday- was busy and fun. For FHE we made carmel apples and shrunken heads (we used some annoying bullies from Sadie's school) and read lots of stories from The Friend. Mike had to study, he had soooo...

"Sadie, let's see if these pants from Old Navy fit you yet." Sadie puts them on, they are size 8 but they are too long, size 7's are too short. "Mom, these are waaay too long." "You're right, you can wear that jean skirt that fits you now today, okay?" BIG mistake adding that last word. "Mom, if I wear that skirt I will not be able to spread my knees apart like this (demonstrating) and it will be hard to play at recess." "Okay, you can wear these cute capris that Haleigh gave you (we just inherited some clothes from a friend)." Sadie puts them on. "Mom, they did not make these pants with room for your knees. Look, I can not even bend my legs." Shrugs them half way off till her knees are in the thigh area. "Look mom, this is the amount of room your knees should have." "Sadie, put these jeans on now (different pair) and get over here so I can curl your hair." "Mom, hot sweaty pants?...

-- Post From My iPhone

I mentioned that it was supposed to rain for Sawyer's birthday, well, that was a bit of an understatement. In the middle of the night Monday night it began to rain. Tuesday we were drenched. My friend, Jen, and her girls came over and we played games and braved a trip to Target and a little cruise along the beach to check out the waves. The wind was blowing, rain was pelting, the air was filled with all matter or debris,... leaves, sticks, small children, annoying little dogs. As the day progressed the storm worsened. We lost power a few times, we sent Ellyn's tutor home early, fearing for her life. We lost power for good. Let me tell you how pleased I was that we had a gas stove. It only wanted for a match. Our hot water heater was gas too. Sweet. I made spaghetti and we ate by candle light. Tuesday night we (the kids and I, Mike did not join in the fray. His i-phone still worked after all!) sang songs, did the hokey pokey, played "flashlight freeze pose gam...

What is your favorite thing about fall? Jane- I like decorations and Halloween and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving because you get to see relatives and I love Halloween and the school Halloween Dance. Sadie- I love jumping in the leaves and I love looking at the beautiful colors. It's so beautiful and cool and I breathe cool air. Me- I love the light. I love the chill in the evening and morning air. I love the change of colors (although we don't have any changing here). I love snuggling under blankets and staying in after 5 o'clock. I love warm, spicy scents, bread and cookies and pumpkins and apples. I even love football and kind of miss not having cable right now. I love hot chocolate becoming an acceptable daily beverage (at least at our house). I love Halloween decorations too. I'm sure I am leaving out something. I will add as needed. Do you know what I wish? I wish that school started in the fall and not in the summer. It takes some of the magic out of t...

So Dad (and Mom but this the boys' half of the story) came down to Monterey this weekend so that he and I could go to the American Le Mans Series race season finale at Laguna Seca. We had a blast following our favorite Corvette racing team. It is something I plan on going to much more often next year. Our Corvette team qualified 1st and 3rd and almost won the race. After an exciting 4 hours of watching the race from multiple viewpoints, we moved over to the grand stands by the finish line. With 10 laps to go, our #3 Corvette favorite was 12 seconds behind the leader, a Porsche from the Flying Lizard team. Well, the corvette made up those 12 seconds and was up to the Porsche's bumper with 2 laps left. The corvette managed to make a successful pass in the last turn and led by 3/4 car length coming to the finish line. And then guess what? Right in front of where we were sitting, good 'ole Jorg Burgmeister in the Porsche slams his car into the rear left of the vette which then ...

This is novel. It rarely happens. We are a "do everything together" sort of family. But... today Mike, Papa, and my sweet little man went off to the races. Car races at Laguna Seca. I don't think there is anything more kissable than my little son wearing his Batman shirt, layered over a long sleeve shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, blue car in hand, and daddy's baseball cap perched backward on his head. He is too freaking cute. Barb, the girls, and I went to KidFest. It was great. I'm always a bit leery of free community events. They can be real duds. Mike is even a bigger cynic and doesn't love crowds or lines or Kid Fests. This was fun. Sadie loved it. Ellyn was happy as well. Jane stayed entertained despite being a bit older than the targeted age group. Highlight- watching the firemen cut up a car. No, not because I was watching the firemen! I got to see the Jaws of Life in action and we got to see a big claw grabber vehicle lift the cut up car...

I took mom to the airport Thursday morning, Kenn and Barb arrived Thursday afternoon. It's non-stop playing at our house right now. Just ask Ellyn's tutors. I think they think we're insane! Jane and Sadie have a week off from school next week. Hurray!

Mike and I drove down from Carmel, through Las Vegas. We picked up Dave and Adina at the airport in Vegas on their way back from Mexico. Mike, Dave, and I were running, Adina was acting as chauffeur , photographer, and cheerleader. We arrived in St. George at about 7:00 and stopped at one of the restaurants in town for their "all you can eat spaghetti dinner." From there we made our way to the convention center and picked up our bibs, microchips, maps, etc... We also bought disposable gloves- thank goodness! THEN we stopped at a grocery store and bought our breakfast supplies. Finally, we arrived at Uncle Val's, settled in, and made it to bed by 10:00. We were back up at 3:45 (I think we all ended up waking at about 3:00 though) and out the door for the park where all the school busses were parked and waiting to take us up to the start of our route. Dave looking way too happy for a 4:15 am photo. Mike entering the address of the park into the GPS. Adina takes our pic ...

Start, middle, end. -- Post From My iPhone