Verbosity

Okay. I know. My apologies to those who think that I have completely forgotten this blog. Honestly, I haven't. I've just been...busy. You know how time gets ahead of you, how suddenly weeks have passed and you're standing there thinking "what the heck??" That's how it's been lately. I know that's not much of an excuse, but hey, I got three kids and let's face it, my brain just ain't what it used to be. So, my truest, sincerest apologies for not keeping up with things.
Sooo, anyway, let's see, what can I share about the last three weeks of our lives? Umm...well. Okay, so, we've had Halloween, the seasons here in UT have gone back and forth between summer and winter lately, the election came and went, we've had family parties, our first shindig for our new ward, and the kids have been sick. So, here's the updates:
HALLOWEEN: Unfortunately I had to work Halloween, so Craig got the honor of dressing up the boys and taking them around for the candy craze. We actually had three Halloweens in a way, with our old ward's trunk or treat, Halloween, then our new ward's trunk or treat. The kids packed in a gigantic haul of candy. (We're talking three pumpkins full, and two ghost pails full.) Craig took the kids down to his brother's house Halloween night and they got to go around with their cousins. They thought that was awesome. Sam and Jake were ghosts, I spent the week before making and repairing their costumes. Here's some pictures of them with our own pumpkin patch.

All those pumpkins actually grew in our garden! First year we've gotten more than 2, and we got 17! Miley was a pumpkin too! She looked so cute in her little pumpkin suit! We also went to the family party and the kids loved the carnival that was set up for them.
The Saturday right after Halloween we did the ward party which turned out okay, I think. We had about a 100 people there is all, but people said that was a good turnout considering the size and the newness of our ward. (It's on the small side in numbers.) We're just used to activities having 200-300 people there. Now it's on to the Christmas party. It never ends.
SEASON CHANGE: With the cold snap a couple of weeks ago we had to say goodbye to the garden. We've been trying to get the yard cleaned out in preparation for winter. We kind of have to plan around the rain and when the trash cans are emptied. ;-) We lost quite a few tomatoes but enjoyed the last of the summer squash and a few late pole beans, beets and carrots. I actually donated two five gallon buckets of tomatoes to someone who puts up over 80 quarts a year!! (I stew them and can them, but I still had about 2 dozen quarts from last year so I elected to not do any this year.) And the folks at SDCH loved the 4 gallon-sized bags of cherry tomatoes we brought to share throughout the season, and yes, they were all from just 1 plant!
ELECTION: What can we say? Our friends and family all have differing opinions and we've heard it all from how the country's going to heck in a handbasket, to how it will be like the Kennedys again and all will be just groovy. We're going to sit back and reserve our opinions and judgment and take a wait and see attitude. We did go and do the early voting thing, though. It took about 1.5 hours in line, and when I got done Jake glared at the machine and asked "That was it?" He thought the sticker was a let down too.
In other news, we had dentist appointments and Sam and Mom ended up with bad news and have to go back. The dentist recommended Sam needs to see a pediatric dentist for his "holes." (That's what he calls the cavities.) He wouldn't sit still for a complete cleaning. We also asked about his thumb sucking, and the dentist said not to worry about it for now. Also, the kids have had the stomach flu this weekend and it was pretty hectic keeping up with them for about 36 hours. (Just one big round of emptying pink buckets and changing diapers, it's so much fun being a parent!) Mom got a touch of it for about 16-18 hours, but feels okay now.
So that's it. I think. I don't remember. Oh, the recipe was updated, Cheese Enchiladas that are great! And, we added a follower list, so be sure to register!