Hovenweep and the big Loop

We took Scott's parents on a big loop around this corner of Utah and Colorado. We started by heading to Hovenweep, which is around an hour away.  It is a small valley with many Pueblo ruins surrounding it.  Some are still in very good condition. It is a National monument, so they had little booklets the girls could do to get Junior Ranger badges and certificates. They enjoyed looking for things and doing activities, and they got to take an oath and everything.  The trail is easy and you just walk around and look.  It is somewhere we hadn't gone, still interesting to see these places and wonder about the people who built them.

The next leg of the journey, we drove across the reservation, through the towns of Aneth and Montezuma Creek to arrive at Bluff.  We went for lunch at the Twin Rocks Cafe. I had seen an ad for it, and it was a cool place. They have a good restaurant, a store and a trading post as well.There isn't much in the town, so this place is a nice suprise. The owners were super nice and gave the girls free little sheriff badges and Indian necklaces.  We had fun looking around. We then went to the old fort. We have been there, but Kim and Jane hadn't, so they got to look around. It is always a fun place to go.

After Bluff, we took a drive towards Monument Valley, to a road Scott knew of, called Moki Dugway. It goes up very steeply with switchbacks, and has great views.  The picture above is from the top.  After we got to the top, it was just some more driving to get back to familiar territory.It was a long day and a lot of miles, but really cool to see all these places. Monticello may not have much in the way of entertainment, but it's hard to compete with the things you can see within a day's drive.  Speaking of entertainment, Grandpa in the back set loved watching all the Dora and barbie movies with the girls! 

Halloween seemed to last months this year! We decorated the house up, and also got some cool inflatable pumpkins for the yard. We put them in the back since no one really goes past the front of our house.  The girls loved plugging them in.  There were many parties, including Sara's preschool party, church trunk or treat on saturday, school carnival, and regular trick or treating on monday.  There were amazing amounts of candy, which are thankfully almost gone!  Whitney found her new favorite food group, which used to be cheese, but now is candy! She asks for it so nicely, it is hard to say no. 
We took a trip to Grand Junction for a little visit with old friends, some shopping, and the Pumpkin patch. I didn't take my camera, but we had fun in the corn maze and got some good pumpkins.  It was hot, But it was a good trip.  The girls had been asking about going for months, so it was nice to finally be there.  We carved the pumpkins the week before halloween and it all went pretty well. The girls got busy in the goo and picked out ever single seed for us to roast.  Usually I grab enough for a pan full, but this year we had two full pans! And every seed was gone within a few days.  Whitney stayed strapped in her seat and helped pick out seeds, so she had fun too, away from the knives. 
We invited Scott's parent's down for the weekend because we had the Trunk or Treat\Chili cookoff on Saturday and the Primary program on Sunday, where the kids sing and do a little part in church.  So that was exciting.  We spent the day very busy and came back in time to grab a few things from the grocery store and get cookin' chili. Last year I won 2nd place, this year I wasn't even sure if i was going to make any, but I signed up, made my chili and won the Golden Ladle! So I was happy about that, although now I have to babysit the ladle for a year and not lose it. In this house, that may be tough.  The party was pretty crazy, and the tunk or treating went quickly, with most kids making two rounds of the parking lot before we ended it. Whitney figured it all out VERY quickly and had a great time. She was so cute.  She was a cupcake.  Abby was Brittany Chipmunk again, although she lost her ears 5 min before and I found them 2 days ago.  Isabel was a lion, and sara was an Ice Cream cone.  At the school carnival, she won a prize for "most unique" and was so happy. She got a jack o lantern bag for a prize.  We all had fun at the carnival, and Sara won the cake walk and got a cake, too! She was lucky that night.
Sara Says:   I am an ice cream cone. and don't lick me! and I love love candy and I love halloween cuz there's candy. My favorite part was the halloween carnival. I liked the fishing (game) and I loved the treats and the cake walk cuz I won a cake. and the most thing I love is the coin search and that's it.
We took the girls around close to home, then the little ones stayed back and I took Abbby and Isabel up to a more populated street. i let them run alone and I followed in the van. I think they had a good time. We got a bout 5 kids at our door, so they got a lot of candy. 
So after a lot of anticipation and planning and incessant asking about wearing costumes and how long until halloween, coupled with dressing up fully twice, we had fun and are happy it's over.  well, I am ;)

Isabel goes short!

Could she be any more beautiful?  After many a hair-brushing battle discussion, Isabel decided she wanted her hair "short like Abby's"  Well, I didn't want to go that far, but I was happy to take out my scissors and lose a little length.  We also lost a lot of blonde! I think it turned out well, not perfect, but she was happy with it and it has definitely been simpler every morning before school.  Both girls are pretty good about doing their own hair, so we're all happy with it.  Isabel also has a wiggly front tooth that she is anxiously waiting to lose, this is a BIG DEAL.  love our Isabel.

The Dollhouse

A few weeks ago we had Scott's dad over for the weekend to help finish up the Blazer. Also in town was one of Scott's colleagues and his family who live in St George.  They wanted to go somewhere cool, so Scott decided to take us all out to a place called The Dollhouse.

It takes a good couple of hours to get there, with the majority of the trip on very bumpy and windy roads.  We set out after lunch and it just seemed to go on forever.  The road took its toll, and by the time we finally arrived most of our stomachs were not feeling wonderful.  But if it was easy, it wouldn't be an adventure.  So we got out and headed down the trail. The top photo is of the steep decline to the ruin.  This ruin is really cool because it is so well preserved and not many people know about it. The house has two tiny rooms. There is also still ancient corn cobs in them.  The wood and stonework is all amazingly preserved even though it has been centuries since they were built.  The girls had a lot of fun running around, and loved having Grandpa to ride with them in the back of the suburban.  After we looked around, we headed back to the cars for a snack.  The trip out seemed a little shorter, and better because at the end, the road was paved and smooth.  I am thankful we could go out there and that Scott knows about all these amazing places, but I also am not planning to go out there again any time soon! After we got back, we were able to take Grandpa out for steaks at an amazing little place outside of town, which was yummy. The girls got to play with the babysitter, which they always love.  It was a busy day but great memories were made.

Yard work, continued

 Scott trenching

fun things we find in the dirt

The lilacs

"Madame Lemoine" lilac double white flower

"Sensation" lilac, purple with white edges

We got the back lot plowed again to get rid of the weeds. We want to get in the sprinkler system and then plant grass seed before winter.  Hopefully in the spring, the grass will choke out the weeds some, and in a few years we will have a nice lawn back there, instead of mud and weeds. Our neighbors planted seed when we did sod, and it has come in quite nicely, so we are optimistic. We are also planning for a garden area, and the lilacs are to be a privacy hedge. They are supposed to do well in our terrible soil, so we hope the deer will leave them alone long enough to get established. They have already nibbled most of the leaves off. But a bunch of websites said they were deer resistant, so we'll see.  We bought the plants a few weeks ago on our trip north to the zoo.  There was not enough of any one type, so we alternated the white and purple.  Hopefully it will be pretty and they will grow quickly.  We are still planning on a few fruit trees, but we have so much going on, it's one thing at a time.  Scott has worked for days doing the sprinkler system and getting everything set up.  It will be nice to have it done.  Anyone who wants to donate to the cause, or feels like doing some manual labor, or who loves picking rocks, give us a call ;)

Drive to Elk Ridge

We are excited to see Scott a little bit more these days! One day we got some Subway and took the girls on a drive. West of Blanding there is a place called Elk Ridge. Scott works here all the time, and it is where he took me on our hike to the cliff ruins.  We went back to the area with the waterfalls.  Unfortunately, it was only a trickle from a recent rainstorm, but it was still pretty and fun anyways.  The girls had fun running around, and throwing rocks into the water.  Whitney managed to fall in head first and soaked her clothes and shoes.  We learned first hand, that babies actually do hold their breath when they fall into water. I was right next to her and just grabbed her right out. It was kinda funny, not as terrifying as one would think. She was completely fine with it, not scared at all. But we still had a lot of trip left, so she was naked for a while, then we found a few things in the car to dress her up in.  Those are the times I am glad I am not a neat freak in the car. there is always something we can use.  After the water, we drove around looking for animals. Deer were plentiful, but no elk or bear spotted.  We saw a lot of pretty things and places Scott often talks about.  We got out for a view of Arch Canyon, but acorns were much more interesting. I am still finding them in the laundry.   It was a fun trip and we are so thankful to live in such a beautiful area. 

Little girls miss their big sisters

 Modeling mom's super-high heels, and Sara had to be in the picture

Since school has started, the dynamic at home is very different. Abby and Isabel head to school at 8 am and return at 3:15. So all day it is just my little ones.  When all of them are home, everybody seems to play together, but when it is just Whitney and Sara, not so much.  Sara has preschool Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning.  Whitney tends to just hang out with me and not want to go anywhere. Which is fine most of the time, but not always.  Sara wanders like a lost lamb.  She just doesn't know how to entertain herself after 4.5 years of having someone to play with.  So it is a process.  She always wants to play at a friend's house. She gets bored very easily.  She and Whitney fight sometimes.  They also do play a game where Sara is the baby and Whitney is the mom and takes care of her.  Sometimes they play dolls.Whitney is speaking more clearly and definitely has an opinion.  She is a sweet girl. She is into Dora, and lately has been changing clothes every 5 minutes. she knows exactly which drawers to get a shirt and pants out of, and she likes her sisters' dresses.  She also wears shoes all the time.  Today, she is wearing (as her 3rd outfit) Some jeans, with Sara's swimsuit on top of that, then Isabel's shirt over top, and some sandals she found that are huge.  She also has her two piggytails in, at her request.  I am still figuring out if it is a nature or nurture thing. Do two year old boys care this much about clothes and hair?  Whitney is working on potty training, but we are not even close to done. If I put her on the toilet she will complain and then pee, but she doesn't do anything else and she won't tell me when she has to go.  She is so smart and we love listening to her and watching all the things she is doing.
Sara is getting bigger. She recently figured out how to use the mouse and gets onto computer games herself (we have tabs with the few websites they can use). So she loves to do that. She almost knows all her letters, and can write her name. She is learning sign language at preschool and seems to like that.  She still struggles in church, going to her class but I keep hoping she will grow out of it.  She is doing well at school and no major problems, so I am relieved about that. She definitely can have her own opinion and create some drama. Sometimes it drives us crazy, other times you can't help laughing.  It seems like a preview of the teenage years, but I am still holding onto the hoope that she will get it out of her system young....  we love our Sara.  So days are a little more simple at home, but also a lot more hands on with out the big girls to help entertain.  We shall see how it goes now that the weather is getting cooler.