End of Football

Football season is officially over. Casey and Brett's team won their final game against Filler this past week. There record for the season is 5 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. Their last three games the other teams didn't even score against them. Overall a good season.

Now for a few random pictures gleaned from Casey's phone. (Just for fun : )

Fun at the park / paw print at a tailgate party before a football game.

 Our dapper Peter / and Peter with his beloved tractor and Mickey

 The kids had fun visiting Daddy at school.

Pumpkin visit

My parents grew pumpkins this year and were kind enough to come up to Idaho and deliver a couple of pumpkins to the kids. My parents and sister came Friday night and spent a couple of days with us.
Saturday morning we went to a local garden center that was putting on some free fall activities for kids. Kendal and Peter got to decorate cookies, go through a mini straw maze, play a few games, and eat lots of snacks. Kendal got a butterfly painted on her hand but Peter wouldn't let the lady touch him to get anything.

Afterwards we got some lunch and took it to a park down in the canyon. The leaves were beautiful and the kids enjoyed the playground. Kendal made leaf pictures with my Mom and Sister later and we let them paint the pumpkins my parents brought.

We went to church together on Sunday then ate and relaxed afterwards. My parents and sister watched a bit of the primary program practice then left for home. I'm grateful we live closer and are able to have regular visits with family!

Fall Ya'll

 Last Saturday I didn't want to sit home and waste a warm day with cold weather looming so we went for a nature walk / picnic in a park near Twin. We enjoyed spotting the different colored trees and the wonderful nature around us. Kendal mostly just wanted to know when lunch was and Peter did well, but often whined to be picked up or was stubborn and would sit down refusing to move. We enjoyed our picnic and the fall outing.

This week our preschool group combined with another group from our ward and went on a field trip to Tubbs Berry farm. Kendal was excited to have so many kids around and loved that her primary buddy Kya came. We went for a hay ride around the farm. During our ride the owner was explaining their rough year with the rain in August that ruined a lot of hay and the hail storm that came through and damaged / wiped out a lot of their pumpkins. They had their straw maze sectioned off so we could go into it to a gigantic slide. Kendal and Peter were intimidated by the slides size but once the mommies joined in they were all for it. Some kids loved it and others decided it wasn't for them. After the giant slide we went to the kiddie area of the farm. The kids played in a kid straw maze, two small slides, pumpkin bowling, a corn box, water pump races, and they fed pigmy goats. It was cute to watch Peter run through the straw maze. He'd have to pause and stand on his tip-toes to see where he was, then he would run ahead. His favorite part was the water pump races. Each water pump had a gutter under it so the kids could race rubber ducks against each other. Kendal was all about the slides in the kiddie area. I had to pull the kids out of the kiddie area so they could see the rest of the farm animals and pick a couple of mini pumpkins with our preschool group. After that we returned to the kiddie area for a while. I had a hard time pulling them away from the fun time they were having.

Thursday evening we went to Casey's last home football game this season. The kids had fun roaming the bleachers, eating snacks, cheering with the cheerleaders, spotting Daddy and Uncle Brett, and asking a million questions. The seventh grade team pulled out a win making their record four wins, one tie, and one loss. They play their last game next week in Filer. Casey has his fair share of complaints with football, players and parents alike; but as I watched him last night I could tell there are many moments where he was truly enjoying the game and coaching. Casey will get one week off at the end of the month than November brings on girls basketball.

Feasting

We decided to go to Raft River for conference weekend. Since it's harvest season we decided to count tractors on our way to Raft River. (Our tactic to occupy Kendal ; ) Casey counted 105 tractors on our way (he was counting broken down tractors along with tractors out in the fields.) Kendal gave up around thirty something but was amused with Daddy and Mommy trying win who could spot the most. We went Friday night so Casey could watch the USU vs BYU game at his parents instead of listening on the radio. The Aggies pulled out an unexpected win! Casey's dad wasn't too thrilled with the win, but Casey and Cody enjoyed watching the game. (Casey's family are BYU fans; Casey still is, but USU trumps BYU.)
Saturday morning before conference Casey took the kids to ride on a tractor with Grandpa. We figured Peter would be over the moon to ride in a tractor because he's very into tractors lately. We were proven wrong when Casey got there and Peter was scared of Grandpa's tractor. He wouldn't ride with Grandpa but Kendal did and enjoyed herself. Peter and Kendal did ride with Casey on his parents ridding lawn mower without fuss though.

Saturday we listened to conference while the kids played around us. I look forward to conference and was happy to listen to the apostles and prophets words that were shared over the weekend. While I felt like I gained from conference I am excited to go back when conference is published and re-read and glean more from what was said. Our apostles are such wise men, I know all that they are saying is inspired and meant to touch our hearts and help us better our lives.
The boys cleaned the front porch on Saturday while the kids played around the house. I killed countless flies during our stay (I'm getting quite efficient at it which is sad when you think about it but a talent nonetheless.)
On Sunday we had a full house Nicole and her kids joined us, and Brett, Vanessa, and their kids joined us to watch / partially listen to conference. It's always nice to have a house full of family to spend time together. After both conferences were done we let the kids loose outside. We picked pumpkins and picked over the remains of the garden so we could take home some great vegetables.
The grumpy look from Peter below is because he was out of sorts all weekend and didn't get enough sleep. 

 I'm grateful for the spiritual upliftment I received and the family time we shared this weekend! This weekend I truly feasted on some wise words during conference and some yummy home cooking from the family : )

This week. . .

It was my turn to host preschool this week. My plan was simple (compared to Joy school). On Monday the kids learned about seasons. I read a book and made a season book with the kids. We also did our name in corn kernel's. We (Kendal and I) sang the days of the week song. We talked about the letter C, and let the kids do free play with cars and puzzles. On Wednesday we played with chalk paint outside and went on a leaf hunt around my cul-de-sac. We came back and read books about leaves / fall; then made wreaths with leaves we gathered on our walk. We also made a candy corn craft because it starts with c and has three parts (3 was our number for the week).
I knew going in this group would need simple and I was right. I have an almost three year old and two reserved three year old's, then Kendal. They are also at different learning levels. At one point Kendal was going around trying to get each kid to play "with" her and wasn't succeeding. These kids seem to be at more of a co-play stage. Again not our ideal preschool situation but we're working with what we have.
We did go on a field trip to the pet store this past week. Kendal ran around with her primary buddy (a preschooler's sister who's in kindergarten). The kids had fun looking at the fish, birds, and other creatures the store had. Peter loved the fish and hamsters but hated the birds. Kendal loved it all, and was sad there were no dogs or cats.

Casey had his first home game this week. It's been a cooler week and it was windy so the game was cold, but the kids didn't mind to much. They enjoyed spotting Daddy and Uncle Brett on the field. Vanessa brought David and Becca so they had fun with them wandering the bleachers and eating fruit leather. The game ended in a tie (no over time because JV needed to start their game). So the record so far for Casey's team is 2 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. Go Boodog's as Pete would say!

 A few more pictures:

 I took the kids on a lunch date last week to the park.We were trying to soak up the last of the warm days.

 Kendal is a princess, hero, fairy, cheerleader; 

and just one more of my silly duo