It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas things are going up at our house and I did 2 new things this year.  I put my Christmas village on top of my kitchen cabinets and made a stable for the baby Jesus.

Merril drilled holes into the top of the cabinet so lights could be run up there from the microwave plug.

This is my, "How am I going to do that?" face.  Jack makes the same face when he's thinking.

Maxine was on the ready with the glue gun.  The roof would've been pretty impossible without her.

Coming together.

All finished!  Merril joked and said I could make them and sell them on Etsy for $100 a pop.

I cut some weeds by the side of the road for straw.

This part of the stable is for the animals, of course.  It's my favorite part.

I made the nativity pieces the Christmas I met Merril, 13 years ago.  I'm glad there's finally a stable for the baby Jesus!

A greenhouse for ME!

Merril has a friend that was selling a greenhouse because he was moving.  So Merril bought it for me.  It goes back to a long-time ambition of mine to grow things in a greenhouse.  It's just one of those things I've always wanted way in the back of my mind.  Merril also said that he's seen me toil with the weeds, heat and wind and wanted to make gardening easier for me.  First task:  Soil prep.  The soil in my backyard is mostly rocks, gravel, and clay.  So my garden is all outside soil.  The greenhouse was going to be too close to the trees so the garden was moved a little from it's previous location.  I'm digging out some nasty weeds, something like a morning glory, that won't pull up.  They break off and leave the roots.  Super annoying.  I've tried killing it with Roundup and that doesn't seem to kill it either.  Urg.  

Mikayla was cheery and ate her meals outside while I was digging.

Here's Merril with the greenhouse on a trailer.  It's a baby one, 8 ft x 12 ft, but it's a good beginner greenhouse.  I'm hoping to grow some amazing veggies.  Fingers crossed!

Jack's 7th Birthday...

Jack's birthday was at Anti-Gravity Trampoline Arena and we had a blast.  The kids jumped and jumped and got tired and jumped some more.

I love how blurry Juliet is as she flies through the air.

There were big couches for the lazy parents to hang out on.  There was also an arcade and pool tables.  Merril and I ended up playing a round.

Then we went out for pizza!  Wahoo!

Maxine turns 10, time for ear piercings...

We told Maxine when she was 10 that she could get her ears pierced.  I had to wait until I was 12 and I figured 10 was old enough to take care of her ears herself.  I wanted her to be responsible for keeping them clean and spinning them for 6 weeks.  Maxine's birthday was yesterday and so we took off to a local salon to get them pierced.  Maxine was excited and nervous, as you can tell from the picture.

During the piercing, Maxine did great and sat really still.  They look great and she was elated!

Her cake request involved red velvet and white cakes marbled together.  I tried to marble the frosting but it kind of just looked pink to me in the end.

I can't believe she's 10.  I don't feel old enough to have a 10-year old.  She's growing up into a great kid and she's a great example, even for me.

The stuff I find on my camera...

I was trying to get EVERYTHING cleaned off my cameras, the nice SLR and the little point and shoot.  I found a couple of funnies.

These are the gems.  Pretty much everything's fuzzy, overexposed or the same shot over and over.  Seriously Juliet, how many pictures of you pulling goofy faces do I need?

Fall Bike Ride...

I don't especially like to exercise.  I DO NOT like to run.  However, I do like to ride my bicycle.  It's not about the speed, because I don't go fast; it's about the ride.  I still feel like it's fun.  Fall is perfect bike riding weather.  It was about an hour until Mikayla was supposed to go to bed and she was kind of grumpy.  (She's cutting a tooth.)  Merril was working late so I loaded her up in the bike trailer and we went for a ride!  The blankets and pillows were supposed to help keep her upright, but being close to bedtime, she started to slump over towards the end of the ride.  She happily sucked her thumb.

 Maxine and Jack had a good time.

Juliet was good for the first half of the ride but then started to fade.

We ended up putting her bike on mine and walked/pushed the bikes and trailer home.

Even with Juliet kind of throwing a fit, I still had a good time.  And then everyone was ready for bed.  :)

Happy Halloween 2012...

Wahoo Halloween!  I like Halloween.  I've dressed up like a guy for the last 2 Halloweens.  This year, I decided to be a girl.  An awesome girl from the Avengers, Black Widow.  Merril was The Hulk.  Jack was a lego figure, Juliet was a cowgirl, Maxine was Hermione from Harry Potter and Mikayla was a cheetah.  This is right before the ward Halloween party.  

The school had a Halloween parade and Julie decided to ride a pony.

Jack was fun.

Maxine looked great!

This is Halloween night, right before trick-or-treating.

Maxine's costume was the hardest, mainly because I borrowed stuff for Jack's and Juliet's costumes and Mikayla's came out of the Halloween box.  I made Maxine's robe and tie.  I thought they turned out fine.  This year, Maxine wanted to trick-or-treat the neighborhood with friends, instead of the family.  So I gave her a cell and off she went.  I was out with Jack and Juliet.  When we would bump into each other, Maxine kept going on her own way.  She turns 10 on Monday!  WOW!

Pumpkins and Pizza...

For Family Home Evening, we made pizza and carved pumpkins.  This was our jack-o-lantern pizza.  :)

While scooping the guts out of a pumpkin, Jack's I think, I found this:

One of the pumpkin seeds had sprouted and was trying to grow!  I love carving pumpkins and in all my years, I've never seen one of the seeds sprout and try to grow while it was still inside the pumpkin.  Weird.  I didn't take any pictures of the pumpkins.  Juliet and Jack carved traditional jack-o-lantern faces and Maxine created a crow and carved it out.  Happy Halloween!

Spooky Hollow...

Our little town started a corn maze this year!  So we headed over and took pictures with the headless horseman.  

The kids got a free horse ride.

Mikayla rode around with Merril and had a good time.

Juliet liked the headless horseman.  She kept calling him the headless horseguy.  We went through the corn maze and bought some hot chocolate and glow sticks.  It was a fun and easy family home evening.

Camping for Fall Break!

Juliet wanted to go camping one more time before Winter.  Fall Break seemed like the perfect time and some friends, Darryl and Shauna, were camping out at the lake so we crashed with them.  

We got there in the evening and played in the sand.

Jack wanted me to bury him, but I said no.  So he started to bury himself.

It dipped down to the mid-50s at night, which wasn't too bad.  Jack kept rolling off the air mattress and waking up.  Then he'd wake up Maxine.  I put Mikayla asleep in the Tahoe so she'd be away from the noise.  When I got her at 7:30 a.m., her little arms were so cold!  Looking back, I should have had her sleep in between Merril and me.

Juliet trying to get out of the tent.

After we woke up, we made egg, bacon and sausage mcmuffins.  Oh yummy!  We had cantaloupe too.  Mostly so we didn't die of a heart attack from the muffins.

Mikayla warmed up and was happy.

The kids got dirty and had a great time.

Mikayla had fun helping me take down the air mattresses.

Merril had some work on Friday so we packed up and headed home to veg.  Then we went back out to the lake with the boat and dinner.  It was a good time!

Mikayla is 8 months old...

Mikayla is 8 months old and last month I was able to add everything back into my diet that I've been avoiding: dairy, chocolate, and corn.  I've also been able to phase her off the Prevacid for acid reflux.  How do you think she's doing?

Yep, she's a happy kid.  She's down to 2 naps a day and sleeps from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.  She's just starting to get some anxiety when I leave the room.  She's so good and seems always content no matter what we're doing.  We won the baby lottery with her.

Merril's Mt. Whitney Hike...

Merril has wanted to climb Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 states, for quite a while.  Months ago he reserved a permit and it was time to hike on October 3rd!  The peak of Mt. Whitney is 14,505 feet about sea level.  He was a good husband and even took some pictures of the hike!

Merril on top of Mt. Whitney.

Merril's friends, Darryl and Ryan, went with him.  Darryl is pictured below.

Merril said there were little lakes along the way.

Merril trained well for the hike and said he was hardly sore afterwards.  He did comment that his lungs hurt when we got home.  I told him he can't ever climb Everest because I can't arrange to air lift him out if things get dicey.  But Mt. Whitney is just fine by me.  :)