Pumpkinland

Today we went to Pumpkinland! Roxanne joined us for the afternoon and the weather was perfect! We found our way through the corn maze, saw bunnies, birds and goats, visited the inflated slides and tramp, played on the playground and found a few pumpkins to bring home.



The kids all picked out a pumpkin, the only requirement was that they had to be able to carry it themselves. That wasn't a problem since the mini-pumpkins were so popular. I don't blame them, after their mean mom turned down every request to buy them at the grocery store how could they resist? Camen considered a very interesting gourd that closely resembled a pumpkin, but it might also have been a mutated-leprous-orange-football. I'm not sure. I am glad he opted for the variegated mini-pumpkin instead, the other one could have deterred potential young visitors. (I really should have gotten a picture.) Here are our final selections...

Photography...

I found an old friend from BYU on Facebook. Anna Jones, formerly Anna Pearson, now lives in Salt Lake and is a very fine photographer.

I love her work! She uses natural light, creative composition, and vibrant color to make masterpieces. I am so excited that she is now teaching small groups and that I'm going to attend her first class (with my new camera) on October 25th!

To me photography is both artistry and the preservation of history. I've dabbled with photography off and on for awhile, and have met some frustration with our little digital camera that is often too slow to capture the moment and limited in its ability to do what I want it to. I also have a traditional SLR that broke after a couple years use. While it is still semi-functional it surely isn't reliable, which is especially annoying after you spend money on developing the film. (Yes, some places still develop film.)

Last month Russ told me he was going to surprise me with a camera for my birthday, but since there are so many cameras he decided to let me in on the secret so I could have a say in which one I got. At first I was surprised, and was in the mind set that, "It's okay, I don't really need one", and, "We can wait until later." All that has changed, especially after he convinced me he'd been saving for a loooong time. Now I can't wait and I'm doubly excited to get some good instruction!

There might still be spaces available for the class if anyone is interested. If nothing else, I highly recommend looking at her blog, it is amazing!

I'm a big fan of good family pictures. Trust me, I know that it's very challenging to find coordinating clothing, get everyone dressed, do hair, and then hope that everyone is still happy and capable of smiling. The task is so daunting that we are still waiting to get a family picture with Mason. I would like to have an outdoor winter family picture, maybe it won't be too much longer as snowflakes were falling this morning. (Although, we do have currently a baby with a cold and should wait until he gets better.)

Soon I would like to start taking pictures of family and friends. I'm very much a beginner so anyone willing to find coordinating clothing, get everyone dressed, do hair, and then smile would be doing me a big favor, so I won't be charging.

A Plug for Google Reader

I have a very tech savy husband that tried to convert me to Google Reader a long time ago. I resisted, I scoffed, I saw no need to change my ways, until... I joined the blogging community. Google Reader is a huge time saver. I made an account, subscribed to the many blogs I follow, and now I can simply login to Google Reader to see what's new!

It's wonderful! Thanks tech-savy-husband, this time YOU were right! ;)

Check it out here.

Soccer Season

Camen has come a long way over the past few years and is maturing into a great little soccer player. I think his progression can be attributed to his love of the game, 20 friends to play soccer with everyday at recess, committed coaches, and some great instruction at the BYU sports camps.

Three years ago I remember watching Camen timidly trail behind the pack of kids chasing the ball. If the ball happened to move his direction he cautiously looked over his shoulder and exited the pack. Eventually he moved out of his comfort zone, had a few collisions and learned that it's okay to bump shoulders.

This year Camen scored his first goal, which also happened to be the first goal of the first game! He had three or four more in the games that followed. Camen has great footwork (if that's the right terminology) and is growing increasingly competitive.

Yesterday I overheard him talking to a friend that plays in a different league. Camen wished him luck on his game and his friend replied, "Yeah, we always win."

Camen enthusiastically responded, "Hey, we do too! It's soooo easy!"

Tonight was their last game and their team did go undefeated. Sometimes I have the parental instincts to teach him that life isn't easy, it's going to be hard. But hey, when you're seven years old maybe life should be good and sooo easy!

Mason in Motion

Last night I went shopping. Mason's birthday isn't too far away so I walked through the toy aisle targeted at little people under the age of two and noticed that we already have a lot of those toys. Unfortunately, our soon to be 11-month-old doesn't really care for any of them and the displayed prospects didn't look very promising. I guess he just has different interests.

This morning Mason was busy as usual. With his toys? Of course not.

He would much rather help clear the dishwasher, especially since he recently discovered he can climb up and now reach the top shelf.



Savannah didn't want plain old water with her breakfast so she decided to get a lime from the refrigerator. Mason wasn't going to miss that opportunity.




He likes going through his sister's art supplies. It's past time to find a new home for these.



The pantry is a great place for fun, there's nothing like pulling plastic bags out of the IKEA container.



Mason likes blinds. Last month he broke a slat. :(



Mason repeats all the aforementioned activities two or three times. I'm starting to get anxious for his morning nap and thinking that two hours is a long time to chase this boy around.

I then tried to entice him with a toy while simultaneously documenting his newest word.



It lasted exactly that long (15 seconds).


A few more adventures in the afternoon...



Mason has cut six teeth. His favorite thing to help those sore gums are shoes.


(No photo, as I know Russ find this beyond disgusting.)


While I was helping Naomi with her math, Mason found the forbidden trash can!



Getting in to trouble is pretty funny!



This year for Mason's birthday I think will find something practical that he can enjoy....






or maybe his own clean-never-been-worn...