October is Upon Us

The first half of October has been kind of crazy! That Friday, my dad, my brother James, and I went to Logan to make a few repairs on my house that our buyers requested and to clean out the rest of our belongings.  Luke had to work so he missed most of the fun.  By the time he made it up there we were close to heading out.. but it was already 9:30 pm.  By 11:00 pm we turned off the lights and drove away.  It was very much a bitter sweet moment! We truly loved our home in Logan. We loved our friends, our neighborhood, our WARD, and we loved our time in Cache Valley.  What a sweet chapter it was.
Anyway...

We got to Scofield by 2:30 am on Saturday morning. Once we slept enough to survive we got up and enjoyed the next 2 days of General Conference.  I LOOOOVE conference. It is always such a spiritual rejuvenation and the talks always have so much personal meaning.  I come away wanting to be a better person, a more dedicated member of Christ's church, and being reminded how loved I am by a Father in Heaven.  We are SO SO lucky to have the privilege of listening to a Prophet of God and those who work directly with him.  

That day we also celebrated my cute niece Joelle's first bday.  

Monday we went up to Payson with Luke and after we dropped him off at work we went to Ikea with my sister in law, Val, and shopped around for some new couches.  

I had great helpers

That afternoon we drove up to our future house and drove around some many times the people who live there probably thought a freak was stalking them.  Oh well! They are mostly right! 

We hung out at the neighborhood park for a bit, and then went to The Red Barn to pick up peaches for canning.  

 Just as I drove away to pick Luke up for a party, he called at said it was changed to 1 hour later. I didn't know what else to do to waste time, so I drove back around through Santaquin to the Red Barn again.  I saw them giving wagon rides out to the pumpkin patch and thought that sounded fun. And it was.  We found ourselves a cute lil pumpkin.

Finally we got to pick up Luke.  His work buddies were having a barbecue at his supervisors house.  It was really fun getting to know them.  Luke certainly works with (and for) amazing people!

On Tuesday we attended the First Annual (??) Peacock Pumpkin Picking Party.  The girls dressed up in their cute Halloween costumes and we headed off to Orangeville.  Luke's grandparents had planted a pumpkin patch this year and each grand kid got a giant pumpkin to take home.  We ate yummy food, drank hot wassail, and the kids got a cute little halloween treat bag.  It is a fun tradition-- i hope we get to continue it other years. 

The rest of the week was filled with peaches, peaches and more peaches.  My mom and I canned 70ish jars of peaches.  It was the first time I've actually helped AND paid attention as to how the actual canning takes place and not just zone out while peeling them.   

Saturday the 8th was the baby shower we held for my sister in law, Tori.  After 4 girls, her and my brother our having a little boy.  He's going to be one spoiled little brother! : ) 

For the shower we went to Groggs for lunch and then came back to my mom's house for presents and dessert.  

Luke was elk hunting that weekend with his dad and pretty much got snowed out of all hunting.  Sunday after church we went to the cabin so that he and my dad and brothers could hunt on Monday.

The weekend as a whole was pretty rough.  Friday we found out it will take $1300 to fix our car, Luke's first time being able to hunt elk since before his mission were ruined, Sunday morning we received word that our buyers financing had fallen through.  But we were still hopeful because we had the back up offer.  We would just need to find out if we could still get financing on our new house with just being under contract even if we hadn't closed yet...since our scheduled closing was only 10 days away.  We got word that we could! YAY! So we started the paperwork to become under contract with the back up buyers.  Then we heard they didn't want it.  

It was horribly depressing.  We have fallen in love with the new house in Santaquin AND spent a lot of money on inspections and appraisals and all that. We did not want to lose our contract, but it seemed inevitable.  

All morning on Tuesday I was so depressed. I told the repair shop we could not get our car fixed because without our house sell we don't have the money.  I prayed and prayed and cried and prayed some more that something would happen.  We had to find new buyers or all would fall apart. 

Then James called.  Our loan officer was doing all he could to get our loan to go through still.  We waited and waited and waited for the next few days and FINALLY FOUND OUT WE CAN STILL CLOSE ON OCT 19th! Now, it's 3 days away and I am dying with anticipation!! And.. i am dizzy with all this back and forth stuff.

Now........... to top it all off, tonight we received another offer for our house. We feel so blessed. Whether this one works out or not, I don't know, but I do know it is all in the Lord's hands and if it's what He wants, it will work out. If not, something else will come.
  Until then..... I will just go to bed with a smile on my face because I know that in 3 more nights I will be sleeping in my new house.  

Where Was I When the World Stopped Turning

Before I finish up September, I need to remember the 10 year anniversary of the day "the world stopped turning."  That Alan Jackson song has been in my head for weeks before Sept 11th and for weeks since.  The world truly did stop turning and it's important to remember where and what we were doing that fateful day.

When I woke up on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, it seemed like an ordinary day.  It was Homecoming week and as a Junior at Carbon High School, I was getting ready  for Cowboy Day.  My mom told me about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and I thought it was weird and sad because I knew that meant some people would die, but I had no idea what it really meant.  I had never heard of a terrorist. I hardly knew anything about the places called Iraq or Afghanistan. I had no idea who the Al Qaeda were or who Osama Bin Laden was.
I went downstairs and while my mom was braiding my hair for my cowboy ensemble, I watched, horrified, as the second plane ran itself into the second tower.
When I got to school for an early morning meeting the news starting buzzing around like crazy.  Once school started we just spent the entire day glued to the television.  I witnessed the towers crumble to the ground. The reports of the wreckage, the other planes, the fear on the victims faces, the rubble.... it all left me confused, scared, and completely uncertain what was happening to the country I believed was invincible.  Life was never going to be the same.
Although it was a horrible experience and I get a lump in my throat just thinking about 9/11, I must say, I had never been so proud to be an American as I was that day.

We celebrated Sept 11, 2011 like we do most Sundays, but with our hearts turned and our memories filled with all the sacrifices of our military and service men.  We talked to Tianna about what happened that day and tried to explain as best we could to our little 5 year old  why we now celebrate Patriot's day. Our hearts still ache for the victim's and their families and for a country that was wounded that terrible day.  But I do believe in America and I know that if we include God in our lives, we can and will be a great nation forever.   GOD BLESS AMERICA and I will ALWAYS remember.

A Camping Trip to Welcome In Fall

We thought Labor Day was our last camping trip of the year but then my dad decided he wasn't ready to call it quits just yet and so we snuck in one final trip the first weekend of Fall.
We camped up near Potter's Pond.  The leaves had just began changing and it was simply beautiful up there.  A bit chilly, but otherwise, perfect.

Last minute we even got James, Val, and Jacamo to join the fun.  Jason and Joy came up for dinner Friday night, and as soon as Luke could get off work, he did too.  It was wonderful getting to spend Saturday with him because we sure missed him on Thursday night and Friday.

 Who knew the Rhino was actually a Jungle Gym.... Adelia--that's who!

 Lumber Jack James

 So pretty up there!

 Took plenty of horse back rides.

 We took a drive, to see where it lead to.  Ended up on Skyline Drive--it was breath takingly beautiful.

 My brother-- is scary :) good thing we love him!

 Mom and Pops enjoyed their rhino ride

 Heart-breaker in training!

 It took Jocelyn all of 5 minutes to get this dirty. Love her!

 Ah SHUCKS! shucking the corn, that is.

 Okay... this is one of my favorite moments of all time---  Some music got turned on and my dad started dancing with the girls to it.  It was fantastic!!

 Love the fresh crisp mornings in the mountains.

 Nothing puts a kid to sleep faster than a good drive

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great little trip.  We loved it!

Fruits of our Labors

This year we joined in on the family garden.  It was huge! (for what I'm use to anyway) and it had a bumper crop--of weeds.  It felt like we weeded constantly, but it was never enough.  It felt like the stupid garden would never be worth it.  But finally, it paid off.
We ended up with tons and tons of green beans! We had 4 grocery sacks full of carrots, some corn, lots of beets, chilies, bell peppers, jalapenos, and a bunch of zuchinni and squash. We're hoping we get more tomatoes but so far most of them are still green.

 I have had my first experience with blanching and freezing vegetables.
I even roasted green chilies in the oven, which was an interesting experience.. i felt very domestic.  Now, as soon as I can get into my house, I will have a freezer stocked with home grown vegetables.  Sadly I never got around to making salsa like I had hoped.  Maybe if our tomatoes ripen... until then I get to enjoy some peach canning tomorrow.

These are my lil green bean helpers.  

Party with the Peacock's (and Lakes)

As if Tianna hadn't partied enough, the Sunday after her bday we went to Castle Dale to celebrate with Luke's side. It also happened to be Uncle Chris' bday too.  But he's old : ) so he didnt' mind that he got to share a Sleeping Beauty cake.  Which was requested by Tianna.  She knows how to make things simple... riiiiiiiiiight.

 Belinda and Monica did a beautiful job.  The pretty much rock.

The kids got to ride horsies for a few minutes with Grandpa, and Grandma bought some fun things to play with. 

I wish I had gotten a picture of the other party goers... which include the Bingham Family and Grandpa and Grandma Lake.
Thank you everyone who attended our many bday parties in September.  We love you all and appreciate you more than you know!