Space Explorers

Our Magic School Bus book for September was Space Explorers. Enoch was very excited about this book. He has a lot of his dad in him - they love space. This book also had a robot dog in it, so it was just about darn near perfection for Enoch.
We learned about all the planets (including Pluto, which was still a planet when this book was published), space travel, gravity and many other fun facts. Enoch just soaked it in. He asked so many questions that I had to have Greg read it to him before bed so he could answer all the hard stuff. At night he would look at the stars and tell me about them. He was particularly interested in Venus and would tell me about it's gas clouds and atmosphere. I love his joy and excitement when he discovers something new!
For our activity, we recruited Uncle Jarom to help us, which wasn't very hard since he is a huge space buff as well. While visiting my parents in Fairview over Labor Day, Uncle Jarom set up his super fancy telescope so we could look at the stars and planets. It is amazing how many more stars you can see in Fairview. You could clearly see the Milky Way - it was awesome! We looked at a few stars and also at the planet Saturn. Enoch was so excited that he could see the rings around Saturn and some of it's moons. It was very cool. Thanks, Uncle Jarom!


We had a great time reading this book. It was probably one of our favorites so far. I wonder what we will read next?

My Mom

I received a very special surprise today.
A week ago my mom called and asked me to go to lunch with her today. I checked my calendar, we made a date and then I started to worry. Was everyone okay? Was someone sick? Geesh! Only I could turn an innocent lunch into stress. My mom assured me that things were fine, just still plan on lunch.
I had no idea why we were going to lunch. Not that I wasn't happy to go to lunch with my mom, it was just an unusual Wednesday occurrence. It was even more puzzling when she brought a present.
After getting settled in our booth at Winger's, my mom handed me the gift and told me to read the card first. I was completely blown away. My mom had figured exactly, to the day, of how old I was when her and my dad married and then figured out, exactly to the day, of when Kate would be that age. How incredible is that! What a surprise. That date was September 29, 2010. So special. She gave me a double frame with a pictures of a toddler me and a picture of Kate.
For those who don't know - my mother was killed in a car accident when I was 18 months old. My dad married my mom when I was 2 1/2 years old. Sorry, I know it's confusing, but I really don't think of my mom as my step mom, so I won't call her that. She is the only mom I know. And think of how lucky I am - I'll have two moms for eternity!
Now that I am a mom, I appreciate so much more what my mom went through. Think of being a newlywed with a 2 year old. Yikes! What a fun age to be introduced to motherhood. Hopefully I wasn't too much of a stinkerbug. She told me a cute story. The first time she babysat me, she fixed dinner. She made sure all the food groups were there including some frozen mixed veggies. Apparently I ate all the veggies except the pile of lima beans I picked out and put on the side. I still hate lima beans. My mom never made me eat lima beans after that.
I wish I had something profound to say. I really don't know how to put into words what this entire journey has meant to me. I hope my mom knows how I feel. I appreciate her. I respect her. I follow her. I love her. It is simple. She is my mom and I love her.

Enoch Plays Soccer (kind of)

When I signed Enoch up for fall soccer, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't have high expectations of him being the star player. I just wanted him to have a chance to play and discover if he liked it or not. We have our answer.
Enoch liked making new friends. Enoch liked getting a soccer ball, shin guards and soccer socks. Enoch liked soccer treats. Enoch liked flirting with his team mates sisters on the sidelines. Enoch liked collecting feathers from off the field. Enoch liked having Kate cheer him on. Enoch liked swinging from the goal posts. Enoch did not like soccer so much.
Enoch has never been a physically aggressive boy. He has never really been competitive. He is quite low key. When you play pack soccer (as 5 year olds) do, you have to get in there. Enoch just wasn't interested in doing that. He was more interested in doing pull-ups from the goal posts. Most of the time, he didn't even know where the ball was. I glanced toward him at one point and saw him kick the ball. When he came out I said, "Enoch, good job. I saw you kick the ball." "You did? I didn't kick the ball." Enoch said. "Yes, I saw it," I said. "Oh, I didn't kick it. Someone else kicked it and it bounced off my leg. I didn't even know the ball was there." HA!
Another mom asked me if Enoch was enjoying playing soccer. At that point, I looked at him. He was on the opposite side of the field as the other 11 players. He had pulled his jersey completely up over his head and was running in circles until he would fall down and burst into laughter. He was having his own fun.
What an entertaining boy. The whole team loved Enoch, even if he didn't contribute much to the soccer game. He is just so fun to be around.

How Enoch spent most of the games:



Poo kid! It didn't matter what shorts he wore, he spend the entire game trying to keep the up!

Canning 2010

I realize I don't can as much food as some people. I do what my family eats and how much we need. I really don't mind canning - except pears. I hate canning pears. I would have to get a box of beautiful, big pears for me to consider canning them. I haven't canned pears in years!
This year I learned something new - applesauce. It was very easy and so yummy! Now I have a pressure cooker and food mill on my Amazon list.

Tomatoes - 24 quarts

Bread and Butter Pickles - 13 pints

Applesauce - 13 quarts

Freezer Berry Jam - 8 batches

I also froze about 5 quarts of peaches from our tree and about 6 quarts of bell peppers from our garden. I would have liked to do some corn, but alas, the corn in our garden really struggled this year. However, we do have many onions and carrots that will eventually make it down to our storage room for future use.
It will be so nice to have this food in the winter!

Biker Boy

Maybe I shouldn't call Gavin a boy after today. He and his Scout troop completed their Cycling Merit Badge meaning they rode 50 miles today! Wow! I'm so proud of him. That is forever long. They took off at 9am, rode, ate lunch at Willow Park, rode, rode, rode and got home about 3:30pm. He said his behind hurt. No kidding?
The Cycling Merit Badge is quite intense. I'm not sure of the exact number of rides, but the boys have to complete at least two 10 mile rides, one 25 mile ride and one 50 mile ride. That's a lot. Gavin has had fun with it though. He rides Greg's road bike and takes his camelback full of Gatorade. Today was tough, but he came home with energy - almost hyper.



After the ride, the boys had a party (don't they have the best Scout leaders. Thanks, Brother Besaw and Brother Mortenson!). They watched the BYU game, ate pizza and snacks and I'm sure acted like tween boys.

Princess Party

A few weeks ago my sister, Valerie, invited me and Kate to a Fancy Nancy party at the Lehi Library. We have never read Fancy Nancy books, but it sounded like fun. I didn't tell Kate about it until this morning. I told her we were going to a princess party, since she doesn't know who Fancy Nancy is. She was thrilled. She kept telling me all day long that she was so excited.


We were quite surprised at how many people were in attendance at the party. We spotted Valerie and Brynnley right off. We grabbed some seats in the back. The librarian read a Fancy Nancy book and talked about constellations, but Kate and Brynnley had so much fun pulling dozens and dozens of books off the shelves and looking through them. They really weren't interested in what was going on up front, but still had a great time.


It was so fun to go with Kate. She was so cute. Girl's night out was just what we both needed. On the car ride over she kept talking about how it was just the girls going and not her brothers and dad because they are boys. "No boys," she told me! She is very aware that she is a girl. She makes me so thankful to be a mom.

Wacky Weather

It still feels like summer. It's warm, sometimes hot. The sun is out. It's dry. Except for today. This is crazy weather.
We woke up to an overcast, humid day. By lunchtime, it was hailing. A lot. Enoch and Kate found it fascinating. I was running outside diverting water from window wells and picking my peaches before they were battered. I was dripping wet when I finally got back inside. Like I said, crazy.



I'm starting to look forward to cooler temps, but definitely not shorter days. I hope we have a decent fall this year - none of this 2 weeks of fall before it snows. Fall is fabulous!