Pumpkins, Photos, and Phamily

How do I possibly sum up the past week in one post? Well, for one thing - you're going to have a photo overload :) This past week was one of the busiest in memory, but one of the most fun, and most memorable.

Some gals from our Stake (kind of like a diocese for anyone who isn't a member of our faith) planned some fun Friday morning fall activities for us to do with our preschool age children. This past Friday, Brittney planned a fun outing to a local growers who had set up a fun indoor hay bale maze. She booked the maze for just our group, which was good thinking because between our kids the place was PLENTY full! Since the kiddos had no school, I bundled them up and drove there bright and early (Okay, it was 9:30am - but that was plenty early for me!). I quickly snatched my kids and sat them down for a couple photos before they ran off through the maze. I only caught 2 of them - the older girls were long gone.

I've been to this growers a few times since moving here, and the main draw for the kids have been these 3 cats that just live there. They love to hang out and avoid children at all costs. BB caught one that was a large as she was and was torturing the poor thing by carrying it around all wrong. I saved the poor feline, but not before JJ found her and started the chase. Luckily cats are still faster than 2 year olds.
One of my great friends (and counselor in my presidency) came with her kids. They've got kids roughly the same ages as mine so that works perfectly for play dates. B is good friends with their little girl "J" (though I warn you - all of their kids' names begin with J, so prepare to be confused. LOL!)
TJ is also friends with their oldest daughter, "J" who is about 2 months younger, and a while head taller! They are such great kids - their parents are sure raising them right!
This little guy (yep, you guessed it - "J") is the same age as my JJ and he is such a sweetie. Just look at the face! He's kind of shy, so I was glad to have snapped this cute shot of him. She is already potty training him. Boy, makes me look bad :)
After some chasing and screaming I finally got a shot of all my girls. Note the look of impatience on BB's face. LOL! "Can we hurry this along? There's a kitty with my name on it!" LOL!
JJ, on the other hand, was being unusually shy. She stuck by my side the entire time - which made it easy to snap more than a fair share of photos. Note: she still has her self-inflicted bald spot, but I'm taking your advice and snapping away anyway. This is part of our family history!

The growers had all sorts of fun little Halloween decorations throughout the maze. My B is no sissy - finds the spider and cuddles with it. Ew.
I was tempted to buy some pumpkins, but it's still to early for me. We'll be back when it gets a little closer to Halloween.
Here's a shot of about half of the kids that we met up with there. There were maybe 5 adults and what seemed like hundreds of kids. We certainly doing our part to multiply and replenish the earth!
This past week was busy with photo shoots as well - and all newborn! I've never seen so many new babies in a week's time. Here are samples from a couple of them:
Do you remember her from THESE maternity photos? She had a little boy, and he's just GORGEOUS! Though he is one of those "Don't you DARE take pictures of me naked" babies. LOL! As longs as his diaper was on, he was good.

The next day I was able to photograph this little doll. She was somehow hiding inside the tiny tummy of THIS gal. Who knew? :)
She had no problem being naked, which is surprising for a baby less than 2 weeks old. It was so fun capturing their family together - so much love!
I just love how squishy she was ;)


The best part of this past week came in the form of Mother and Father in Law, Sister in law, and two nieces! YAY!!! My in laws made the long trip from Calgary (who, by the way, is getting an LDS temple built there! YES!!!!!!) to visit for the weekend. I was anticipating this visit for so long. I really love my in laws, and miss them terribly.

My niece "S" came for the trip, which my girls were ecstatic about. She and TJ are only 2 weeks apart in age, and though TJ is older, S is taller by a few inches! She's really shooting up! TJ and S were practically glued together the entire weekend - even sporting matching outfits (not planned) and getting in their fair share of giggles.
They arrive Friday evening, and we spent much of the day Saturday showing them around our fair city. Unfortunately, a wind storm decided it was great timing to blow through our city this weekend, so we had a hard time doing much outdoors.




Mom and Dad G. took us out for lunch to Thomas the Cook and we had their ever famous dry pork ribs. Oooohh yummy. I really love them. And I loved being treated to lunch even more. Am I right when I say that any food your don't cook yourself just tastes so much BETTER????
We spent Saturday afternoon at the Science Center - the kids just love it there, which is why we bought passes. I had no idea that the passes are good for Science Centers all over the continent! WOW! This is a station where you learn about bubbles and get to encase yourself in a giant bubble.

Grandpa is sharing his wit and wisdom with S. I think this was where a hot air balloon was.
We then took a nice drive to a nearby lake. The wind was so strong it was causing huge waves over the entire lake. I know they don't compare to ocean waves, but for a lake in the middle of the prairie, the waves seems humongous!


The girls could barely stand upright in the wind. It was seriously crazy!
In Sunday, before General Conference began, we snapped this shot of all the G granddaughters. We realized that with J's new baby girl there, we had ALL of the G granddaughters in one place. We couldn't let that pass without a photo.
And I can't talk about my weekend without showing you a pick of the newest granddaughter - "A". She has two older brothers who love her (some times a little too forcefully. LOL!) and she has to be one of the most good-natured little babies I've seen. She barely made a peep the entire weekend, and I can't wait to get to hold her again in a couple of months. She'll be a giant by then!
And maybe some of the most exciting news is that BB got into the Pre-K program at her big sisters school! YES~! Originally I hadn't even applied because there were waiting lists, and the program is really meant for kids who may need a little help socializing etc. before kindergarten. But last week I read in our girls school newsletter that they had a few spaces open! I immediately phoned the school and filled out an application. Amazingly enough, she got in! She goes to school from 9am to 11:45am Monday through Thursday, with family fun days one Friday a month. The best part? It's FREE. That's right. F-R-E-E!

We wasted no time in going out to buy her a new backpack and some school supplies. To say she was excited would be an understatement. She was ECSTATIC! We made her first day of school special - photos, cute hair, the whole deal.

BB was telling me to leave even before we got up the stairs to her classroom. I don't remember EVER being that brave. She was so excited to see she had a locker to keep her things in.

She was shown to her table and she immediately started playing with the playdoh they had set out for her. I had originally planned to stay most of the morning, but she made it clear she wanted me to go. She was waiting for her first day of school to begin, and that meant no more mommy! :(
At least I knew she was in good hands. Both of her teachers had made a home visit a few days before to meet BB on her own terms, and to answer any questions I had. They are so sweet, kind, and funny - I knew BB would have no problem in their class.


So, that's been the last week in a nutshell (a huge, massive nutshell). I've had many opportunities to count my blessings this week as I've been able to help some sisters in the ward in a small way, and I was completely uplifted by General Conference as well. A couple of talks really kicked me in the butt a bit, which I always need, and I love learning more about my responsibilities and how to serve others. I also watched a neat documentary of the life of Pres. Monson, which was absolutely wonderful!

Anyway, here's to hoping for an easy going week - but then again, what would I have to write about?