Grandpa's Farm

Elly, Nathan, Matthew, Maggie and Becca came to visit in October. Nathan and Matthew immediately went to their room and dumped out the Legos to start creating. Matthew told me that he likes our house better than his because we have better toys and a better backyard with lots of grass. We also have chickens and apple trees to climb. Nathan, Matthew, and Maggie helped Grandpa pick apples. Nathan also picked a bucketful of carrots!

Nathan especially liked climbing the apple tree to pick the hard-to-get apples.

Matthew was best at standing on the shed to get apples that even the big people couldn't reach.

Nathan, Matthew and Grandpa made some marshmallow roasters Friday night then we piled in the car and drove up to Lucky Peak. Grandpa and the boys built a campfire. We each assembled our own pizza, wrapped it in foil and cooked it over the fire. Yummy!

The kids played in the leaves, threw rocks in the river and rode bikes and scooters with Grandpa.

Grandpa and the boys put up the tent in the backyard when we got home. Maggie insisted on joining them in their "campout". She lasted for about five minutes and then decided that she wanted to come back in the house. Grandpa, Nathan and Matthew slept in the tent the whole night!

Saturday night, Jim and Elly went to the stake conference adult meeting. I stayed home with the kids. We decided to make Halloween cookies (a big mistake). Unfortunately, the dough was too sticky to roll out. By the time we figured that out, we had dough stuck to everything! We ended up scooping up spoonfuls of dough and putting them on the pans as "pumpkins". They baked up plump and somewhat pumpkin-like. My homemade frosting was gooey and didn't spread very easily, though. All that work and the kids decorated about two cookies each before they grew tired of the activity. By the time the mess was all cleaned up, I remembered why cookie decorating was scratched off the family tradition list.:) Next we played Clue and Uno Attack. I actually won the Clue game but I think Nathan is catching on to my tricks.

As you can imagine, it was a little difficult to concentrate on Stake Conference on Sunday. We pulled out the dress up boxes Sunday evening.

Elly donned her favorite childhood dress-up.

Elly and the boys entertained us with a play about a princess, a king and a knight. Maggie was supposed to be the wicked witch but was a little too wicked for the cast's tastes. She didn't appreciate their criticism and left the show. I think Maggie liked being a bag lady better.

On Monday we went to Albertson Park and played on the playground. Then we climbed on our various modes of transportation and followed the Greenbelt to Julia Davis Park. It was a beautiful day! The fall colors were so vibrant. Elly and the kids paid a quick visit to the zoo while I made sure the bikes and scooters didn't disappear. We traveled back to Albertson Park on the Greenbelt and eventually made our way home to eat dinner and celebrate Nathan's birthday.

We were excited because Tori and Owen would be arriving the next day!