Pumpkin Day

Pumpkin Day finally came.  I tried to get an early start.  Since I carve mine, it always takes me longer to finish and I was determined to finish before everyone was in bed.

 Nathaniel was worried he wouldn't do as good of a job as he did last year.  Last year's was pretty neat, but I think he did great.  He really got into the spirit of Halloween.

 Brigham got into it a little more this year.  He didn't seem to notice that his pumpkin had been replaced by a smaller, uglier pumpkin.

 Nathaniel's pumpkin, see what I mean?  Nice!

 Even Jonathan surprised me by doing a little more this year.

 I like it!

 Jaaromy was a little frustrated that he pretty much paints the same face every year, but, hey, why mess with the classics.

 One way I saved time was by letting the boys take the pictures.  I did my best to make sure I was always holding a knife in the pictures.

 Brigham tried to taste the paint.  Gross!

 I don't mess with the classics either.  Plus, I was able to finish pretty soon after everyone else did.  Whew!

 I love taking long exposures of the pumpkins.  Love it.

 Especially my carved pumpkin!

I think they turned out great!

It's hard to beat Fall traditions, they are some of the best.

Partial Solar Eclipse

In October we had a partial solar eclipse.  I was so excited to take pictures.  The last time we had one it was mostly overcast and, well, it's just cool, right?  I had a busy day so I worked hard to make sure I had time in the afternoon to set it all up.  Everything worked out just fine and I got some fun pictures.

 Here's the moon just starting to take a bite out of the sun.

 Brigham liked looking at the sun.  I still had our solar viewers from the last eclipse.  I keep them close...just in case.

 This is about as far as the moon got.  Still super cool.

 I put my camera up to the telescope and got this picture.  Not too bad, I wish I had a wider-angle lens than 25mm.  The dot on the moon is a spec on my camera.  Sorry.  I love that there were lots of sunspots to look at this time.

 I noticed that the eclipse didn't alter the shadows like it did last time.  Maybe because there were high wispy clouds that diffused the light?  I'm not sure.

 Brigham came out to look occasionally during the process.

Jonathan looked but was easily distracted.

I love things like this.  I always mark them on my calendar so I can be ready for them.  Can't wait for the next cool event.

The Pumpkin Patch

One of my favorite Fall traditions is going to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins.  We went later in the month than I would have liked but, since it was over two months ago, I don't remember why.  Oh well, we made it there and it was fun.

 We got a wheelbarrow right away and started looking.

 The pumpkins were so big this year!  I don't know what they did to them, but they were all beautiful.  It was hard to choose.

 It was starting to get really dark so I had to keep changing the settings on my camera.

 As long as everyone held still, I could take decent pictures.

 Seriously, huge pumpkins.

 I had to use the flash, they're just too wiggly.

 Brigham looked long and hard but he finally found the pumpkin he wanted.

 He also enjoyed exploring and was nice enough to pose for me on this tractor.

 He was not concerned at all about leaving us behind so I had Jonathan follow him around.

 Nathaniel let me take a picture of him and, for whatever reason, his eyes were open really wide.

 He let me try again, but overcompensated.

 The boys had fun climbing on the bales of hay while Jaaromy paid for the pumpkins.

 It was getting pretty dark but that didn't stop them.

It was so dark that I couldn't tell what this pit was filled with.  I stepped into it and was surprised when I sunk down into it.  I took a picture so I could see what it was.  Turns out it was corn.  Jonathan had to empty the corn out of his shoes when he finished playing.

I'm so glad we started this tradition, it's a lot of fun.  Perfect Fall activity.  We put the pumpkins in our front flowerbed until it's time to paint and carve them.  Unfortunately, right before we were going to paint them, someone stole Brigham's pumpkin!  I had to run to Harmon's to get him a new one and they weren't nearly as big or as pretty as the ones from the pumpkin patch.  I don't think he noticed.  Oh well, it's still a fun activity.

Lagoon

We've wanted to take our boys to Lagoon for a long time but it's just so expensive.  I wasn't sure if they would even like it.  I was especially curious to see what Brigham would do.  We finally got our excuse to go.  Nathaniel's school offered slightly discounted tickets in October.  It was still pretty expensive, but at least this way we got pizza for dinner.

It was busy but not too crowded and not hot.  We weren't sure if we should bring our jackets into the park, the temperature was about perfect when we got there, but I knew once the sun went down it would change quickly.

We started with the little kid's rides to help Brigham warm up to it.  I guessed that he would like it if gave it a try.

 I put him on it by himself and he was a little reluctant but went along with it.  He decided that he enjoyed it and wanted to ride again.

 I noticed other moms riding with their kids so I decided to go with him.  It was a fun little ride.  Jaaromy took the other two boys on a couple of other rides while we rode this one.

Then we went on the Bombora.  I was really excited to see what Brigham would think of a roller coaster.  He did not want to get on.  I'm sure I looked like a terrible mother making my child get on a roller coaster.  I was pretty confident that he would like it.  Turns out he did.  He even unplugged his ears.  He enjoyed it, but didn't want to go again.  Then we went on the Bat.  He didn't protest this time so it was going well.  When we got off the ride, however, Nathaniel realized that his phone had fallen out of his pocket while we were on the ride.  He was pretty upset about it.  We walked around the ride to see if we could find it but most of it is fenced in.  We told the operators that we had lost a phone.  We figured that they probably knew all the places that people loose phones.  We were reasonably confident that they would find it.  Nathaniel wasn't.  It ruined the rest of the night for him.  He wasn't crazy about the rides anyway, this just solidified it.  To make matters worse, it was Frightmares and there was a spook alley behind the Bat and in trying to find the entrance to the ride and then looking for the phone afterwards, we walked by it several times and there were zombie prisoners growing and such at us and zombie guards asking us if we wanted to go inside.  It was a little much.  I would have preferred not to go during Frightmares, but that's when the tickets were good so that's what we did.

Jonathan, however, LOVED every minute of it.  Although, I think he just tolerated the Halloween stuff.  I got to go on Jet Star II with him, one of my favorite rides.  I feel like I'm too old to be doing this, but it was fun.

 I hope Jonathan didn't mind me screaming in his ear every time we went down a hill.

Jaaromy really wanted to ride on the Rocket.  He was on his own on that one.  I came to Lagoon to have fun, not be freaked out.  Jonathan might have liked it but we were still cautious about what he would enjoy.  As the night went on, we realized we didn't need to worry.  He loved it all.

 We waited patiently while Jaaromy went on the Rocket.  Jonathan was especially excited to see him go.  After he was done we went on the Samurai.  This is our favorite ride.  Jaaromy and I had been switching off going with Jonathan but we both really wanted to ride this one.  So, I had Nathaniel wait with Brigham on a bench while we went on the ride.  It made me nervous, I kept my eye on them while we waited.  Also, it was definitely getting cold by now and I felt bad that they were just sitting there.

 Jonathan was just so excited, it was hard to be too nervous.

 He was definitely ready to go when it was our turn.

 He loved it and I loved sitting next to him and listening to his excitement.  We decided to take the Skyride to the other end of the park.  It stopped at least twice.  I decided that I hate the Skyride, but it is the best way to get to the other end of the park.  I rode with Jonathan and Brigham.  Jonathan was frustrated because it kept stopping and I think Brigham was getting cold.  I was not happy.

When we landed I decided to take Nathaniel and Brigham to the car to get our jackets while Jaaromy rode with Jonathan on a few rides.  We were walking through the crowd when suddenly I was being hugged by a preteen.  Turns out my sister-in-law was there with her sister.  They live close by so they have season tickets.  It was fun to visit for a bit.  When we got to the car to get our jackets, Brigham got in his seat.  He was ready to go home.  He was a little sad when I told him we weren't going home yet.  I wasn't sure how to get him to come with me, but he agreed to come when I asked him if he wanted to ride on my back.  We met back up with Jaaromy and Jonathan.  They had been riding the big roller coasters and I was okay with missing that.  But I decided it was my turn to play with Jonathan.

 We went on the Centennial Screamer and Music Express.  It was so fun to ride with him.  Jaaromy took Jonathan on one more roller coaster so I took Nathaniel and Brigham back toward the kid rides to see if Brigham wanted to ride any of them.  They hadn't really ridden anything since the Bat, I felt bad.  Brigham wasn't interested in any of them, but I did get him to ride on the Merry-go-round with me.  Nathaniel was going to wait but thought I told him to come with us so he did.

This was a little more their speed.  I'm glad they found a ride they could enjoy. 

We waited for Jaaromy and Jonathan in the center of the park.  We were ready to go home.  Nathaniel even got his phone back.  Since we only had a little bit of pizza for dinner, we stopped at Wendy's on the way home so the boys could eat something.  They were definitely hungry.

It was a fun and exhausting outing.  I think we might do it again sometime.

I just love downtown so much...

I haven't been very good about posting.  I wonder if I should just begin in the present rather than try to catch up, but I think it's good for me to remember these things and put in words my memory of them.  So, I'm going to do my best to catch up as quickly as possible.

One weekend in September I found myself downtown three days in a row for three different reasons.  Funny enough, this was just a few days after our trip downtown I mentioned in my last post.  I just love to go downtown, apparently.  The first one was an outing with my friend and neighbor, Amanda.  We had a whole bunch of things we wanted to see and do downtown so we finally made the trip.  Along the way we discovered other things that we wanted to see but wouldn't have time for so we will have to come again.  Perhaps in the Spring.

Our main plan was to take a tour of the Beehive house.  We were on our way there when Amanda mentioned that she had never been to the top of the Church Office Building.  Luckily, it was open for another 15 minutes.  We hurried over and they took us up.  We saw so many fun things we decided that we would have to come back to see them all.  Our tour guide mentioned that Brigham Young's grave is just up the hill east of the plaza which was news to Amanda who grew up in California.  I remember accidentally finding it in high school once but I hadn't really thought to go back.  We decided that we must see it while we were there.

 First we decided to take the tour of the Beehive house.  It was neat.  Apparently, you can't go upstairs though because the stairs are getting too old.

 I didn't have my camera, but my phone had impressed me on our last trip so I didn't hold back.

 Then we walked up the hill to the small graveyard where Brigham Young is buried.  It was neat.

One of our secondary, but very important, objectives was to eat at the Lion House Pantry.  We went there last.

We saw them take out a fresh pan of rolls and just couldn't wait to try one ourselves.  It was a tasty dinner and a fun trip.  Can't wait for the next one.

***

The next day my trip downtown involved Jaaromy and Video Games Live.  We went last time they were in town and it was super fun so I was really excited to go again.  I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale even though Jaaromy didn't seem as excited as I was.  Apparently, he forgot that I got tickets because a few months later for my birthday he gave me tickets.  He was embarrassed that he had forgotten that I had already purchased tickets.  We tried to sell them but there were no takers.  We decided to use the tickets he bought because they were in the ninth row.  So close!  So, his birthday present worked out after all.

Look how close we are!  This was the costume contest.  One day I might consider putting together a costume.  It might be fun.

It was a fun concert, and we had amazing seats.  I'm glad we went, even though I'm not as familiar with as many of the games as I used to be.

***

The next day found me downtown for the third time.  This time for regional conference.  It was with the whole family this time.  I was a little concerned about parking, so Jaaromy dropped us off out front and we found a seat while he parked the car.

 I think the boys liked seeing the inside of the conference center.  They've only seen it on tv.

 I felt bad because Jonathan forgot his glasses.  Nathaniel was nice enough to let him look through his for a bit so he could see around the room.  They were patient while we waited for dad to park the car and for the conference to start.

We had pretty good seats here too.  It was a great conference, I really enjoyed the talks.

It was a fun weekend full of traveling for me.  I like downtown...depending on what we're doing.  These were all the best things about downtown for me.  The only way I could have made it better was by visiting the planetarium. :)