Pumpkin Carving

This past weekend I collected my sunflower heads so that I can get the seeds for next spring. Lotus and I finished our Halloween craft project. I went to the Tacoma Holiday Show with Kati and then we finished the weekend with some pumpkin carving.


One of my sunflower heads was huge! Lotus got a kick out of this so I had to take a picture.

Lotus and I started this project about a month ago and we needed to finish them before Halloween. I was very pleased with how they turned out and it was a lot of fun!

My friend Kati just had to try one of these out at the Tacoma Holiday Show. We decided we need to get one of these next year.

Pumpkin carving time, Lotus was ready to get to this all morning.

Hunter's first year doing his own, he wasn't too sure about the slimy insides.

But he did it and once he got into it there was no holding back.

Hunter is still talking about all the "guts" of the pumpkins he just kept saying, "eeewww".

Hunter's finished pumpkin, he specifically wanted a smiling pumpkin face :) I love that he is getting his own ideas and is not afraid to voice them.

Sean getting started on his, Lotus finishing hers and Hunter was helping everybody.

I forget what I had to say to get her to smile but it was something bizarre.

Hunter helping pull the "guts" out of my pumpkin.

Lotus' finished bat.

Brayden got up from his nap and all boy that he is he dug right in.

He was very fascinated by all of this.

I loved watching him explore the leftovers of the pumpkins.

Our finished masterpieces. My owl, Hunter's happy face, Sean's Jeep and Lotus' bat. Now the countdown is on for trick or treating!

Wheelin last weekend

Well Sean has been wanting us to get in to this wheeling thing as a family and we have checked into some clubs in our area that cater to families with kids. He has been talking about trading in our blue Nissan to get me a Jeep of my own and this past Thursday he did it. We were planning on going wheeling this weekend but I was just going to be a passenger and that all changed very quickly. On Friday night I was very nervous because I had just driven the Jeep for the very first time and had never driven the times we'd gone wheeling before. We got up Saturday morning at 5am and got loaded and headed to meet everyone in Buckley. We were headed for the trails at Evans Creek which I had never been to. It was a lot of fun and I was very proud of myself! My husband was proud of me and I'm pretty sure the other guys were quite shocked. I did really good for being the low Jeep on the totem pole and I enjoyed the challenges along with the mud and the beautiful scenery. It was a long day and we saw every kind of weather, sunshine, black clouds, hail, rain and even lightning struck a tree right next to us. It was a crazy fun filled day and we are already planning the next trip in November! We got back that night at 9:30pm and we were some hurting units for the next couple of days but it was well worth it! Enjoy the pics!



Pink sunrise on our way to the meeting place.

My Jeep was all clean at the beginning.

All the Jeeps on the way to the trail. Tom was in front, then Patrick, then Sean who's the tallest, then me and Todd and his girlfriend Chris were in the back taking pictures.

Some of my first mud :)

Sean testing his new axles

Sean's Jeep made the terrain look easy

My first big hill. I bounced off the rock and bent one of my wheels but I tried again and made it with Tom directing me through.

Tom got stuck in the big puddle.

Sean setting the winch up

and he's out

At the top of one of the big hills.

The view was spectacular!

Close up of the ice, it was blue, I was amazed how blue and beautiful it was!

They were all explaining to me how to get over and through this. So much fun!

Sean looking at my next obstacle on the "new" trail

I was doing so good and then I got my tire caught up on a root and off it came. The next dilemma was how to change the tire in the mud. Do we winch her back end up in the tree or do we dig down in the mud to find hard ground to put the jack?

We finally reached the end of the "new" trail and the sun was almost set. Time to head down the mountain to go home. My Jeep is no longer white and it has a few new dents :)

Back at the gas station to air up for the drive home.

The next morning Sean was out pressure washing the mud off the Jeeps.

Sean's Jeep minus its back fender flares. It got a little hairy there at the end. Til next time......

The Pumpkin Patch

Sunday October 11th we met our friends Kati and Miguel at the Home Depot in Seattle. I left Sean with Miguel to go to the Seahawks game and I took Kati and her girls with me to go visit the pumpkin patch. We decided to go to Remlinger Farms because we hadn't taken the kids there yet. I grew up for some of my childhood in Carnation but I was blown away at how much Remlinger Farms has changed. They have a complete child sized amusement park that was decked out for the fall. We went on a train ride, roller coaster, spinning pumpkins, a huge slide and pony rides and we still didn't do everything. Brayden LOVED the roller coaster and was jumping up and down when it ended, while Hunter wasn't so sure about it. Hunter wasn't feeling too well but he toughed it out and had a good time. When the kids had had enough we headed over to pick out our pumpkins and then we went to meet the boys. It was a beautiful day, the Seahawks won and it was a great way to end the weekend!