Pumpkin Cookies aka Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!

I thought I'd post the yummiest and easiest cookie recipe. I get so excited to make these cookies every year. They are one of my fav! Brandon doesn't even like pumpkin and he LOVES these cookies! That's how good they are! Porter doesn't usually eat cookies, either, but he will eat these up! Needless to say, between the three of us, they don't last very long! Here's the recipe: (hope you can handle it. it's a pretty challenging one! haha!)

1 spice cake mix
1 can small pumpkin
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips (I like semi-sweet but use whatever kind you want)
Mix together and drop onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 min.
Enjoy:)

Oktoberfest

I am behind on getting these pictures up! We went to Oktoberfest a couple weekends ago with the Grimmett's. It was a lot of fun until the kids got tired and it started to rain. We like to go every year and eat good food and just have fun! We spent most of our time in the children's area where Porter and Maisey had a ton of fun!

Hudson even had a great time! They all loved this bounce house! Look at those two cuties!

Look at my two teeth!

1,2,3, Jump! (Porter in his element)

Porter and Maisey even got to ride a pony! He loved that and didn't want to get off!

Already can't wait for Oktoberfest next year!

Autumn Garden

Our garden is still going strong, even though we haven't been out there as much to take care of it. It was such a nice evening tonight that Brandon and I decided to get it ready for Fall. We had a bunch of over-grown plants and a bunch of dead leaves that needed to be trimmed. While Brandon was cutting dead vines from our pumpkin patch, he accidentally cut one that had a pumpkin on it! Porter was very excited, but I just hope this pumpkin lasts through Halloween. We have one more still on the vine with Hudson's name on it!

Porter wanted me to take a picture of this big carrot. He was so proud of it!

Meanwhile...

Hudson was having fun on his own. "Hmmmm... what tomato should I eat now?"

He got one of the big tomatoes that I had picked and placed on the side of the garden. Evidently he likes tomatoes because...

he ate the whole thing!!!!! What a nut! (and don't ask me how he did it with only two full teeth)

It was fun to hang out as a family working (and eating) in our garden!

Pear Perfection

My friend Stephanie was soooooo nice to tell me where to get good, cheap pears and then show me how to can them. I went over to her house and with her help I canned 27 Quarts! She didn't get anything else done, except help me. Friends are awesome! Now I know how to can pears, and she said that peaches are the same process, so hopefully next year I will do both. My family has LOVED the pears and we have only had them a few days! That's all Porter and Hudson wanted to eat for lunch yesterday, and last night, Brandon said he wanted pears for dessert! Glad I canned so many! I doubt they'll last a year...

*Oregon State Fair*

We like to go to the fair every year. I think it's a tradition we will continue because there is fun for everyone. I love this time of year and the fair reminds me of the start of Fall. I love Fall!
Now that is one BIG horse! We spend most of our time looking at all of the animals. We even watched some cows being milked, which was interesting for Porter. I'm trying to teach him that the milk we drink comes from cows, and I was glad I could show him instead of tell him. I don't know if he quite understands yet, but he will!
Porter and Hudson lookin' at the bunnies. Why are kids so fascinated with animals? I guess that's why we got them a puppy. They LOVE animals!
Our friend, Hannah, mutton bustin'! Yeeeee Haaaaaaw!
They have a fun children's section with a lot of hands-on activities. Porter loved these little tractors. Aren't they cute? I had to push the tractor, though, because Porter couldn't reach the pedals well enough to pedal the tractor himself! Sorry you're such a little squirt, Porter!

Gymnastics

Porter had his first gymnastics class on Saturday. He had sooooo much fun! We wanted him to take gymnastics since he's such a wiggle worm. Well, Brandon wants him to take gymnastics because he swears it will help him when he plays sports. But I think it's just going to be a lot of fun, and hopefully wear him out a bit! The whole class is so cute and so funny to watch! He has two friends in his class, Maisey and Aaron.

The bear crawl- if you couldn't tell what they were doing.

It was soooo funny because for this jumping exercise and the balance beam, Porter's teacher would hold the kids' hands to help them, but as soon as she would hold out her hand to help Porter, he would wave his hand frantically, like "don't you dare help me. I want to do it by my self!"

I just can't believe how dang cute he is!

And he is fast, fast, fast!

I'm walking!

I have been waiting for 10 months to be able to walk! Since I was born, I've been jealous of my big brother, Porter, being able to walk and get around so fast. I decided that since I was 10 months old, it was time for me to join him on his big boy adventures! I am loving this new-found freedom. It keeps mom on her toes, especially since I also decided to cut my 4 top teeth all at the same time! Maybe I'm a little bit cranky because of that, but my mom is the best mom in the whole wide world and she understands what I am going through.

My next step is to learn how to climb, jump, run and do any dare-devil stunt that Porter does. He is a great big brother and I really look up to him, even when he doesn't share his toys. I love learning new things and the past month I have worked really hard to learn to wave "bye-bye" and even say "uh-oh" when something falls. I'm so proud of myself! I think my mom is a little sad to see me growing up so fast, though. She took this video of me so she can always remember when I was just learning how to walk. Watch and then make a comment about how cute I am, because I know I am!

LAGOON!

Whenever we visit Utah in the summer, we always go to Lagoon. Porter loves it and Hudson even had fun, even though he couldn't go on most of the rides. This is how Porter's face looked the entire day: It was a perma-grin!

I was surprised with some of the rides he wanted to go on. This one Grandma was even scared to go on!

More cheesy grinning...

Hudson loved the Carousel!

What a fun day! Grandma and Grandpa sure do spoil us when we visit! We love them and miss them so much!

Auntie Ruthie's House

We were able to spend some time at Aunt Ruth's house. She has a fun backyard. Porter and the cousins hangin' out in the hot tub.
Grandma and Hudson hangin' out in the pool.
Happy to be playing outside!
More cousins!

More Family Time

My mom's family reunion was in Burlington, Wy. She has two sisters that live there, and that's where she grew up. We celebrated the 24th of July with the town. There was a parade (our family had a float). The two wards put on a very nice pioneer program. We had a picnic lunch. Then the games began...

They had games planned for ALL ages. It was so funny to see the little kids playing their games. Basically it was a bunch of kids running around hitting each other with water noodles! Hats off to the guy that was trying to play organized games with them. He really was trying, but gave up when he realized all they were interested in doing was running around hitting each other! Haha!
Hudson LOVES swinging. This time he could share the swing with his big brother!
What a day! And it was only noon! Hudson found a comfortable spot on Grandpa to take a short nap. SO CUTE!
As if we didn't do enough in one day, they had a family dance that night. I'd never heard of a family dance before, but Porter wanted to go, so we went. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Porter was beyond exhausted, but he had so much fun dancing with everyone that he didn't show it. There were babies up through great grandma's and grandpa's there and everyone in between!

They had limbo for all ages & lots of other games for the teenagers to play. What a good idea!

Yellowstone

On our way to our 2nd family reunion, we stopped at Yellowstone. Our destination: Burlington, WY. Population:5 The quickest way to get there was to drive through Yellowstone. We spent the night there, which I've never done before. It was sooooo much fun!

Porter and Grandma with a view of Old Fathful in the background.

Porter loved all of the geysers and hot pots. It was quite a different thing for him to see.
He would point at all of the orange bacteria growing around the hot pots and say "Ewe!" It was pretty funny!
We saw hundreds of buffalo on our drive. Porter was enamored and if we let him, he would have hopped right out of the car and tried to pet the big beasts!
The whole clan. We sure missed both Brandon's and Daniel, though.

Productive Day

Our garden sure has been a success! this is what I picked just in one day! Needless to say, we have had more than enough fresh vegetables, but it's been nice.
I thought this cucumber was picture worthy! It was hidden for a long time, so it was huge, as well as being shaped in a circle!
I had a really productive day on Tuesday. I canned salsa (using the veggies from my garden, of course). Thanks for the recipe, Emily. It is sooooo good!
I also dried some pears. With a hint of cinnamon and sugar, they've been hard NOT to eat! Porter loves 'em and I have been surprised to see Brandon sneaking a handful hear and there! It looked like I made a lot, but with how popular they are, they probably won't last very long!