Holiday blues...

I don't know if anyone will believe it, but I do not have the holiday spirit as of yet. What I'm talking about is that really excited, warm, happy feeling that just wants to leap out of your chest--the "can't wait for Santa to come" feeling. This is very abnormal for me. I have been trying--last weekend I sewed Taylor's red velvet Christmas dress and watched Santa Claus 2 at the same time, and I have been listening to all of my favorite Christmas music for the past couple of weeks (Seth even put a new visualization on our Windows Media Player--a little snowman who dances to the music!). Nothing seems to work. I'm guessing it is because things are so different.

John is a little worried. He keeps asking me how I'm doing, if I'm excited for Christmas yet, etc.

Sigh...

I am going to get out a few more decorations today, work on Madi's dress, and order a few gifts off of Amazon.com. Maybe that will help out.

.

Seth is downstairs playing "Jingle Bell Rock" on his electric guitar...

Halloween Flashback!

I need to have some Halloween closure. So here are a few pumpkin-carving photos:

We had an open house for our subdivision at our home on Halloween night. For it I made:

80 frosted sugar cookies (50 ghosts and 30 pumpkins)
90 carmel apples (with a choice of sprinkles, mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts)
100 maple bars (yes, homemade!)
spiced apple cider

Our neighbor brought ingredients for homemade rootbeer, which was soon bubbling and brewing. We put in "Hocus Pocus" for the kids downstairs, and sent bags of microwave popcorn down periodically. Although I significantly over made goodies (I invited 75+, so I just wanted to make sure there was enough!), it was a great success. A little too sweet, however. Next year I think we will do the maple bars, rootbeer, and maybe add some nachos--we are big fans of Mexican food at our house.

Today in Roberts, ID...

I was the P.E. teacher. I had P.E. with every child in Roberts who was under the age of 11 and over the age of 5. It is 5 miles from my house to Menan, and then 7 miles from Menan to Roberts. I wasn't sure I wanted to sub that far away...but I accidentally said "yes" (I have subbed for this teacher before at Midway in Menan--I didn't know she spent Mondays in Roberts) and so I instructed Taylor to leave for school at 8:00, and I left at 7:50am down highway 48 to find Roberts Elementary School. The fields were golden all around, and as I crossed the Snake River, I noticed the ruby red willow branches lining its banks. The air was crisp and the clouds were low.

"We are 2000 ft. closer to the clouds here in Rigby," John explained to the girls on the way home from church yesterday.

"Could we build a ladder high enough to touch them?" Madi asked jokingly.

"We all know what happened to the people who tried to build a tower to heaven," John replied, "but we could drive up a mountain into them if we want to."

The drive was beautiful. I wouldn't mind subbing in Roberts again. Until the snow flies, anyway.

It's a small world, after all...

This is a picture taken yesterday at the Madison XC meet. It was held in Rexburg at the golf course. The girls in this picture are Brianne Garner and Madison Hull. They just recently renewed their acquaintance in the past few weeks. The Garner's lived in our ward in Boise for a few years when these girls were a lot younger. They moved to Arizona, and then to Rexburg. Brad is teaching at BYU-I now.

When we moved to Rigby, we called up the Garners to say "Hi!" A few months later, I saw Carrie at a crosscountry meet in Idaho Falls. A couple weeks after that we got a phone call from Brad inviting us over for FHE. When John hung up the phone, Madi came out of her room and said, "Guess what! At the meet today I ran right next to this girl from Madison the whole time, and when we were through I looked over and it was that girl that used to be in our ward in Boise!"

Their paces seem to be about the same. So here they are again, friends in arch-rival uniforms. It can be like that in crosscountry, and I really like that.

Girl's Road Trip!

Since school was out a couple of extra days last week, Taylor, Madi and I climbed in the car and headed to Hailey. We arrived around noon on Friday, did a little shopping with our cousins and then had a great dinner at Nathan and Elise's. We even roasted marshmallows and made smores on their patio! Then we headed to the condo and had a slumber party! We did all of the girl's hair the same and watched "Pride and Prejudice," and ate popcorn and drank rootbeer. The next morning we had a yummy breakfast and then watched the first session of conference together.

On the way home, we stopped in Arco for gasoline and a hamburger. We ate at Pickle's Place, home of the Atomic Burger. They have great fries (cut them fresh daily!)! They also make the world famous "John's Seasoning" (you can't grill with out it!) at Pickle's. I'm thinking about driving back and purchasing everyone a "Pickle's Place" t-shirt and a bottle of "John's Seasoning" for Christmas. What do you think?

October begins the holiday season # :-)

If you don't already know, I love holidays. This is why I changed my blog background. I am always ready for fall, and what comes quickly after: CHRISTMAS TIME! When we were first married, I played Christmas music all year round. This bothered some people in my family, so now the rule that I try to obey is no holiday music until October. I do have a cd entitled "Ancient Noels" that I can play any time of the year and those who reside with me don't seem to catch on. I have to do this every once in a while just to get a little of that "Christmas rush" that helps me make it until October 1.

The holiday season officially begins the first day of October, when it is not socially unacceptable to have pumpkins and ghosts on your front step. It continues until about the second week of January, when John finally tells me that he is embarrassed to come home from work to find our outside Christmas lights on when everyone else has taken theirs down.

I put the Halloween decorations up the day I took John's birthday decorations down--so I only cheated a little bit this year (and I have only listened to one Christmas song so far!). I couldn't believe how much better I felt after I got them up. It was like this house just became home! Halloween decorations are the first official step of the holiday season. And today I am making applesauce. Tomorrow is supposed to be turning a little cooler. The leaves are beginning to turn orange and yellow. It is potato harvest time! Life is great!

Happy Birthday, John!

Today John is 44 years old.

We had his party last night so we could go

on a drift boat ride today.We floated down the Snake from

the Lorenzo Bridge to Menan.
The trees are beginning to turn to their fall colors--

it was really beautiful!

The day was perfect.
Not a cloud in the sky and in the mid-70's.
Just a slight breeze...and the fishing wasn't too bad either!

P.S. This is a sample of the other wildlife that we saw today! (We do notice more than just the aquatic creatures! I took the picture below today,and played with it on the computer a little bit tonight!) One more thing--Madi beat her time by 2 minutes today at the cross country meet in Blackfoot!Happy Birthday, John!!!

Off and running...

Autumn is in the air, and it is time for cross country!

Madi is giving it a shot this year...

and we are proud to cheer for Rigby High!!!

Go Madi Go!

Just the 2 of us...

John's parents came for Labor Day weekend so we could go off on a little excursion. The girls had already started school, and Seth had a frisbee tournament in Boise. We went up into Yellowstone Park, camped a night, and then continued up on the Beartooth Hwy. It was amazing! Usually we have had to backpack up a few thousand feet to get to this kind of country. Beautiful alpine lakes and meadows were everywhere. We loved it there!

THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR CROSSING THE STATE TO WATCH OUR KIDLETS!

A friendly reminder...Above Island LakeI think he has one on!Beartooth PassIn the park...Yellowstone LakeFishing Cone, West Thumb Geyser Basin

We love Yellowstone! (We are now proud annual pass holders!)

One last summer hurrah!

We had a little family reunion. John's parents (John and Jean) and his sisters' families (Julie, C.J., Cameron, & Juliana--Chris couldn't make it; Terri Daniel, Kelda & Corbin) all went camping at Cliff Lake, MT, and then did a quick Yellowstone tour. It was a fantastic time! We played with the inflatable kayaks and other floaty toys, and spent time on the rope swing across the lake. The food and company were unbeatable. It is hard to believe summer is gone!

all the Hull cousins...

making a funny face...

and being pirates!

(Bethany brought Brian, an extra adopted grandkid for the weekend, with her from BYU--actually, he brought her up in his car, which was much appreciated!)

a turn on the rope swing!