Harvest Celebrations 2009

I will try to keep this as short as I can, although I am adding a number of pictures for your enjoyment! We traveled to Estancia recently for our 2nd annual pumpkin gathering. We didn't get to carve them this year but they still gave the warm Autumn welcome to our home. Funny story (although it didn't seem so at the time), we took the scenic route home that day to capture the changing leaves on film and stopped near a particular bridge that had such a beautiful appeal to it. We took several photographs including a few of our family and returned to our car. Here's where it gets funny...Daniel has this thing about carrying keys in his pocket, he hates the bulk of it and will usually carry only what is needed. He unfortunetly got sidetracked when grabbing his camera that he set the one lone car key down and then proceeded to lock the car while we were away. Thankfully, he was able to unlock our car and we didn't have to spend the night in the cold. It reminded me of a few adventures with Amber. Good times!

We also had the opportunity to go on a hayride before halloween that the Sherrif's Posse was hosting. It was alot of fun and a first for Austyn and I, having come from a ranching family with little experience around farm equipment. The down side of the ride was having to sit with all of the yuppies that live up here who have no common sense what so ever, but I digress. Will someone please explain to them that horses do not like little screaming girls! Thank you! There was a quite funny part (or at least I found it so) when we had two horseback riders come up in costume and the yuppies wanted to touch them. Now I would like you to get a clear visual image of this... we were on a HAYRIDE and horses like to eat....HAY! So when the horse came up to the idiot yuppies, it reached out to grab a bite and pulled the whole bale right out from under them almost planting them on their butts! It was spectacular! Again, at least I thought it so! I still find myself chuckling at the memory! After the ride, which was freezing, we returned for warm drinks in front of the fire. It was nice to be with my two boys and I believe we all enjoyed the evening.

I signed up to help with the halloween party for Austyn's class. He is taking a big interest in cooking right now and who am I to stop him? Hey, he may want to become a chef someday or at least make a fine husband for a sweet girl! Anywho, I wanted to make cookies for the kids to snack on. Forgive me for saying this, but stop being lazy and buying the store bought things for such occasions. I realize the conveniece it brings but think about the memories you miss out on as well as the kids' memories. Teach them how to bake and cook so that we don't have a world of people depending on computers and machines to do it for them. Austyn put on the little apron I had and helped me make those delicious sugar cookies. We rolled them and cut them into pumpkin, cat and ghost shapes and then decorated them with colored icing. I think the kids enjoyed them and Austyn learned something new. Everyone wins!

I have to confess, I am not a fan of costumes that are super heroes and easy to spot because every child is wearing them. I try very hard to convince my son that originality is much more rewarding. I don't mind him playing super hero during playtime but I want him to have a stand out costume. So I decided on making him a homemade robot this year. I am so blessed to have found my soulmate because we add to each other so well. We constructed a costume that we were so proud of! Where my ideas stopped, Daniel's continued! We had so much fun making this for Austyn. Daniel installed lights and a switch within easy reach for Austyn to turn on and off. They were pretty bright too! It seemed to be a hit amongst everyone that we saw from the school to the businesses to the homes where we took him trick or treating! It was wonderful giving him that small spotlight and I hope it provides him with many treasured memories and a sense of confidence that anything can be acheived, great or small, with just an idea and the right tools to make it happen!