Giving Thanks

We were so thankful to spend Thanksgiving with Ben this year. He had to work a little that morning, but felt extra grateful to have him home. We did a few fall activities to get ready for Thanksgiving. Including a birthday party with pony rides and a petting zoo. Our little Rhone of course, who has ridden a horse, would not ride a little pony. Rhone and I made a turkey apple, saw a real turkey, made pilgrim hats, and a turkey book. We had 3 Thanksgivings meals. One at Ben's work , one with some friends from Ben's work on Thanksgiving Eve and one with our family friends on Thanksgiving. All that turkey and I didn't even have to cook one. Lucky me ;) Rhone was a big "help" in the kitchen with Grandma Pete's home made pie and the cranberry salad.

Rhone at party petting zoo.

There were goats, bunnies, and chickens.

Pilgrim hat cookies.

Rhone showing off his creation.

Rhone's apple turkey

Chopping up our cranberries

Playing the "monkey game" on the iphone with Ella at the Thanksgiving Eve party. I guess the adults were kinda boring.

Our family on Thanksgiving Eve.

Thanksgiving dinner with Tyson. It was some yummy turkey!

Making a silly sticker turkey.

Trick-or-Treating

Halloween was a busy day at our house. We were surprised to have Ben home with us!  Rhone had school and Ben and I headed to my ultra sound.  Rhone had a little party at school and even got to eat witch sandwiches and banana ghosts at Tommy and Damon's since they watched him after school.  He was pretty excited about going to their house.  A big thanks to our friends for helping us out! 

We had anticipated Rhone's reluctance to dress up.  So we had a back up plan where we basically bribed him- and well it worked.  We told him Buzz left a special present for him, but he could only open it if he got in his costume.  It worked and he opened a Buzz action figure just like the one in the movie.  He was really excited about it.  In fact, the next day he found a treat on the table and told Ben that Buzz left it for him.  Trick-or-Treating on base was over the weekend, but the weather was bad so we invited some of our AF friends to come to our neighborhood with us.  It was a little wild with 4 little boys, but lots of fun too.  We hit about 10 houses and it was perfect.  Plus they scored some full size candy bars and packs of oreos.

Here he is all decked out with his home made wings.  We even added duct tape to his shoes.

Rhone and Tyson at their very first door.  Rhone even said "trick-treat"!

All 4 boys together.  Once Rhone figure out there was candy involved, he was pretty excited about it.

Buzz, Frankenstein, Pinocchio, and a pirate.  Whew it was hard to get this picture.

I got this little toy story shaving set for Rhone for Halloween.  He loves shaving with Ben in the morning.

Pre-Halloween

There is always so much going on a around Halloween.  Sometimes I think there are more activities than Christmas.  Rhone and I visited Fall Fest with our neighbors.  Rhone and Aiden had lots of fun running from one thing to the next.  Rhone really loved the big slide.  He figured out that he went faster if he slid on his tummy.  We also went to our church Harvest Party.  Of course, Rhone wouldn't dress up again- so I didn't get too many pictures there, but he did love the hay ride.  Rhone and I spent Sat night with our friends and then at the Halloween carnival on base.  Since Ben was gone, we invited some of our friends over whose dad is deployed to carve pumpkins with us.  We made little personal "monster" pizza's with olive eyes and red pepper mouths.  We also decorated cookies and carved pumpkins.  Rhone was not interested in gutting the pumpkin, but he sure did love that little safety knife.

Rhone on the big slide

He is looking so grown up here.

Using his "map" to navigate the corn maze

Wagon ride with mom

Picking an apple from the orchard with Aiden

The boys decorating their pumpkin cookies.

This is his "cheese" face

These 3 kiddos spent a lot of time carving tiny "moles" on our jack-o-lantern.  They shared so well.

The hay ride at our church activity was a real Amish wagon pulled by horses.

Pre-Halloween with Ben

 Ben was scheduled to leave on a long mission right before Halloween, so we though we better get in some Halloween festivities before he left.  Rhone picked out a Buzz Light year costume and was dissapointed when it didn't have any wings.  So we bought some colored duct tape and foam board and set out to make a pair.  I think they turned out pretty good.  Rhone's friend had a costume birthday party, but of course, Rhone didn't want to dress up.  We went to the local pumpkin patch.  Rhone picked out the 1st 2 big pumpkins that he saw and insisted we got them even though they weren't great for carving.

Making the wings

 Painting the stripes

 Making the jet pack.  Ben was pretty precise about everything.  It makes me wonder how school projects are going to be

 Buzz's finished wings

 Bounce house at the party.  Notice Rhone is the only one who isn't dressed up.

Rolling the big pumpkin

 Looking proud of his pick

 

Making our witch pumpkin head

Tater Baby

We prayed a long time for another baby and we are so blessed and excited to have this little girl. Our little tater baby has been making her presence known since the start. I have been MUCH sicker this time than with Rhone. Around 10 weeks I finally got so exhausted and dehydrated that I was blacking out, almost to the point of passing out. The doctor sent me to the hospital for 2 bags of IV fluids and some zofran (a medication developed to help patients on chemo therapy). I was finally able to keep a little something in my stomach and started gaining weight. It has taken a long time to get feeling better and to recover my energy. My parents have been such an amazing help and of course Ben too. Rhone always prays "mommy won't be any more sick". He will run into the bathroom with a drink for me, give me his doggy, and pat my back. He has been pretty sweet.

I am due March 12, 2012. I am 22 weeks now and finally feeling pretty good. Everything looked really good at the ultra sound. We were excited and nervous to find out she's a girl. It's hard for me to be patient and watch my body transform, but we are so excited for our girl to get her. Now we just have to come up with a name....

18 weeks


22 weeks

Profile picture of Tater. She is facing right and her hand is by her face

Her little footprint

3-D image with her arm up by her chin

family time

Of course, the real reason we go to Idaho is to spend time with our family. We spent one day in Idaho Falls where the boys got to play at a little children's museum. They were pretty wild in there, but had fun. I forgot my camera, so hopefully I can get some of them from my mom. Rhone also LOVES going to Olin's house. I think it's because there's a hot tub. Rhone spent plenty of time doing "chores" with Papa. He helped Nana make Grandma Pete's apple pie and home-made noodles. We are so blessed to have such an amazing family.

Rhone really loves his "bronco" shirt

Cutting noodles
Just spending quality time with Nana and Papa.

party time!

My mom's church did a "potato fest" fundraiser that we went too. We had a huge potato bar and there were lots of little "potato" games for Rhone.

We also planned a surprise 50th birthday party for my mom (she's not 50 yet, but we wanted to do it while I was home). She was getting pretty suspicious and in the end it was Rhone who gave it away. We had a great meal and dessert and just visited with friends. We played a "How old is she game" were we posted pictures of her from the past and everyone had to guess how old she was in each one. It was really fun. Plus Brock and I found some pretty funny pictures from the past too. It was pretty tricky to execute the party in a barn with no electricity, but we pulled it off. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of the decorations.

Rhone had to dig up all of Mr. Potato head's parts.





White chicken chilli in bread bowls were dinner at the party
My mom and dad
My whole family
We had home-made German chocolate cake and cheesecake bites for dessert.

Hunting

It is always so nice to get outside and enjoy the amazing scenery of Idaho. It was tough for me to wake up early for opening morning of sharptail hunting, but I managed to pull it off and make the hike even though I wasn't feeling well. Rhone loves going out with us. He likes being perched on Papa's back, bossing the dogs around.

Ben was a diligent deer hunter. He woke up early every morning and logged some serious miles hiking. He got a nice 4x4 buck and he didn't even have to drag it too far. A big thanks goes my dad who finished packaging up the deer for Ben.