Tired

November has been a crazy month...I can't believe its already December. I have lots to write down but we are still recovering after hosting Thanksgiving for almost my entire family. For now this picture shows how tired we are after a few weeks of WAY too much fun and not enough sleep

Best husband ever

Why? Because he carved this for Halloween night. The tween girls loved it...oh yeah and so did I!

A little history

When we lived in Chicago, my work had a pumpkin carving competition and I am positive the flyer said the prize was going to be $100. Nothing like a little competition coupled with a monetary reward to encourage the Smith household. I carved the pumpkin below and ended up winning $100 worth of chocolate. Pffftt
That is when the insanity began and since that Halloween we have spent hours and hours trying to take our pumpkin carving to the next "level". It is ridiculous really, but we can't seem to get rid of the tradition. Here is a look back at the many hours spent creating our masterpieces.

Stirling Gollum 2005

Rachel 2006

Stirling Mummy 2006

Rachel 2007

Stirling 2007

Rachel 2008

Stirling 2008

Rachel 2009

Halloween Party

Last week Stockton's teacher had a huge Halloween party for all the kids enrolled at their center in early intervention. There were tons of kids and all the festivities you could imagine including a pony ride. Stirling is a huge horse lover and has been since he was a kid. He once asked for "horse manure" for his birthday to complete his horse collection, but that is another blog entry! Anyway, I think we were a bit hopeful that it would be something Stockton would instantly love. But as you can see...maybe we will stick to the plastic horses for another year.

P.S.

It was cold today.

Hay is for Horses

This year we haven't made time to go to the pumpkin patch as a family so I am severely lacking cute pumpkin pictures of Stockton. I did make a quick stop with some friends, but this is the only picture I took while we were there. It is pretty darn cute though and might just have to work for pumpkin patch '09.

Portland is the jam

Last month Stirling had to work at a hospital in Portland, Oregon. His work schedule was ridiculous for the whole month so he lived there in a little apartment hotel. He did have one day off so we took advantage of it and headed south. First off, Portland rocks. I totally fell in love with the earthy charm and laid back crowds. Although I have my heart set on eventually returning to Salt Lake City, this is one of those areas that I could see myself happily raising my family.

Anyway, day 1... Stirling had to work so the rest of us (me, Stockton and Jude) went to the Hoyt Arboretum to enjoy some fall foliage. The arboretum is this gigantic protected forest right in the middle of the city with tons of trails for walking and running so we spent a few hours walking around. Then, for dinner we went to this adorable little delicatessen where Stockton and I shared some wood fire baked mac n cheese. Sounds fancy right? Here's the kicker... there was bacon mixed in it! Honestly, why have I never thought of that? Good day.

Day 2 was Stirling's day off, so we drove to the Oregon coast. Our first stop was the Tillamook cheese factory. It was kinda overrated, but I do love cheese and you can't really complain when there are 50 different flavors of ice cream to chose from at the cafe. For those two reasons, I am sure I will go back. We continued on our way... The drive was beautiful and so were the beaches. Here we are enjoying the scenery.

Day 3 We went for a morning walk and then the rain decided to show up. We made an effort to go the Portland farmers market before Stirling had to go back to work but after about 20 minutes we were soaked and decided to head home. Overall it was a great trip and I for sure will visit Portland again.