Bishops Farm

For the last couple of years we've been going to Bishop's Farm. We just LOVE IT! Obviously this was a couple of weeks ago, but I am just getting around to posting them. Some of these turned out cute that I think I may frame a couple of them.

Zakry loves all things that make noise, are huge, and move. Tractors being no exception to the rule. Granted it's not a motorcycle, but it was fun to sit on nonetheless.


I couldn't help but get photos of the girls on the tractor too.



Andon is very into moving vehicles as well.




The train is one of our favorite things to do together. We usually ride soon after we arrive at the farm because the line can get VERRRY long. It just occurred to me that I am actually in the photo. Huh. Well..somewhat. One of the employees there offered to take our picture. This started an entire conversation on how he had bought his wife the same camera not too long ago. Go figure. I guess everyone is getting better cameras and better photos. I mean really, who doesn't want better photos?



Was it just me, or were the pumpkins EXTRA HUGE this year?! I'm kindof bummed I didn't get a bigger pumpkin, but I fell in love with the cinderella pumpkins this year, so I got one of those. Oops, no picture however.





I don't know why I like pictures of just legs and feet, or just arms and such. We won't delve too far into a theory.




Brittnee wanted to pose for everything. Finally, someone who will let me experiment!!



Look at that goose just stare at me while I take his picture! Obviously he has "small man" complex. Hence the sign. (shiver)


The kids loved petting the animals. I wanted to follow them around with hand sanitizer. Really, this section of the farm just reminds me that I would not have been a good pioneer. They would have left me somewhere along the Oregon trail.




Do you SEE where Zak's hand is??!! I bless the name of the people who invented hand sanitizer.


The boys were sitting in this cute little mini produce truck while we paid for our pumpkins. As I pulled out my camera and focused them in the view finder, I was instantly hit with a bit of nostalgia for the simpler times, the "Mayberry" life. Sometimes I long for good old traditional living that existed years ago.




All in all, Bishop's Farm is something to look forward when Fall arrives. Hopefully soon we'll actually be able to find a Saturday free to get to Apple Hill. I'm dying to cook up a Sour Cream Apple Pie. (sigh)

I'm BACK!

I am now officially back on the world wide web. Yippee! Hooray! (And any other happy expletives you can think up, I am now shouting.) My internet provider lost access to the water tower, which meant that I lost my only link with reality. JUST KIDDING! I'm sure that you all feel incredibly relieved knowing that I am now fully sane and your RS President. (Note the sarcasm.)
Anyway, it took two weeks to get it up and running because we decided to go with AT&T and their U-verse, which took two weeks just to get an appointment. I have to say though, that it is the COOLEST thing. Look it up sometime. I won't bore you with what it can do, but it is really fabulous. I just am so glad that I didn't lose my DVR, and I have actually GAINED one. Welcome to the family you sweet, sweet DVR... thing.

So... here's the scoop. I now have a new email address so I hope that you'll email me so that I can add you to my contacts. I feel so deliriously happy knowing that I have my email back! So here it is:
kristin_bassett@att.net

Oh, BTW Dan, I just now looked in the comments section from the last post and I do actually prefer to be called 'Chief,' your HIGHness, or some such equivalent. Something properly denoting the office of which I've been duly called.

Y'all know I'm kidding right? RIGHT?!!!

School Carnival

(As I went to post this all today, I realized that I was rather sick of hearing Frank sing. Don't get me wrong, Frank sings beautifully, but if you've noticed, the playlist is at the VERY BOTTOM. I just need to update it. And as I'm feeling slightly nostalgic, I added some new ones. As I listened to them play, I got this ridiculous smile on my face and began to sway and snap my fingers. I know, lame. But it makes me feel good!)

This year's school carnival was so fun! Well, it really is fun every year. This time, however, we brought my sweet nephew Treven, who's Andon's age. (Yeah! The boys have cousin's their age!!)




Waiting to get tattoos. Zak kept calling it a sticker. Sticker, tattoo, whatever. As long as they don't get them when they're older. I suppose there could be worse things.



As Doug, the boys, grandma and I walked around we came across Teaghan and her friends. She's too good to hang out with us now. Finally!! Just kidding. Brittnee on the other hand we saw maybe once. I really had no idea where she was with her friends. I figured she was around somewhere. Don't you love my parenting skills?





This was seriously funny too watch! I think Kyla won this one.

Coleen, don't kill us, but he really did want to try climbing it. He asked, Doug said, "COOL!", and we were off.




Andon on the other hand, was not having any of it. He'd already been climbing a few weeks back and that was it for him.

Zakry has this thing for firemen now, so when he saw the truck he went-a runnin. Guess what he wants to be for halloween? If anyone knows of a cheap fire hat let me know cause I'm-a lookin.



Still trying to figure out how not to blur my camera. I had it on all the right settings and it still was weird. It can't be the operator. Really. It can't.




Doug got the boys some scrumptious looking doughnuts while they waited their turn for some time in the fire truck. It took a lot of self will to not cram an entire doughnut into my mouth. Normally I have no problem doing that, as long as its something fantastically decadent, but since we were in public I refrained.



You can't leave the carnival without snow cones, popcorn, and cotton candy. Well, Doug would rather have not let Zakry have cotton candy. Only because Zak's history with the stuff has been VERY STICKY. Which means that mom and dad get VERY STICKY. But what can one do when your baby is saying, "Peese mommy? Peeeeese?!" I swear, I'm a sucker. Plus, how often does one get to have cotton candy? You can't go to a carnival, amusement park, and not have cotton candy. Or funnel cakes. With lots of strawberries and whip cream. Oh my. That just sounds so good right now. Coleen, you're in charge of funnel cakes at christmas again.





I realize I've taken more pictures of my nephew, but that's because I don't get to take his picture as often as I'd like.
We had a great time and didn't spend nearly as much as we usually do. Me and Doug were feeling mighty proud of ourselves. Not to say that the money wouldn't have gone to a good cause, but past years we've spent money, and we spend a chunk at the church fundraisers for the youth, so this time we opted out and didn't spend so much at the carnival. I have to say that it was somewhat nice.

I'm throwing this one in here. Fortunately he's finally realized that he CANNOT do his business outside.

Journal Jar Prattle #3

WHAT THINGS FRIGHTEN YOU THE MOST?

BIG UGLY HAIRY NASTY LOOKING SPIDERS!!! There cannot be enough explanations points. In fact I hate them so much that they could actually corner me in a room if they were smart enough. If I see a spider, I avoid that spot by a good 5 foot radius, ALL THE WAY AROUND. Fortunately I have a husband that saves the day. He triumphantly rides in and slays my 'dragon' for me.

When I was younger, my sister and I had bedrooms downstairs, where the spiders were at times, quite plentiful. My mother would often hear at 6 in the morning, after we'd gotten up to get ready for school, the Dri Vac powering up. The Dri Vac had a 3 foot long hose that we would use to SUCK the offending, loathsome creatures up with. And then once the sucking had been accomplished, we'd shriek and yell and throw the hose across the room, pushing the Dri Vac frantically back down the hallway. Most often, my sister was the one in charge of the 'sucking.' By default really. I was the oldest, and as such, more persuasive. I actually talked her out of her Christmas present one year when she was 5 and I was 7. My mother still couldn't believe it when it happened. And I actually do remember this! I remember thinking that my doll was SO ugly, and my sister's was so NOT ugly. I wanted hers. So I remember talking her into it. Sad, I know. Apparantly my powers of persuasion still existed when we were both in High School, cause as much as she hated spiders, she'd still do the sucking. LOL!

I have discovered though that I am bigger than the spider, and sometimes it helps knowing that I have the potential to crush it with my foot. Maybe someday I'll actually get enough guts to do so.

The next thing I'm afraid of...though now that I think about it, I probably should've listed it first (roll of the eyes) is my family becoming either seriously sick, one of them dying, or possibly kidnapped. Perhaps I should address the death fear only because it has now become one that haunts me on ocassion.

Since Niels, Doug's dad, passed away almost 2 years ago, death has suddenly become much more personal. It's not just that "thing" that happens to older people, other people. I now have a personal relationship with 'it.' When someone is taken from you so suddenly you're world is turned upside down. Much more so Doug's mom. Her entire world crumbled and needed to be rebuilt. I dread the day I lose Doug.

For months after The Death, (and I call it "the death" because it really was, for me, a living, breathing, entity), I would panic if Doug wasn't home at EXACTLY the time he was supposed to be. There was even one time, when I couldn't get a hold of him that I had convinced myself that he was dead. Something disastrous had happened and I was no longer going to gaze upon his face again. After an hour of not being able to get a hold of him, I was so convinced of his fate that I found myself in tears, bargaining with Heavenly Father to let him live.

This is what Death did to me.

As the days and the months went on, however, I realized that that uncontrollable fear that I'd developed was just that. Fear. Irrational at times it seemed, it was tangible nonetheless. I now no longer convince myself that Doug is dead if he doesn't arrive home from work at the usual time. I still worry and the irrational fear rears its ugly head, but I've learned to calm myself down and not flip out. He's so good at calling me when he's going to be late, or at the office too long, or if he's just stuck at an event too long. I've even wondered if we should get him a cell phone, cause we only have one and it's basically mine, but then I think that maybe that would just make me more manic.

Having a knowledge of the gospel certainly helps. Knowing that life doesn't end here, that it continues on is soooo reassuring. The reunion between father and son will be precious, I know, but I don't want that reunion any time soon!

As the girls get older, especially Teaghan, knowing that she's approaching teenager-hood (is that a word?) I've coming to the conclusion that I may also be just as manic when they don't show when they're supposed to. Perhaps as I get older, I realize how precious life really is, how precious each and every relationship we have with those lives is, and it scares me to lose them. But then I remember that this isn't really our Home, that we're here on this earth as a testing ground, that this is just a stop on the way back Home, and it gives me comfort. I remember telling the girls after Papa died, as we sat crying and holding each other on Teaghan's bed, that Papa had finally gone Home. That he was done here. His mission was over. It's the ones that get left behind that hurt. Oh, I think Papa hurts knowing he can't be here physically, but I know that he checks in on a regular basis, to see how we're all faring. What a blessing to know that!

So let's all "fare" well.

My Sweet Niece

My sister-in-law asked me to take some pics of her baby, my niece, McKenna. I warned her that in no way should she expect a professional, and it's a good thing because the ENTIRE photo session was taken with the ISO set at 800. Not good. I broke one of the major rules of photography. CHECK YOUR SETTINGS. Before they had come over Saturday morning I was fiddling with the settings on the camera because it was still slightly overcast, which is great if you're shooting outside, but not so great when we were planning to shoot mostly inside. And since I'm no photographer, hence no studio, I was trying to find the right settings for the light that was coming into my house. Unfortunately, I never changed it back to what it should have been. I really have no idea if the resolution is going to be good enough to enlarge to larger size photos, but we'll see. The smaller sizes look pretty good. But I'm just partial cause she's my niece and I think she's adorable!
I want to share a couple of my favorite, but go easy on me because a. I'm not a real photographer, and b. i don't have real photoshop software. Okay, that said....




The above photo I was going for an ethereal quality, because the light from my front window was streaming in. But again, always check your settings. I have learned my lesson. I suppose this looks slightly vintage-ey, but I don't think the resolution will be good enough to blow it up. I may have to make the poor girl pose again.

(Just a side note, after we picked her up to change locations, we discovered she'd peed and it had pooled underneath her. That's the chances you take when you photo a bebe naked. Poor bebe!






There is something about baby feet. There's just the cutest things to photo!

Po, Po Doggie

Some of you may already have heard this, but I'm writing this down so I'll have the memory forever. Well, as long as the paper it's printed on will last. Sorry if you've heard this, but it's just too funny to not share.

It's always an anxious moment when all is quiet and Zak is outside with the dog. In fact, we try not to allow Zak quiet moments with the dog cause we're just not sure what he's come up with. He's never mean, but he can get quite creative with the things he and the dog do. For instance, my mantra goes something like this:

"Zak, put the dog down; don't touch the dog while he's eating; Let the dog go potty by himself!!(this is a particular favorite as I am so COMPLETELY against fecal matter of any kind); don't put the dog in the BBQ; don't pick the dog up by the head; let the dog be alone; don't lay on the dog; don't bury the dog under the blankets; don't put the dog in the hamper." You get the idea. Well, I now have to add just one more. Here's how it went down:

I had let the dog out to do his business one evening a couple of days ago. Zak HAD to go out too. Whatever right? I was busy cooking dinner and I just wanted to get it done without burning it. As I finish cooking, I realize that it's fairly quiet. Now remember what I said- ALL IS NOT WELL WHEN IT'S QUIET. Okay- so I yell for Teaghan to just check on the dog and make sure that Zak is being nice. She walks out the back door and then comes running back in and says, "Mom, the dog is wet." I'm wondering how the dog could possibly get wet, maybe Zak turned on the hose. So we walk out onto the patio and there's no water from the hose. Truly perplexed now, I ask Zak how the dog got wet. The standard response was forthcoming: "I don't know." I happen to glance down at my son and notice that his pants are crooked, that the waist is all turned over and tucked in. Are you clued in yet as to what happened?
I then ask Zak if he pee-peed outside, to which his response was, "yes." Now, I don't know if he purposely peed ON the dog, or if the dog ran through the stream, but as Zakry thinks that if the dog can pee outside then so can he, I imagine we're going to have other episodes of the dog getting urinated on.
SIGN ME UP!!
So I have decided that I am going to name any and all stories 'The Dog Chronicles.' One never knows what will happen when two toddlers plus one puppy get together.

Soccer

It is so much fun to watch one of your children learn something new. Especially when they're very young. That's how we've felt watching Andon learn soccer. He's been taking this techniques class where they learn the proper way to kick and dribble, etc. He absolutely loves it! And what's more, he's not afraid to get out and try.

The class is made up and 3 1/2 to 4 year olds so it is the cutest age to watch them try to dribble and play this game. Some are shy and it takes a moment to coax them to play and some are just gung ho ready. The latter group my son falls into. He's answering questions, the first to 'tag' the coach, and just making us laugh. The other families around us would laugh at the things he would say and do. However, Andon hasn't quite mastered the art of "NO HANDS." Ah well, one can't be expected to rule the soccer world just yet.


Here they are before starting. Aren't they so cute?!!



The man in the hat is Coach Adam and his assistant. (I forget his name. I'm rather good at that.) Coach Adam is amazing! He relates to these boys so well. He does games with them that are really different forms of drills, just age appropriate. I was somewhat surprised that he could command their attention like he did.
He was talking about a animals and how he himself had a dog. Then he'd show them something with the soccer ball and the kids would mimic it. Then he asked him what animal was even bigger and faster. Andon yells out, "YOU'RE DOG!" This illicited quite a few chuckles as Coach was actually talking about a cheetah and being fast like a cheetah. (ie dribbling the ball quicker)

This was actually warm ups. He was having the kids chase him and yelling "GOTCHA!"








Look at the concentration on this face!






I can't wait to go watch him next week!!