Perfect fall day

After church this morning we decided to pack a lunch and take off for the mountains. We made it up to Chain Lakes, had our lunch and then took off on an awesome hike! Picture Lake and Mount Shuksan
No trip up to Baker is complete without a stop in Glacier for ice cream!

Hi girls!

We've been doing a lot of this on Saturdays. Both Holly and Mia are playing. Since the family photographer is a little tied up coaching and their dad is busy parenting the rest of our kids on the sideline there hasn't been many photos yet. So, either Grandpa has to fly out for a visit :) or we'll need to get the camera in someone elses hands one of these weekends. (Wendi? Shannon? Shona? Anyone!?!) And some of these crazy girls asked if these pictures were going to go on the blog...yup!

:)

I feel better now that I've completed Lauri's trip down memory lane. I'm sure Michelle appreciates it too! :)

Kinda like this...

Lauri? Is this the haircut you were talking about?
I found these in a box in the basement yesterday and they were to good to pass up!

Lucas

So after that terribly disappointing loss by the Seahawks yesterday we had to get Eric out of the house for some fresh air. We decided to go for a walk and feed the ducks. As we were getting ready to leave Lucas tells me he has a toy and a magazine along in his backpack "just in case, Mom." I tried to ask "just in case of what?" but he didn't really give me an answer and I still didn't know what was in the backpack. We hadn't gotten very far down the path and Lucas is trailing far behind and already looking through the catalog. He really didn't think it was a big deal. Then I hear what toy he brought since his backpack keeps saying "to infinity and beyond". Yup, Buzz Lighyear came along and he talked the whole way! Lucas, with his nose in the catalog, and Buzz pulled up the rear the whole time!

Maybe now I know why when he was saying the Lords Prayer the other night he prayed "lead us not into transportation" :)

A little side note here...The "magazine" that he had packed along was the #1 catalog at our house right now is Costume Express and the #1 page is Star Wars costumes. (I know mom..we're on our own this year!) :)

Delicious AND Nutritious

Last year, one of our favorite fall treats were making pretzel hugs. This year in an effort to be a little more health conscience I decided to switch up the recipe just a little bit.
Instead of pretzels, Hershey Hugs and Milk Chocolate M&M's this year we are using pretzels, Candy Corn Hershey Kisses (if you haven't tried them you MUST!!) and Dark Chocolate M&M's (this is the nutritious part, isn't dark chocolate supposed to be good for your heart!) :) Here's the complete recipe if you interested.

1 bag pretzels (waffle pretzels work the best)
1 pkg. M&Ms
1 pkg. Hershey Hugs or Kisses (if using Kisses they look better with a lighter colored chocolate)

Place pretzels on baking stone or sheet. Place a Hug on each pretzel and bake at 200 degrees for about 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven and promptly place a couple of M&Ms on each pretzel, pressing into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool before serving, either at room temperature (this takes SEVERAL hours) or in the refrigerator if you want to speed up the process.

Oh yeah, the Hawks are on today! If any of you are checking this blog :) please make every effort to win so the rest of our week is a little more enjoyable!

Hmmmm....

So, what do you think today was at school?

And Joey's really good question for the day.
"Does God live in a castle because He's a King?"

Exploring

These two pictures crack me up. The top one is Lucas, drowning out the mole that took over our front yard. (Do you think he saw someone else doing this?!?) And the next one is Joey at Grandma and Grandpas house looking for grasshoppers. He kept telling us to be very quiet and we could hear them hop. Needless to say the adults (mostly Michelle and I) kept getting shushed for not being quiet! :)

We hung out and G & G's on Sunday. The kids got to pick apples, a favorite yearly tradition. Now my dehydrator is going non-stop! We attempted a gigantic pile'o kids but throwing the boys on next with a Lily on top looked like it could spell disaster so decided to go with 2.

Our Day of Labor

The boys have been asking for something "fun " in their room for a while now. They wanted space and dogs and preferably some robots, too. Well, we've started on part of that....space, and when I get around to it, may add some dogs into space, then we have to find a way to add the robots, too. Thanks to Traci for some help on Monday, she not only had some great paints for us to borrow, also had a mobile that was "just sitting in a box in the attic", and best of all she took the boys for several hours so the girls could paint in peace! :) Thanks, Traci, it was so very helpful of you! :)