Get ready for Autumn days!

The first day of Autumn is almost here!
I'm so excited!

Fall makes my cravings for the sweet spicy smell of apple cider to waft through my kitchen. It tantalizes the senses, soothing the soul on a crisp fall evening.

The leaves start their dramatic change into a striking array of bright colors.

As they swirl to the ground later in the season the inevitable "crunch" can be heard underfoot. The sound reminds me of my youth as I longed to jump into a huge piles of leaves. I still do!

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere! The season beckons them to get ready to be baked, carved, painted and decorated.

Apple picking season will be in full swing. Oh how I long to be near an orchard!

Scrumptious pies will be served to many smiling faces. Their aroma daring you to eat only one slice...

Of course we can't forget about Halloween! Second only to Christmas (in my opinion) the holiday provides fun and laughter to all ages. Scary decor, ghoulish treats and and a good excuse to play dress up are my favorites!

Yea fall!!

Hey there Delilah (I'm at the MTC)

Blackfoot Fair

We can never stop by the fair without visiting the petting zoo. The kids get crazy excited to pet the roaming animals.

Mostly roaming were goats...

...and more goats.

Carlee loved the donkey and kept calling it, "Horsie!"

I wish we could have held the baby piglets but mama was very protective. Not to mention they were behind a fence.

Collin thought they were, "So cute!"

More goats, or maybe the same one? I think Carlee was fascinated.

We all loved the turtles!

They each had to feel how hard his shell was.

And now for:
more goats!!

Now we can move onto other animals.

Like bunnies!

And miniature horses!

They are way too cute.

As for the big horses?

Carlee was scared of them again. Poor girl. I think they are beautiful. She did a little bit better when she could just see their faces from the front. I think their huge legs scared her. She loved the chickens though. Birds are one of her fav's.

We didn't go on any rides, eat any tiger ears (scones) or cotton candy, or play any games. We are trying to save some money to buy more Halloween decorations. We did however have to eat a little dinner and we even tried some alligator tails! Very spicy but otherwise had a chicken feeling to it. Hopefully next year I'll get my tiger ear!

Eastern Idaho Cake Show!

On Saturday the kids and I attended the Cake Show at the Blackfoot fair since my mom entered a cake. She is a very talented cake baker so of course we had to go and show our support! She also entered the sugar flower competition which this year's theme was water lilies.

You can sort of see her holding up her trophy for winning grand prize in that division.

She did an amazing job. Even the rocks she put on the outside where sugar. The other entries paled in comparison.

Here is the beautiful wedding cake my mom entered. The theme was wedding dresses so they had to use a wedding dress picture as inspiration.

She ended up with a second place ribbon! Great job mom! Whoo hoo!

Close-up of her awesome job!

The dress was so pretty that she picked out. I think she did a great job of interpreting the design into cake.

I just had to take a picture of the grand prize winner in that division because it was remarkable. The mirror and accessories were made out of sugar. So adorable!

This must have taken forever!!
This same woman entered the all occasion cake division too. The theme was holidays around the world and she chose Chinese New Year.

She definitely deserved to win with this cake. It's phenomenal!

I love watching the cake show and seeing what people come up with. Now mom has to start me on lessons so I can learn how to do some of these amazing cakes!

Friday Fill Ins

1. I feel tired! It was hard to go to sleep after the Boise State game against Oregon last night. Can you believe Oregon's tailback LeGerrette Blout? Talk about a good way to sit the rest of the season out.

2. Baking is always fun. I'm addicted!

3. Right now, I can hear these things: an air conditioner. That's about it. It's pretty quiet.

4. I'm hungry and I'm glad I brought a cereal bar to work (even though I already ate).

5. The last time I lost my temper was this morning. Collin really knows how to push my buttons. I get tired of him saying he won't do something if he doesn't get his way!

6. I get Monday off this Labor day weekend. Woo hoo!!! I really need a day off.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to playing around with a muffin recipe that will use the rest of my fruit cocktail, tomorrow my plans include cleaning and going to the Blackfoot fair and Sunday, I want to do some more baking (I really have baking on the brain, can you tell?)!


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Carlee's turn!

Back to pre-school!!

Carlee was EXTREMELY excited to head back
to her old classroom with Mrs. Snyder.

She picked out this outfit and was very excited to wear a girlie scarf. I think we have another Kaitlyn (our girlie cousin) on our hands. You can't tell but her nails were painted with pink sparkles. Plus she had on brand spankin' new white tights. The tights turned out to be a mistake. By the time I picked her up from grandma's house they were filthy and full of holes. Sigh.

When I asked Carlee about her first day of school she just mumbled something very fast with lots of hand motions. I picked out the word "teacher" but that's all I got. Grandma said she danced with Joel the maintenance man. She adores him!

We were able to go to Back to School night later that evening and ask her teacher what really went on that day. She said Carlee did excellent! She had more interactive play which is awesome. Last year she did more parallel playing and stayed more to herself. It's very good to see her interacting with the other kids.

Carlee had a couple of opinionated moments when she thought another little girls shoes were hers. Tantrum time! Then she decided that she had to have a pink construction paper circle for their art project even though she already had help cutting out a blue circle. She shoved it across the table and didn't want anything to do with it. Crazy girl.

I was very impressed that the teacher got 12 students down for a nap. It's a very hard task! Carlee wasn't even grumpy after she woke up. Woo hoo!

Carlee has improved so much mentally since she started pre-school last year. The teacher and aides do such a great job with the kids. I just love them! I'm so happy that Carlee gets to return with them again to gain more knowledge and skills that she needs before kindergarten.