Fall Festivities

In order for me to be able to let go of the warmth and light of summer I had to be excited about fun fall activities. Here's a few.

We went to the Cornbelly festival at Thanksgiving point. It was lot's of fun with large balloon slides, go carts, jack-o-lanterns carved in the likeness of celebrities and kettle corn. Yum!

"I don't want to grow up..." This giant rocking chair attracted Jared's attention.

Jared and Talmadge emerging from one of the bouncy houses.

Lookout world! Talmadge is at the wheel of a giant wooden truck.

Talmadge and I wrestled old Bessy down to the ground and then sat on her to take a picture. What's that? You don't believe Bessy is alive? Nonsense, and moving on...

"Wonder of wonder, miracles, miracles..." We got Mik and Hemming to go to Gardner village with us for Witches Night Out. It was a Mecca for all Utah witches. I don't think I've seen so many grown women dressed up before. It was great!

Notice the plastered witches feet on the wall behind us? She must not have been watching where she was going, but that can be hard to do with Jared strutting his stuff down below.

This terrifying Batman has been protecting our home since several weeks before Halloween and continues up to this very day. Nana sent him the costume in the mail. The look of pure joy on this little boys face as he opened the box was priceless.

And so until next time...Here's Batman saying goodbye and goodnight, he's off to keep our streets safe.

Blast from the past

Hello all. I decided I wanted to share some pictures from way back in April and May. I didn't have a blog then so this is just make-up work.

Talmadge's birthday party was held at Pirate Island. I had to put this picture in because the munchkin is actually smiling!

We were lucky to have family and friends join us. Here we have Jeff and Thomas. Thomas is Talmadge's first cousin on the Dunn side.

Megan and Spencer having fun at the party.

The birthday boy had to have a sword while on a Pirate Island. One must defend one's self. Plus it's fun to whack Mom.

There were lions on this island. Funny, Talmadge doesn't seem very scared.

I was incredibly lucky to have two of my best buddies in town at the same time. The incredibly photogenic girl in the photo with me is Sara Jensen Garner. Otherwise known as Jensen.

K.J. and her sister Christine were in town for women's conference. It worked out perfectly for Jensen, K.J. and I to all get together. They were both mission companions and 2 of the big reasons I loved the mission so much!

Spencer and Jensen were ready to take out the pirates when they attacked. Jensen is my friend Sara Jensen's son. It becomes a little confusing when were all together but I just can't see her named anything else. Sarah, is after all my name. Maybe I could start to call her Sara- H less, or just H less?

This next picture is on Talmadge's actual birthday which was on a Sunday. He wasn't too impressed with the books at first but we have since enjoyed them.

This was Jared's birthday. He's wearing one of his presents with Talmadge holding another. The Kindle in his hands is proof that, at least once in my life, I was lucky enough to win something. This something was the item I most wanted to win at my employee party. It was awesome because I was just going to buy Jared this the day before and thought that maybe I'd wait another day or two. Lucky I did.

Jared was our super hero for the day! I'm a brilliant artist if I do say so myself.

This next random picture is of Talmadge's first day of pre-school. My baby is growing up.

A final random picture displaying my gardens offerings. I was amazed that Jared and I could grow a thriving garden, and actually use our produce. It was delicious. (Jared would probably disagree with that last statement but he ate it anyway. He's a trooper.)

Oregon - or the graduation of a marine biologist.

The last of our summer vacations was a trip to the hypnotic Oregon coast line. We specifically went to support my brainy brother as he defended his dissertation.

This first picture is of the pouting Talmadge as he had just been told he could not go in the boat house and get Uncle Paul until he was done meeting with his review board. We all were anxiously awaiting Uncle Paul's announcement.

The boys found things to occupy their attention as they wait

He passed! He is now Dr. Paul H. Dunn the Ph.D.!!!

The Dr. getting some love from his Celtic Queen.

Once we knew Paul was in the clear it was time for some fun. We walked down to the docks and found this friend swimming around looking for some discarded fish guts, sounds like a tasty treat right?!

Paul and Heidi showed us a cool little hike to a waterfall. It looks like this background isn't real, right? Well, it's real ya'll. I'm sure you all know I couldn't figure out how to photoshop anyway.

They boys found a stream with bugs and slugs and all kinds of treasures only boys could love.

Jared and Talmadge exploring and finding which rocks they could jump on.

The reasons I am alive. The wonderful Kim and Hayven.

Spence had had enough of watching from the sidelines and jumped in.

A little ways away from the waterfall we found a river in the sunshine. These are my two handsome fellows. Please, don't be jealous ladies.

Refusing to get in even slightly cold water, I am soaking in the sunshine on the riverbank. Ah, delicious sunlight.

The true highlight for our little adventurer was the crabbing. Uncle Paul put out crab traps several times and Spencer and Talmadge were in heaven. They were able to hold the crabs and...

Throw them back in!!! The crabs were amazing once they were back in the water. They could flip back over and swim right on down to the bottom.

Talmadge was impressed with his fathers accomplishment. Jared made the balloon dog he is holding. What more could Jared hope to accomplish after that?

Next up are the boys running on Bastion Dorff beach. The water was freezing, but as you can see, they didn't care.

Talmadge will rarely smile for pictures but I promise he was loving his beach day.

Nana was helping Talmadge build a sand castle.

The mighty edifice with scavenged crab shells. Nana and Talmadge even put water in the moat.

Spencer was buried alive!

Me with my beautiful mother. I loved the humidity making my hair incredibly curly. It was great I hardly had to do a thing to it.

Talmadge had to be buried too.

Paul and Heidi told us about this really cool little lake out in the middle of no where. They said no one was ever there. We pulled up to find about 15 cars with loads of people. So much for skinny dipping.

Mother and recent Ph.D. taking it easy at the lake. Behind this lake was an awesome sand dune that Dad called his Mt. Everest to climb. We all made the trek up and ran around jumping up and down it. Of course my guys made the trek several times performing flying leaps as they ran down the giant hill.

Family Time

Our next adventures take us to mud puddles and family reunions. (And, no they're not the same)

This is my studly husband in the Runners Cross, a race that takes you up, over and through obstacles. While doing all this testosterone filled fun you are racing against other teams. Jared loved it.

Jared's brother Curt got him involved in the race. He's the one holding the cute little girl.

Next up we have the Thomas family reunion. Jared's sister Tamra was in charge of planning it. She chose a KOA at Bear Lake. It was a lot of fun. We had so many things to choose from to keep the children entertained. This KOA even had a pool that Talmadge took full advantage of. I say good job Tamra!

Hmm? Am I really related to these two? I suppose they were just trying to do a cheep sand scrub to soften their manly calloused skin... Yah, I'm not buying it either.

This is Talmadge's cute little cousin Max on the beach at Bear Lake. He is just a few months older than Talmadge.

Me in my favorite spot reading the Hunger Games. The family was lucky I didn't try and fashion a bow and arrow and try to hunt them down, I was so into the book.

The KOA we stayed at even had a bouncy playground where they did games. Talmadge was loving it.

This is everyone that came to the Thomas family reunion. We are only missing a few people, pretty good I'd say. How are those kids so cute with those fathers?

This was just before we entered the eerie, dark, Minnetonka (I probably butchered that spelling) caves. Really, it wasn't so eerie we had a fun guide and it was lit the whole way. However, it did make me feel like I was about to encounter Dwarves that had mined too deeply. Yes, I am a sci/fi geek.

It looked like the Dwarves had make castles. Really, it was mother nature. We had a great time at the family reunion and personally think Tamra should be in charge of them more often.