Blue Cougs n Ham

Friday, December 5, 2014

Rainbow School Reunion'

Easton and I had the wonderful opportunity to take a quick 2 day trip to Utah to have a Rainbow Jardin (preschool) Reunion. Four little gringo boys and their moms together for the weekend. It was such a good trip, it was too short and so worth it. Easton and I loved every second of it. Friday night we spent trick-or-treating with the Whitt's. Then Saturday we picked the Swain group up from the airport and met the Lambert's for lunch, a museum, and then a fun afternoon and evening all together at the Whitt home. It was perfect and the boys played and got to have a sleep over - they were so excited about it all. Easton and I feel so blessed that we were able to spend that weekend with such amazing people.

A second night of trick-or-treating for Easton.

I missed these amazing women. It was so great to be with them. We talked and talked and talked! And laughed and laughed and laughed!

Cafe Rio and lots of fun.

Museum of Natural Curiosity. Look at those cute faces.

A sleep over - a dream come true for Easton.

Beggar's Night

As is tradition here in our town, the trick-or-treating is on the night before Halloween and called Beggar's Night. And there is a set time 6pm-8pm, I love that part of it. It was originally so you could trick-or-treat and then on Halloween attend the town parade. It has just stuck and so we hit the pavement a night early. I was glad because it was a nice night and Halloween night was cold! Mason left to go to a Halloween party with friends. Dallin and his friend went by themselves. Dallin said this will be his last year, as he thinks he is too old for it after this year. Drew had a group from the neighborhood that my friend and I took out, along with Easton. Easton ran the WHOLE time! And he is fast. He definitely kept up with the big boys.

Our Halloween dinner!

Link

Secret Service Agent

Iron Man

Carving Pumpkins

We were so excited to carve pumpkins! The past couple of Halloweens we have bought one small pumpkin (they are hard to find and super expensive in Chile). We would carve them and each person would get to pick one thing to carve - the nose, the mouth, etc. So this year it was any pumpkin you want and any carving you wanted. Surprisingly our kids don't pick out super big pumpkins - none of them are super fond of cleaning out the "guts" of the pumpkin, the bigger the pumpkin, the more guts to scoop out. It was a fun Monday night!

Bringing back the Tradition

We had a good weekend in which we literally squeezed in our trip to the Berry Patch Farms to bring back a tradition we did before we left to Chile. It was so great to have autumn and fall (in October) and be able to go to the pumpkin patch and pick apples.

We bought some popping corn at the farm and then had to get it off the cobb.

Homecoming Parade 2014

Grandma and Grandpa Moring were able to come visit for a week in September. The weather was beautiful and we got to enjoy the Homecoming parade. And we got to see a special band member marching in the parade!

And here is who we came to see! Go Mason!

Collecting candy! And there was a lot. The kids just stood and waited for it to come flying.

Stories to Share

I wanted a little space to share funny everyday happenings. So this is it ---

Dec. 3, '11 -- John Deere Water Chile had invited the John Deere Financial Chile employees and families to join them for their Holiday celebration. We traveled to the event which was about a 45 minute drive to a place we had never been to before. We took several detours prior to arriving and it was this day that Easton began to say "RECALCULATING". Sounds funny come from him instead of from Hailey, which is the name of the female voice on the GPS.

Nov. 14, '11 -- After arriving in Santiago and a long flight on Sunday, we were trying to get settled in our new home. We went to the grocery store to get the necessities and upon our return Easton declared the following. "I am not getting out of the car. this is not my house."

Sep. 21, '08 -- Then tonight we sat down and Mason announced that Mark needed to be president so that he could get all the candy he wanted for free. Priorities, priorities, priorities.

Aug. 12, '08 -- Yesterday I was doing laundry, seperating the clothes, and as I was checking pockets I pulled out a little stone from Drew's pants. This is one of my favorite things to pull out of my kids pants. I am always amazed and awed by my children. They find happiness in the things that I pass by everyday and fail to notice. The little things in life count and as I pull those rocks out of my kids pockets I am reminded just how much joy there is to find in this life. Thank you to my children and the inspiration they give me!

Jun. 19, '08 -- So I was upstairs and I heard Dallin and Drew go out into the garage. I went out there and they were playing in the car. I told them to get out and come inside. I then proceeded to tell them that the car was not a toy and to not go out there and play. Dallin looks at me and says, " Mom, it's a "TOY"ota Sienna, with a huge emphasis on the toy part. Really, a six year old should not be able to come up with that kind of comeback. I just laughed....

You had to have seen the Disney movie Cars to really appreciate this. So I'm running into the grocery store with the kids and as I am about to go inside Dallin and Drew stop and start pointing to something, while jumping up and down, laughing, and screaming "Fred! Mom it's Fred! Fred!" A couple of seconds later this large Ford Bronco that obviously weathered MANY Iowa winters and salt on the roads drives by. It is rusted all over, the place above the wheels no longer exists due to all the rust eating it away. The men in the Bronco had their windows down and just waved at the boys. I'm not sure they had any idea why my kids were so excited to see their car. I just laughed out loud! (Fred happens to be an extremely rusty car that is one of the main character's fans)