Pumpkin Fest

Some friends of ours told us about this Pumpkin Fest they hold at Historic Four Mile Park. Since it was the weekend of General Conference, we decided it would be a fun in between sessions break. The park itself is like "This is the Place" Heritage Park in Utah but on a smaller scale and more geared toward mountain man and traveling pioneer life.

For the festival, they had extra booths and activities set up.



Daddy getting a kiss at the kissing booth.

There were hay and carriage rides around the park.



They had scarecrows to stuff and dress.



Look at all those scarecrow insides.

Of course Ellie just wanted to walk around and touch everything. We allowed her to walk on the hay bails with daddy holding her hand. After falling a few but still making it to the end, we decided it was time to head home. Sadly on the way out, Ellie had this revelation for us.

Translation: I have a poke-y bum. Apparently some hay managed to sneak its way into her diaper. I was surprised at how much during the next diaper change.

Another Trip to Utah (Red Butte Gardens and Hogle Zoo)

Obviously, we aren't much of home bodies. After heading back to Salt Lake, we spent some time around the valley. We helped Annie bottle pear sauce while Ellie and Braden pretend fought until they decided to become friends. Then later that night, we went to Red Butte Gardens. I hadn't been there in years, since I first started college. It is very beautiful and open. The kids loved running from garden spot to garden spot. We had to tell the to stop or slow down several times because we were missing half the flowers. 

Cheesy cousins.

Feeding the fish.

Look at all of them. Watch out for the ducks.

One thing I didn't know is that the Children's Garden has a water part. You can't keep kids who love water out of it. Sadly, this was one of our last stops and it was growing cold and late.


This is how 2 year olds don't play in the water.



The Children's Garden was very cool looking and fun. It kinda reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. You can actually walk into the snake's mouth and wander around under the cover of plants.



This is the flower bed.



A flower paint palette.



This tree created a hut so Macy held school inside.

I had such a good time. Ellie was so cold and wet by the time we were leaving that we just took off her clothes. Luckily dinner was close to Annie's place and she needed to stop by to pick up clothes for Braden so we borrowed some of Braden's clothes for the evening.

The next morning, Ellie and I met Grandma Connie, Cassie and Becca at the zoo.

Feeding the birds.

 I don't know if the girls were more excited to be at the zoo or to be hanging out together. They tried to clean us out of quarters feeding the ducks. 

Becca and Ellie inside an egg.

Then we almost couldn't get them off the play ground to go see the animals. Of course we had to climb on every rock, hang on every rope, and jump on anything we walked past.


Climbing on rocks.

 

Sitting on the Lions.

 I thought we were going to have some drama at the Merry-go-round because if you asked Ellie what animal she wanted to ride, she would say the Elephant. Then when you asked Becca, she responded the same. Unfortunately there was one little boy in front of us in line and guess which animal he wanted to ride on?


Riding the Merry-go-round.

 

Some little monkeys.

Riding the train.

Grandma's Girls.

They have been doing a lot to improve the zoo. I think the new bear/Rocky Mtn exhibit will be super nice. We all had such a great time and the timing worked out just great. We arrived early and just finished up with everything a little after nap time. Yes, Cassie and I were there. We just spent our time behind the cameras.
 

Saw this in the gift shop and who doesn't need Ellie Pooh paper.

Sometimes it's hard living away from family but also I think it makes visiting a lot more fun. Thanks to all our family for such a great time. One of these trips we'll try to make long enough to fit friends in as well.

Another Trip to Utah (down to St George)

As part of the trip to Utah, we traveled down to St. George to enjoy a weekend in the sun. Our first day down there we spent on half of it at Sand Hollow. We love the sun, sand, and water.

Ellie stealing Aunt Stef's chair.

Ellie enjoyed the beach as much as she enjoyed riding the boat.

Do they look like they are having fun?

I don't think those kids had any fun at all. What do you think?

Ellie even tried riding the tube with mommy and Aunt Stef.

I skied twice which made for an extremely sore body.

I think I have only been water skiing once in 3 or 4 years. It felt so good even though I was so stiff.

We all spent some time swimming.

Ellie did ok swimming although she wanted to always have a hold of me.

After plenty of water and sun, we headed home to clean up and head out for dinner and then to watch The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn.

Ready to enjoy the show.

Ellie stayed awake the whole time and sat with either me or my mom for the show. It was such a well done production. They did so many fun things to give the show an under the sea feeling. If you ever have a chance to see this show or any other Disney at Tuacahn, do it.

After a long night sleep from such a busy day, we took off to Zion's. I haven't been there in years. I didn't even know they had gone to the shuttle system and that you can no longer drive through the park.  Our plans were to hike up Emerald Pools.

Ellie and I riding the shuttle to the park.

Please keep your heads, arms and legs inside at all times.

 Ellie fell asleep on the shuttle ride in and slept in the stroller for most of the hike, which was nice because then I didn't have to carry her.  She woke up as we got close to the falls because cold water splashed on her.

The kids playing in the water.

Part of the group continued to the pools, while some of us headed back down; Ellie, Kelsey, Grandma Bonnie, my Uncle Russ, my Aunt Alison, and me.  Kelsey collected acorns the whole road down and then at the end started to leave small piles for the squirrels. 

Ellie didn't want to hike down but I didn't want to carry her the whole way.

 We were able to rest down on a grassy area at the bottom while we waited. We also snacked and played some. Inside a gift shop, Ellie found a stuffed wolf which she proceeded to ride around the store on.

Ellie didn't want to ride on my shoulders either.

 After everyone returned from the hike, we headed back to the small town for dinner and some snacks. We needed to stop at the candy store for candies and then the pie shop for "bumble berry" pie; which is delicious.

Matching Ellie and Poppy.

Ellie thought it would be fun to climb into the stroller basket.

 I forgot to mention that someone thought it would be a great idea to put Ellie, Braden, Macy and Kelsey all in the same car together. As long as we had on a movie, they did just fine. At one point on the ride home, Braden was falling asleep. Since Ellie had taken a nap, she didn't want Braden to sleep so she yelled, "Braden, wake up." That was the end of Braden falling asleep. Luckily they did a good job of keeping each other occupied.

Ellie and Braden on the ride home.

It was a good trip. I am grateful that I have these times to spend with family and that I have a family that loves to do such fun things. Also, thanks to my Aunt and Uncle who let us stay in their house.

Another Trip to Utah

Yes, we did it again. Left Jake at home and went to visit and play with family. The sacrifices he makes for law school. We had a great time.

We went to Gardener Village (mom and sisters).



Fun Halloween Hats

 

What silly little witches.

Even though the adults were there to socialize and shop, the kids thought it would be more fun to run around and climb on the decor. 

Our 3 models.

Of course, when the Gledhill (Kartchner/Watterson/DeMann) women got together, there is lots of laughing and fun.

Then Ellie and I made the drive up the changing Parley's Canyon to visit the majority of the Watterson's. I am glad most of them have decided to live near each other. It makes it so much easier from me to visit family. ;)
 

Had to pull over and take this shot. It's been a while since Utah had colors like these.

Ellie and Becca are already little trouble makers and I envision they will turn out much like the rest of the cousin pairs (Zach and Avery, Brody and Nathanial). The trio of girls (Maddie, Gracie, and Jess) and the older boys (Matt and Cody) don't seem to cause as much anxiety as the other kids.

Of course, part of visiting Grandma Connie and Grandpa Steve is seeing their petting zoo, I mean, farm animals. Ellie and Becca feed the chickens and tried to hold some chicks. The chicks small feet felt weird and they mostly got dropped. Then they tried to find the sheep but you only ever end up chasing them around. Next, Bessie (?) the milk cow and Stella the pregnant mule.


Ellie really likes animals, can you tell?



The girls with Stella.

Ellie riding/sitting on Stella

Becca riding/sitting on Stella

I know biologically mules cannot become pregnant but this mule is so fat, some people have mistakenly referred to it as a pregnant mule.

After some nap time, Ellie and I went to visit Kristine and Ellie's new cousin Ben. I wasn't able to take a picture of her holding him because well, frankly, she didn't like it that much. He was in her arms/on her lap for all of 3 seconds before she was done. I think Kris does have an awesome picture of her pulling a face and pushing him away.

I am amazed at what the Watterson's have done. They have beautiful gardens full of fruits and vegetables along with the animals. They also keep bees and harvested quite a bit of honey this year. It is a nice step away from busy life.

We stayed and hung out so the girls could play on the swing set, play with the older cousins, play in the dirt, play some more in the dirt, and eat dinner with Grandma, Grandpa and Maddie, and Marc, Cassie, and Becca. Hayley was a bystander as Ellie was sitting in her chair. We had such a good time, I don't know how Ellie forced herself to stay awake for the drive home.

Scots Fest

This is one of those blog posts a long time in the making. Actually, The past month just got away from me. Anyway, about a month ago we traveled up to Estes Park for one of the largest Scottish Festivals in the nation (supposedly). On our drive there, we realized that we didn't pay attention to the football schedule and were stuck in traffic in Boulder, as the freeway takes you right through the center of town as the main road. Next, we underestimated the quantity of people traveling into Estes Park that day. It took us at least 30 minutes to drive the last 5 miles into town. When stuff like that happens, you end up with a few of the following pictures. 

Notice the house 3rd up from the bottom. Almost the entire thing is lifted on beams.
You have got to be desperate to build a house like that.



I was curious about the Cider Cherry (other stores sold Cherry Cider) but I wasn't sure about the Elk Nuts.

We finally made it into Estes Park, found a parking spot, and entered the festival. They had all sorts of booths, vendors, and activities. Jake loves watching the Scottish sports; barrel toss, beam throw, etc. We started by wandering around the Clan tents.
 

For Uncle Jon and family (sorry about the behind in the pic)

After looking at the Clan tents, I suggested to Jake that his family set up or find their clan info. Although Watterson's aren't Scottish, they are from the British Isles (the Isle of Mann) which shares similar histories.

We walked through some vendor tents and not a single place carried on hand the Manx tartan (or whatever the family line name is). We could have paid or even ordered a kilt but it would have been close to $1K and right now, we don't have that kind of cash flow.

The food area smelled delicious. Some places had your typical fair food (deep-fried anything) while others strived for a Scottish/Medieval feel. After Ellie played on the giant playground, so Jake could watch Scottish games, and after grabbing food we headed over to the rodeo/jousting arena. Yes, they had live jousting and it was awesome.  

Real-ish Jousting

To finish off the day, we stopped by the bag-pipe contest area. Although they were loud, Ellie really enjoyed the music. 

The Utes played later that day, hence the red outfits.

And you should know Ellie enough by now, that if there is music, she is dancing. Notice the people on the stands start to watch her. Most people around us laughed. We loved it.

The drive home wasn't as bad as the drive there. We did take a different route home. Of course, Ellie was exhausted and slept almost the whole way. Must have been a fun day.

Shopping and Taste of Colorado

Over Labor Day weekend, we spent most of the time at home. Since Jake has holidays off, Monday we decided to go shopping at Castle Rock Outlets. Kids stores have great sales over labor day and Ellie needs clothes for winter. I think we did pretty good. After spending some time there, we drove home for a break and then headed downtown for Taste of Colorado.
Last year, Ellie and I went by ourselves. This year Jake was able to come with us. I think he was a little shocked to see how big this event is.  We ran into some friends there. We could only walk with them a short time as the crowds were too big to try and walk with 2 strollers.

We did sample so foods too. Jake tried a taste of buffalo brat. We all ate chicken fingers and fries. I think the best was dessert. We sampled some key lime pie and beignets (like what Tiana makes on The Princess and the Frog). They were both great. The beignets are a scone like dessert served with powdered sugar and frosting.

One thing Jake and I noticed while walking around the venues was that we are becoming more a "peculiar people". Almost everyone there was drinking alcohol, had many tattoos, were dressed immodestly, had multiple piercings, or some other thing about them that screamed "LOOK AT ME!!! I AM UNIQUE!!!" It made me wonder what things will be like in the future. How different will things be and will we stand out even more as time goes on?

Botanic Gardens Free Day

I love when free days come up. A while back we went to the gardens again on a free day but this time were joined by some friends. Dagny, Kate, and James came with us. Ellie and Kate are only about 2 months apart and love playing together so they had a blast running around.

Ellie and Kate during a snack break.

 We didn't spend a lot of time there but just enough to be out of the house and enjoy the outdoors. We are glad to have good friends.

Entrance to the children's garden.