Applefest

I think you're probably finding a common theme in our recent posts. We like going to festivals! Especially in the fall. Apparently, there are a lot to be found here in the Ozarks, which is great for us! This weekend we went to Marionville's Apple Fest. It was about 30 min away and the drive was beautiful. The leaves haven't started changing here quite yet, but it was still a wonderful ride. We got there and walked around a bit, they had craft booths, a few carnival type games, and blow up things for the kids. They also had a live band and lots of apple type foods, pie, loose apples in bags, and apple butter. I found out apple butter is not like honey butter, or butter with apple flavoring in it, but rather more of an apple jam that you'd use like butter. An Ah-Hah moment there :) We bought some of that, and some apples, and had an apple slushy, which was delicious! We browsed, listened to a rousing gospel song by a woman in a Johnny Appleseed costume, and then let the kids do one bouncy ride. They chose the gigantic slide of course. We had a great time at the Applefest and look forward to coming years!




We decided to make a day of our playing, and went to pick pumpkins at a local farm as well. We went to the Jones Farm and let the kids pick a few pumpkins. It was a fun place and the pumpkins were really good quality, and it was much funner than picking them out of a bin at Walmart which is what we did last year :) We had a great time.







We just got back from our first MFT (marriage and family therapy) get together. It was really fun and we sat with two of the professors and their wives/husbands. Dr. Baker, she's the head of the department, is really great and her husband was hilarious. The party was at her house. We had a great time at their table and I think we all hit it off well, so I'm glad for Chris's sake that it went well. He had his first two classes today and he said they went well and that he felt like he had a handle on what they were discussing, etc. So I'm glad he had a good first day! Now on to the next 4 years!

Cider Days

We went to a Springfield Festival called Cider Days yesterday. It's on historic Walnut St. which has lots of really cool old victorian houses on it. I just Wikipedia'd Walnut street and it says that there are 21 houses built before the 1900 mark that are still around, and 59 from 1900-1910! They're really fun to look at and have a grand presence. There are 150 historic buildings in the district as a whole. They had a "scarecrow village" which I admit I was picturing something a little more grand than what we got, but it was fun anyway. You can submit your scarecrow and make one of your own, kind of like the festival of trees on a much smaller scale! They had lots of craft booths and food, live music, etc. so it was fun to browse and eat a gigantic corn dog, they had a bouncer house for the kids, it was a fun day. I might think about doing a booth there next year, they didn't really have any stuff like my stuff there. There was a lot of jewelry and local handmade pottery. It was fun, I'm glad we went.



This was the coolest scarecrow I though, it was a mummy one. The detail on it was cool.

I try not to get too political on here, don't get me started! But I couldn't resist taking this picture, the Obama people camped out by the port-o-potties?! Take it as you will. . .

I can't think of a catchy title

So there, that will be the title. Anyway, it's been a while since my last post! Sorry for the delay, I'm sure all inquiring minds want to know what we've been up to. So here goes a couple weeks in review.


Last weekend I went to St. Louis with 2 other girls in my ward to Time Out for Women. This is an EFY type thing for LDS women, it's a 2 day event. We went Friday night and ate at the Cheesecake Factory, yummmm. I even made sure not to eat too much so I had room for the cheesecake. It was delish. They had a concert for the event but we decided not to go, and go to eat instead :) We stayed at the Embassy Suites where the thing was being held, the room was really nice. One of the girls I went with, her husband has lots of frequent flyer stuff so we got the room for free.

Sat. we heard from about 5 speakers and 2 musical performances, Hilary Weeks and Cherie Call. They were all so great! It was very inspiring and uplifting and a much needed break. The talks were all on how to have more Joy in your life, and I'm going to really try and put some of the things they talked about into use. I think the most important thing I got out of it, and it seems like I've been having flashes of this a lot lately, is to just enjoy the moment. Don't worry about how clean, or not clean, your house is (to a point, mom :) ) just enjoy being with your kids and your family, live in the moment, don't sweat the small stuff, all that jazz. I played Bingo this morning with Gavin for 15 minutes and it was definitely the best part of my day. I need to do it more often! So if you ever get a chance to go to one of these, you should definitely go. I think those of us in UT sometimes don't take advantage of all the great things the church organizations have to offer because we're so surrounded by it all the time. But here women really rally around each other in the church and bond as a group, and I loved it. So go the next time it's in town! Thanks to my two new friends, Angelita and Karmen for inviting me to go with them, they've been so fun and great to be around, and so welcoming! Thanks guys.

http://deseretbook.com/time-out/


So Chris was great and took great care of the kids while I was gone. The house was spotless when I got home, and the kids had a great daddy weekend. So thank you babe for letting me go!

Chris has been working again this week full time, I dont' know if I posted that, but he's working for a guy in the ward. He's liking it ok, and we're grateful for the offer and that he's willing to work with Chris's school schedule. He starts next week on the 24th. He's very excited to get going. Maci has been doing great in school and loving it. She really wants to ride the bus. . . I told her she could on Monday and we'll see how it goes. I've heard that there's some unsavory language used on the bus. . . I'll have to quiz her on what she heard when she gets home. She's learning a lot about how to be healthy, so we're trying as a family to be better about eating (and drinking) healthy. She's really into drinking water these days, which is great. She has never really liked drinking water, but I guess when your teacher says it's a good thing, THEN it's a good thing. I'm glad for that, but it's kinda scary at the same time, teacher's have a lot of power. I'm glad we can always talk about what she's learning in school and steer her if there's a need, which there hasn't been so far. You never know?!

Gavin has been a trooper this week. We got him a spiderman costume for halloween and he's been wearing it non stop, even to bed a couple nights. I finally said I needed to wash it and he relenquished it, so we'll see if it holds up till Halloween.


I've been really busy doing crafts, I got my Branson booth set up this week, and have sold something every day this week on Etsy. I'm also working on redoing my website a little, I'll post when it's finished so you guys can check out the new do. There's a few new things on there, I know I haven't put new stuff on there since Christmas! I need to put some more shelves in and definitely more stuff, but I wanted to get it up and running. I haven't been able to check and see if anything has sold yet, keep your fingers crossed!



Today I locked myself out of the house without my car keys. I was going to pick Maci up from school. I called Angelita and she was able to pick up Maci, and I called Chris and he was there in about 20 minutes to unlock the door. I was so glad I knew someone from the ward well enough to know that I didn't have to worry about Maci. It's so great to be a part of something so stable and inclusive, I've really appreciated these ladies taking me in under their wing and making me feel at home! I don't know what I would have done today without Angelita!

Hope you're all doing well, I lost all my links for blogs, that's why some of yours are gone over to the right. I will get them back up slowly but surely. Love you and miss you all!

A New Addition to our Family

So I know this might be kind of weird to announce on a blog, but you've gotta do it sometime, right? We thought it was finally time to have a new addition in our family, after all, Gavin is 3! So after much thought and contemplation, here's our official announcement.


We




Are






Pet owners!!!
Gotcha, eh?!
I don't know if owning two fish really qualifies you as "pet owners", but we'll take the title with all it's worth. After all, we do have to feed them, and wash out their bowl, which can be a very stinky job, and we do lovingly talk to them in baby voices through the glass. We promised Maci and Gavin that they could get a pet when we moved, to try and fill the friend and cousin void they would definitely be feeling. We decided on a fish because they do not rip up the yard or tear wholes in hoses, they do not have fur to make me sneeze and itch, and they take up a small amount of space. Sounds like the perfect pet to me. As most of you know I'm not really a "pet person". But so far the fish have made themselves at home and I have not found need to dislike them yet. Maci named hers Diamond Jewel, and Gavin named his Tiger. Very good names for their respective personalities, the kids, not the fish. Tiger is the orange one and Diamond is the whiter one that you can't see very well. You'll have to wait a little longer for the REAL new addition post, hopefully it will be coming in the somewhat near future. For now, the fish will have to do!

The Rundown

It's been another busy week, and here's what we've been up to!

We've painted two more rooms, the office and the kid's rooms. Now every room except the bathrooms has at least SOME paint on the walls. We're done for a little while, a couple weeks at least!

Maci started dance lessons, she's very excited!

We had a friend over for the first time! Thanks for coming over Emma! ( a girl from the ward)

Chris had an interview with a local troubled youth mental hospital, looks like he'll get the job but it's a very part time position. He'll probably do that and another job for now, they said a part time position with more hours would probably open up soon that he could take over. Way to go babe!!

Maci passed off three things in her kindergarten class so she could be in their respective "clubs". She recognized all her letters, upper and lower, made a simple pattern, and wrote her name correctly with upper and lower letters. Way to go Maci! She is learning so much in kindergarten, I'm always amazed at what she said she did when she gets home. I kinda like this all day thing!

We tried another frozen custard place, this was my most exciting thing of the week :) Very delicious! It's like ice cream but much creamier, ymmmmm.

I worked a lot on stuff for my booth in Branson. I think I stayed up till at least 1 every night this week, two nights it was about 2:30. Crazy, I know, but it's when I get stuff done!

Gavin played around with his hulk smash hands a lot and finally got a batman haircut! (a buzz).

So that was our exciting week, and I don't have pictures of any of it! Ta Ta For Now!

Wonderful Labor(less) Day

We just had the best Labor Day ever I think. There's a few days that come along that are just perfect, in almost every way, today was one of those days. First off Chris let me sleep in till an unsightly 10 am!! I NEVER do that! but it was really nice, so thank you babe! He already had the kids fed, dressed, and had mowed the lawn and trimmed all the bushes in the back yard. What a guy! Then he thought it would be fun if we took a day trip to some flea markets and wound our way through the Ozarks for a fun adventure. I was game of course!

First we went to a little town called Crane, where they're supposed to have some great flea markets. We walked through about 5, meandering among all the old things, finding a few fun things in the bunch. We got an old bottle, something we collect from our various vacation spots, and a fun porch crate to put cute things in. We also got an old pallet that a lady had painted pumpkins on that said "Welcome to our patch", it's very cute. The kids had fun looking at all the stuff, and the drive there was gorgeous! We've decided we live in a very beautiful spot, even if it is a tidge on the humid side. We also stopped and saw some baby cows in a field, the kids got a kick out of that.

Our next stop was to an old bridge with a river below that has public access. It's a beautiful view, and the water was very pleasant. Next time we're going to remember to bring some shoes that can get wet though, walking on the rocks was not too fun! But the kids had a ball splashing in the river and looking for fish. We had a great time.

Then we decided to drive in to Branson for dinner. On the way we passed a dairy farm that had a sign out that said Fresh Cheese Curds Today. So of course we had to stop there!! I haven't had cheese curds for a long time! and it totally brought both Chris and I back to our childhoods. The kids really liked them, I wasn't sure if they would. So that was a fun pit stop.

We got to Branson and decided to do a little shopping at the outlet mall. I was kind of disappointed, the prices seemed better in Park City even though it's the same shops. I didn't buy anything, but we did find Chris a new pair of shoes he's been needing, so that was good. I'll just have to go to Park City when we come home to visit! Then it was off to the Rib Crib for some grub. They dooooo have gooooood BBQ down here. I always get this baked potato that they load with cheese, beef brisket, sour cream, and then BBQ sauce, soooooooo good! Chris got ribs and brisket, it was all very yummy. Then it was back home for a bath and bed. We had such a fun time meandering along the little country highways. The Ozarks really are beautiful, and we cannot WAIT for the leaves to start changing. Chris will be in HOG FALL HEAVEN!! Have I convinced any of you to come visit yet??

Just a cool old barn we passed.

Flea Market Main Street in Crane, MO There must have been at least 10 on this street alone.

Ahh, how sweet! They were so nice to each other today, it was a perfect day.

Let's hope she doesn't get Ecoli or something!

Gavy Turns 3!

Man the time is flying here! I'm not sure if it's because we've had so much to do, or the fact that Maci's in school now, whatever the case this week flew by. Here's a small recap of what we did.

We finished unpacking most of the boxes and put a few more up in our newly floored attic. We still need to tuck the Christmas stuff away in the shed and put the rest in the garage in an organized way so we can actually park in there. But it looks much better and the pile is much less daunting. I got my craft room mostly painted, one wall to go, and got it pretty organized, although every time I do a project it quickly becomes unorganized again. Such is life. I went to one play date with some girls in the ward, which was very nice to invite me. Gavin and I had a great time. We went to Branson on Friday and got signed up to do a craft booth at one of the 3 craft malls they have there. I'm very excited and have been busy working on stuff to get in there. Vinyl is not a big thing here yet, so I'm doing lots of tiles and boards, and a few other things here and there I'm sure. I've been busy tonight making cute burp clothes out of cloth diapers, embellished with fabric and ribbon. Very fun!

Then Saturday was Gavin's big #3 birthday!! He's been waiting for this birthday for some time, as we told him his birthday was after we got to Missouri. We talked about MO a lot before we got here, so he was constantly saying, "My Birthday is after MO", yup yup yup. So I was afraid once we got here he would be really disappointed he had to wait another couple weeks. But he was a good sport and didn't make a stink about it. He was also very against saying that he was officially 3. He loves saying that he's two-a-half. But by the end of the day we had him convinced it was ok to say he was three. I tried to make him a big breakfast, but he said over and over he just wanted a pop tart, ok, easily done. So we let him open his presents after breakfast so he'd have something to do till we did our big activity in the afternoon. He got a lovely pair of dino pajamas and a new dinosaur for his growing collection from the Boren side, and a really cool crashing truck rally car thing and various other fun things from Grandma W, and a ride on the ducks in Branson from Grandpa W, (which we haven't done yet but we will soon! We got him a pair of Hulk Smash gloves that he has been wanting for a while, and Maci got him a Batman mask, so he would have some type of manly dress-up apparel. He wears her dresses far too often! He loved all his presents and was quite content playing with them till his nap. After he woke up we went to JumpMania, a Kangaroo Zoo type bouncer place in Springfield. The kids had a blast, and we had to drag them out 1.5 hrs. later. We went to a place in Nixa called Bud and Walt's for dinner, it's a pizza/pasta place. It was really good, they have huge big screens everywhere and some with cartoons on them, so the kids were transfixed. It was fun, but I wouldn't want to eat that way every night, everyone glued to a huge tv :) But the kids thought it was cool. Then we had pake (cake) and ice cream at home to finish off the night. Gavin had a great day and I was glad we could make it special for him. We love you buddy!!!

He was ecstatic when we found that his pajamas glow in the dark! How fun!

He kept running around saying, "You want a piece of me?" Very intimidating!

Crash 'em!

He even wanted to wear them to bed!

Weeee! Not as big as the one at Kangaroo Zoo, but it'll do :)

Sunday we spoke in church. It went pretty well I think, I'm just glad it's over!! I only lost it once, when talking about going to the dump with my dad, who knew it could bring up such emotions! Chris did a great job, and I think it was nice for everyone to see who we were and where we came from, etc. I got up the guts and invited two families over for ice cream on Sunday, both have been very nice and invited us to things and helped us move, one of the guys got Chris a part-time job, just have gone out of their way to be very inviting to us. It was really fun and we had a great time. Both of them have girl's Maci's age, though neither of them go to her school. There were 8 kids here in all, and they all had a ball outside playing for 3 hours while the adults talked in the house. We had a great time and hopefully these friendships will continue on.

Chris did get a part-time job offer from this guy. He is an intermediate company between large corporations and the hospitals in the area, working out what kind of insurance they need, plans, etc. Chris would be cold calling new businesses seeing if they'd like the service, so not a fabulous job, but a job nonetheless! He also has an interview with a local behavioral hospital that works with troubled teens/adults who are having mental issues. So we're hoping he gets that one too so it would be in his field. He'll work both till school starts on the 25th and then probably cut the insurance one and just work part time at the other. So that's great news!!

I've got to start writing more often so these posts aren't so long! Sorry :)