Oscar Stew

Free Day at the Botanical Gardens is always a special treat. Fortunately it was a perfect warm day to enjoy the fall colors and see the HUGE variety of cool plants that grow in the Gardens.

Say cheese! Sweet piggies Binnie. Drew now smiles with an under-bite to over-emphasize the toothless-ness…

The monkey found the bananas…

We made our way through the hot steamy jungle.

D&B found a perfect hill for a rolling race. And they’re off!

Drew got a 5-yard penalty for blocking, but I don’t think he cared. 

Brinley still leading by a butt…sorry, couldn’t resist.

Drew figured out that doing somersaults was faster than rolling. Also slightly more dangerous.

Ever heard of Cat Scratch Fever? Try cat nap fever. Rock ‘n’ Roll Rowan!

This is one of the few subjects who managed to sit still during his photoshoot.

The pond was swarming with koi and goldfish. Drew stuck his finger in the water and the fish would come try to take a nibble.

We heart the Botanical Gardens! It looks like it hearts us too.

We went to the pumpkin patch on Monday. We are loyal customers and go to the same farm every year, they always have the best pumpkins! The kids have a blast wandering around looking at all the different shapes, sizes and colors of pumpkins. Usually the vines aren’t mush and we get to cut the pumpkin from the vine, the cold snap must have done them in early this year.

Is this a good one? It was hard to choose!

Brinley kept tripping on vines and pumpkins. Drew swooped in and saved the day by holding her hand as they explored the patch. Awwwwwww… 

Brinley found a Cinderella-shaped pumpkin she liked and chopped off the end of the vine to her precise specifications.

Hey you! Yeah you the zipper licker! Can’t you see we’re trying to take a nice picture here?!

Ah Rowan, what would we do without you? What would they do without you?

We’re all here and accounted for! Rowan and I are the two headed monster. Does this baby make me look fat?

Our choices from left to right – Rowan’s, Brinley’s, Drew’s, mine and Ryan’s. This is not an accurate picture however. Later Ryan found a 52lb. pumpkin that measured over 4 feet around, and he “needed” that one instead…

What the heck do we need all those pumpkins for when we already have our own Jack-O-Lantern?

Sweet sweet Binnie. Also a cold Binnie.

Sometimes I have four kids.

Drew came up with a new sport: Pumpkin Hurdles. I don’t know if closing your eyes as you jump is a rule, but it sure made the sport more daring!

This weekend was General Conference. If you don’t know what that is, you can learn about it HERE or watch it HERE.

We aren’t cool enough to get conference via cable TV, but Ryan figured out how to hook up the computer to his stereo and BOOM! It sounded like we had front row seats!

We took advantage of all the down time and got busy in the kitchen. I just love hanging out at home all weekend, it’s so relaxing- no where to go, no one to see. Just being, playing with the kids, watching dough rise and listening to our church leaders. We started the weekend off with some yummy cinnamon rolls. Thanks for the recipe Kari!

To keep the kids semi-focused we printed out some conference worksheets for them. They had to color the tie of every Apostle or First Presidency member they saw.

Rowan dozed in and out of consciousness throughout conference. She said she already heard all of this in the pre-existence and it was a total snore to hear it all over again. What a know-it-all!

Day 2. Check out those tie charts. Looking pretty good!

Between sessions we made some yummy bread while Chef Rowan supervised. Watch out for the spatula!

Fresh warm bread + butter & jam = total happiness. Thanks Kels for the yummy recipe!

At one point there was a long stretch of Mo-Tab singing and non-apostles talking, so we played a word game. The kids had to listen for words like sacrament, missionary, testimony, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, etc…in order to score a snack. It’s amazing how much they hear when there are treats involved.

Aerial view of the action. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, but the kids learned pretty quickly that listening and coloring were their only options.

It was wonderful to be able to watch conference at home. It’s always great to hear the words of the Prophet and General Authorities and be inspired to do more & be better.