Uncle Sam's Birthday!!!

We arrived on Monday the 8th in Park City, where we stayed this time. Tuesday the 9th was my brothers birthday. We invited him and my sister to the condo we were renting for a little birthday party. Sam (my bro) chose a Black Forest Cherry Cake and we picked up some vanilla ice cream.

It was little gathering. We were there with the boys, Tim's parents were there and then my sister Molly and of course, the birthday boy.

He received some handmade cards colored by the older boys. There was lots of pink and purple on the cards. Each boy signed his name and it was cute. I let the boys pick which present they got to give Uncle Sam and then put the cards in the respective bags. Sam opened Pickle's first, which was a half-pint of homemade blackberry jam. Anyone who knows Sam, knows he loves homemade blackberry jam. Next was Pach's present, a batch of homemade Oatmeal Butterscotch cookies. Those are Sam's favorite cookies. Needless to say, Uncle Sam gave out and received some serious high-five's for those gifts!

It was fun to be able to celebrate his birthday, on his birthday, with him and my sister. It was really nice to spend time with family too.

It says "Happy Birthday Sam!" If I'd known how dark it
was going to be, I would have picked yellow......

The goods. The card showing is the one from
me, Tim and Bacon.

Pickle's card and present.

Pach's card and present.

Pure happiness. The cookies didn't travel as well
as I'd hoped but that was no problem for Sam.

Bacon, getting some cookie love from Uncle Sam.

Cutting the cake. I forgot to get candles. :(

Unhappy little boys. 

Still trying for a shot of happy boys.

The boys shooting Uncle Sam with their guns. Ha! Sam said,
"Show me your guns" meaning muscles and they
put out their fingers making their guns and starting shooting away!

Off to Utah (a.k.a Cougarland)

We decided to take a vacation to Utah this past October so Tim could see BYU play someone. He chose the BYU vs. Oregon State game. We headed up a week before the game and decided to do the drive up in 2 days. We stopped in Henderson, NV and had a painful night. We've done this a few times now and though we think it's a great idea, it isn't.

The boys go absolutely NUTS in the hotel room. This time was even worse because Bacon was added to the mix. At one point, Tim and Pickle got locked out of the room, I was indisposed, which left Bacon and Pach to run free. Bacon, we found out later, kept picking up the phone and calling the front desk. Later, he threw up a little from all the excitement. That added with the poopey diaper.... We got lucky with the dinner. It drowned out all the other stink. When we headed to bed, I started out with Bacon but later ended up with Pach and Pickle and Tim was with Bacon. The older boys wouldn't sleep on the pull out bed because it was "ouchy". Indeed it was a highly uncomfortable pull out bed. So I suggested they sleep with me in one bed and Tim could sleep with Bacon. Well, I laid on my back all night with my arms wrapped around 2 little boys. Not very comfortable. When I didn't have my arms out, I was getting kicked and punched by little hands and feel. Tim was getting knocked around my Bacon, who doesn't lay remotely still when he sleeps. At one point I woke up to use the bathroom and Tim was barely on the bed and Bacon's head was mid-thigh on Tim and his feet in Tim's face. Needless to say, we didn't actually get very much sleep that night.

The boys loved it though. Pizza delivery to the room, all sorts of new pillows and things to play with and the all exciting breakfast buffet in the morning! All in all, it wasn't a horrible night but not the most pleasant one either. Here are some photos of their joy:

On our way! Bacon had a great time with that computer.

He is wearing 2 different clip-on ties.
He wouldn't take them off. He kept saying
he was a missionary.

He really likes to put shoes on.

The all exciting cupboard. That occupied his attention for
at least 45 minutes.

Pickle attacking Pach. They were hilarious!

Tim's Cake

Tim got asked to make a birthday cake for a friend's daughter. His first ever paying job for a cake!!! He made a Rapunzel cake and it was very cute! The little girl LOVED it and the mom loved she got a great deal on an awesome cake! Yes, I am bragging about my husbands talent. He does an amazing job on all the cakes he's done and this one was great and much more satisfying cause he got paid.

Plus, it was fun to see a girly cake since nothing like that exists here in our house. Here is a picture of the cute, Rapunzel cake.

Baby Rattler

A couple weeks ago all the boys were out in the garage cleaning and playing. Suddenly they all came rushing in and Tim said, "Keep Bacon away from the garage. There's a baby rattlesnake in there." It was curled up in in the front right corner of our garage, in between the wall and the garage door opener track. They all must have walked by it half a dozen times at least. We were so grateful no one was hurt!

Trying to figure out how to dispose of it, I called a friend whose husband has killed some before. While I was on the phone with her, Tim was going around the house, inside and outside, trying to find things to kill the snake with. At one point, he had a large dowel and one of my Cutco knives. I told him to stop. Our friend said her husband shoots them with a gun. We don't have one and he wasn't home. She did say the Fire Department will come get it for us.

So after Tim decided the dowel and knife weren't the best option or anything else, since it was in a small spot all coiled up, I called 91. Just a FYI: If you need the number of the police or fire department, you can call 911, tell them it isn't an emergency and they'll help you when they have time. Luckily, the operator had time and transferred me to the local Fire Department. I told them we had a baby rattlesnake in our garage and she said they'd be there in a few minutes.

When they pulled up, the little boys and I trekked out to watch. I had to keep a firm grip on Bacon but the other's stayed way back. They LOVED watching the firemen do their thing. They came in the smaller engine, wearing pink shirts for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and brought out their big hand grips to catch the snake with and the big box to put it in.

Tim and I were VERY glad he didn't try to get it on his own. Even the fireman had a hard time getting the snake since it was all coiled up. Here is a picture of the little thing:

Agua Linda Farms

Friday late afternoon we headed to Agua Linda Farms as a family. It is a little farm that has a Fall Festival every year. They have a larger corn maze for adults and/or teenagers, pumpkin patch and a hay ride. You can walk to the patch and pick the pumpkins or take the hay ride there. We walked and found 5 lovely small pumpkins that fit very nicely in our little stroller. Bacon opted to hold his the entire time he could. For small children, like ours, they have a bouncy house, pony rides, hay bales to climb, potato sack races, a petting zoo, other animals to look at, John Deere tractor colored tricycles to ride and a "maze". There is only one way to go in the maze but the little boys LOVED IT!!! And they also play "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". We got discount tickets, which was nice. We spent enough on food to make up the difference.

The boys had a blast. They loved the animals and the maze. The thoroughly enjoyed picking out the pumpkins and finding the "baby" ones to keep because "they are so cute!" They also quite enjoyed the pony rides and missed being on the news by about 5 minutes. One of the local news stations had someone out there who did a spotlight with the 2 kids right before Pach and Pickle on the ponies. It was still fun.

Pach got his first ever bloody nose. He yelled at me and I saw blood on his knee. I thought he'd scraped it on the maze. Nope, it was coming from his nose. Poor guy! He was so scared and it was soooo hard to get him to lean forward and not get the blood all over himself. Tim ended up putting some tissue up his nose as the bleeding slowed down. That drove Pach crazy! We had to keep reminding him not to touch the tissue, as it was helping his nose. He is a little OCD about a couple things, so this was an interesting incident with him.

Enjoy the pictures!

Tim trying to get the boys to jump and land on their bottoms.
It was hilarious to watch!

All the boys looking at the woolly sheep.

The chicken coop. They LOVE chickens.
It reminds them of their grandpa.

The "maze". Me trying to get Bacon to go the right way.

Finishing the maze together. Both the older boys ran
back and forth a couple times while Bacon and I
worked our way through it once.

Pach and his tissued up nose. Poor guy!

Beautiful sunset shot.

Random picture I took of Bacon while we were waiting for
the boys to ride the ponies.

Ready to ride!!! They were leaning on the fence waiting with
eyes open wide.

Pickle waiting to go.

Pach finally smiling.

Potato sack races with dad. They did two and each won one.

My three boys on top of the hay bale pile.

All the men in my life on top of the hay bale pile.
They were all supposed to be making scary faces.

Bacon on the tractor. He loved it.

This was the one trike he could reach the peddles on.

He tried to pedal but the trikes were all too big.

This is how Pach and Bacon spent most of the time. Pach just
went over and started pushing him around. It was so fun to see.

Guinea Pigs

Tim is making a wedding cake for a friends son in December. She sent over a recipe for a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and raspberry flavored whipped cream. Tim decided to make it today. We were his guinea pigs. As you can see, little Bacon LOVED the whipped cream. He mostly ate the cupcake but the whipped cream is what made him HAPPY!!!

A close up of the happy, messy boy!

A picture of the table in front of him. He had fun too!