Grand Canyon of the East-Letchworth

One of my most favorite places to visit and especially in the Fall is Letchworth. It's beautiful! We had a wonderful time hiking around and the mid 70 temps weren't too bad either!

Chief, Jeremy and the lower falls.



Chief loves riding on his daddy's shoulders.


My beautiful family on our little hike to the lower falls.

Vidler's Five and Dime

I really really really love going to Vidler's. They have just a whole bunch of odds and ends and everything inbetween. Seriously you can find dill pickle kettle chips, 10 cent popcorn freshly popped, slinkies, jack-in-the-box, penny candy, cookie cutters, sock monkey hats and even hair nets. I can't wait to go again!


We love the 10 cent popcorn!

Autumn in New York

I have fallen in love with New York's countryside. I imagine this is where Charlotte's Web could be filmed.

Adoption Update

As of a few weeks ago Jeremy and I completed the mounds of paperwork!!! Our adoption social worker will be meeting with us on October 26th to do a walk through of our home and interview us. (Guess I better clean my room :)Once she does that she writes our homestudy and completes our file and we then have the go ahead to start looking for our birthmother! This time it is going to be a little more tricky. LDS Family Services changed their policy and it now says that you cannot adopt through them if you have two or more children. However, if we find our own birthmother we can then take her to LDS Family Services and they can then do it. So basically we can't create an adoption profile and put it on LDS Family Services website. Which means we have to find our birthmother through word of mouth. We feel very strongly that we have another child waiting to come to our family. So we will just continue to pray to find our birthmother and pray for birthmothers everywhere to make the right decision that is best for them and their little one. We are confident that if it is meant to be it will happen. We know from experience that the right baby goes to the right family. We are eternally grateful for Oliver's birthmother Aubrey. We love her so much and I often think of how incredible birthmother's truly are.

An Afternoon at Kelkenburg

On Friday the kids got out of school early which was perfect because the weather is absolutely beautiful. We went to Kelkenburg Farms and rode ponies, had the opportunity to milk a goat, brushed a pony, played with the goats, saw a brand new foal and baby pig,ran around a little hay maze, had rubber duck races, took a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch, picked our pumpkins and bought some apple cider. The day was perfect and we ended up spending about three hours at the farm. My kids were in heaven
Climbing fences is hard when you have fancy boots on.

Granny and Chief.

Chief trying to pull a fast one and sneak under the fence to chase the chickens.

Chief's face is priceless. He LOVES the farm and fits right in.

Bean and Chief brushing the pony.



Grinding corn is hard work....



This Jersey calf was born in September. Chief loved her, but she was quite ornery.

Chief petting the sheep.

Bean feeding the goat.

Checking out the piglets. Please get your mouth off of that Chief!

Goose and Chief playing with the goats. This goat was actually a special needs goat. He's deaf and the farmer told me he will just walk around in circles for long periods of time.

Chief looks like he's eating with the goat.


I wouldn't be surprised if Chief was spelling his name in the barn floor dirt. He's brilliant.

Chief loved the barn cat and kept following her and grabbing her tail.

Chief could have played in the barn all day. Like his socks? I'm afraid those won't be quite white again.

My little Cowboy thinks he has the maze figured out....

The kids had so much fun playing in the hay maze. Can you tell by Chief's face?

Rubber Duck races, Granny always takes it very seriously.


Bean loves ponies and could have spent all day riding.

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Mac & Tom, my FAVORITE food

The other day Chief and I went to Peter Baker Farms to pick some tomatoes. I grew up eating Mac & Tom several times a week. I remember my mom staying up all hours canning tomato juice. Mac & Tom is my favorite food in the entire world. No joke. It's that good, especially sprinkled with some peppie salt.(Nature's Seasoning, found in the spice aisle.) This was my first year canning tomato juice and I really loved doing it. It reminded me so much of my mom. Just writing about it makes me want to sit down with a bowl. Yummy!
I think I have the cutest tomato picker ever! He was such a good little helper!


I got 48 quarts of tomato juice from 2 bushels of tomatoes, at $10 bucks a bushel. Not too bad!! I wanted to pick lots more, but got rained out. I eat Mac & Tom nearly every day for lunch so this will be gone in no time.

Raisels

My friend Natalie introduced me to these and let me tell you what they are stinkin delicious!!!!! Jeremy gags on them, but seriously if you love gummi grapefruits or anything a bit sour you are going to LOVE these golden raisins smothered in sour goodness. Give em a whirl, you will be happy you did. They come in all different flavors, I am currently loving the orange and watermelon. I like to tell myself they're a healthy snack. Seriously go get some! Jessica if you're reading this I think your going to love em!

Tennis

The other week I came across a screaming deal. 7 weeks of FREE tennis lessons at a local tennis center. Lilly is really loving it!!