Oktoberfest

Cali and Ray Follett put us on to the fun, that is Oktoberfest.  We went up to Leavenworth with them and enjoyed some good eats, some good songs, and some good company.  Thanks guys!

Captain Underpants

Did I mention I have been potty training since October 4th?  I may have repressed it since this is one of the more annoying things I have done as a mother.  He is getting pretty good, but what is the deal with number two?  Honestly, every kid I know being potty trained recently has a thing with number two, which mess by the way, is the absolute worst to clean up.  My hands are dry and cracked from all the hand washing.  But I do love my captain underpants.  He has taken to wandering the house with a long sleeve t-shirt and only his underpants, socks are optional. 

I’m 31!

There was a beautiful amazing lady who was in our ward in Monroe all through my growing up who died last week at the age of 102.  She NEVER liked to tell people how old she was and someone commented that she would be ticked now that everyone knew.  Maybe she didn’t want people prejudiced by her age when relating to her.  Anyway I don’t really care if you all know that I am officially a decent mommy age.  In my head I am still 26, which was a glorious year, thanks to Hyrum and so whatever the number, I will always be that age inside.  I celebrated my 31st birthday on Saturday.  Thanks to the fam it was great.  I woke Karissa up a little after 8 in the morning to go for a run with me and it was great.  We got absolutely soaked.  We literally had to ring out our clothes after the run but we had fun doing it.  Hyrum and Scottie made me a delicious breakfast and then later a cake (monkey bread actually, with candles in it), and gave me some really cute Chaco sandals.  I can finally throw out my old Tevas that I got in high school, the velcro was done for.  Then we went pumpkin patching.  Check us out.

 

 

Scottie and James in the pumpkin pile on a big truck bed.

 

 

 

 

Since I was the birthday girl, I got to be the pumpkin royalty.

 

 

 

 

 

Scottie especially loved riding in the wheelbarrow.

 

 

 

 

Maybe we will do it for my birthday again next year. 

Shadow Have I Loved

From the first day when we brought home the baby chicks back in March, Scottie loved the black one. She was the solitary black sex-link chicken so I named her Shadow and she became Scott’s chicken. Hyrum and I claimed Sheila, and Skunky, the two Americana chickens. Shadow quickly became the best chicken of the lot. When we would bring out table scraps she had a knack for getting most of them. She could even jump really high and get them out of our fingers. She was our favorite chicken. She laid eggs first out of all the chickens but one day one of them broke and we saw her pecking at it and soon her eggs would disappear. We would find DARK brown shells in the layer box. So we took her out of the pen for a week to separate her from the others, and then when I left for Ireland with the boys, Hyrum performed the dirty deed. But yesterday she may have received clemency, though two months to late. Hyrum found a stash of six DARK brown eggs under a bush outside of the pen. Could she be innocent? Could one of the mangy Buffy’s eaten her eggs? We are having trouble with a Buffy now. Guess what, when I cracked opened the eggs one by one, they smelled bad and were getting a little cloudy. Do you think this will go on our record at the judgment? None of us enjoyed our chicken dinner much. Scottie still talks about her and says she is with Heavenly Father. I think she is too.

Ode to Joy and to James

Just because I love my baby, and because both sets of Grandmas and Grandpas are away, I thought I would publish my favorite pics of him from this past month.

Check out his cute little face in the mirror.

James fell asleep on an exciting bike ride. At least I thought it was exciting, apparently he didn’t. Come to think of it, I think Scottie fell asleep in the back of the trailer on this ride too. Must have been only me who thought it was exciting.

That is Daddy’s nose he is going for. Get it James!

Love you James!

michelle, Bennett, and Flo Co Ro.

So I never post anything apparently.  Last month right when we got back from Ireland, we had an awesome visit from Shelz and Bennett.  They brought along their brand new babe Florence Colleen.  She is absolutely adorable.  Hmm… I need a girl sometime.  While they were here Flo and her cousin baby Kate (who were born 2 weeks apart) were blessed.  They were both gorgeous in their blessing dresses.  Flo wins the big cheek competition, and I think Kate wins the big head competition which makes them both beautiful winners. 

James playing with Flo, Flo playing with the baby gym.  She loved that thing so much we had to send it home with her.

Sista’s… Karissa was jealous that it was a 4 girls picture without her, but she was in Ireland, what was to be done I ask you?  For those of you who are counting, these are the 4 new mothers this year.  James in March, Flo and Kate in July, and if you can’t tell, that is baby Luke inside Shannon’s belly.  He was born October 9th and we are happy to have one more Magelsen/Farmer baby to join the fun.

The beautiful girls in their matching blessing dresses from Grandma Colleen.  Grandma and Grandpa were greatly missed at the blessing.

Men, men, men, men.  These were our handsome priesthood holders who performed the 2 blessings. 

And just for fun: Scottie and Cade enjoying themselves at the blessing.  And below: Hyrum’s great find.

Ireland

Travelogs are boring, so I am not going to tell you exactly what we did each day we were there, suffice it to say, that we had a GREAT time!  Thanks Gramma Colleen and Grampa Jim!

We saw:

Lots of Castles!

We enjoyed nature:

 

Rode “Bulgy” the double decker tour bus.

Riverdanced… get Scottie to show you his moves, he is really good!

Had adventures driving on the left side of the road.  We only had one flat tire, those darn curbs and narrow streets with hedges, one fender bender (for the record, she hit me from behind, not the other way around), and one pull-over from the Garda (“Do you understand what I am trying to tell you?” Sorry officer, not a bit with that Irish brogue, but we loved it.).  We made it home in one piece and really enjoyed the adventures in our red VW golf.

Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa for hosting us at your place.  We had a blast.  If you want to check out more photos, click on one of the pictures or this link.

Fringe benefits

There are many great perks that come along with Hyrum’s Microsoft Research internship.  First perk-they bought us a bike so Hyrum could be “green” and bike to work.  We are a bit far for him to bike to work, but he does take their connector bus that leaves from Monroe Fair Grounds (a second perk).  Third perk-they gave us a lump sum to help pay our rent this summer, but since we’re rent-free at Ma & Pa Magelsens’, it has gone towards the visit-Gamma-and-Bampa-in-Ireland fund.  Fourth perk-they plan great little trips so that we can be convinced to live in the northwest. 

As part of the fourth perk, we took a trip to Mt. Rainier.

Super Scottie

When I was in California visiting Michelle, I picked up a sweet superman shirt at the thrift store. Fortunately, and unfortunately, Scottie adores this. He calls it his "Captain Shirt," as in "Captain Dependable." If you have heard of Janeen Brady, you will know what he is talking about. Anyway, it is often difficult to get this t-shirt off of him so there are quite a few pictures of him in it.

Super Scottie!

See Scottie fly!

I have been taking the boys out for runs and bike rides in our double stroller/bike trailer lately. Isn't James the cutest 4 month old ever?