A Crazy Day for a Hat?

Funny story time. I came accross a picture on pinterest that basically says, screw salmonella, I am eating the raw batter. I had to show this to Andrew because this is my mantra. Cookie dough should never be wasted by baking it! I love cookie dough. Andrew looks at me with a serious but amused face... "Oh I know you like to eat the dough! Why do you think I spend the extra time double washing the eggs?  Because that is where the germs are and I do not want you getting sick." BBHAHAHHAHA! That folks is eternal love. All along this man has been quietly wasing the eggs with out me noticing just so I can enjoy the fruits of cookie dough labor with out dying! <3

 

In honor of Halloween, I thought this picture was quite fitting!

 

 

 

Here is another throwback picture. A few ears back we went to a carnival that had one of those places where people bring their cool cars. I had to take a picture of this truck! It reminds me of working on the ranch at Bill Martinells. I first learned to drive (stick) on a truck very similar to this one. Only I am sure the one on the ranch had a big hole in the floor board. We called it The Creamsicle!

 

 

This thing was pimped out! Do you remember this truck Mom or Dad?

 

 

This video below always puts a smile on my face! Emilee made this noise while sucking her binki ALL THE TIME. It was especially noticable during the night!

 

 

Thursday night Jaxson notified us that Friday was indeed.......CRAZY HAT DAY! I was momentarily overjoyed thinking of all the possible creations. As a kid, Crazy Hat Day was my jam! I have a specific memory of my mother taking a basket and placing it on my head, then putting flowers in it. If I had a scanner, I would show you! Trust me, the hat was classic. Andrew and I had the same idea for Jaxsie almost immediately. Lets make something out of a diaper!!!!! We were most likely a tad to excited.  Jaxson was not even close to amused and asked to just make what he wanted.

 

 

 

After a visit to the craft room and the cupboards this is what our table looked like. Again, making a mess never bothers me, its the cleaning it up part that gets my goat!

 

Andrew was a great help. Glue guns are not for the faint of heart.  

 

I thought the hat was awesome. I love watching my kids be creative. Please note that at some point during the day Jaxson got a bit hungry. When he came home the gummy snacks were all bitten in half! I cant wait to see what he comes up with next year.

 

This is what happens when the hubbs tried to take my picture when I have not put my face on!

 

So GQ!

 

Great Hat MAN!

 

 

Friday was also the Apple Valley Monster Ball. It was a chaotically awesome time. This year Jaxson decided to be a kind vampire.....aka NO BLOOD. I think the blood would creep him out. He looked great. The teeth made him drool which I thought was quite funny.

 

The place was packed....seriously. Very little standing room and hard to see where the lines where.

 

Jaxson had a set amount of tickets and played the games until they were gone.

 

Gettin' some ink.

 

I liked this game. They were throwing rings at the suckers, if it landed they could keep it.

 

Dinner was Frankenstein Fingers (hot dogs) and Witches Brew (water). It was a great date night with my little man.

Pre Oct. 31st Festivities

Basically, today rocked! I have been looking toward October 24th for a month or so now. Every day I measure time according to its proximity to the 24th. See, me and the old ball and chain finally wised up and made a date day. WHOOOO! Dates are hard to come by when family is no where near. Anyways, we both arranged to have the day off , shipped Emmers to daycare and Jaxson to school. Where did we go? The temple and lunch...perfection.

I am so thankful for The House of the Lord. I love how the world can feel like it is falling apart but the moment I walk through those doors I feel an instant peace in my soul. I feel my burdens are instantly made light and my soul can rest. The words of How Firm a Foundation have never rung more true.

 How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word;
What more can he say than to you he hath said?
Who unto the savior for refuge hath fled.

 

Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed!
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

 

 When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress

 

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes:
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never - no, never, no, never forsake!”

 

I have truly felt of late that all Hell is attempting to shake me to the core. Today, I knew with a surety that though all hell may endeavor to shake my soul, I can find peace and protection in my savior. What a beautiful feeling. I am so thankful for the knowledge I have of the Great Plan of Happiness. I have been blessed with a great husband and awesome kids!

 

 

 



This day was also awesome because.........we rocked the pumpkin carving.

 

 

These two boys were a bit excited. Dear Andrew.....love the face!

 

One must concentrate when cutting. Jaxson thought his dad was pretty cool!

 

 

I feel the need to show that we do attempt to involve Emilee, but she would rather not.

 

First, he started with a spoon. I often get the feeling he does not like to get his hands dirty. ( His pants though are a whole different story)

 

 

"Hey mom.....do you think I could just use my hands?" Ummm, YEAH! I applaud messes!

 

 

It was painstaking work sifting out all those seeds! I decided to channel my mother and make some sweet/spicy pumpkin seeds.

 

 

~ Andrew tells me this is the quintessential Joni face ~

 

I will now quote the almost 7 year old. "Mom look, I am making the guts poop!" BHAHAHHAAH!  I probably should not laugh at bathroom humor but it cracks me up! I had to get a pic so that I could remember it! (Also, I am pretty sure I saw Andrew crack a little smile)

 

A "gut mountain."

 

 

The pumpkin was just calling for a good SHANKING!

 

SHANK

SHANK

SHANK

 

Not bad....not bad!

 

 The lights make it all.

 

Bring on the CANDY!

 

 





A Deep Fried A-fair!

 

Love these people!

 

 

Double LOVE these new work rides!

 

Emilee has become a complete destructo baby! Seriously, she is crazy. She will climb on top of the couch and then just step right off. We have had so many falls and bumps this week! Daily, I find my self thinking that today will be the day that she remembers that what goes up must come down. No such luck! I am going to commission the Drewskie to take a couple of pool noodles and pad the death trap that is the concrete fireplace mantle. I think it will add to the whole Packard House experience!

 

 

Little sister was totally cracking me up! She has this thing for sitting in the salad spinner and wearing the inner part on her head. Crazy kid!

 

 

Sadly, I was informed yesterday that Jaxson is now to old to be dancing! (What? note below how he rocked out to YOGAMAN) I guess the thought of jamming out to Sesame Street with me and little sister was the straw that broke his back. He is growing up to be quite the young man. He walks to the bus stop himself..... I never thought I would let me kids do that... :D. This week a girl from his bus stop was getting picked on so Jaxson decided he would be her protector at recess. When the kids make fun of her he tells them to stop. (I love that!) His favorite part of school is doing his writing journal although recess seems to always be the topic of conversation. He tells me they have three recesses and can I believe that when he is in 15th grade he will not get to have recess anymore?

 

 

 

Currently, I am enjoying (haha) the full experience of baby growing. That includes some pretty wicked pukieness that seems to start at 7pm and last until about noon the next day. I feel to bad for Andrew who has to listen to me whine about having to spill my guts all night. A few nights back I saw a fellow prego friend eating a bean burrito and I thought to myself...."I must have a bean burrito.....it sounds so good." I do not know what I was smoking but I will NOT be eating Taco Bell anytime in the near future. That was some expensive puke!

 

 

 

 

A few weeks back we went to the Central Washington State Fair....GOOD TIMES. As long as I can remember I have been an avid fair attender. This is an event that I remember looking forward to as a child. We would always get to go more than once, SWEET! My Dad, who shares the same love, would sit on a bench and just watch the people! If I am to be perfectly honest, I loved the fair for two reasons....the food and the cookware demonstrations. I super do not like the carnival rides...but that is a whole new ball of wax.   

 

The first exhibit we went to was a toy fiesta! I believe it was called Toytopia.  This is a picture of Jaxson standing in front of a giant bear made out of Legos. He was in heaven.

 

Emilee had fun in the doll house section.

 

They had a case with every kind of Lego man available....ummm awesome. Jaxson (in case I didnt make it clear) loves legos and had fun dreaming of the things he could make.

(One day I will take pics of high quality where you cant see the flash!)

 

We went to the fair with some great friends.....Bri and Shaun. We have been very blessed to meet a couple with the same values and sense of humor. We love them! This is their daughter Kiley.

 

This is a lego board wall where the kids could build. I wanted to remember this wall because I thought it was a great idea! I have never been to a fair that had a Toytopia.....I thought it was a blast.

 

 

This lady was awesome. She was trained by Disney and then taught her mom and sister. I think they just go from fair to fair doing this.

 

Love it!

 

Kileys eye was awesome. ( I look freaky without glasses!)

 

Jaxsie got a dragon. Love how he likes to go around flexing those bad boys. He said this was his favorite part of the day.

 

Here we are! Please note.....I will never be to old for dancing or face painting!

 

 

We did a serious amount of walking! Just a word to the wise, when walking for extended periods of time....do NOT wear flip-flops! I have a deep love flip flops but by the end of this day my dogs were barkin'! Not to mention questionable contents may have been on the bottoms of my feet after a stroll through the animal barns!

The food was awesome.....and the prices were out of control! I tasted my first lambburger....Yummo! We also had funnel cake and deep fried cheese curds. Good thing I saved my calories all week. Shout out to my work friend Evette....she gave me all the secrets of where to find the good food! She must be a fellow fair foodie like myself.

 

 

Ride time!

 

I started out strong taking pics and then slowly faded! The animals were fun to look at ,though it was a bit weird seeing how I was fresh off eating a lamb burger. There was a exhibit with wild animals that had been taken from weird people! You know, the type of people who keep lions and tigers and bears...OH MY. I will say that exhibit was a bit odd. There were panthers chillin in dog kennels, tons of snakes and a tiger that was separated my some cheap wire fencing and a rope. Honestly, one should never be that close to a tiger!

 

We had a great day! Again, loved making memories with my crazy family.

 

 

 



Pumpkins and Pop-pops

(please note my spell check is not working! Sorry)

 

I found this gem whist looking through the stockpile of computer photos. This was taken at our Selah house right before Emilee was born. It is Jaxson in his element! Looking at him sitting next to me,  I cannot believe how much he has grown! I also wanted to include an awesome quote from him this week. In response to the conference announcement that there are 139 temples he exclaimed with glee, "Oh man mom, that means people have sure been paying their tithing! I am going to pay even more tithing so we can get 6030 temples!" There it is folks, proof that our children actually do listen to us. Our temple FHE was not wasted after all. 

 

 

Oh...an empty plate you say? This is in fact Jaxsons empty plate and is a sure sign that dinner was a success. I made The Best Lasagna Ever! Really though, this is the best lasagna ever and that is saying something seeings how I have a serious aversion to all things Italian! I just wanted to document the proof and say, seriously try it out!

 

Eat on up!

 

 

I was looking through old photos deciding on what to document and found this cute pic of my sister. I really miss her! She is so funny and makes me super proud. If you need Mary Kay she is your girl. She is in college to become a teacher....<3!

 

 

This weekend we were blessed to have Rick and Lori in from the other side of the mountains. We went to a fantastic pumpkin patch at Thompson Farm. They had a variety of things to do, pumpkins, corn maze, feeding animals, hayrides.  I have a friend who is bringing her daughter and friends here for a birthday party.....what a fun idea!


$As you can see above the first thing we did was find our very own special pumpkins. Jaxson was a kid in the candy store for sure. He, of course, wanted the 100 lb, $1000 pumpkin. :D What kid wouldn't. This was my first experience with going to a farm like this but I cant wait to make it a tradition. The pumpkins were actually growing in the field. I am told that some places pre pick the pumpkins and place them in the field. (Not as cool)This was one time that I was thankful my man carries a pocket knife!

 The day started out pretty dreary but in no time the sun was out and ready to say hello.  Emmers was having a blast attempting to navagate the terrain. Would you even guess that her talent was finding all the rotten apples and pumpkins? She spent most of the time falling down and getting back up. As you can see below her attempt to pick up the pumpkin ended in yet another fall. These were some really big pumpkins. Oh, and I believe this is the point where we had to tell Jaxsie not to step on the pumpkins. I thought that was a given, but I have learned in my old age never to assume.

As you can see Pop-pop is looking fantastic. I am sure that we wore him out but he sure was a trooper.  His favorite part of the day was watching the kids explore and pick out pumpkins. He especially got a kick out of emilees pumpkin shenanigans. I observed the educator in both of my in-laws while they oohed and awed at the kids learning and exploring. They are great people!

 

Nanna Lori and I enjoyed the many wonderful photo oppertunities. I really enjoyed the special family time. I hope that my children will grow up feeling loved and remembering these times. The picture below is the perfect example of my kids and their love for one another. Emilee could follow Jaxson anywhere. She just loves her brother!

 

For 25 cents you could feed the chickens and turkeys. At first Jaxson was NOT interested. As we approached the chickens and he realised that they were behind the fence, he quickly changed his tune. Some days he really makes me chuckle. For being a big kids he certianly is scared of some pretty small things!

 

 

These animals had it good. You can tell they live the high life. Andrew enjoyed watching Jaxson and Pop-pop feed the chickens. The Packard men really have a talent for making chicken noises!  The pic on the above right is some sort of contraption the goats were climbing on. Again, the high life I say!

 

 

I did wonder if the turkeys feel any sort of inpending doom?

 

 

She just loves her pop-pop!

 

 

Dear Jaxson! You are awesome!

 

 

Emilee you are a pearl!

 

 

Just chillin with Dad!

 

 

I can walk!

 

 

Pumpkin Cannons!

 

We ended the day with some fresh home made doughnuts! Of course I have no picture....who keeps a dougnut around for long enough to get a picture?

 

We loved having family here in good old Yakima. I imagine heaven as being quite similar to this day. Relaxing, giggling and sharing love with those most important in life. I pray that one day we will be able to be closer to famliy!