October 2011

Despite the trials and hardships that we have been facing and adjusting to, we were able to have a lot of fun during the month of October. Here are some of our highlights.
**Lots of pictures**
Within the first week of October, we received our first snow in Idaho. It wasn't much, and it didn't last long. We received about 4 inches in the grassy areas. Anyway, it was enough to "break out" the snow clothes for RJ. In past years, RJ has hated the snow. With this snow, it was his idea to get the snow pants on and the boots and go out with the neighbor kids. Once out, he lasted about 15 minutes, but hey, I take whatever little progress we can. Here is RJ heading out to play.

When the first snow melted, we decided to head out and pick our one and only surviving pumpkin from our garden. It probably weighed 40 pounds. We carved it up even though it was early in the month. RJ really REALLY loved "his" pumpkin and was very excited that we got to pick it and carve it.


On a random night, I got a hankering for some ice cream. We loaded up and went into Dairy Queen. RJ loves their hot dogs, so we ordered him a hot dog and a complimentary ice cream cone. It was his first ever ice cream cone. I think he handled it like a pro. Another random picture is of RJ with his back pack. He LOVES his preschool. However, he hasn't quite mastered the backpack wearing thing yet. I still think he is cute though. Also, we got his preschool picture back, so that is included too.



The middle of the month brought hunting season. I understand why Dale goes when he does...he can hunt both deer and elk over that weekend. However, I always think that he is dumb for hunting that weekend because the temperatures are much too warm and the animals are too high still. Regardless, while he was gone, RJ and I bought and carved our second pumpkin. Again, he LOVED it and we had fun. Another fun activity that we participated in was a local straw maze. It was a blast. We went with a couple neighbor families. We got really lost and it took us over an hour to get out of the maze. The next picture is of RJ running on the straw bales after we got out finally.

Have I mentioned before that RJ has a slight fettish with my shoes? Oh my heck! There is not a pair of my shoes that is safe. In this picture, I was trying to get us out the door to church, and he didn't want to leave my boots at home.

The week before our Church's trunk or treat we spent quite a bit of time at my friend Niki's house "helping" her build her nephew's Ark for Halloween. While we were there, RJ learned how to go down the slide head first. It is kinda nerve wracking for me. I think that I am going to start going gray. And then our trunk or treat arrived. There is a picture with his friend Breleigh (blurry), and then one with his eyes closed because the flash was too bright. Overall, he was a happy kid.



One of the final random activities that we did was make and frost Halloween sugar cookies. This was probably RJ's all time favorite activity over the month. He was covered in flour from his toes to his nose. He loved cutting the pumpkins, bats, and kitties out. Afterwards, we delivered them to some neighbor families.

Finally the last "fun" activity of the month was trick or treating last night with the Bagley children and the neighbor kids. Here is a picture of them all lined up when they got home.

Last but not least, a couple weeks ago, Ryan's gravestone came in and was placed. I actually love the way it turned out. He really loved his little giraffes. I also love that it has such a large base so we can always place plants or flowers.