Start of the Holiday Season!

Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, but I always love it. Mainly because it's the start of the Holiday Season. I can't tell you how excited I am that today is the first day of NOVEMBER! This means Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations, Christmas shopping, Christmas music, then Christmas and New Year. SO excited!

This Halloween was the second Halloween in 7 years that I missed trick or treating with my kids. The first time was when I was 157 months pregnant with Megan, and was too sore and tired to go anywhere. This year, I did something fun. I volunteered to be a monster in a haunted house put on by the community center nearby. For three nights I was not a mom or Midwife, I was a monster who got kicks out of scaring people. Hehe. It was a great deal of fun, and I'm sure I will be volunteering next year as well. For my time, I get three months free to the community center, which has a huge indoor swimming pool, a gym, aerobics classes, etc .... I realized though how old I am getting, when I am exhausted from being out every night until 10:30 or so. Haha. Last night I arrived home at about 12:30, after hanging out with a friend at IHOP for a while. It was fun!

The kids had a great time last night as well. Jeramy teamed up with a fellow Single-Dad-For-The-Night, and took the combined seven children trick or treating with another friend from work, with his wife and kids. They said they had fun, and certainly brought home a ton of candy.

Yesterday the kids and I decorated popcorn balls that my mom had shipped from the Popcorn Factory. See the pictures below. They loved doing this, and had a great time eating them as well. They were quite yummy.

Here on out I will be working on Christmas gifts, preparing to go back "home" to CA for Thanksgiving, and slowly picking up Christmas decorations so that my house can be brimming with Christmas by the time the month is over. ♥ Happy November!

Brrrr! It's Cold!

Living in California all of my life, I am used to it being either hot, or cool. Nothing really more extreme than cool. I *do* remember living in Apple Valley, and having it snow a bit and get cold and windy. But, we were only there for 2 winters, so it's easy to forget.

On Tuesday, Southern Utah ( though not here at the house or in St. George ) got its first snow. It snowed as close as 25 minutes from us, in Kolob. I made home made hot cocoa for the kids, and later on I decided that we needed to take a drive to get out of the house and kind of shake off the grumpiness between Noah and Daddy. So, we took a side road out for a while, and saw a deer with big antlers along the way! It was quite a sight. When I doubled back to try to catch him for a picture, he was gone. We continued on to a breathtaking scenic drive in Kolob. The kids were so very excited to see snow, and even got out to touch it for a few minutes before we all decided we were freezing.

Yesterday at 3pm it topped at 45 degrees. This morning when I took Kaitlyn to school, it said it was 35. I'm really not used to this in October, but it's really exciting for me to live in a place where you can see and feel the seasons change. I have been told that we will see snow here in Hurricane as well, and I am really looking forward to that. :)

Anyway, here are some pictures from our trip up to Kolob. Not many, and kind of blurry, because I was losing light and my camera sucks.

Who needs a zoo?

I realized today as I was sitting in the park with Megan and Noah, that this is the first time in our city-filled lives that we have seen a lot of wild animals. And we haven't had to go search them out, many of them are right out in the open. It's amazing what happens when you have wide-open spaces!

The first picture is of a wild rabbit that is one of MANY that occupy a local park that we have fallen in love with. There were so many of them the other day, hopping around and lounging on the green grass of the play field.

The second is of a chipmunk that also resides at said park. Today, Noah put down some crumbled tortilla chips, and watch as 10 or so of them came out to gather up the food. We saw chipmunks fighting, sharing, and eating. They are really rather cute.

The third is of a less adorable creature. We were at a park nearby a few weeks ago with friends, and the kids found this in the creek that runs through the park. They had been playing in it, and Megan jumped out and came running with "Mama!! There's a ALLIGATOR in the water! HELP!". When I walked over to see what she was talking about, I chuckled when I came across a crawdad. She had never seen one before, but I guess the pinchers and tail threw her for a loop. Hahaha.

The last picture is blurry ( my camera was acting up, and I was losing light ), but those are my raccoon friends that live right here in our neighborhood. Well, technically they live in the ravine behind our development, but are often seen throughout our neighborhood. When we go down to the pool at about sunset, it's easy to catch them coming out for the night. One rainy night, after coming home late, Jeramy and I stood on our driveway and watched them play on our street. Climbing up into a peach tree just 2 houses down, and run up and down the street. Their chatter is adorable. I've decided, despite being called crazy, that I would eventually love to own one. I've read about how much work they are, how mischievous they are, and how incredibly smart they are. Rarely when they are raised from itty bitty, are they mean and aggressive. Not much more than a cat being annoyed with someone, from what I have read.

All in all, just living here has been a totally different experience for us. We can see the clear blue sky without any smog, we can see a TON of stars at night without city lights getting in the way, and we see wildlife almost anywhere we go. The kids have really enjoyed seeing all of this, and being outdoors more.

There's been a Homicide ...

Two days ago, the kids came screeching in with a *huge* caterpillar. I agreed that we could keep him, if they found enough sticks and leaves and some rocks to put in a box for him. They did. Megan was the most enthralled, and kept showing me how brave she was by picking him up.

I wish I had gotten a picture of their little "pet", because we had a homicide today. I suppose it would be considered "caterpillar slaughter", because it wasn't an intentional murder. Megan was holding him, and went to put him back, so she pinched him. Well, she squished him. She's heartbroken, and sitting outside with him, telling him to come back to life. It's actually quite sad.

She's mourning, and Noah's seething, saying that she shouldn't have killed him. Oh, such a sad day.

Firsts

Kaitlyn had her first day of school in Utah, on August 13th. ( Yes, I know I'm REALLY behind! ) She is in third grade...and it seems impossible! My mom and her husband were here to see her off as well, so the day was extra special. Kaitlyn just so happened to be assigned to her first male teacher, who is from Huntington Beach, CA! After speaking with him, I found out that his wife's family lives just down the street from where we lived. Such a small world. :) Kaitlyn really likes her class and her teacher, and has had some discussions with him about home in California, and I think that helped her to feel more accepted off the bat.

The next day, we all went to the county fair here. The kids had a GREAT time in the animal section. There were horses, pigs, goats, sheep, cows, and baby chicks that they got to pet...and they got their first horse ride. They had a blast going on a few rides, and just being at the fair in general. They really enjoyed their grandma being here, and had a great time showing them around.

We had another first, two weeks ago. We sent Kaitlyn off to school, and within 30 minutes we got a phone call that she had fallen off of the monkey bars, and fell onto her left arm. We were told she wouldn't move it, and would cry if it was moved at all. I took her to the ER where it was confirmed that she had broken her arm. We've NEVER had a broken bone in our family - the most Jeramy and I have "broken" was our pinky toe as kids, and we both agreed it didn't count. We thought for sure Noah would be the one to have the first broken bone, not really taking into account how much of a little daredevil that Kaitlyn can be. Haha. She got a softer cast on until the swelling went down, and then was very happy to get her hot pink hard cast on one week later. She's been horribly unhappy about not being able to swim, but she's been a trooper. She does call the monkey bars "evil" now, and swears that she will never go on them again. LOL I don't have a picture of her in her cast on this computer, but I will upload them today, and hopefully remember to get them up.

The younger two are adapting well to having Kaitlyn gone during the day, and I must admit that I am a horrible mother, and am enjoying having a bit more quiet during the day with one out of the equation.

Here are some pictures of the first day of school, and our trip to the fair. Enjoy! :)

Treks into the hills, racoons, and amazing lightening storms!

We've had quite the adventure since we've been here. We always trying to find something new to do, or see, and this weekend was no exception. ;)

There is a place nearby called Toquerville Falls. It is a section of the desert near Zion National Park that has naturally-occuring waterfalls. I really wanted to see them. I had read that it was off of a main road, up a dirt road a few miles. It was described as "rough", but didn't have a whole lot of detail. ( I should have looked into it further! )

We tried going off to find this on Friday, and miraculously ended up getting about 2 1/2 miles up this incredibly rocky and rough terrain in our minivan before Jeramy made the judgement call that the van couldn't go any further. I was really bummed, but was amazed we had made it *that* far in the van! LOL I am going to have to borrow or rent a 4x4 one of these days to be able to get up there. The pictures of this place are gorgeous. But boy was my adrenaline pumping, trying to get the van back down to the main road without popping a tire, or ripping a hole in the undercarriage on one of the big rocks. :-/ Oy!

We have also been going swimming at night a lot. We've had fun being able to swim after the sun is down, cutting the risk of sunburn. Our pool is open until 11, and we've been going at about 8. On our way back the other night, we saw a family of racoons scurrying across the road. The kids were excited, and I have to admit that I was too. I like racoons. :)

Last night we watched one of *THE* most amazing lightening storms I have ever seen. No rain, no thunder, just lightening. And the cool part was that the clouds were so big that the lightening seemed to be INSIDE of the clouds, lighting them all up. We watched for a good half hour before coming in.

The down side to this is, I seemed to have brushed up against something while outside ( in the dark ), because I began breaking out in hives all over my body. I was absolutely miserable last night, and had to hunt through boxes for an antihistamine. Goodness was I glad when I woke up and found them gone this morning!

I don't really have any pictures this time, just notes of our many adventures. :) I have a prenatal tonight with a new client ( YAY! ), and then we will probably go swimming. Good times!

Adventures and New Discoveries

Today I had promised the kids that we could grab some lunch and ice cream. We went into downtown Hurricane, rather than St. George this time. It's a seriously cute little area, complete with a Main Street ( and it LOOKS like what you would picture a Main Street to be! ), antique shop, and white picket fences. I decided that we would do some exploring. I was armed with my camera, so off we went!

Lately I have been fascinated by learning about the FLDS ( Fundamental Latter Day Saints ) and Polygamists that we so often see walking around in local stores ( particularly Walmart ), and have been reading a lot about the cities of Hildale and Colorado City. These are the more heavily populated areas for Polygamists. Jeramy thinks it's odd that I have a fascination with this - but what can I say? I do. One doesn't often get to so plainly see people who are involved in a cult, walking around in the local store. :shrug:

So anyway, back to our adventure. I saw a sign that said "Colorado City - 22 Miles", and knew where we were going. The town itself is nestled up against some of the most beautiful cliffs I have ever seen. ( see pics below ) And yes, we saw plenty of people out and about in the full outfits they wear ( The picture below was not taken by me, just an example to show you ), and we saw a girl younger than Kaitlyn in the full garb, running a young horse. What stumps me is how they don't die of heat stroke in these outfits. The collars go all the way up to the neck, full length sleeves, and the skirt is down to the feet. I think I'd be passing out daily. Maybe there's some secret to them. Maybe I'll work up the nerve to ask one of the women I pass by in Walmart one day. I wonder if they'd get offended if I asked something so silly as that?

We stopped in many spots along the way so that I could take pictures. Each time I pulled over, the kids groaned. LOL

Jeramy called right after we got home this afternoon, and asked what we were doing.

Christy: "We just got back from Arizona."
Jeramy: "Excuse me? What?!"
Christy: "Well, I saw a sign that said 'Colorado City - 22 Miles', and well ... "
Jeramy: "You're special."

Heehee. Jeramy gives me such a hard time about my fascination. ;)

Here are some of the pictures from today. I am also adding some of the living room, as I got my lettering put up, and a wall decoration as well. OH! And a short video of the kids doing something they just discovered. LOL