Happy Halloween

We like to take candy to Ethan and Cameo's house and hand it out to trick or treaters.
We live on an acre.
Acres are far apart.
Even our kids didn't want to Trick or Treat here.
We used to take them near their friends' houses.
So we go to Ethan and Cameo's
Two years ago this very night...
Nathan opened his LDS Church Mission Call
In their driveway...dressed as a geek with Jessica.
This year brought a midweek Halloween,
thus...a school night...
So we didn't share it with Amber, Doran and Kelsie this time.

Papa was a Mad Doctor!

Ethan was Merlin, Kaylee was a mouse, and Cameo was Robin

Meanwhile, Kayty had her own Halloween Party.
Her first in many many years.
She worked at Party City.
Halloween was required.
She had friends over and had fun.

Kayty really should have been born a spider...She is a master at webbing!

Chino Valley Pumpkin Patch and Festival

Ethan and Cameo wanted to take Kaylee to a pumpkin patch, so they invited us on the final Saturday before Halloween. As kids, we went to Young's Farm in Dewey, Az, but Ethan found this one on the internet and it was such a nice one: true home town pumpkin fest!

Mommy, Kaylee and Grammy went on the Cinderella Hay Ride

Kaylee's selected pumpkin

One More Try...

Dad still was elk-less.
He wasn't bothered.
But the weather was so beautiful
Nice sunny days on the Mogollon Rim always are.
And the boys were still off work.
So they went.

Ethan did get a squirrel. 

They had fun...though the elk had fled the area.

Elk Hunting a la Rice Men

Elk Hunting in Arizona...
In fact, hunting...or fishing... in Arizona...
Is NOT easy.
First step: The Draw
Months ahead, paperwork is filled out and submitted...
Usually on the very last day applications can be turned in.
We are Rice Men, after all.
Anxious waiting ensues...
Until a valiant soul gets on the Az Game and Fish website
And announces that the results are published.
More anxious waiting ensues...
Website cannot handle that many men, and sometimes women, at one time.
Rice Men were successful.
More anxious waiting ensues...
Finally, the night before the hunt comes
And
In Rice Man Fashion
Mom madly prepares and packs meals and grub box
Yes, the ol' Grub Box...a very large and very sturdy plastic box
Once a gift to young Doran for scout camp use
It attended all of our big camping trips...
Full of dishes and towels and plastic bags and seasonings
And unknown aged peanut butter...and other toxic things Kayty and I tossed.
The left early in the morning.
The looked and looked.
They hunted and hunted.
They ate and ate. I make some darned good Elk Green Chili Burro Meat...

It must have been doggone cold! These guys are ALWAYS hot! Seeing them in warm hats makes me wonder how cold it got!

Doran brought his chainsaw, making for nice fires!

Saturday afternoon...
No calls yet...
Must mean the Elk won this battle...
So I headed to Thunderbird Park for a hike.
I just got to the base of the trail
When my phone rang.
It was Amber. Ethan had gotten one! (Awesome for a mom, because all of his brothers had shot an elk already. He just always ended up hunting on the snowed in hunts or the dry summer hunts...
I continued my hike.
On the way down, I got another call.
Doran had gotten one!
At first, I wondered if it was a mistake...Maybe Ethan hadn't gotten one.
But a call to Dad cleared it all up.
Two Sons + Two Elk = Two Very Proud Parents.

I made sure we had enough freezer bags and paper.
They arrived.
They butchered.
They ground.
I packaged and labeled.
They took it all, in neat white packages to their homes.
They took big smiles on their faces too.
Nothing like that.
It's a Rice Man Thing.
And I am so glad I understand!

Catching Up...Again...

Someone at an Empty Nester Family Home Evening commented to me that her adult daughter just loved reading my blog! I then went to my blog...and saw that I had posted NOTHING since August 7! Hopefully, she is inspired to be more consistent than I am, since she has three young boys and my babes are all grown up. So, I am posting after August 7, with the actual date the picture was taken, just to fake that I had always blogged.

An Invitation To A Primary Program

A text came: "Can you come to our Primary Program?" Of course! So Dorrie, Dee, and I left on a Saturday, and came back on a Monday. We watched football, ate pizza, witnessed an amazing primary program, including Adam playing a piano accompaniment to I Am A Child Of God, walks, games, and Morgan even came down from Salt Lake City to visit.

First, we went to Adam's football game...

Grace demonstrates her hill rolling skills...even with that splint for her broken finger!  Joshy and Grammy played on the playground so Mommy could enjoy Adam's game.

Allison had wanted some geoboards and we found some at a yard sale. The kids had such a great time creating designs with them. 

 Adam made some stop-motion movies...this is the subject...

 I love it when I let Adam use my camera...great and very interesting photos...

 Uncle Morgan plays with Joshy...

We went played tetherball...except for Grace, who broker her index finger last week playing tetherball!

 We went for a family walk

 Uncle Morgan tormented neighborhood dogs...

 After haystacks for dinner, we all enjoyed cake and ice cream bought by Great Granny Dorrie

 Uncle Mo had to catch the Greyhound bus back to Salt Lake City...so the kids said goodbye...

 After breakfast the next morning, Mike took the kids to school, and we headed back home.

The trip home was full of bucket list items...

Dee always wondered about the 99 cent shrimp cocktail he saw on the casino sign near Lake Mead, so Dorrie encouraged a stop...

 It was pretty good, he said. Totally worth the 99 cents!

When we drive by Lucia's Pies, they are usually closed...but they were open this time. We shared a slice of blueberry pie...4.95 a slice!