Blue Skies in November

I'm not sure if I've ever seen blue skies and the Nativities on Temple Square at the same time. It's a beautiful sight. If the weather wants to stay this nice through Christmas, it's ok with me.

Also a fun sight - the varied expressions from a rather animated game of Spot It at Dad's house on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Back at The Ranch

Jason's uncle owns a large cabin outside of Nephi where the Torgerson's have had a lot of family gatherings over the years. We were able to spend last weekend at The Ranch with some of Jason's siblings. We love the huge griddle where we can make pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage and then eat until we are absolutely stuffed silly. I taught a couple of the older girls how to crack eggs on this trip (much to their mother's dismay - Aunt Traci strikes again!!!). They were quite delighted with their newly learned skill - and I was quite delighted that they cracked a dozen eggs without dropping a single shell in the bowl.

At the ranch, the best seat in the house is actually outside the house. There are two large porch swings on the front deck where I could sit and swing for hours.

On Saturday, I took some of the kids on a "nature walk" where we found most of a goat skeleton scattered in pieces along the trail. My guess is that the goat had been attacked by a coyote. A little too much "nature" for me. But the kids thought we'd made a super cool discovery.

These two blondies (known to some as Big Head and Small Head) kept us all on our toes the whole weekend. The goal was to not let them eat any Box Elder bugs. I think we accomplished our mission. But these girls are also a lot sneakier than they look, so I'm not 100% confident that they didn't eat any bugs. We did try.

We played a lot of Uno and Sorry this weekend, watched a couple movies and (of course) the Utah game. However, I think the favorite activity for the kids was riding in the back of Taylor's truck on the loop around the cabin. Ironically, the favorite activity for the adults was sitting on the porch swings and talking quietly while the kids were off riding in the back of the truck. So that was a win-win for everyone.

Birthday Bookworms

It makes me happy that my nieces and nephews always have books on their birthday lists. Yay for birthday books!

Happy Halloweeners and Other Happenings

Apparently black is the new black when it comes to Halloween costumes. Noted.

Lauren loves Halloween decor and activities, so she was excited to go mini golfing with her family at Scary Hill Park (aka Cherry Hill). She was cracking me up by refering to a giant blow-up Frankenstein decoration as Franklin DeFrankenstein, like that was his full name.

I was so excited to hold Theo for the second time. He is 6 months old and doing really well. Plus, anyone can see how much he likes me. Shortly after this visit, he was able to go completely off oxygen, which was an awesome step for the little man. This 25 weeker and micropremie continues to amaze us.

So you have to ignore the garish mall lighting of this one, but I was excited to have some visitors from Idaho join me for lunch at City Creek.

And the lighting at Desert Star Playhouse clearly wasn't any better! But the play, the food, and the company were certainly outstanding.

#sisters

Happy Halloween!

I thought Jason was kidding when he said he thought Rooney would enjoy a trip to the pumpkin patch.

He wasn't kidding. But Rooney did really enjoy the outing. He loves to ride in the car, especially when it doesn't end with a trip to the groomer. The kids are already talking about taking Rooney with us to pick out our Christmas tree. Can't wait for him to mark his territory. On every single tree... He was strangely well behaved at the pumpkin patch though. It's like he knew this was a test for him. Can't believe WE were the classy family who brought our dog to the pumpkin patch.

When we got our pumpkins home, I asked Jason if he could help me carve a heart pumpkin. He said, and I quote, "If you can draw it, I can carve it." Which is a very accurate description of both my artistic abilities and his carving abilities.

When You Really Need to Catch Up On Your Blog

It's possible that it's too late on a Friday afternoon for me to care about being clever. I keep meaning to catch up on my blog, so here's a couple of pictures.

Jason and I went to the opening game of the Jazz season at the new and improved VivantSmart Arena. I think that's what we're calling it now. It's not the Delta Center anymore (which is what I like to call it) or Energy Solutions Arena. Apparently, the Salt Palace is a completely different building - but that doesn't stop me from calling it that. The Jazz pulled off a come-from-behind victory against the Denver Nuggets, and we had comfy seats in the recently redone arena. We really enjoyed the game. Jason loves that I sometimes get free tickets to Jazz games through work. Church employment has its perks I guess. If you have something to offer a large group of people who are willing to show up for free events at the last minute - the LDS Church Human Resources Department employee network is for you.

Kami is cute. I don't know what else to say about that.

Dahlia and I went to Witch Fest at Gardner Village so we could really annoy Mickey when he had to go with Jason to watch the Priesthood Session of conference.(Well, maybe that wasn't our actual intent, but it certainly served its purpose. Don't worry. Jason made sure Mickey got to go to Witch Fest the next weekend and we offered Dahlia the opportunity to watch the Priesthood Session. We are an equal opportunity family.) We loved finding all the witches and Dali loved that she got to pick the restaurant for our dinner. We ended up at Golden Corral. We recently introduced the kids to the buffet restaurant concept by accident in St. George and we may never eat at a normal restaurant ever again. They have cotton candy and BBQ chicken wings and pickles there. Why would we ever go anywhere else? 

Tay's kids in a classic "heads together" photo. I love their Christmas jammies.

Carly and Grandpa at Heather's birthday lunch at Red Robin. Luckily, Heather got to pick her own birthday lunch so we didn't end up at McDonald's at Station Park (sorry Lauren) or Golden Corral (sorry, Mick and Dahlia).

The three brothers and their pink princess at Kami's 2nd birthday party. These boys love their sister. It's the cutest thing.

And now - we are more or less caught up.

St. George Wedding Weekend

We made a quick weekend trip to St. George for Kaylene and Scotty's wedding. The weather was nice and around 70-75, which is just right for me. It was a small, simple wedding in a very pretty setting.

Mickey and the Bride

With Megan and Holly

Ty (who needs a haircut in the worst possible way and insisted on baptizing his daughter when he had, and I quote, "Jesus hair") and Jason. Missing Brady, who was home with cute Theo

The group

My group

We introduced the kids to the wonders of Golden Corral on this trip. Apparently they hadn't been to a true buffet before. They loved that you could just load your plate up with whatever you wanted and then go to town. Eat what you liked - grab a new plate - and start the process over again. With desserts. And more desserts. And then maybe some chicken and a roll. And more desserts. 

And a bonus pic of Theo, because he was the reason Brady and Stephanie couldn't make it to the wedding. And because Theo.