Surviving Survival School

One week down and still smiling. Clay has completed one week of his survival training- two more to go! He has come home with some pretty interesting facts! Laura's favorite was when he said that 1 lb. of bugs is more nutritious, healthy, and contains more protein than 1 lb. of meat(At least that's what the instructor said). Well, doesn't that just make you want to change your diet? What's for dinner honey? BUGS! Well, after this next week, Clay should be able to tell Laura if the BUGS are just as tasty as they are nutritious. UGHH.
Clay has been spending the last few nights packing this huge backpack...it weighs close to 60 lbs. We aren't sure how far is going to have to carry that thing.... goodness.

Downtown Spokane

Downtown Spokane not only consists of the traditional shops, restaurants, and parks, but there is a breath taking waterfall (Spokane Falls), Gondola rides over the waterfall, a carousel, ducks to feed, a bridge, and apparently there is a huge wagon slide that we failed to see... I guess we will have to take another trip downtown!
We had fun in the gondola trying to get a good family picture in front of the falls. We crouched on the floor, twisted, turned and well...we had fun.
CJ did a good job keeping that horse under control!

Halloween Lion and Ghost

We let CJ pick what he wanted to be for Halloween this year. He wanted to be a ghost! He was so excited to be a ghost - we practiced saying BOO, Trick or Treat, thank you, and Happy Halloween. He had it down to an art by the time Halloween arrived! CJ went trick or treating 3 times; we went to the ward trunk or treat, the hospital on base had a childrens trick or treat, and then of course around the neighborhood on Halloween night. 3 times still weren't enough, he still asks to go trick or treating daily.... so he goes trick or treating to Mom and Dad!
Preston was the lion! Not so much fierce and intimidating, but sure cute! Preston had many admirers on Halloween night from all the trick or treaters. Several of the teenage girls ooohh and awed over him as they came to the door. He's going to be a heart breaker with those big eyes and that cute smile... (Thanks again for the costume Christy!)

Fall is in the Air...so are the Leaves

Fall is sooo beautiful. The leaves are changing color and falling. CJ, Preston and the neighbor boys Harmen and Porter are having a great time playing in the leaves. They are keeping Clay busy.... Clay rakes them into piles and then the boys jump in it and throw the leaves around. Great fun for everyone!

Side note: Clay thinks that CJ's outfit is a little retro... his comment was..."What is he wearing? That is awful"....he wants to keep it for Halloween next year, then one of our boys can dress up as "Uncle Rico" from Napoleon Dynamite. Oh goodness. Laura thought it was cute...guess not. We had to change the outfit before we went out into public!

Preston's First Haircut

The other night after we gave CJ a haircut our eyes turned toward Preston. His long dark hair hanging over his ears and his "comb-over" told us he was due for his first haircut. Well, more hair came off then was planned. After the first stroke, Laura paniced....it's tooo short! But, what can you do at that point? Nothing, you have to keep going. Laura just about cried as she watched her baby get his first buzz. "He has less hair now, then the day he was born" (A Laura Quote from the experience). Now that it has been a couple of days, Laura is getting used to her new son.

Picking Perfect Pumpkins

Even before we moved to Spokane we heard about Greenbluff Farms. Now that we are here, all we hear about is Greenbluff Farms. So on Monday night for FHE, we decided to get some "real" pumpkins (straight off the vine), so head out to see the wonderful Greenbluff Farms. An hour or so later and after receiving not so great, okay, how about down right bad directions twice - we gave up on the whole farm experience and ended up at the "pumpkin patch" aka Albertsons parking lot. While picking out our pumpkins another couple came and joined us. We chatted and of course the infamous Greenbluff Farms came up - - they asked if we had taken our boys there yet...after telling us about homemade pies, hay ride, animals, pumpkins off the vine, etc. they convinced us to try again.
So, on Tuesday afternoon we headed off on our second attempt. We got to a farm in the Greenbluff area and found a huge pumpkin patch - must be it. We started looking at the pumpkins...asked about hayride - no, pumpkin shooting - no, homemade pies - no..hmm.. that is strange. Whatever... we were here and so we picked out some pumpkins. While checking out we asked about events calendar and such....we got a brochure. Come to find out... there are at least 20 farms in the Greenbluff area! Holy cow...we were under the impression it was one BIG farm. So, needless to say..each farm does a little something different.... we had stopped at the first farm ( no hayrides or pies...) but we got some great pumpkins right off the vine !