Pumpkin Patch and More

I'm tired and I need to go to bed. But first, I want to tell you about our day. It was awesome.

First, we got to meet Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series. We love his books. I someday hope to be able to write stories that well. Someday. Always in that elusive someday.

If you haven't read his books, you need to. Just sayin'. They're on the same level of awesomeness as Harry Potter.

He's really nice. And hilarious. And so totally down to earth.

And he signed all our books :D Plus a free bookmark and poster. Awesome.

Then, we went to the pumpkin patch. Emma and I went on a little train ride, then we all went through a kid-size straw maze.

Random sidenote: their website says they have a corn maze, but...um...it's made of little bales of straw. Maybe they mean the corn stalks sticking out of the straw or something. Anyway, just a nerdy observation.

We looked at pumpkins and decided it was most cost-effective to just buy one medium sized pumpkin for the whole family to share. I asked Emma what she wants to put on it, and she said "a kitty." We let Emma pick out 2 little pumpkins: one for her and one for Hyrum.

And of course, we took pictures. Lots of pictures. I haven't gone through them yet or anything, so...sorry, you'll have to wait a bit. I'll post some on Facebook soon. But not tonight.

We hit up Taco Bell on the way back, then went back up to campus to listen to Brandon Mull speak for an hour. So cool. I love how he tied spiritual things to his writing and everything. It was awesome. Sorry, my brain is only running on partial power at the moment and therefore can't adequately describe it.

Meaning, I'm going to be a lazy cop-out and not even try.

Then, to top off an already awesome day, we came home to 2 huge packages from my mom. Seriously, this is one grandma who goes waaaay overboard. Awesome. My kids are spoiled. Lots of cute clothes and toys for birthdays and Christmas.

And yes, I have started my Christmas shopping. Actually, I'm probably mostly done with it already.

You probably think I'm crazy.

I actually have good reason to start so early. Our holiday season is chock full of birthdays, holidays, anniversary, etc. Just in our immediate little family, we have:

Nov: 25: Thanksgiving
Nov 27: Emma's birthday (turning 3!)
Dec 5: John's birthday
Dec 21: our anniversary (almost 4 years!)
Dec 25: Christmas
Jan 1: New Year's
Jan 4: Hyrum's birthday (turning 1!)

See what I mean? I have to start early, both for the sake of my budget and my sanity.

Thank goodness my birthday is in August.

Speaking of Christmas, we're staying here again this year. Last year, I was due right after Christmas, so obviously traveling wasn't an option.

I still get a kick over both kids coming on their due dates. Seriously amazing.

This year, we'd love to go home, but...it's way too expensive to fly. We're talking $300/person over age 2. That's $900. That we don't have. That we can't feasibly ask our families to cover. And non-stop is no longer an option. Connection flights with 2 kids? LAME. Too much money, too much hassle. And driving 800 miles on snowy passes is something we're not willing to do for safety reasons. John's work blacked out the entire holiday season as no-vacation-available time anyway, so even attempting the trip would be a moot point.

We're going back to visit in April anyway, so what's another 4 months?

Still...we'd love to see everyone sooner and spend the holidays with the rest of the fam. But it just isn't an option this time. Someday we'll live closer.

Anyone who really wants to see us can come here instead :D

On the plus side, at least this way we'll get a white Christmas.