Pumpkin Carving!

We grew these lovely pumpkins in our own backyard. Though one was still slightly green, the carving commenced.

A couple of cheery faces. Emily, she's only three, doesn't like being scared.

Mom, Dad and the big girls got right to work...

...while Josie busied herself unloading the diaper bag, including all the wipes!


Of course, Jo couldn't miss out on all the fun. People are getting there hands dirty here, so she wasn't afraid to plunge her little hands right in at the first opportunity. You know she's excited about that ;)

Primary Program 2008

Today was the Primary Program. Everyone did really well. Lyndsay spoke on how her family helps her learn to live the gospel. BriAnna spoke on preparing now to go to the temple. The theme this year has been "I am a Child of God." All of the children received a little picture of themselves and a clip for a stand. Here are the girls pictures.

Both of the girls put on their shy smiles for the camera.

This Year's Canning Season

Look at these beautiful pears. I almost didn't want to hide them away with the food. But at some point, I needed to reclaim the counter space. I also bottled peaches, apple pie filling, applesauce, jams, chili, tomato sauce and chicken chunks.

Josie is always so helpful in rotating the food. It doesn't sit too long in any one place.

Preschool Partying

Emily is in at-home preschool with four other little girls (sorry boys get your own). Mom only has to host every five weeks. Yay! Look at these beauties. What a handful! Emily is the one in the center. (This episode was brought to you by the letter "E.")

Soccer Finale!

Soccer Season is over. Both of the girls teams played very well. Lyndsay's team, The Raptors, finished undefeated for the 2nd grade league. BriAnna's team, the Stingers, only lost 3 of 10 games in the 3rd/4th grade league. They both learned a lot and had fun. Way to go, ladies!

BriAnna is the little one by the ball.

Lyndsay is the little one by the referee.

Monet to Picasso

For my Birthday, I wanted to go to an art exhibit. I'm not particularly artsy, but figured it would be cool. Something you don't see every day. The U of U Art Museum was hosting this great exhibit from the Cleveland Museum of Art. So Ryan took me to see it. The paintings were fabulous! A lot of big names I recognized from humanities classes in college. It was so cool to see them up close and personal. I loved reading the tidbits and listening to the sound bites explaining the paintings and the artists. And of course time away with my honey and no distracting children is always nice : )

Claude Monet was well known for his beautiful landscapes and florals. This is a haunting portrayal of his wife hurriedly walking and glancing back. Viewed from the inside looking out, you sense the sadness of the artist who realizes his wife is going somewhere he is not. Camille, his wife died not long after the painting's completion. He kept it all his life.

Pierre Auguste Renoir painted this portrait of Romaine Lacaux in 1864, when he was just 23. The detail in the face is so subtle and beautiful, but it's very impressionistic due to the softness of the remainder of the painting. This was one of the first paintings characteristic of the period.

This portrait by James Tissot, was aboslutely breathtaking. It was huge and so detailed, but soft. The dress, the couch, the pillow and the model's delicate face are quite a work to behold.

Ah, bring on the Modern Art...Cubist painter Pablo Picasso. This still life is titled: Fan, Salt Box, Melon 1909. This was the most discernable piece in his section of the gallery. The still life, Bottle, Glass, Fork is well beyond me. And a few of the other paintings in Picasso's section (La Vie and The Harem) were PG-13 and therefore not suitable for a family friendly blog like this.

This unusual portrait is by Irish artist William Orpen. It shows him ready to wipe away his own image from a mirror. The museum sound bite said William overheard a conversation between his mother and father about how unfortunate is was that he did not have the same good looks as the rest of the family. Talk about scarring your kid for life! Fortunatley, he did have some real talent, and creativity. The dark boxes are actually papers glued to the painting to appear stuck into the mirror's frame. They include ferry tickets, a personal check, a page from the artist's diary, etc...

The Dream by Salvador Dali was a very bizarre painting. This is what the Cleveland Museum of Art has to say about this painting:

"One of Dalí's most powerful Surrealist paintings, The Dream gives visual form to the strange, often disturbing world of dreams and hallucinations. The central figure has ants clustered over its face where a mouth should be, and has sealed bulging eyelids, suggesting the sensory confusion and frustrations of a dream.The man at the far left-with a bleeding face and amputated left foot-may refer to the classical myth of Oedipus, who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. Freud interpreted this ancient tale as symbolic of a child's conflicting feelings toward his parents (the "Oedipus complex"). A column grows from the man's back, then sprouts into the bust of a bearded man, perhaps a reference to the Freudian father, the punishing super-ego who condemns the son's sexual fantasies about his mother. In the distance, two men embrace, one holding a golden key or scepter, which may symbolize access to the unconscious. Behind them, a naked man reaches into a permeable red form, as if trying to enter it."

Summer Swimming

For Labor Day weekend we wanted to take advantage of the swimming pool just one more time. This was our farewell to summer and swimming.

Josie loves water, but didn't get to go to swimming lessons this year.

She got dropped off at the neighbors house every day for two weeks :(

Mom and Jocelyn

Lyndsay and Emily playing.
Lyndsay is in the baby floaty, the kind that has a bottom with holes to poke your kids legs through. Goofy kid.