Pumpkin Coloring 2010

Here at the King house we do not carve pumpkins. We used to, but now with 4 kids it'd be crazy and messy. So we opt to color our pumpkins. So for a family night we went outside and everyone colored a pumpkin. It was a good night and we all had fun. Especially the kiddos. Here is their work.

Here's Dad and Paityn helping Trev color his pumpkin.

Here's one of Riley's...classic!

Riley working on her other pumpkin. She is so creative sometimes. It makes me smile.

Here is her pumpkin. She thought to do this and figured out how all on her own. It's Lumpy from the heffalump halloween movie. Isn't he cute?

Trev with his "scary" pumpkin.

Everyone on the front steps buy my Halloween decorations.

And here's me with Pait and Trev. Happy Halloween everyone!

I Scream, I Scream, We All Scream For Potty Training

So I finally took the plunge and decided to try and potty train Trevor. It all started about a week and a half ago when we were driving home from Boise. We stopped at a McDonald's for dinner and the girls and I had to go potty so we made our way to the girls bathroom. Suddenly Trevor was close behind saying he needed to go potty too. I took advantage of this opportunity because up to that point, when we had tried to get Trev to sit on the potty, he would YELL, "I not sit on potty!" and he'd run and hide. This time though, he sat on the potty without any problems. He did not go to the potty but I thought to myself, "maybe now is the time to try." I did not want to though KNOWING how much work was in store for me. So when we got home later that day I had him sit on the potty again before the tub and after his bath he put on big boy undies. He thought he was big stuff, until he peed in them 10 minutes later. I put another pair on him with the same result. Then I decided that it was time for bed. The next day I kept trying and he kept having accidents. Even when I would get him to the potty in time, he would not go. He did not know how. But as soon as he was off the potty with undies on, he could go no problem. After two days of this and laundry to no end, something finally clicked. He learned he could hold it and not go every 15 minutes. I still kept my eye on him everywhere he went, asking him if he had to go, but I wasn't having to change him or put him on the potty every 10-15 minutes. Hooray!! Once he got pee figured out it was onto number two. One time I was attempting to make him go pee on the potty, I left the bathroom in hopes that if I gave him privacy and he was able to relax something... ANYTHING would come out. And out it came indeed. Since then he has not had any big accidents. He is doing so AWESOME. I did not expect that at all. He still struggles with number 2 and not being able to let it all out , but that'll come with practice. He's such a fast learner and I have been PLEASANTLY surprised!! Three cheers for Trevor. He's a big boy!!

Hayride and Pumpkin Patch Kuna Style

One of the evenings, while Dan and Chad were driving back from Jerome to drop off some calves, Eden and I decided to take all the kiddos to the pumpkin patch. We got there and made our way to the admission booth where I read a sign that said military discount. Now true Chad is NOT military but he DOES work on the base so I have a base ID and therefore get military discounts. So I ask for the military discount and Eden shoots me a look like what are you trying to pull. I assure her AND the lady at the counter that I am telling the truth. We ended up getting the whole crew in for under 10 bucks because of that military discount. Then Eden bought some tokens to do the fun things and off we went. First to the corn box...the kids LOVED that... then to the hay maze and bounce houses and swings and petting zoo and Cache and Bells even managed a pony ride. Not too shabby for a couple of hours right? Oh and we even had a few tokens left over so we decided that we would go and have each of the kids find a very small pumpkin and use the rest of the tokens to pay for them. So off we went on the hayride to pick the pumpkins. Each kid found the perfect most unique pumpkins for themselves. We even came in way under budget and had tokens left over for fresh HOT donuts. So much fun.

All the kiddos in the corn box. Trevor loved this and somehow figured out that he could wrestle with Cache in there and not get hurt. Cache was a good sport and played along with him. We managed to come home with very few kernels in their pants.

I didn't put Paityn in the corn box.She is in the phase where she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. She was still happy though.
In the petting zoo. The kids got to feed goats and sheep and a pony. There was a camel there but we were all too frightened to feed it. Plus it slimed every one's hands who fed him. No thank you Mr. Camel.
Riley feeding the goat. He was so cute. On the hayride going to get our pumpkins. At one of the stops Bellamie and Trev stood up and headed to the steps and the tractor driver accidentally made the tractor lurch making Trev and Bells lose their balance. Trev was fine but poor Bellamie slammed her face into the railing. The tractor driver felt so bad and was embarrassed. Bellamie cried a bit but she was ok. On the next stops we waited until the tractor was fully stopped to stand up.
The smallest pumpkin ever. Eden found this one and I had to take a picture of it because it was so small. We thought we could shoot for some that were a touch bigger.

Ta-Da!! Here they all are with their cute and small and unique pumpkins.
Paityn was so excited about her pumpkin. She's so cute.
Just her size!

"Not cows Mom...CALVES!!!" Fun on the Farm!

Last weekend over the UEA break, we had a the privilege of going to visit our great friends the Beus family. We left on Thursday and came back on Sunday so we made the most of our vacation days and used them all up. We had so much fun. We played, ate good food, played, shopped and played some more. The kids had a blast on the farm. Trevor loved the "calves". Every time I said look at the cows or let's go see the cows, he corrected me and said, "Not cows Mom, calves!" He was Dan's shadow. Now, after seeing the cows getting milked and seeing how much Dan and Cache man LOVE to drink milk, my boy who once gagged at even the sight of milk is downing chocolate milk like it's going out of style. My goal for our last trip, which was two years ago, was to see Dan castrate a cow. This years goal was to see a cow have a calf. Knowing my chances were slim, I still had high hopes. Do you think I got lucky? YES I did!! I got to see a calf be born!We got to work and play on the farm. We went to a really fun pumpkin patch and picked the cutest pumpkins. Eden and I did some shopping at some really cute home decor stores. And Eden took our family pictures. It was a fun filled trip to say the least. It is always fun to see friends after time has gone by. Thanks Dan and Eden and family for letting us come and play. We always have such a fun time and we are anxiously awaiting the next trip. You guys are the BEST!

All the kiddos petting a BRAND NEW baby calf. When I say brand new, I mean hours old. Isn't it so cute? He was soft too.

Trev working on the farm. He LOVES tractors so this was a highlight for him.


Brooklyn and Riley trying to corral the baby calf that got away from the workers who were loading them into a trailer.

Got him trapped. Good job girls. You're hired!!

Cami and Trev playing in the new hay that is ready to be put in the pens for the calves. There were thousands upon thousands of calves in pens like these. Look at all of them! I do have to say that this is the most organized and clean farm I have EVER seen. It is quite the operation.

The kids petting another calf

This picture is out of order but it's of the girls corraling the calf again.

Dan told the kids that if they stick their finger into a calfs mouth it'll suck on it. My kids did not want to try that UNLESS they had gloves on. So Dan supplied them with black latex gloves.

Workin!! The girls decided to give the calves each a name. I don't know how many names they came up with but they came up with some interesting ones.

This little Calf is named Cami. Isn't she cute?!!

Cute little farmers

Riley, Brooklyn and Cami rescuing a VERY sick little kitty.

My kiddos at the milking station.This is the whole reason why Trev now drinks milk.

4 WHEELIN BABY!!

Trev LOVED the 4 wheelers...That's me in the background checking out the scene in "The Ladies Pen" to see if there was any action. No calves being born at the moment.

Run Ali Run

I did it!! I did it!! I ran a half marathon. It was so much fun. I think I'm addicted. I want to do more. But I am 99 % sure that I will NEVER do a full marathon. After finishing the half I can't imagine running ANOTHER 13 miles. My knees were hurting with every step. I felt so good up until mile 9. My feet started hurting as well as my knee. From then on it got harder and harder to lift my knees to run. I never stopped though. I kept a steady pace the whole time and kept lengthening my stride. I was lucky enough to find a girl going my pace or a little faster half way through. We stuck with eachother to the end and ran eachother in. I loved running to the finish line and having them announce my name and hear the people cheer and seeing Chad and my kiddos cheering and holding up their signs. I had a blast and I can't wait for the next one...as soon as my knees forgive me. Oh and my finishing time was 1 hour 55 mins. I finished 75 overall, 31 female and 7 in my age group. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Cami and Riley holding their signs they made for me.

Me running in. I was having a hard time finding Chad and the kids.

I finally saw them as I was passing them.I was so excited.
All done!!

This is after the race. My legs were jello but my spirits were high.

Here are some more of the signs they made. The green one my brother Nate wanted me to make for myself from him.

My crew

Me and Chad after we got home

All of my signs. Thanks family!!

Winner Winner Winner!!

On Saturday the 2 of Oct I ran in a 5K race in Layton. There was not a very big showing. 40 people at most...AT MOST! I was there with some friends of mine and we started off running together and then I took off running for some prizes. I could see 6 others in front of me, including one other girl...younger then me I might add. There was a pretty good distance between me and the people behind me. So big that I couldn't see anyone behind me.I was about half a mile from the finish line and about to turn towards the park when over from the right of me poured out the racers that were way behind me. How did this happen you ask? The police officer that was blocking traffic and guiding the racers told the first SEVEN people to go the WRONG way!!! We lost about 3 minutes and were now BEHIND the people we once left in the dust. I kicked it into high gear and past the ones I had been in front of before. Now I was back in 7th place. Then I past the only other girl in front of me. Now I was in sixth and lead for first female. Then I past two more guys and a third who past me back up right before the finish line. So I finished first female and fourth over all. Needless to say it was a big confidence boost for me for my half marathon coming up on Saturday. I won a bag full of stuff from Striders including a gift card to striders for 25 dollars. It was a winning day.

Me with all my winnings.

King Fall Family Traditions

Every year we go up to the mountains to look at the changing leaves, have dinner and take some family pictures. This year, we seem to have missed the colors. I don't know how we missed it but we did. There were still a lot of colors up there but more then half was already on the ground. Oh well, we still had fun and got some great pictures.

Me and Chad

Riley's best silly face



Cami and Trev's silly faces... I LOVE this picture

Cuties

The boys

I could say this is Paityn's silly face but this is her BIG smile. She is such a happy kid.

Trevor was a difficult one this year. He would not hold still for his picture. He was wiggling and putting his hands in front of his face and crying. We got some cute ones of him though.

Riley...Always so photogenic

Cami...look at those cute freckles