Pumpkin Patch at Anderson Farms

We had lots of fun at the pumpkin patch this year!  It is a fun little (when I say little, I really mean HUGE actually!) family owned farm up in Longmont, and it is SO fun!  They have TONS of stuff to do...pedal go-karts, tractor rides- 3 different kinds actually!, 30 acres of corn mazes, a petting zoo, BIG tractor ride to go to the actual pumpkin patch, and lots of different kinds of food.  It is a BLAST!  We got there around 10, and didn't leave until like 2 or something!  We had a great time, and so did the chilies (children for the late person.)  It was a very pleasant day- verging on hot sometimes, so it was even better for the kids.  We scored some great pumpkins, went on some great tractor rides, ate some good food, and had a spectacular time being together.  The kids all zonked on the way home, which is how we like it- so all in all, it was a very successful day!  The last time we went was when I was preggers with Payton, so it's been a while, and the kids had a great time!  Even the Morgster loved it.  We will definitely go back next year!  

Morgs pumpkin that got smashed just a FEW days after we got them!  Dang kids!

How cute are my babies!

Little pumpkin cherubs

Cheese!

The boys LOVED the barrel tractor ride!

I barely fit...but I did it!

JUST tall enough to reach the pedals!  Go Payton!

Lincoln thought this was by FAR the coolest part of the whole thing!  He went around and around and around.

Morgs gettin in on the action.

TWINS!

The boys after we completed a section of the corn maze!  It was SOOOOO much fun!  Everyone loved it.

They had a hay bale maze, and on top of the hay bales every few feet or so they had big holes that the kids could climb down into, and the boys thought it was pretty sweet!

Self portrait

Cutest couple ever!

With our haul after we snatched them up in the pumpkin patch!  Notice Payton's teeny tiny green gourd in his hand.  He dug it up out of the ground, and they made the poor guy pay 25 cents for that scrawny little thing!  He hasn't let it go since, and it's been like 3 weeks since we went!  Good choice Payton.

Rub-a-dub-dub!

Gus stinks....don't all dogs? If you've got a trick to keep a dog from not smelling like...well...a dog, please pass it along! So, around here we give him baths quite frequently!  He doesn't love them, and MAN does he leave a wake of hair and dirt in the tub! He's almost as bad as Payton!  But he sure smells nice after the fact! 

We're kind of getting used to this guy. :)  The boys LOVE to help!  More often then not, Payton is in with him before I can even stop him from taking off his clothes!  Silly Payton.

Shake Shake Shake!

Does he look like a drowned rat or WHAT!

All freezing cold after mean old mom put him in the water!

It's a BOY!!!!!

 Meet Guster (Gus, Gus Bus, Gussy, Goose- I mean Gus!( My parents dog's name is Goose) The cutest, hairiest, cuddliest little puppy ever!  He is the newest member of the Smith Family.
Remember the warm fuzzy jars?  Well, if you don't, what goes on is we have little pom-poms that we place into a tall vase each time the kids do something nice for another person, or mind really well, or something of the sort, and COLE decided that we ought to fill up the pom-pom jar and when we did we would get a DOG! He was promised a dog by me when he graduated with his Masters.  Here we are 2 years later FINALLY getting the dog that he has wanted!  We did quite a bit of research, and found that there really aren't a whole lot of dogs that are for sale that are easy to find in Denver, so we searched online on KSL.com- the Utah paper/news channel- and found a whole bunch of different ones!  Cole wanted a "Bird Dog" that he could take hunting with him, so we decided on an English Springer Spaniel!  Usually, these dogs are a Liver and White color, but I'm not crazy about the liver- so we decided on Black and White!  He is seriously the cutest dog ever!  He is a bit of a nipper/biter, but he means well.  He is still learning. He got Link pretty good on the leg one of the first days that we had him, so Lincoln is kind of scared of him, but he is coming around!  The boys are both coming around liking him more and more, but Morgs is not so fond of the little fella!  He thinks that she is a CHEW TOY, and she does 't love that.  SO- we're workin on him, and he is doing great, responding to training stuff fairly well, and we are excited that he is part of our family!  We look forward to lots of fun times ahead, and are glad that he has come to stay!  Here are some pics of the cute little dude.  The boys wouldn't get into the pictures with him...WAY to scary! :)  More to come later I'm sure.

What we can find this little guy doing more often than not...chewing on something!  The boys have learned quick to pick up their toys out of the yard, or they will get chewed up!

He really likes his little pet carrier that we brought him home in.  Now if we can just get him to like his dog house that we worked so hard to build!

Welcome to the Family Guster!  We sure do love ya!

Photographer extrordinaire!

 So Payton has found that he REALLY likes to take pictures!  There are a FEW more than this on the camera, but we'll just leave these ones to show. :)  The BEST is that he has the camera turned around for the most part, so you get to see his cute little face telling whoever it was that he was taking a picture of, to smile!  Silly Boy.  I'm a bit nervous when he gets the camera, because if you haven't noticed, Payton is a TAD wild.  He's my little Tasmanian devil.  So when he gets the camera, and starts whirling it around his head, I get a bit nervous.  But he will grab the camera as I am trying to get it from him and yell at the top of his lungs..."MOM, You're supposed to say CHEESE!!!"  At least he knows right!?!

 

VERY flattering.

 

The Making of the Dog House

Our boys worked SOOO hard for quite a long time to earn this dog. One of the things they REALLY wanted to do was to build the dog house- which the dog doesn't even SIT in!  Well, I guess things take time right?!  Anyways, so Cole looked up a pattern online, took the boys to the wood store, bought all the supplies, and then they built it from the ground up together! They did SUCH a great job!  Here are a few pics of the process.

Bangin away!  The boys put almost EVERY nail into this house!  SUCH big helpers. :)

It's a good thing we have 2 hammers...that's all there is to it!

The Man with a Plan

Even MOM got in on the action! Ignore my really sexy pants. :)

Cutest little dogs I'VE ever seen....don't know bout you!

I kind of get roped into a LOT of things.  I'm not as cute a dog as the dudes though. 

Startin in on the primer!  Don't worry that even though we did this project in our (the boys- no one wants to see Cole and I in ours) underpants, we STILL managed to get paint on our clothes!  Just not as much...I guess that's a plus. :)

Oh buddy...quite the painter.  He lasted for about 10 minutes before he had painted his whole stomach, splattered paint on my shirt, painted a bit of the deck, etc.  It's a darn good thing he's cute! 

Cutest smile!

All primed and ready to be painted...BRIGHT GREEN!!!!!!!

The boys were SOOO excited about this color!  We went to the paint store and let them pick out the color that they wanted---much to my dismay.  But, it turned out REALLY cute in the end, and there is only green paint on a FEW articles of clothing- because the boys found a cup of paint that we missed and decided that they wanted to paint each other with it.  Oh buddy.

MUST get scrubbed. Notice the paint all over his nose.  Cutest little dirty nose!

Can you EVEN resist that smile!?!  I think not.  

All in all, I think that the project was REALLY successful!  The boys helped to nail on the roof, and shingles too, and LOVED every second of it!  They really like to help Cole build stuff. Good work boys! Next project, get Gus to want to go into the house!  :) 

Missionary Conversation

We went to the zoo this afternoon, and as we got into the car and started to drive back home, this is the conversation I had with the Linkster...

Lincoln:  Mom, did you know that some people don't even KNOW that Heavenly Father is real!?!
Mom: I know buddy!  Can you believe that??
Lincoln: Mom, when I get older, I think that I am going to go on the longest mission EVER in the whole wide world that ANYONE has ever gone on, to teach people that Heavenly Father is real, just like the missionaries in the Book of Mormon!
Mom:  Really bud?  How long is it going to be for, and where are you going to go?
Link: I think I am going to go for a REALLY long time! Longer than anyone ever...like ONE HUNDRED....minutes!  Yeah, 100 minutes.  That's a really long time.  And, I think that I am going to teach like ONE HUNDRED people!  That's alot of people.  Probably more people then anyone has EVER taught on their mission....EVER!  I am going to be a really good missionary, and teach people that Heavenly Father is real, and that he even answers prayers like that one time he answered my prayer about all of us being nice to each other, and we WERE!  I really like Heavenly Father.
Mom: Wow Lincoln- it sounds like you are going to be a great missionary.  I can't wait to see you serving!

So this story about melted my heart.  What a good little kid.  He really is going to be a great missionary someday.  Just yesterday, we had a little friend of his over for a play-date, and when we had lunch, Lincoln said the prayer and told his little friend how to fold his arms and stuff.  Then when the prayer was over, he said to him...."So we fold our arms, and close our eyes, and talk to Heavenly Father and have him bless our food!  It's what we do!"  How cute is he!  Such a little sweetheart.

That canNOT be comfortable!

Apparently, Payton gets himself into some pretty sticky situations!  Remember the box he just put himself in not but a few weeks ago?  Well, this is how he has now decided that he likes to sleep!

Cute little dude!  We always go in each night to tuck the kids in when we are ready to go to bed, and this is what we found!  He had wedged himself inbetween his mattress, and his wall!  Even in his sleep, this kid has got personality.  We usually find him in some sort of odd position.  We have even found him with his pants off, with his hands tucked just inside the very front of his little underpants.  So silly!  LOVE this kid!

Cantaloupe Anyone???

So, this year, in our garden, we decided to try our hand at growing a few cantaloupes!  BOY did we get a few cantaloupes!  They are yummy too!  Coming from someone that doesn't like cantaloupe, that is saying something indeed!  Morgan loves them as well, as you can see!  Cute little squirter!