Our Search For The Great Pumpkin 2008

I think I mentioned this before but I REALLY like Fall and we REALLY like going to the pumpkin patch! This year I think we set a personal record. 3 times! 3 times we went this year. The weather has been so perfect the last couple of weeks. We keep telling ourselves that we need to take advantage of every beautiful day because we all know what happens when winters sets in around here. 4-5 months of grey and drearyness! Yuck!

Plant Farm

Our first stop was a local patch called The Plant Farm. This was a spur of the moment stop because it was a nice day, Todd was home and it was the cheapest place to go. We didn't know how long the weather would last so we decided to just go for it just incase we didn't get another opportunity.

Here we are on your typical hay ride. Look at that poor little boy who forgot his coat. His mom should feel really bad about that.

Did I ever mention Kaden's amazing bionic ears?? Its true! Especially when it comes to airplanes. Those things really cause problems for him. He is still trying to get a handle on this ability and he's learning how to use it for the good of others.

I think he looks a little overwhelmed by all the pumpkin choices..what do you think?

Wouldn't be right if we didn't try and take a million photos to get that perfect one of the kids!

Cute little train ride around the farm

*cough *cough Kyler insisted we sit up front *cough *cough

I think I know what Kaden's favorite part was!

Remlinger Farms

We hadn't been to this place since Kyler was about 2yrs old. I think we had stayed away because its a 45 min drive and we thought it was a little pricey. But once we finally got there and payed our way in, I came to realize that what we payed and what we got for it....was a really good deal! The kids had a blast with so many things to do. Definatly a whole day experience!

First up was the "not very scary" house/maze. In the house we came across some train tracks. Oh no! Look out for the train coming!!!!

There's those bionic ears again. You never know when the power will be unleashed!

Next was a quick boat ride around the slough

Kadens thinking to himself....."in a couple of weeks, your going to be the centerpiece on our dinner table!"

This boy is always a picture waiting to be taken

We took a ride on some vintage cars. Look out, Kaden's at the wheel! We'll probably end up at the ice cream shop

Waiting in line for the train

My boys have grown so much this year. How tall are they this fall?

Kaden is searching for Kyler in the chaos of the hay maze/pit

Cute little ferris wheel for Kaden size kids!

Kaden is having the time of his life!

An little overview of the place. The trees are so pretty and everyone is having fun!

It was time for the spinning apple barrels. Kaden insisted he was big enough to go on it.

At this point Kadens is probably thinking to himself.."maybe mom knows what she's doing by sitting this one out"

My attempt to catch them in motion

I'm telling you this place is just like Disneyland only cheaper! They have flying pumpkins and its a close rival to the dumbo ride. (For some reason the boys are not convinced yet...but I'm working on them!)

You got to love those pony rides. This was Kadens first time on a pony. He was chanting "woh woh" the whole time.

They grow up so fast! I can't believe its already the first day of school!

Just when you are starting to enjoy your day of freedom....schools out and the punks are home!

We did some intense searching but I don't think the Great Pumpkin is going to be found here today.

So our search continues!!!!

The Farm

Our third and final adventure brings us to The Farm. We have been going here for several years and even though prices seem to go up everytime we come...its still a nice place to go. You might have heard of the place, it's the home of the famous Washington State Corn Maze.

What's the first thing we did when we got there? We found The Great Pumpkin!! Great job Kaden! (Hopefully it fits in the car) Now that the hard work is done....lets go play!

Lots of things to do like swinging and digging!

Playing in the hay seems to be a popular event this season. Good thing Kaden has Grandma to catch him when he falls

Do you see the 2 hooligans in the background?? They are waiting to bomb us with hay!

Who is this crazy kid throwing hay at everyone?? Someone needs to get a handle on their child. I tell ya...some peoples children!

Didn't you know that corn isn't just for eating??

I have to remind Kyler (and myself) that 4 cats are plenty. No more!

Heading out to the corn maze

Everything is sooo pretty. I love living here.

Kaden is leading the way so pray we make it through!

We found the Space Needle

Of course we had to take a trip to Forks! No Edward in sight but we did find this.....

Looks like we aren't the only fans!

Top of Mount Rainer. Uh oh...suns going down. We need to find our way out! Oh and at this point, Kyler is no where to be found. He wanted to be on his own so we ended up getting security to help us find him. Boy..some people just can't keep track of their kids!

Everyone please just look at the camera!

Kaden hitching a ride to the car...it was a busy day for those little legs!

Another year of great times at the pumpkin patch! I am really glad that Todd made it a couple of times with us. This is just the begining of fun times for the next couple of months. I love the holidays and getting together with friends and family.

What I love and What I hate Wednesday


I don't think anything is better then a beautiful, sunny Autumn day in the Pacific Northwest. Arlington to be more specific. But I don't think that's what I am going to love today...

I am very excited that I got my Sex and the City disc in the mail today. But again I think that's just not good enough...

What's worthy of my love today??? I witnessed something today that prompted the hallelujah song in my mind.

Gas is officially under $3.00 around here!!!!!!!!

$2.99 at Safeway and $2.89 at Arco. I usually get my gas at Safeway because I frequently get a great discount there and its on the right side of the road. I don't really shop there because its a little to expensive for me but my brother in law does ALOT of shopping there AND he uses our phone number for the club card discounts. Which means I almost always have a 10-20 cent discount when I get gas. I don't remember why he uses our number but why question a perfect situation. Now if the darn economy would snap out of it, car sales would get back to normal. But I am not going to think about that today.

Let me tell you whats worthy of being hated today....

Multiple poopy diapers in one day!!!

That darn child of mine!!! I envision still wiping his bum at high school graduation!! ARGG!

Hmmm on second thought...

Remember when I said I wanted more kids???

Recently we had a visit from little Zach and his mom Teresa. He is a little over a year old and is cute as a button (as cute as you can get without being my own child) He is your typical 14 month old. Very curious and active. Learning new discoveries and whats appropriate to get into and play with.

Maybe I don't want more kids

Maybe I don't want to do this all over again

Maybe someone needs to talk some sense into me!

That ONE thing that's always on my mind

When I was growing up, I knew that all I wanted for my life was to be a wife and a mom. No strong urges for a career...just babies! During high school and my brief stint with college, I actually started to fear that I wouldn't get married. Not because I hadn't gotten married by that point but because guys just didn't seem to be interested in me. I had 2 boyfriends in my younger years and both of them were dramatic and not very healthy for me. I couldn't help feel down on myself and slightly panicky that there was something wrong with me, that I might not be able to find the one who would love me. I needed a back up plan since babies might not be in my future and decided I would have to pick a career or SOMETHING. But babies were still in my mind and still are today. Fortunately I did find someone to love me. Someone to love all the things that are wrong with me. The kind of person I never thought I would end up with but still did anyways. And I was able to have 2 wonderful, perfect babies but.......babies are STILL on my mind.

Kyler came so quick and easy for us. Some people might think its crazy to get pregnant 3 months after getting married but it was right for us in so many areas. And because of that I envisioned I would get exactly what I had wanted and dreamed for my life to really happen. Babies and more babies.

Fast forward 2 1/2 yrs later and I get pregnant. Again it was quick....but not easy. I miscarried at about 12 weeks and was absolutely devastated. These things happen to other people. Not me! I could not (and still can't to this day) believe that I would be one of THOSE woman. I sometimes think that I would have a 7 year old to love right now. Doctor said it would be better to wait at least 3 months to get pregnant again. So we waited...

And waited....


And waited...


And waited...


And waited...

Much to my breaking heart, nothing was happening. Year after year after year. Period after period after period. I still get tears just thinking about that time of my life. I was so sad and so heart broken. We prayed and prayed. And even though we wanted another child we understood that it was in Gods timing. I would tell myself that if I had known Kyler would be the one and only, I would have done so many things different. I would have savored more of the moments. Taken more pictures or...something. I so desperately wanted him to have a sibling. I myself don't have a sibling and even though its not my parents fault at all.....I still couldn't help feel I was left out of the "sibling club".

Fast forward again. Its the year 2004. Many things have changed for us. We had not only moved out of the rut we were in but into our very own house. Todd is making more money. I am making money. Thank God we were finally making more money! And with that money came health insurance. With that health insurance we found out the problem. Thank God we finally found out the problem! A simple surgery and 3 months later we are pregnant! I was shocked and stunned to say the least. Doctor said that the surgery wouldn't guarantee anything and me being a "glass half empty" kind of girl, didn't put to much hope into it. Especially about this kind of thing. I was NOT going to get my hopes up again. But God came through in the end. He heard our prayers. It was totally the right timing. You wouldn't believe how right the timing was and how it soooo wasn't back when we were desperately praying. I call Kaden our miracle baby. Our family was more complete once he arrived.

Fast forward almost 3 yrs. Present time. Kaden is almost 3 yrs old. I catch myself watching him like I am trying to record and burn everything in my mind. Because like I said...I am thinking about babies. Babies that don't seem to be coming AGAIN! Why do we have to work so hard for something that is so easy for so many people? I have tried telling myself that I should be happy with the 2 babies I have had. Some people don't even have that much. I had thought that I would be able to get past it. But lately I am having doubts about that. I want...no I need another one. I am feeling that hole again. I am getting that desperation feeling again. That if I don't get pregnant...I may just go crazy. Or if I don't get pregnant, could Kaden just stay little forever? I had to write about this because its so heavy on my heart that I feel I may burst. Hoping that getting this out would somehow gain some relief. It seems to be all I think about. I am consumed by it. Todd is going to wonder where the heck this is coming from because I haven't really talked about. I have a tendency to hold things in for a long time. I don't want to relive those dark years of disappointment and tears but Good God its happening again.

When is it going to be my turn? When will I not have to work so hard for EVERYTHING?

All I want is just one more

What I Love and What I hate Wednesday

Its officially fall around here and so that means I am cooking more. Why? I don't know...that's just how it works around here. Maybe its the cold weather, the lack of money or it just gives me something to do because I can't go to the beach anymore. I have recently discovered a new recipe for Enchiladas and because I love them sooooo much, I want to share them with you. These babies are so good you may fall in love with me and ask me to marry you. I'm totally being serious!

Okay people. Lets get down to business here. Lets make enchiladas

Before we begin, let me explain that there are three separate components to these enchiladas: THE SAUCE. THE MEAT. And THE REST. So I’ll split up the Cast of Characters accordingly

For THE SAUCE y ou’ll need canned 28 oz Mexican red sauce (or enchilada sauce), low sodium chicken broth, canola oil, flour, salt, pepper, and cilantro. Let me repeat: this is for THE SAUCE.


Let’s get the sauce going first. Okay? Okay. Throw 2 tablespoon canola oil into a medium saucepan, followed by 1-2 tablespoon flour. Whisk it together over medium-low heat.
Keep whisking as it cooks, and continue cooking for about 2 or 3 minutes. this is the base for the sauce
Add 2 cups of chicken stock
Pour in the red sauce, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt (note that some canned mexican sauce is quite PICOSO [look it up] so you'll want to do your homework if you are sensitive to flames shooting from you eyeballs) Give it a good stir and simmer on low heat while you mess around with the other stuff.

Now. Lets make THE MEAT!

Dice up your onion and throw it into a large skillet with a tablespoon of oil. Saute for a couple of minutes. Then brown 1 pound of hamburger. Once it's brown, dump in a large can of chilies. (oh, and you can drain the fat off the hamburger before adding the chilies if you feel like being a health nut or a responsible citizen)

Go ahead and add a little salt to the meat. Now turn it off and tell the meat to cool its heels for awhile.

Next component: THE REST

For THE REST you'll need corn tortillas, chopped black olives, sliced green onions and grated cheese.

In a small skillet over medium heat, fry individual corn tortillas in oil just until soft. You don’t want them to get crispy at all—just soft and a little blistered, about 3 seconds per side. Place tortillas on a paper towel-lined plate and keep warm while you finish them all up.

And now its time to assemble. Get your tortilla..coat it with sauce...place in your filling of meat, olives, onions and cheese...roll it up and place it seam side down in a pan that has a layer of sauce on the bottom. Repeat Repeat and Repeat!

Once you get them all into a baking dish, pour THE SAUCE over the top. If you like a lot of sauce, and I do, really lay it on thick. If you like things a little less over the top, well, take it easy. And of course we must add plenty of cheese and chopped cilantro over the top.

Now just bake it in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and enchiladas are bubbly and your appetite has shot through your roof, leaving an unsightly hole.

Mmmm. Goodness gracious sakes alive, I can’t tell you how good this smells. It smells like tiny, sparkly enchilada fairies have waved their magic wands in my kitchen. While I was in the middle of cooking these I said to myself "good grief there are alot of steps in this recipes. I don't think I will be making these again" Well let me tell ya...after tasting these I was like "oh yeah I am making these again!" It's sooo worth it.

Is your mouth watering yet?
Mine is. And this is a problem. This brings me to what I hate. Because I made the enchiladas in this photo several days ago. And there now gone. Gone in ten minutes!

I also hated the mess it made in my kitchen. Shees! You should have seen it!

Things are getting a little cold around here. I have a feelings its going to be a cold Winter since the Summer wasn't all that desirable. Once Fall hits, I can guarantee that I will be cold until approximately April. That's just how it is for me....cold hands and cold feet. But thankfully I have found a way to keep my feet warmer this year.............

I like finding multiple uses for things around the house!

Because one Kaden just isn't enough!