Thanksgiving

Ben had an interview with the University of Utah, so we got to spend Thanksgiving this year in Idaho. All but one of Ben's siblings were there. 41 people were there for the feast! I included a photo of Ben's grandparents with their great grand children, a photo with their grand children, and and a photo with the Scott Ekstrom crew. Unfortunately Elizabeth was napping during the group photos. We had a nice time visiting and eating lots of food. Next we traveled to Mapleton UT for Eve's baptism. We also got to see all but one of my siblings in Salt Lake. Getting all 10 cousins in a photo was crazy. Elizabeth needless to say was well entertained, but has been sleeping non stop since we got hpme.

Tucson

We took a short family trip to Tucson for one of Ben's residency interviews. The first day I took Elizabeth to the Arizona Sanora Dessert museum. In Elizabeth's limited vocabulary of plants: tree, pumpkin, banana, apple, beans, and peach, she chose pumpkin. Lizzy kept calling the cactus pumpkin. In but eventually learned the word cactus. Liz had to take her naps in the car but was flexible that way. The next day Ben went golfing while I stayed busy keeping Lizzy safe, and that afternoon we went to the Saguaro National Park. Did you know that the Saguaro cactus grow about a foot in 10 years. And do not grow arms until they are about 75 years old! The last picture during out nearly 4 hour lay over. Lizzy slept in the stroller for 3 hours until she finally slid all the way out and the airport got more busy.

Lizzy Sarah Duo

Whenever I play the piano, Lizzy comes running to join me. Even if she is in the middle of getting dressed. She loves to play and sing just like Mommy, well sort of like Mommy.

one more halloween family photo

I had to add this last one because photos of the three of us are so rare.

Halloween dinner

Ben has been gone quite a lot this month to say the least. Today Elizabeth and I missed him, but had a big day. Hopefully she will see him tomorrow. First church. Elizabeth loves to march out of sacrament meeting down the hall to nursery without a concern of anyone that might not see her 34 some inch body mustering her way through the mingling crowd and certainly not a concern for the whereabouts of her mother. Second, she took a long nap after her lunch of about 5 peanuts on the way home. She napped through a parade of Tricker-Treaters at the door but woke an hour before the city scheduled trick-or-treat time ended. She ate another lunch of 2 green beans and 2 slices carrots with ranch and rushed into her costume. She sort of got the idea of trick-or-treating. She said meow occasionally and bye-bye more frequently. One women tried to get her to say trick-or-treat and she just pointed to the women's shoes and said shoes. Any word deserved candy at her age. We went up and down a few blocks on two streets (only about 1 in 4 or 5 houses participated) stopping to look at leaves and decorations along the way. It has been a long time since I have been trick or treating. I'm glad Lizzy woke in time to go. Not only did we both get to eat our fill of candy, Lizzy seemed to enjoy herself, smiling and such. For dinner we shared part of a smoked turkey leg. Elizabeth ate about 1 sliced carrot and two spoons of potatoes and a quite a bit of turkey from the bone. She said, "meat, meat." Elizabeth knows probably 40 words I'm guessing. Her latest words are meat, tongue, soap, garbage, salsa, pumpkin...that I can think of. Some words are very clear such as salsa, and milk. Other words she gets the first sound wrong or just omits it for example glasses in Lizzy language is just assess, help is elp, pumpkin in mumpkin, and socks is gocks. The funniest is blanket and pacifier. She used to say blanket, but somewhere a monkey got mixed in and we can't get her to stop saying monket for blanket. And she says water for pacifier, but she can't actually say water so she says waber. so every night when she goes to bed she needs her monket and her waber.

family photos

wow! AFter five years I figured out how to put a picture on the title of my blog. I'm quite please with my self. Always wanted to do that. There are some family photos taken in August, maybe sept. Ones withe Ben are rare, and the three of use, even more so, so we were glad to get these. The last time we tried (in MArch) Elizabeth was overdue for a nap and it was a flop.

additional photos for last post

Lizzy in her own tent, and picking cherries

The last 5 weeks

Below are pictures of our family since the 4th of July. I will give the details in more of less or a chronological order. No such promise for the pictures. We went camping twice. We learned that strapping Elizabeth's high chair to a picnic bench works well. On the second trip we learned that Elizabeth does well..or I should say, her parents do best, when she has her own tent. Elizabeth enjoyed reading her own books for about an hour in her tent after waking up: good baby. Near the Dells we went to a deer park where we had a great time feeding and petting dear. We also found canoeing to be quite successful with a small child. Next, you will see that our raspberries and giant black berries became ripe. I made quite a deal of freezer jam, not shown. I got my hair cut and highlighted which you may or may not notice from the picture. We went swimming at a local but very crowded and annoying beach (about 1 life gaurd for every six children). Our cabbage is gettting big. I hope they tastes good. We BBQ'd pork ribs a couple of times in the back yard which we discovered is easier and cheaper than we thought. Another event of note was Elizabeth getting Roseola and then an allergic reaction to amoxacillin (hives shown). Our next camping trip was to Door county. The high light was picking sweet cherries. I will have to upload those pictures from Ben's camera. I made 4 batches of freezer jam and 6.5 quarts of canned, and 2 pints of frozen cherries. Also we picked some for others. I was over whelmed with the cherries until I canned them and that was quick. I wish I got more. We also went to the Door county fair. The best parts were watching an awesome juggler and Lizzy got to pet giant and baby cows. You will also see a picture of Ben and Elizabeth on top of a tower 225 feet above lake level. We were the highest point in many miles. On the way home we stopped at another state park on the beach. Ben had fun burying Elizabeth in sand. Elizabeth's level of fun is questionable. At home I made a large batch of cumber and squash and hot pepper pickles with all the fresh produce shown from our garden. I made 8 quarts of pickles! LAter Also I made several batches of freezer raspberry jam and three batches cooked blackberry jam. And last of all, Monday, after a long bout of frustration with and effort to fix our old car, we bought a new-to-us hatchback.