We headed to Swore Farms for pumpkin picking on Saturday. In the past we've always had soccer games on Saturdays so it had been awhile since we'd been. Last time I went was with Walker's Preschool class and Stewart has never been so it was a fun adventure. Of course Walker wanted to lead the way and pull the cart...

Ten minutes later guess who was pulling the cart?...

The place is covered with pumpkins... 8 acres of pumpkins to be exact. I found my pumpkin first...

Good thing I married someone good with tools...

It was a real beauty... loved the shape and color..

We put it in the wagon and looked around more. Ainsley found her's next...

We left her there guarding it so we wouldn't loose it while Stewart got the cart and I went with Little Bug to find his which he was sure was one that we already passed! We went through the tall grass...

and after many, "No that's not it!" we finally found it or one that looked like it.

Then it was Stewart's turn to find his..

As we were heading back to pay for our pumpkins... I'm looking in the cart thinking, "Oh my these are huge... at 25 cents a pound I hope I brought enough cash!" Each pumpkin was around 25 pounds! So with the car over a 100 pounds heavier we headed for home.

We stopped for a bite to eat and I had one of the employees that was cleaning tables take our picture... It was a family outing and I wanted to remember the moment in the years to come. The highschool girl was like, "You want me to take your picture here???" Um Yeah... Sorry it's what I do.

Home to wash up pumpkins..

And take pictures of the kiddos with each of their prized pumpkins...

We put them on the front porch and they barely fit on the steps! Will carve them next weekend!

This was the view the other night while leaving a store... one of those moments when I whip out the small camera and take a picture. One of those," ahh... thanks God" moments.

Have a great weekend!

I've been doing this the past few days... picking plums from the backyard..

Been pitting and dehydrating them... they seem to take about 11 hours to dry. I also plan to freeze some and make something later... no idea what yet. I also want to try and make some fruit roll ups this weekend as well.

They don't look like the most appetizing thing to eat... but they sure are tasty!

This was just yesterday right?...

Hard to believe it was actually Spring 2007.

Now look at them...

Okay here's the last of the summer pictures and stories of the season.

Big highlight for the kiddos... camping in the backyard in their OWN tents!

Of course you've got to have smores... interesting experience making them in the microwave... but still tasty!

Went to the annual Zoofari at the Zoo eating countless ice cream cones... mmm...

And face painting is always a must with the kiddos..

Snacks are always consumed on long road trips... Walker found the biggest nerd of all! And thought it was a picture worthy event.

Water guns were played with daily... resulting in happy... screaming... wet kiddos!

We tried to get a peek of the craziness surrounding Pocatello when Extreme Makeover Home Edition showed up to do a show... this is about as far as we got... the road was blocked off and you had to have a pass to get through. Can't wait to see the process when it airs this fall!

Lastly a fantastic hike up to Barker Lake... was long but well worth it!

All in all sad to see summer go... but love that the leaves are starting to fall today... and looking forward to the first frost when I'll be able to breathe a bit easier. Sagebrush is an awful thing on my allergies!

Fall is here when the candy corn and salty peanuts start being consumed..(currently on bag 2!) It's guilt free eating when we are hitting the gym 4 times a week!

Right now he is loving school...

Thank goodness he's over the tears as we say goodbye on the playground. He actually wanted to leave early this morning so he wouldn't miss the football game that he always joins before the bell rings. So very glad that he's a happy boy at school once again.

I've been wanting to head to Massacre rock forever and since it's just down the road it was always put on the "sometime" list. But we finally made it over Labor Day weekend. The visitor center is always the first stop..

Inside showed a typical day on the Oregon trail and then it had a list of what was taken in the wagon...

I was most giddy about this...

an ACTUAL journal that told the events along the trail... how cool was that!! I could have spent all day sitting there reading it. I thought I'd be able to find a copy of it at the Idaho Historical area in the library but so far I haven't. Wish I would have taken a picture of each page to read it entirely. Might have to go back and do that.

After we found out which trails were the best to hike we headed toward the first one... which led you through the history of the landscape. Talking about these huge boulders that were deposited here from the Bonneville flood.

Little history... the Bonneville flood happened about 15,000 years ago, it was so forceful that it changed the shape of the mountains... you can see the notch cut out of the hill by these big boulders..

From here it was onto the trail featuring actual wagon ruts.

The trail took us under the interstate... really freaky..

The wagon ruts were not what I expected... thought it would have been a little bit more preserved. To me it looked like anyone could have made them with a dirt bike.

We headed back to the car and continued down the highway for a couple miles to see Register Rock..

Really cool to see this and think about the actual people that spent the time carving their name to leave "their mark" on the trail. There were hundreds and hundreds of names. Makes me wonder what happened to them later... did they make the journey the whole way... were their hopes and dreams met when they reached their destination??

Then onto lunch in the car... because my 2 "outdoor trail blazers" didn't want to sit on the picnic benches with spider webs.

Not a loose tooth in sight but thought we'd better be prepared for when Walker finally does have a loose tooth.

How cute is this "tooth monster" pillow??

I've been working on pictures today and found this favorite from the summer...