The Pumpkin Tree

The Pumpkin tree is a Mitchell tradition.  When I say Mitchell I mean my in-laws.  This pumpkin tree is our very first in 10 years of marriage, but it's going to be the first of many because we had a ball.  It all started with Christian's sister around age 4 asking her dad if she could see the tree where all of the pumpkins grew.  Nothing stops Mark Mitchell once the creative juices start flowing and so the pumpkin tree was born.  They did it for about 5 years and were even on the news.  One year they had about 40 pumpkins on one tree and people would drive from all over the salt lake valley to see their tree.  It took about an hour to light them all, but they always made it into a neighborhood party with witches brew and games.  Our first party was so much fun!  Since this is our first Halloween in our new neighborhood it was also humorous to hear and see the reaction to the tree.  People stopped to take pictures and we found out later that some neighbors that we hadn't met only knew us as "the pumpkin tree family".  

The kids on Halloween: Winfield the power ranger, Jack Jedi, Georgia the cat, and Charles the bee (again).

First Photo Shoot

We have never had a professional family photo taken until the fall and although Georgia was not exactly cooperative, I was happy with the pictures.  Here are just a few fun ones.

The Apple Press - Old School

We have a good friend, Robbie, who grew up on a farm and likes to sort of live off the land as much as possible.  For him, that means buying apples cheap, making his own apple press, and freezing gallons and gallons of apple cider to last the whole winter.  We thought that sounded awesome so we set it up in our garage, invited a few families, and went to town.  It was a blast, minus the part where all of the kids threw up the next day and we weren't sure if it was the cider or the flu.  Yeah, that was kind of awful.  Turns out, it wasn't the cider.

So sad to see the Rackham family go, but it was that very night when Scott got the call from BYU that he got "the job" and off they went.  Our loss.

As always, it was wonderful to have Marriotts visit.  I just wish we hadn't sent them off on their road trip home with vomiting children.  They haven't been back since.  Hmmm.

A vist from Aunt Genny

Genevieve came to visit just as the crisp air was turning into crisper air.  We drove all the way out to The Elegant Farmer to pick apples and pumpkins only to find out we were too late.  The trees were picked clean and the pumpkins were reserved for the weekend rush.  At least the trip wasn't all "fruitless" - we came home with a famous Apple Pie Baked in a Bag.  These are amazing!  They have been featured on Food Network and are shipped all over the place.  Anyway, we bought a tiny one to send back to Gammy and of course took a little one home for ourselves.  Nothing like a 5-lb. pie to stretch the waistline.

There may not have been apples to pick, but once the boys saw the horses and hay bales, they were happy we came and made the most of the run around time.

Crispy Apples, Sticky Fingers

One of the best parts of living in the mid-west is the apple picking season. Autumn here is absolute heaven (okay, so is summer - don't ask about winter). I have great memories of picking apples when Christian and I were dating and Georgia was still with us. As was her habit, she walked the orchard balancing apples on her head. So, when I feel the fall weather, my thoughts always turn to the good old days in Indiana. Here we are trying to find the most tart apple. We made caramel apples later that night and got good and sticky.

Halloween

In our village Halloween is always celebrated on Sunday. As annoying as that is, it gives us yet another opportunity to teach our children what it means to be Mormon in Wisconsin while we sit out the trick-or-treating. Luckily for us, the ward has a Friday party so the boys get to wear their costumes and come home with plenty of candy. We did do round two of trick-or-treating on Halloween at the stores of the mall near-by. Christian was pretty happy about it since we came home with two water bottles from the Apple store. Jack is very into Star Wars even though he has only seen a twenty minute version of the first one. He wanted to be Anakin Skywalker, so what does Winfield want to dress up as? Also Anakin Skywalker. Unfortunately I didn't think ahead and the store was out of Yoda costumes for infants. Charles went as a Lion instead and got lots of happy comments from people. The boys ate all their candy (both times) in one sitting. So far, no damage has come of it.

The Women Hit San Fran

An all-girls' weekend in San Francisco, hot fudge Sundae at Ghirardelli Square every night, perfectly blue skies, a full day of shopping, a chick flick, and loads of bonding...what more could a girl ask for? It was a fabulous trip, even if Charles did crash the party a few times! Here are pictures to prove it all really happened. The Blue Angels were practicing for their show that weekend and we got front row seats at Alcatraz. I love my sisters and that includes the sister-in-laws. I must be the luckiest girl to have such amazing women in my life! We really missed Emily, Cannon's wife, and of course Georgia. We had a good chuckle of her crazy sleeping habits. What a one-of-a-kind girl she is! I miss her. So, here's to another trip without men!! Charles, you're staying home next time.

Ireland

The Amazing Rock of Cashel - our favorite ruins. The huge rock Christian is leaning against fell from the castle wall and they left it right where it landed.

Charles stole the hearts of every Italian woman in a tour group at the Rock of Cashel. They honestly followed me around and chattered in Italian "baby talk" to Charles' smiles.

A flat tire on a packed-to-the-gills-rental was NOT our idea of a good time, but the little thing made it across Ireland on the spare and we lived to tell about it.

Our hotel on our last night in the town of Kilkenny. It was called the Butler House and was gorgeous.

The Cliffs of Moher. What a breathtaking view!

Charles looking through a cell at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin.

Christian had business in Dublin so I just had to go with him. We spent an amazing week driving all over the beautiful island and had all kinds of adventures including a flat tire, an unexpected surfing town (which led to a quck dip in the Atlantic and some great fish and chips), two close encounters with sheep, and great B&B’s. We were completely spoiled at the Dublin Ritz Carleton where Christian's conference was. We had our own hot tub on the balcony, a full kitchen and living room, and the most dreamy bed. I still think about that bed and wish I could transport it to Milwaukee. They also gave us a personal driver to take us around Dublin. Talk about swank! It was pretty amazing. After leaving the Ritz we were on our own buck and downgraded to a few mom and pop B&B's that were rather humerous, but memorable. Charles was an absolute dream and was also very popular with the Irish and European tourists. What a wonderful trip!