Dwight Shrute and Other Random Happenings

Here's your random stuff that happened in November post.

First thing - we finally had to tear out our garden. Yes. In November. I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that our growing season is February to November. It's amazing!!! I pulled the rest of the beets and check this thing out! I posted a picture to Instagram with the caption "Dwight Schrute would be proud." He is a character from The Office that is a beet farmer. But seriously guys, look how huge this thing is!

This was Pierscen's portrait of Garfield. I love it so much!

Devry is such a little mother. She loves to take her little stuffed animals and wrap them in napkins, towels, and burp clothes. Then she carries them like this, laying on their backs. She feeds them, loves them, rocks them, and hushes them. It is so dang sweet. 

As part of the New Mexico unit at Pierscen's school, they asked for family recipes to collect for a "Taste of New Mexico" cook book. I thought long and hard about what was something unique to us and decided on aebleskivers. This is the first time I have made them on a day other than Christmas. We joked that there might be a curse that followed, but everything turned out okay. I actually have a whole recipe book on amazing ways to eat these things and had yet to try them. Baby steps, guys. Baby steps. 

While turning over the garden and adding in mulched leaves, Pierscen found this thing. At first I thought he was bringing in a piece of poo. It definitely isn't poo. But it also kind of looked fake. Then in moved. *Shudder* Ryan did some investigating and found that it is a hummingbird moth pupa. Kind of cool, right? Pierscen found another one and now they are both in that jar pictured, but covered in dirt. We will see if they survive. 

Now this is big. I have wanted an entryway table for a long time. But they are pricey. I price check several sights often just to see what's available. Then one day, Amazon was having a really great deal. I found the one I wanted, but was nervous because it listed it as espresso (which I wanted) but all the pictures looked cherry (which I really DIDN'T want). At last I found pictures posted from actual customers and it was a goregous espresso. So I committed. And I am SO happy! I put it together by myself and I love, love, LOVE it! Now to get some decor!

Below was taken a month later for Christmas. It's not much, but having a table there is seriously amazing. 

Lastly, I got a skirt. This is blog worth. Really. I have several friends who sell LuLaRoe and I have never bought anything because it is expensive and most of the prints are too spazy for my taste. I attended an open house for my friend here locally and found this skirt that was black and mint alternating. I loved it, but it was just a tad bit too tight. I mean it fit, and it was sexy, but I wanted something that I could wear to church without feel self conscious. 

Later I found out that I actually won a skirt from that open house AND they had found me one that was similar in the right size. It wasn't the exact same, since the original alternated colors a couple of times, but it was close enough. I LOVE it! I feel confident, sexy (without being too sexy haha) and it was free! It is super comfortable, stretchy, and flattering. Hooray! And, you know, I recently lost 20 pounds, so it was really nice to feel good again. :)

Turkey Campout and Glow Run

The second weekend in November we did something crazy. We participated in the ward Turkey Campout. It was a mixed bag of totally awesome and absolutely miserable. Haha. 

We got up there around 4 or 5 pm. Everyone was in charge of their own meal, so we bought a pizza on our way up and ate in the car. Classy. :) We set up camp at the far end of the area. Ryan was kind and bought a Mr. Heater Buddy (or something like that). It's a heater that's meant for the tent. My biggest fears with camping, especially with kids, and especially in November is being cold. The heater was wonderful. 

We decided to carry on with routine and got the kids ready for bed around 6:30. By 7 they were both passed out, which is really saying something because by this point, more people were arriving and setting up their tents and running around and being very, very loud. And who can blame them? Why on earth would you expect that anyone would put their kids to bed at 7pm while camping?! 

I was feeling a little frustrated with this because I couldn't understand why we bothered to come up for the night if we weren't going to be interacting with anyone? If we were just going to hide in our tents and be anti-social, we could have done that in our warm, wonderful beds at home. (I'm such a great sport, aren't I?) 

Yup. The night was awful. There is no other word for it. I did not sleep. At. All. Devry woke up several times crying. The heater helped, but eventually ran out and I had to get Ryan to get up and change the tank. In so doing, he smacked his head on the lantern hanging at the top of the tent. Devry was awake for this and saw it and for whatever reason, that sealed the deal and she decided she was up for the day. At 3 am. It was the most miserable night I have had in a long time. And that's saying something considering the weekend I went through/put myself through for Pierscen's early birthday. 

So the pictures below are an absolute lie.

The boys got dressed and ran off to have fun. Devry was a cranky, tired mess. (Wonder why?!) As was I. Eventually I climbed in the car with Dev and Dodger and turned on the car to warm up. Devry was moments from passing out and then just like that - she caught her second wind and decided to forge ahead. 

So we gave up trying and got out of the car. Now for the great stuff. This ward has been doing the Turkey Campout for something like 20 years and it just keeps getting bigger and better. The most incredible thing to witness was how they cook the turkeys and ham. They started with rebar poles which they surrounded by chicken wire and filled with charcoal. 

Then they wrapped tin foil around the outside poles, put some more rebar in in the shape of a tent, then suspended the wrapped meat over a big flat rock int he center. After that - let the charcoal and the sun do the work. It was incredible! I have never seen anything like it. 

Pierscen had a grand time running around and hiking with other kids. Devry and I survived, some how. 

At last it was time to eat. Mmm, mmm, good! It was super, super delicious! They made this stuff called pumpkin dump cake that was like a dutch oven cobbler, but with pumpkin filling and it was divine. Wowza. So good!

After we ate, we had to ditch out a little early to head back for our first Glow Run 5K. Our friend let us borrow her double stroller so we could bring the kids. (Pierscen loved it - but I'm not sure I would do that again.) 

This was a really fun, interesting run. I say interesting because it was a totally different mind set than what either Ryan and I are used to and it was kind of challenging. It wasn't timed, which is fine because we can always time ourselves, but the good majority of people there were walking it. Hey - I think that's awesome. And I love that these type of races exist and get people moving. Our frustration is that there was a major lack of spacial awareness. There were whole groups of people that would spread out across the path and make it impossible to get around. Unless you left the path which was a "at your own peril" type of move because the majority of the course is in the dark. (We were at the Balloon Fiesta Field). So that was frustrating. It was really difficult for us to get out of our own heads and just "have fun" because both of us really wanted to run! 

It was hilarious though because at one point Pierscen said from the stroller, "Dad, I can run faster than this." I was laughing so hard! 

We finished the race and were unsure if we should just leave, but the after party is what that race was all about. 

At several points throughout the race there were people there throwing glowing power. I ran through a big cloud of it on purpose. Ryan did pretty dang good avoiding it until the very last "check point" where one guy actually ran after Ryan to get him. Haha. When we finished, we each received a packet of the glow powder for the party. We got the kids out and P had a hayday with the stuff. This is where is got really fun. Lots and lots of pictures:

We also met up with a few of my friends from the ward who signed up after I posted it. They ran it together. It was a miracle we found each other after for some photos and dancing. 

We had a really great time. We left the park, then rewarded our exercise with a burger and chicken strips. Hahaha. Great family memories. :)