Smurfs, Pirates, and Awesomeness...

It's time to carve pumpkins! I can't believe it's Halloween already, and I've just finished my first term of teaching. Craziness! This has to be one of my favorite activities around the holidays.  However, Pac and I both aren't exactly fans concerning the gut of the inside of a pumpkin. Yuck.

Pac carved a pirate pumpkin. This is him just getting started on it.

Boomer just did not know what to think of our carving pumpkins.  Of course, Boomer thinks everything is food, so he was acting like we were holding out on him.

"Whatchya got there Mom? It's shiny, and I think I'd like to play with it!" (the camera)

We had a few more pumpkins to carve because this year, we actually have our own porch to PUT them on! It's so much fun! Here is Pac's pirate, and a smaller pumpkin I just carved a cute Spooky into.

I've never carved a white pumpkin, but when I found a pattern for Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas, I just had to. It looks so awesome! Side note, I don't know what kind of "pumpkin" white ones are, but it definitely smells more like squash.

Is that a Vampire SMURF?!?! YUPS! And I love him.  I have the Smurf Villiage App on my Ipad and play it from time to time.  When I saw the smurf pattern, I was in love. Usually when I use patterns,  it almost never turns out, so I guess this year I got lucky.

Pac's Pirate! Gotta love it. I think we should find a Pac-Man stencil for him to make too.  We still have one more pumpkin to carve... ;o)

We used the portraiture setting on the point-and-shoot camera, and I think what it did to the photo is awesome.  Kind of like our pumpkins are ghosts. The two on the end aren't real pumpkins, they are faux pumpkins I made out of old glass.  They are awesome cause they don't rot, and are cute! 

Happy Halloween to family and friends! Be safe!

Paxton was gone...

Paxton was out of town this week on a business trip to Michigan.  Usually when he's out of town, I have to keep myself super busy, but luckily this time, I was plenty busy! One such example is that I

 recently took a quick trip to Salt Lake to get some pictures for a project that we are doing

for the Young Women in our ward (I work with the 12 & 13 year old girls).  I wanted to post some of these because I love how they turned out. It makes for some good pinning on Pinterest too!

I post my business photography on my photography blog.  If you'd like to see the photog page, you can get to it here. 

This first one is the statue of Joseph and Emma Smith.  It seemed no matter where I stood, or how I moved my camera, I couldn't get the building in the background to not look like it was a cousin to the leaning tower of pizza. lol! I just resolved to say it was the building and not me. lol!

The handles on the SLC Temple are famous. This was the main picture for our project.

To me, this embodies the entire concept and/or idea of what motherhood is.

Julie Beck, Lioness at the Gate. 'Nough said.

I love me some sun flare!!! 

Again, for some reason I couldn't get a shot that wasn't tilted, but I love it anyway. I've seen many pictures of the reflection of the temple in the reflection pool, but now I'm glad I have my own.

So pwetty.

 "Aspire Higher." A good reminder to stick to the things in your life that make you the most happy.

Pack's Pumpkin Patch!

Paxton and I have a tradition every year to go with his family to a pumpkin patch and pick our own pumpkins. We go to Pack's Pumpkin Patch in Farmington, and LOVE it! We've been going there for the past three years.  Some past years were so uncomfortably cold that the trips to the patch tend to be short.  As long as we go,  that's all I care! Here are some pictures of our little trip.

We of course had to get our little cart to tote around our pumpkins. 

This picture makes no freaking sense. lol! I picked up a "Cinderella" pumpkin and put it in our cart, and I wanted a picture cause it looks so amazing! It's kind of squashed (vertically challenged) and has a whole bunch of texture.  It is currently the highlight of my porch display. Sadly, it was cut out at the very bottom, but it's what I'm pointing at.

There, that is the Cinderella Pumpkin, but from that angle it just looks like a pumpkin.

Pac found his. And was excited.

Look at the plethera of pumpkins behind him! I love it. I love him.

This is what I look like when I'm trying to decide if I want to pick a different one, or go with the one that's in my hands.

Ultimately, I found a better one.  When it comes to carving them, I like a taller pumpkin.  It gives me more of a canvas!

Family member's carts o' pumpkins.