Blogging Slump

How is it that I only have one post for October and the month is almost over? Guess I just haven't been in the mood. Warning. This will be a long post. And random. And not in order.

(You would think with how popular blogger is that they would make it easier to insert and rearrange pictures.)

We enjoyed going to Lincoln's football games (they're all over now). He is an amazing kicker. Mckinley was pretty good at the games. We just love bringing her out with us whenever we can. Here are a few pictures of some of the games.

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Brandon and I also went to the BYU vs. Wyoming game last Saturday and had a blast. My brother Bryant and his family came and sat with us on the 6th row. It was raining and freezing before the game, so we were prepared for the worst, but it stopped raining and was actually pretty warm during most of the game. I didn't bring my camera in so here are some awesome cell phone shots.

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Oh my heck Kai looked so cute in his hat, snow pants, and boots. I could just eat him up!!!

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Brandon and I have already started putting our Trafalga passes to use. We went miniature golfing just the three of us and had so much fun. We went on the indoor course. Look how cool Mckinley looks under the black lights!

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Here's our little baby trying to be all grown up and holding her own bottle at just five months. It was the cutest thing ever. Well, the cutest thing ever, along with everything else she does.

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Mckinley's cousin Brynlee just loves her. She really wanted to hold her on the lap. Maybe it's just the camera angle, but doesn't Mckinley look HUGE? Like bigger than Brynlee, who is 2 years old? We've got a chunker on our hands. :)

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Speaking of Brynlee, and being 2, we celebrated her 2nd birthday this month and she was seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen. She screamed with delight while opening all her presents and kept saying "oh my gosh." It was awesome. And, on Brynlee's birthday, we got a little preview of what Christmas might be like this year. Mckinley wanted to eat that present so bad. She loves playing with paper so I think Christmas is going to be awesome. Maybe we'll wrap up some of the toys she already plays with. Ha ha ha, is that mean? Seriously though, she'll be 7 1/2 months at Christmas and isn't going to remember a thing about it, and also won't appreciate expensive gifts. (Note to grandparents: feel free to spoil her anyway.)

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Okay now these next few pictures should be a post all on their own. But they're going here anyway. So my whole life I grew up eating canned produce. And it is the best tasting stuff around. We had canned peaches, applesauce, grape juice, apricot juice, and tons more. I love the stuff! I've never canned myself though.

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My sister Kristen has done grape juice for the last two years and she mentioned to me that she was going to do it again this year, using my grandma's grapes and my parents' grapes since they are gone on a mission. Well I thought since I don't work now I'd join in on the fun. We went one Saturday to my grandma's and picked grapes. Picking grapes sucks. The leaves shade the grapes from the sun so they are hard to get to and there are lots of spiders and bugs. Even earwigs, which I think are the most disgusting thing on this planet. So it kind of sucked. Luckily I had Mckinley as an excuse though so I took lots of breaks to feed her and take care of her. Kristen did most of the picking.

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Then a few days later we got together to make the grape juice. I learned lots of things that day. Lesson #1. Grapes will go moldy if you pick them a few days in advance. We spent a lot of time picking out the moldy clumps. So gross! Here's Kristen with a sink full of grapes.

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Lesson #2. I hate making grape juice! And it's totally not worth the time (in my opinion). Here's our whole set up. We even had two steamers going and it still took all day. Don't believe me? Just wait.

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Once again, I had Mckinely has a {good} excuse, and I spent a lot of the day playing with her and feeding her and putting her down for naps, etc. But, I did stay at Kristen's house for 10 hours. Yes, that's right. TEN hours. And we weren't close to being done. By we, I mean Kristen. She did pretty much all of the work. I just tried to stay out of the way and keep my complaining at a minimum. Ha! These are the jars we had done by the time I left. Well, it may have been a few more than this, I think it was around 40 something jars when I left.

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I told Kristen to text me that night when she finished, even if it was late. Well, I got a text from her (but didn't know it till the next morning) at somewhere around 3:52 a.m. Yes, that's right, she made grape juice for 19 hours straight. She is a work horse. And insane. This is the picture she texted me. She did 100 jars and a few pitchers in the fridge.

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I've learned to never say never, but I'm pretty sure that was my first and last time doing grape juice. Yes, it's delicious and sugar-free, but I think I'll just buy some on sale at the store next time! I might try peaches or something in the coming years, but I'm pretty sure canning is not in my blood. Many of you know I don't look anything like anyone in my family. They used to tease me that I was adopted. I'm now starting to maybe believe them. Because I come from a long line of canners. But I don't see it in my future...

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Anyway, now that you're all bored to death, let's move on.

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This is just a picture of Mckinley in a stinking cute outfit my friend gave me.

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Mckinely and I go in to Brandon's office a lot to visit him. Here she is playing on the floor in his office.

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This is a rare occurrence. Mckinley resting her head on my shoulder. We soak up every one of these minutes that we get.

And this brings us to yesterday. The day I started this incredibly long post. It snowed yesterday for the first time this year and the first time in Mckinley's life. So she celebrated by wearing some adorable skinny jeans from Aunt Linda and her cute boots that Kristen bought her in Hong Kong. Now tell me that isn't adorable!!!

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Kristen and I went to lunch with our mom's two sisters, Julie and Sherri. They are the best aunts anyone could ask for! We had a blast.

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And now that this post has taken me two days to write, I already need to blog about the BYU basketball game we went to last night. I had the best seat in the house. Literally. Front row. Center court. It was awesome. Pictures are coming.

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Mckinley and I are heading off with our homemade oreo spider cookies to a work lunch, decked out in our sweet Halloween costumes. I will post pictures later!! Happy Halloween everyone!