PLAYING CATCH UP

Argh!! Just when I thought I was up to date on posting the latest and greatest that is our life, I discover that I'm about TWO months behind.

NOOOOO!!!!!!

Here comes the marathon post...

JUMPIN' COUSINS

The boys just LOVE their cousin, Collin. When his dad brought him out to the trampoline, I think my little guys thought they had died and gone to heaven. Two of the favorite things together in the same place. YEAH!

RIDING WITH GRANDPA

Eric's dad has passed on his love for motorcycles to his grandsons. Before this year, I would ride a quad once a year at Thanksgiving time in the desert. Since last Thanksgiving I've been on more rides than in the last 5 years combined. We're taking advantage of all the riding time we can since it will probably be a while after Grandpa has surgery.

Grandpa took us to a new trail that even he hadn't been on before. We pulled off the road at the wrong spot which left us driving down a jeep/atv trail in a non-4wd truck with a trailer hitched to it. Needless to say we got stuck. Not once, but twice. It took about 2 hours to get unstuck the second time. The boys took advantage of the laxed supervision. Brandon tried to climb the mountain while Andrew was busy gathering sticks of all lengths. After unloading quads, unhooking the trailer, and jacking up all four truck tires on rocks, we were on our way...sort of. I had to help Grandpa "walk" the trailer (which can hold 3 quads) DOWNHILL about 20 yards to where the truck was {we didn't want to get stuck again}. The distance really wasn't all that far, but let's face it, I'm buff, but not buff enough to huff a trailer down a hill under control. I felt bad for Grandpa. I'm sure he was wishing one of his sons were there to help. I was about as helpful as an eye full of dirt. Nevertheless, we made it one piece. I did have to ride one of the quads down the hill behind the truck. Once we hit the staging area {parking lot for you city slickers} all four of us had to squeeze on to ONE quad {the wimpy Honda} to retrieve the other quad that was still up the hill. I wish someone else had been with us to snap a picture of that. Andrew sat in front of Grandpa and poor little Brandon was squished between me & Grandpa. Yep, I was practically hanging off the back, but we made it. It was only a few hundred yards back up the hill.

Still strapped to the trailer

Half-way point

(we had to stop for a snack)

Off exploring

CHICK-FIL-A

On a friend's recommendation, Eric's mom and I took the boys to Chick-fil-A on a Tuesday night when they have some fun activities. It's too bad we saw the cow mascot on the way in. The boys were SO concerned that he was "going to get them" that they didn't go anywhere near the clown doing facepainting.

Can you tell they want this cow to leave?

The terror...

This is as close as we'll ever get to a picture with the cow

GENERAL CONFERENCE

The first weekend in October is always dedicated to "T.V. Church" {as my mom & sister affectionately refer to it}. Traditionally the Jacklin's gather for both sessions on Sunday with loads of eating before, during, and after - homemade scones, massive sandwiches, and lasagna. YUM. We enjoyed our time together and appreciate the messages we heard from the leaders of the church.

Lots of loungin' (and nappin') with this group

STARTING EARLY...

Eric had to replace the air filter in his car and decided to show the boys how it's done. Can you imagine how that went? It started out great, but the boys quickly lost interest and ended up inside the car playing with everything on the panel that they shouldn't - wipers, blinkers, you name it. Still cute though.

The toy tool box made all the difference

ANIMAL BALLOONS

My mom comes out to visit every week. While she was off-track she was able to stay a little longer than usual so she brought tons of balloons, a pump, and a how-to-make animal balloons book. The boys totally ate that up. She made the standard weiner dogs at first {like 4, I think}, then she moved on to the tough stuff. Turtles, swans, octopus!? It was quite entertaining for me to watch how excited those little monsters would get over a new creation. I think my mom wants to follow in her grandma's footsteps and go to Clown School {seriously - my great-grandma was a clown}.