Apple Annie

Last Saturday we took a half-day trip to little ol' Willcox, a small town an hour and a half northeast of us. We'd been planning this little outing for more than a month, waiting for the weather to cool down, all for a visit to Apple Annie's Pumpkin Patch and Orchard. We left bright and early at 7:30 a.m. and got there just as they were opening. We went first to the pumpkin patch, where they have something along the lines of a country store, a bunch of fresh produce, a corn maze, a hay ride, and of course, a pumpkin patch. We rode out to the patch on a tractor-drawn, hay-filled trailor and got to pick our own pumpkins right off the vines. Some teenage worker dudes hacked them off right then and there. Then we walked over to try out the corn maze. We opted for the "baby maze", which only took 10 or 15 minutes to complete, verses dragging our kids through the two-hour ones. It was perfect for us and they had a good time in there. Then we headed for the store to pay for our pumpkins and some home made toasted almond syrup that we couldn't resist buying.

Then we were off to the apple orchard, a 15 or so minute drive. There, they let you grab a bucket and pick your produce right off the trees, be it apples or peaches. We opted to pass on that, but looked around the gift shop instead. Then we grabbed lunch: apple burgers, baked beans, chips, and soda. It was a fabulous lunch, the beans in particular. To top it off, we got some home made apple crumb ice cream. It was DELICIOUS! In Danny's words, "This is a very pleasant ice cream experience." He ranks it #2 in his ice cream experience rankings (#1 is the huckleberry ice cream from Reed's Dairy in Idaho Falls). After finishing lunch we loaded up and headed home. We were home by 1:30 p.m. and all took naps after our big, exciting day.

I feel the sign says it all, and therefore, I can forego a caption on this picture.






The sprawling landscape of Apple Annie's Pumkin Patch.

The fam.

Dallin and Emily loved all the pumpkins. Emily especially loved the tiny ones. Dallin's favorite thing of the whole day, however, was collecting rocks everywhere we went.

On the hay ride going to the pumpkin patch.

Danny scoping out the the vines for the small pumpkins, with vine cutters and all.

Emily's pumpkin.

Dallin's pumpkin.

We bought some honey sticks at the little country store. They had a varitey of flavors, from mint to peach to cinnamon to English toffee and more.

Needless to say, Emily loved it.

And Dallin too.

Again, I'll forego a caption.

Here's the insanely difficult corn maze. Who are these people? Can you see why we went for the 15-minute baby maze? Heck yes!

Entering the corn maze.

In the maze.

Throughout the maze, we let Emily decide which way we'd go.

Exiting the maze.

At the apple orchard for lunch. Over lunch Danny goes, "This place does with apples what Bubba does with shrimp." I laughed and we proceeded to name all the things we'd seen done with apples that day: apple burgers, apple ice cream, apple butter, apple syrup, apple cake, apple honey, apple crisp, apple pie, apple spices, apple scones, apple candles, apple potpourri - and the list goes on, I'm sure.

The beans Danny is still talking about. With pride, he keeps counting the chunks of meat he scored after fishing them out of the big pot. Thanks, Apple Annie (whoever you are), for a fun day, good food, and lasting memories!

5 Years Ago - Part II

So, here's another "5 years ago today" day that I feel is post-worthy. The last one I did was in August about coming home from my mission. But 5 years ago today, Danny and I got engaged. We were living in Provo at that time. Danny was attending BYU and I was looking for a job, having just moved up a few weeks prior. We'd been to Wilson Diamonds at the University Parkway Mall to pick out a ring a few days before and the salesman (who happened to be a friend/classmate of Danny's) told us it would be ready in two weeks. Well, unbeknownst to me, he and this salesman-friend of his had hatched a plan to only say it would take in two weeks when in reality, it would be ready in a couple of days.


So, September 26, 2003 was a Friday and Danny had told me that he was taking me to meet his former mission president and his wife up in the Ogden area, that we'd have dinner at their house, and spend the evening with them. Just as we were driving up the I-15 and nearing downtown Salt Lake, my cell phone rang and it was "President Clarke", or so the caller said (it was really Danny's good friend, Ben King). He proceeded to tell me that his daughter, who lives in Dallas, had just gone in for an emergency C-section with her soon-to-be-born baby and they were leaving town immediately to be with her. After a few minutes of conversation with him, I passed the phone over to Danny who finished the phone call. Well, with our evening plans shot, I suggested that we spend the evening in downtown Salt Lake (which is what Danny had planned anyway). Of course he agreed and we headed that way.


We needed somewhere to eat and I suggested P.F. Chang's, one of my favorite places ever (this is also what Danny had planned), but when we put our name down on the waiting list, they said it would be an hour wait. So, there we were stuck with more time to kill. I then suggested we walk over to Temple Square to go to the top of the Conference Center because it's really awesome up there (the very spot Danny had planned to propose!). When we got there, a nice old Conference Center guy named Bob gladly gave us a tour of the building. Finally after what seemed like forever to Danny, the tour finally ended on the roof. Bob was a real talker and didn't notice Danny's signals that maybe we could be left alone for a minute. In the end, he asked Bob if he could have a few mintues alone with me. One would think that I would've figured out what was going on, but I certainly didn't see it coming. Danny said some sweet things, got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and asked me to marry him. I was completely shocked as I thought the ring wouldn't even be ready for pick up for another week. All I said was, "Oh my gosh! When did you get this (referring to the ring)?" He smiled goes, "Uh, I asked you a question. Aren't you going to answer?" Then I said, "Yes. ", of course.


After relishing thr moment for a while, we had dinner back at P.F. Chang's all starry-eyed and lovey-dovey, all the while admiring my shiney new ring. My only regret of the whole thing is that we didn't have a camera (had I known the calibur of the evening's events, I would've toted one along for sure). It was a special evening and it was the start of something truly great: being married to such a wonderful person!

Our Little "Vacation"

The kids and I spent 10 days at my mom's in Mesa while Danny was in Boston for work. There was no way in HECK I was going to be down here without him for that long! We had so much fun spending time with both sides of the family and got lots of important things done (i.e. getting a haircut, buying new makeup, eating good food, going to the scrapbook store, seeing old friends). It seemed like we were on vacation since we were gone for so long and I was at my mom's (does anyone else turn into the child again and let their moms take over?). It was great, except having Danny gone, of course.



We met our friends, the Kings, at the library for "Pirate Day". They had a plank to walk, a pirate hat craft, a puppet show, a treasure chest, and a how-to-speak-pirate "class".



We had a fun time and the library did a great job.



We visited Uncle Brian and Aunt Heidi. The kids loved seeing their turtles, though Emily's not so sure about actually touching this one.

Emily and Grandma.

Dallin and Grandma. Dallin's making the weirdest face.



Dallin and cousin Ryan, who don't even look slightly related. But then again, neither do my own kids.




Emily making a funny string cheese face at Carrabba's. Mmmmm....good food.

Dallin and Grandpa Dixon at Rosa's. Mmmmm....more good food.

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Brian and Heidi as they welcomed Hunter Thomas Burnham into their family on September 12, 2008!!! He's a cutie and I loved holding that sweet, little guy.

It's a Love-Hate Kinda Thing

It's true sibling rivalry has been around from before the foundation of the world; take the war in heaven, for example. Our first parents weren't able to escape it either; look at Cain and Abel. It must be inevitable, so I don't know why I thought it'd be different with my kids.

Well, Emily and Dallin are in the thick of it. Several months ago I told my mother-in-law about one of the first times I saw sibling rivalry manifest itself between them. We were taking our morning walk in our side-by-side double stroller and Dallin was driving Emily nuts by repeatedly tapping her with his hand. When I told my mother-in-law about it, she just laughed and said something like how this is just the beginning and how it will last even until their grown up in some form or fashion. Since then we've progressed to Emily constantly taking Dallin's toys away, head butting him for no reason, or just plain being extremely possessive of anything and everything. It drives me CRAZY. Dallin's come along in his own right (learning it from the master herself) and now pushes Emily away, yells "NO!" at her, and often won't share with her even when she asks nicely.

On the other hand, they love each other fiercely. No one can make Dallin laugh like Emily can and vice-versa. When Dallin's asleep Emily is always wanting me to go get him up. When Emily's not within Dallin's sight, he constantly asks for her, "Emmy? Emmy?" At times they get along just great and are the best of friends. It is so sweet and I want that more often. So my question to you all is this: What has worked in your families to maximize those contention-free moments and to minimize the sibling rivalry???

Labor Day Weekend

We headed up to Mesa for a 4-day Labor Day weekend. We were able to spend lots of time with both sides of our families and had a great time. Among other things we played games, attended the temple, ate plenty of good food, watched "Mr. Mom", took naps, went to the mall, celebrated Aunt Stacy's birthday, and had a BBQ at Aunt Jennifer's with lots of cousins.

Dallin and cousin Nathan swinging out back at my sister Jennifer's house.

Emily and cousin Ryan riding bikes.

Dallin got a hold of Aunt Stacy's play jewelry one day after swimming. He knows just what to do with it.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Stacy took Emily and Dallin to the mall to ride the carousel, their most favorite thing. Dallin chose the zebra.

Emily chose "Shere Khan".

The aftermath of Aunt Stacy's birthday cupcakes.

With Grandpa, enjoying a chocolate-frosted cupcake.

Mall visit #2 for the kids, this time with my side of the family. You might wonder, "What's with all this going to the mall?" Well, for one it's close by. Two, it's indoors (it's way too hot to do anything outside besides swim). And three, it's a fun, free place to go.

With Aunt Heidi.

We always stop at the pet store, the kids' favorite place at the mall besides the carousel.

We chose the giraffe for Dallin this time because it was stationary.

Emily LOVED this rabbit and was extremely possesive of it. Personally, I think it's kind of freaky.