First Snake

This past week we had very nice weather, so we decided that we should wash our cars before it was time to put the hose away for the winter. We bundled Ethan up in his snow gear so he would stay warm despite all the water, and set to work. Ethan was a surprisingly good helper, until he started washing the car that we already had clean.
The next day we set out to find some of the hidden beauties of Idaho. We started out at Malad Gorge where there is supposedly a waterfall... it must only be a spring waterfall because we couldn't see one. We were disappointed and still had some day left so we set off to try out another place, Thousand Springs Hydro Project. We were very pleasantly surprised with crystal clear water, bright green algae and waterfalls in both directions! We didn't have our camera so Steve's phone had to work for the one waterfall that was close enough for me to hike to. The other exciting adventure was that Ethan got to hold his first snake. We saw a gardener snake as we were hiking and Steve caught it and gave it to Ethan. He didn't know whether he was really excited or terrified, but either way there was a lot of giggling and screaming. We played with it until it tried to bite Steve, then we put him back down. I wish I had had my camera!
Another fun adventure of the week was FHE pumpkin carving night. We had some friends over for dinner and to carve pumpkins. All of my pictures with Ethan and his friend Skye are blurry because they wouldn't stop trying to blow out the candles in the pumpkins or taking the lids on and off of the pumpkins. So here are pictures of just the pumpkins. This first one is Steve's masterpiece.
These two are mine (the bat) and Ethan's happy pumpkin.This is Ethan the next day trying to reach in and pull the candle out. At least I got him to sit still next to the pumpkin! I think he even still has pumpkin guts in his hair, good thing I didn't zoom in :)

This week on the farm...

We have been having a lot of fun playing this week, and even got to have Grandma and Annie come and visit, which was the highlight of the week for us. In fact, Ethan loved it so much that he won't let me put on my shoes because he thinks they are Annie's shoes. He also keeps going outside and looking for grandma and saying "gama's house". Another thing that we did this week was take a drive out to Sun Valley to see the very end of the changing leaves. It was beautiful... so beautiful that we forgot to get out the camera. This is Ethan and Steve playing in the dirt by the tractor. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but Ethan is obsessed with dirt. He would fill up his toy tractor with dirt and go over and dump it out in the big tractor.
E is also a big fan of swinging, he will swing all day long if you let him. In this particular picture he was swinging and being entertained by dad throwing the frisbee really high into the air and running around trying to catch it.
We also got grass this week! And, since some of you still haven't figured out that we moved, here is a picture of the outside of our humble abode, and our festive pumpkin.
I also had a request by Jen to see a picture of pregnant Claire... well here it is, look fast because it is likely to be the only picture of pregnant Claire that you ever see.
In our continuing preparations for Halloween we found a pumpkin patch just down the road from us, so we thought that we'd check it out and add to our little pumpkin collection. They gave Ethan a ride out to the patch in a trailer pulled by a 4wheeler, aka bike. We found a little Ethan sized pumpkin, and a mama sized pumpkin, and we had a lot of fun wandering through all of the pumpkins and dirt and weeds, etc. Plus, I got this really cute picture of my boys.

This video is from when we went to the park. Ethan likes to go face first down the slide now, which is why he has a huge wound by his right eye. He also thinks he is Nacho from Nacho Libre... I really can't explain his unhealthy obsession with Nacho, it just is. What a funny kid.

Bikes, Snow and Mingos

We have been having so much fun playing outside since we've been here. Ethan is really fond of bike rides, and tractors, which is really a great combination for a family home evening activity. So Monday we went for a fun bike ride and watched them harvest the sugar beets, Steve on my bike because of some pregnancy/balance issues, and me on Steve's bike. It is so nice to live somewhere where we can just hop on our bikes and be out in the country enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Another thing that we are loving is that we had the first snowfall of the winter. We are SOO excited that there is snow here, snow is SOO much better than rain :) Steve and I were both commenting how much more it felt like home to have the snow falling... but it feels a little like Troutdale still because of the wind, and we love that too.

The other exciting news from this week is that Steve got his degree in the mail, and we also celebrated him treating his first patients (he had four this week :) I made a cake to celebrate... but since I don't know any "I just saw my first patients" songs we did away with the candles. Things are finally all set up at the office and now we just need to get the word out that he's there and ready to help. Don't worry how he is also already building a computer for someone. No matter how busy he is, he will always find a way to be building a computer.

These are some photos/videos of some fun things we did this week. Since the weather was freezing cold over the weekend we spent some time indoors, and since that is boring, we had to be creative. Ethan played with all the pillows, and got around to fixing a few things in the kitchen. The video is awful because Steve took it on his phone, so this is just how it's gonna look :P He also discovered that he really likes throwing snowballs, but we don't have any footage of that, or of him all bundled up in his snow gear, which is really cute too.
Another weird but funny thing that Ethan does... I have tried to teach Ethan how to say pumpkin, which he can say, but instead of calling pumpkins pumpkins, he prefers to call them "mingo". I have no idea what a mingo is, or why he thinks it is a pumpkin, but he carries around his little pumpkin trick or treat basket and says "mingo basket mingo basket!" He sure keeps me laughing :)

A funny story about Steve this week is his weird fetish with sugar beets. I mentioned that we watched them harvest them as we went on our bike ride. While we were doing that Steve got an idea that he wanted to sneak into the field when they were done harvesting, find a sugar beet and eat it, just to see what it tasted like. So today we went out for a walk in the freezing cold, snuck into the field and found a sugar beet. This was his response to the taste of the sugar beet... "if you suck on it it tastes like sugar, but if you chew on it, it tastes like a beet!"

Why I Can't Wait for Grass and a Cute Video

Here is a cute video of Ethan before we moved. He learned in Flagstaff about empty cupboards and when mine started emptying out he had a grand ole time.



This is some footage from our soon to be front yard... Ethan really likes dirt. I am really excited for grass :)


Anyway, things are great here in South Central Idaho. Steve is busy busy getting shop set up and I am busy busy getting house set up and trying to figure out where things are and what not. Ethan seems not to notice that we have moved. He is doing great in his big boy bed at night, but naps have struggled and then disappeared. He compensates for this by sleeping from 7:30pm to 8:30am... I like that he sleeps in but I hate dealing with cranky, no nap Ethan from about 5:00 till bedtime. Anyway, we're working out the kinks.