Happy birthday Ethan!

It's true. Ethan is 5 years old and doing what he loves best - eating sweets (I suppose that's what happens when your birthday is the day after Halloween)! Yes . . . he's definitely my son. And to celebrate, here are some of Ethan's favorites to commemorate his last year (in his very own words):

"What makes me happy is when I go somewhere fun like miniature golf . . . What makes me feel good is when I play with my toys . . . I like to eat samwiches, quesadillas and nachos . . . I like to draw pictures . . . What I mostly like is to pretend to be a daddy."

FAVORITES:

Color: Blue

Movie: Ben 10: Alien Force

Toy: My new watch, my Bakugan and my glowing ant farm

Thing to do in Pinedale: Play outside

Person to talk to on the phone: My grandma

Song: I wonder when He comes again

Superhero: Robin (from Batman)

Place to go: The PAC (pinedale aquatic center)

Drink: Milk

Activity: Playing with a dog (sorry buddy, we're still not getting one)

Book: Never Tease a Weasel

Treat: Halloween candy (duh!)

Just another excuse to dress up

Amy and Sally hosted a fabulous mommies and kids' Halloween party last week. This was the only time I dressed up all week. Thank goodness Greg served in the Army so I always have a costume in the closet. And yes, folks, that's Army issue face paint!

Later in the week, Mandie had us over for pumkin carving festivities. Can you tell Ethan loved weilding a knife? I'll have to keep my eye on him . . .

Pics to savor

Just a couple pictures I felt I needed to have documented from our houseful of Kemps last month. This is why our children LOVE their grandparents!

Trick-or-Treating in Pinedale

Picture this: 2 mommies, 5 children under the age of 5 in costumes - all crammed into 5 seats of my Durango, driving 15-20 feet at a time in the frigid wind to trick-or-treat at all the participating businesses on Pine Street. We spent 1-1/2 hours driving, unloading, collecting candy, reloading and driving again just so our kids could say they got to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Since all the other activities in town have been cancelled because of the swine flu, we had no choice but to make our only option work. After getting home and unloading our goods, I'm happy to report that the kids collected enough candy to supplement the pinata at their birthday party this month!

Ethan and Lincoln have spent the last two days running around the couches hunting and killing "mommies" with binoculars, guns and lasers. Huh?

Since the game started and I became enlightened, we have had a discussion on the different between "mommies" and "mummies." Happy Halloween!

We want an elk!

During prayers last night (ethan):

"And please bless daddy that he can get his elk before time shuts up and he can't try again until next year . . . "

NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART - consider yourself warned

Our house was happily flooded last weekend with almost all of Greg's family who came up to visit and hunt ampewopes. If you don't believe the title, I'll warn you again that the photos to follow are not for those of you with a sensitive gag reflex (and I've even excluded the most graphic ones). There were 18 people - 11 adults and 7 children - in our 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house and I loved every second of it. I have finally reached a point in my life where I prefer a full house of happy people over a clean but empty one. Greg had already filled his 2 tags, so there were 10 to be filled over the weekend . . . and you know those hunters wouldn't let up until each filled his/her own tags. The kill of the weekend was Kamie (she always seems to outshoot the boys) who dropped an antelope at about 270 yards with one shot. What a stud.

(Cousins happily reunited: Ethan, Jess, Brigham, Link, Jocelyn)

Ethan and his cousin Brody went out with the hunters on day 2 in the morning. Ethan is definitely Greg's son - eager to get in and hold the legs while the animals were cleaned, wanting to know about and touch everything that came out and still demanding that we have some antelope for dinner . . . and soon. Just a couple more years and he'll be tagging along as Greg's official hunting buddy.

A fantastic side note about Wyoming and hunting - all school children get the first day of hunting season off!

Anyway, the weekend was filled with fabulous food, fantastic company and memories that we hope to renew next year! I think my favorite event was when we set up the projector to watch a movie on the "big screen" (a.k.a. the wall) and had three queen-sized air mattresses lined up side by side. It was like flashing back to a middle school slumber party, although I'm sure in middle school we would have been able to last longer into the movie than we did here.

The last night was a late one in the garage for the hunters. There were 11 antelope hanging from the rafters at one point and everyone spent a lot of hours outside cutting, packaging and bottling the meat (which, turns out, tastes like Costco's canned beef - pretty good).

After the last of our house guests cleared out on Sunday after church, I did a quick pickup and clean of the floors . . . and then settled into missing everyone who had just left.

I love you Kemps! Can't wait until next year's hunting season . . .