I'M HOT!!! {are you???}

the flu shot's HOT!!!

the flu is not.

all gibson's have officially been needled and accounted for.

3 cheers.

hip hip hooray!

hip hip hooray!

hip hip hooray!
...
P.S.
our furnace is broken.
BAD {-ly}!!!
it's NOT hot.
waaaahhhh!
the hose on our AC leaked all over our furnace this summer
while we enjoyed our lovely cool and crisp house up above.
the water that leaked down onto it corroded and rusted the entire dang thing.
and lucky for us,
everyone in utah's furnace also broke this week
{rather, we all just turned them on and found out they didn't work},
so it will not be fixed for another week.
hello space heaters!
oy-vey.

MY kind:)

{brennan drew this portrait of me. "with lots of eyelashes." quote/unquote.}

{then he drew himself with no eyelashes, adding "just a few" after i pointed out he had some too.}

{then he drew sean, chase, and max with their respective levels of eyelashes.}

...

tonight when i was 

putting brennan to bed, 

he was telling me how he wants to grow up 

big, big, big like a man, 

so he can go on a man mission.

 and be a man.

SO PROUD!!!:)

i told him that i was so excited for that too,

but that i wished he could be a kid forever also.

then i told him when he grows up to be a man we'll help him find a man-house of his own.

he immediately looked like he had seen a ghost and burst into tears.

i asked him what was wrong,

and he said he didn't want to live in a house of his own.

sobbing, 

he said he just wanted to live with me forever, 

and could he please sleep in my bed tonight?

i sang him a few of his favorite songs until he said he wasn't sad anymore,

and then we agreed he would live with me forever.

and be a kid forever.

my heart was overflowing.

not b/c i want that to actually happen, but b/c i DO don't want that to actually happen.

and for a minute, 

i wished i was a kid again. 

so i could believe that he could do that forever too:)

and i couldn't help but think of the 

"love you forever" 

book my parents read to me growing up.

after i had brennan i read it to him for the first time in a long time,

and told my parents i thought it was a creepy book,

and what kind of crazy mom would creep into her grown son's house,

pick him up,

and rock him back and forth, 

back and forth, 

back and forth,

singing,

"i'll love you forever,

i'll like you for always,

as long as i'm living,

my baby you'll be."

this kind.

MY kind:)

the kind that knows that as long as i'm living,

my baby he'll be.

and then i gave him a kiss and cherished another night of putting my little babies to bed.

1, 2, 3 of them.

flu shots.

three flu shots.

3 vaccine shots.

1 six month baby check.

2 big kids.

1 baby.

1 mom.

1 diaper bag and car seat.

and a partridge and a pear tree.

while we waited for the doctor to gather all of our shots,

the two big kids found their own nooks on each side of the table.

brennan said it was his tiger's den.

so of course,

max said her's was one too.

typical.

so cute how she mimics brennan.

{at least when she mimics the good things, that is...}

when they got bored i had them play the "jumping game,"

which i made up right then and there.

the rules:

see how many things you can do while jumping.

jump, rub your tummy, hum

jump, arms in the air, hum

jump, clap your hands, say "la, la, la"

after two rounds of this we moved onto ring around the rosie,

fast AND slow.

including lions in the meadows, eating buttercups,

thunder, lightening,

we all stand up!

do you know that part?

it's a part.

at the end,

brennan licked the floor to show how lions eat the buttercups.

it was gross.

i told him so.

he stopped.

then i convinced max to sing head, shoulders, knees, and toes.

with actions.

brennan did not want to do that with us.

b/c he thought you had to do it while jumping,

and he said that was just "too hard to do jumping."

then the nurse walked in, and they all got their shots.

everyone cried.

brennan went first.

then max.

then chase.

max was most excited to get her pink band aid.

so much so that watching brennan get his shot and cry out that it hurt didn't deter her one bit.

whatever it took to get that pink band aid,

she was gonna do it.

then everyone got a sticker,

and we came home to eat lunch.

flu shots.

CHECK!

so glad that's off of my list.

oh, and chub-a-chubs chase is up to the 25th percentile in weight AND height.

22nd percentile in head circ.

i never remember these things,

go me.

must be the three to four bowls of oatmeal he enjoys every day.

or the sweet potatoes and peaches too.

whichever.

frosty the garden

over the weekend there was a frost.

not enough to ruin the watermelons and tomatoes on their vines,

just enough to kiss their branches black.

marking the end of our yard's growing season.

so this afternoon i harvested 5 more watermelons,

and two heaping bowls of tomatoes.

{there were enough for 3 bowls if i had picked all of the green ones, 

but i didn't want to wait for them to ripen on my counter.}

brooke showed up with her kids just as we were needing some afternoon entertainment, 

and helped me pick all of the cherry tomatoes off as well.

picking cherry tomatoes is my least favorite thing to do.

it's never ending AND i don't enjoy reaching with my face into the tomato plant to get out the hundreds that grow in the center.

chase held onto the long blades of grass, sitting up, 

and watched us pick the baby tomatoes 

until his little torso finally tired out, 

and he face planted into the soft green blanket of sod.

at which point he demanded to be held and fed.

i love him.

the temperature was perfect when brooke piled her kids into her car.

the sun beginning to lower behind the houses to the west.

we talked about how absolutely wonderful it felt outside at that very moment. 

the fall is upon us,

and i'm absolutely ready for it to be:)

..............

next year:
ONE cherry tomato plant.
ONE regular tomato plant.
ONE watermelon plant.
no carrots.
4 pumpkin plants {just like this year}.
2 zucchini plants.
2 cucumber plants {pickles!!!}.
2 jalapeno plants.
2 Anaheim plants.
sunflowers a'plenty.
possible raspberry bush. {jam!!!}
these are my big plans for next year.
i can't wait!!!

last saturday night {chase the charm}

the first saturday night in october {and april} is a state wide girl's night out in utah.

all of the men go to a church meeting that night,

leaving all of the women to themselves.

rather than staying at home to put the kids to bed by myself,

i called a babysitter,

brought my boyfriend baby man chase ray with me,

and met up with my mother in law and two sister in laws for dinner.

as we were enjoying our chicken BLT's, seared salmon, artichoke dip, and sweet potatoes fries, 

i all of a sudden got a wiff of chase.

just as i went for a diaper under the table, 

i saw the horrifying sight of what we have fondly come to refer to as,

"NOT sweet potatoes."

yep,

that's right folks.

it happened again.

AGAIN.

for the third time.

and let me tell you,

in this case,

the third time was NOT a charmer.

however,

in a restaurant filled with all women and baby carriages, 

it was nothing more than a 

"push up your sleeves and give your baby a bath in the sink" 

kind of event.

natalie and i calmly walked ourselves into the family bathroom and got to work.

while ashlie and valerie waited with our food and fed 2 week old baby ellie at the table.

we had chase all cleaned up in a jiffy,

carseat washed,

and all sink and changing table areas sanitized in under thirty minutes.

with NOT ONE DROP of poo on either of us.

christmas miracle!!!

we then politely told the workers that there was a really stinky diaper in the trash can,

and they might like to empty it.

b/c we're polite like that.

have mercy.

then we went back to our dinner until the men in white shirts and ties started flooding the restaurant.

our cue that priesthood meeting was out.

so being our sneaky selves that didn't want to go home to kids that they babysitters had not put to sleep yet,

we casually called our men and requested that after they ordered and ate their ice cream,

"would they kindly order us some and bring it home?"

they of course said yes,

and we hung up with smirks on our faces,

driving to crash their man party.

only in utah on the first saturday night in october {and april} AFTER 8pm, 

will you find a restaurant PACKED with men in white shirts and ties.

no women to be found!

so we waltzed into that ice cream shop,

the only 4 ladies in the joint.

2 baby car seats in tow.

and our men looked like smiling deer in head lights.

then we ate their ice cream,

and sampled bites of their burgers and rueben's before we ordered our own.

which we of course shared with them as well.

complete with the best brewed root beer my taste buds have ever fancied.

with two babies asleep,

and men on our arms,

we were the luckiest ladies in all of utah.

last saturday night:)

{i am sad to report i have no pictures of bill OR val being there. TRAGIC!}

applesauce {red hots}

i stayed in my pajamas the entire day today.

in fact, 

right now i am sitting here typing this in my pajamas.

however, 

have no fear,

i will be changing into a clean pair of underwear 

AND pajamas before i hop into bed tonight.

there are some lines i just won't cross,

bahahahaha.

we tried to watch conference all day, 

but i just don't get to pay as close of attention to it as i'd like.

despite the chaos of my kids i was still so very uplifted by so many of the speakers.

my favorite talk was by president uchtdorf,

who reminded us to slow down and not wear our "busy-ness" on our arms like a badge of honor. 

i spent 5 minutes during the opening song 

drawing little ties and ladies in shirts on a paper for brennan and max. 

in the hopes that they would color the tie or shirt of the person speaking.

it lasted for about 5 minutes before they were up and crazy again, 

so i guess it was good that i only spent 5 minutes making them.

tonight i nursed chase before i put him to bed.

my entire house smelled of applesauce cooking.

deep, rich, and sweet.

YUM.

this year i actually know how to can, 

as opposed to last year.

when i had no clue:)

we had our traditional scones and raspberry butter with hot chocolate for breakfast.

ran the kids around outside between sessions.

and cooked applesauce brewing in pots on my stove all afternoon.

it was an event!

my house has never smelled so delicious.

we let the kids help peel and core the apples.

an adventure to say the least.

brennan started.

then max pushed him off of his stool.

he yelled.

she screamed.

they agreed to do it "together."

which meant max pushed brennan off of his stool,

and it all started over again.

i convinced brennan to play on the computer while max had a turn,

then she got her feelings hurt AGAIN b/c the apple wasn't on right,

and thus wasn't peeling,

so i told her to wait a minute for me to get it on straight again.

she ended up stomping away, arms folded, 

yelling, "i mad at you mom!"

and i was left all alone peeling apples.

it was quiet for 5 minutes, and then brennan was back.

sean took over helping him,

and i took a seat on the other side of the counter and watched.

it was so cute.

brennan lasted almost 20 minutes with sean before we told him we were "done" and lured him back to the computer.

his poor little arms and hands were giving out.

the mind was willing, but the body wasn't able.

he told us he "wuvs apples this way."

i was beaming with happiness about all of it.

and couldn't get over how beautiful a peeled apple looks.

spiraling 'round and 'round like a good old fashioned slinky.

6 hours later, and i can hear my applesauce singing to me from behind,

pop!

pop! pop! pop!

pop!

pop!

pop! pop!

pop!

pop!

10 little red beauties all sealed up.

happy happy joy joy!

part 2 of our conference weekend tomorrow.

you won't want to miss it.

starring chase,

for your comedy relief.

{hint: 3rd time is HIS charm, not the charm.}