bon jour

Last week Jim and I dropped our 4 oldest off with their grandparents' and he, Abigail and I boarded a plane to visit my oldest brother... in France.

Mesia welcomed us with a delicious French meal.

 Planning out our week Sunday night, we were optimistic about ignoring the time change, jet lag and red eye flight.
In steps reality... We rolled out of bed at 11:30. Hey- you try waking up before then with rolladens darkening your room, and NO children telling you it's time to get up...
Soon we were off to the boulangerie (which became a tradition for Seneca and Jimmy to walk to each morning) for scrumptious pastries.

 Monday we took in the breathtaking view from the nearby town of Sisteron and enjoyed the scenic drive in Matt & Mesia's awesome car.

 Seneca was a super sport to travel all over southern France with us! Abigail loved that she entertained her and we miss our "big fat hugs".

A diesel Toyota Yaris. If Jim could get any commuter car in the states, this would be it. It was a great touring vehicle.

Especially compared to the 7 passenger Explorer we borrowed Thursday so the 6 of us could go out together for a day!

Check it out-

 Seneca and Abigail enjoyed washing up together.

A little R&R with Papa's Ipad before heading out for the night.

Matt & Mesia's friend, Megan, kindly babysat Seni and Abigail so we could go out for a fancy French dinner. 

 And it was just that.

More Celebrations!

I have mentioned we celebrate in clusters. The kids' birthdays are all within about 6 weeks of each other. Jim's birthday kicks off the holiday season!

We celebrated a little early this week!

 Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Mmmm!

A Successsful Hunt

Jim's love of animals lead him to this amazingly successful hunt last month.

He called in a 6 point elk and ultimately packed it out and filled our freezer! 

 Did you know there are only 3 animals in the world with ivory?

I'll let you google that one...

 While Daddy was off huntin', we was home cannin' us some peaches.

(for some reason this made me feel particularly pioneerish.)

 Mmmm! Elk makes delicious kabobs! We've also enjoyed elk steaks, elk lasagna, elk sausage, elk breakfast burritos and elk meatloaf! Our garage freezer is still full, so we have many more recipes to try. Wanna come over for dinner?

...No, Blue

Jojo was so, so tired yesterday when Jim told him his eyes were red b/c they were so tired. Joseph responded "No, their blue". He is right. They are a brilliant blue.

Joseph was with me Sunday as I took Abigail to the "Mother's Room" during Sacrament Meeting at church. He wanted a drink, but because he could not reach his mouth to the running water in the sink, he grabbed a paper towel, soaked it in the faucet water then rang it into his mouth.

Resourceful!

what I want is... Your Voice

I was just leaving Ross tonight when I had to check out the sweaters on my way out... After a brief conversation with some lady, she came back to tell me I should try out for "those TV voice recordings because you have a great voice".
That was a completely random compliment (i think?)

Fall Festivities!

Just before Halloween we decided to enjoy our first football-free, hunting-free, work-free Saturday together and go on a train ride! The weather and scenery were gorgeous.

*Actually, James had his final flag football game at 8:15 that morning. James caught the final ball of the season and ran it in for the touchdown extra point. **we won't note the score of that game...**

 The train made a "pick your pumpkin, play some games" stop.

Unfortunately a local wasp picked on James...

 But lucky for James, a friend and his family happened to board the train just in front of us!

 Jim stopped some lady on our way to the car and asked her to take a family picture for us. Her barely teen daughter offered to, and this is what we got. (Seriously, she didn't even look in the camera as she shot this.)

We asked her to try one more time.

Thanks, Molly. 

 The train brought us home just in time to go to our ward ho-down.

it. was. awesome.

James' name was chosen to participate in the pie eating contest.

 Yes, that is Oscar, and a hotdog beside Lizzy cheering him on.

Our boy WON! And we took home a Marie Calendar's Banana Cream Pie!!

James, you done us proud!

Jojo had a great time playing with his buddies in the leaves.

James entered my name into the contest too. I was out taking pictures of our other happy children participating in pumpkin launching and square dancing and missed the opportunity. James then took my uneaten pie and got his dad pretty good! We'll see if I can upload the little video footage a friend captured...

Welcome, Fall. We're glad you're here and hope you stay awhile.