Fall in Pittsburgh - Posted by the Mrs

Well, we are quite behind on our blogging posts but I couldn't forego the post about Fall in Pittsburgh.

The leaves were BEAUTIFUL and the weather was fabulous.

I've already begun to think of all the things that I'm going to miss about our adventure here and this time of year is one of those things.

We missed taking pictures last Spring at this spot where hundreds of tiny little cherry blossom petals fell in a perfect dream setting and so I was not going to miss another nature glory like that again!

So, here are the pictures of Duncan with the stunning colors of Fall.

Can you see the Autumn rainbow?!

On a more random note:

Duncan is focusing in on his inner Zen to fully take in the playground awesomeness.

And last but not least, the unveiling of the furniture transformation!

Drum Roll Please!

don-da-da-done!

The Secretary Desk is finally finished!!!!

Before:

After:

Stay tuned for more Rich updates!

Where in the world is Halloween? - Posted by the Mrs.

For Halloween we decided to do Harry Potter...

...American Style...

OK, so we didn't really but the picture makes you wonder right?!

We actually went old school style and did Waldo!

Can you tell who the REAL Waldo is?...

This is during the Church Trunk or Treat.

It was a super crazy start because of the rain. Plan B was to trick or treat inside the church. Imagine the entire ward dressed up with fluffy boas, crazy wigs, accessories galore, and children not knowing where to go or what to do and all of us trying to move up and down ONE hallway of the church and you'll have an idea.

We ducked into the RS room with these little hooligans to take a break from the craziness.

Duncan certainly LOVED the idea of taking candy out of the bowl and putting it in his bag. He caught on quit quickly. I think it was more of a survival of the fittest instinct - either he figured it out or he got trampled by those who were older and more experienced.

No, it wasn't that bad. But it was crazy.

There was a chili cook off as well as a pie contest.

Yummy!

This last picture is in lieu of the fact that our camera had a smudge on it and the picture turned out fuzzy so I went to town with it.

Warning: seizure may be a result of looking at the following image.

An AUGUST Featurette - posted by the Mrs.

I've never posted a video before so this was sort of an experiment to test it out. There are 3 short clips of Bobby and I trying to get Duncan to count to 3. We hadn't been teaching it to him, he just picked up on it because we would say it all the time (in good situations...i.e. sailing the grocery cart down a long isle at Costco, or jumping on the bed). We finally had success of getting Duncan to hold still (sort of) and say it for the camera on the third movie blurp! Yay!

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Septiembre in a medium to small Nutshell - posted by the Mrs.

September has come and gone so fast and I'm sure the rest of the year will continue to fly by even faster. We have slowed down on picture taking a little so September is a short post.

Bobby took Duncan to Blue Slide Park for some daddy-son bonding time. Duncan is a huge fan of the park and doesn't appreciate when we pass a park and fail to stop.

We visited the Cramer's and their casa over the weekend of my birthday. Tif and I managed to make it to a craft store or two (surprised?) and we were able to sit in on a missionary discussion with an investigator. I LOVED it! I know Tiffany, Steve, and Bob have been on missions so it wasn't anything completely new but that was my first time being in that situation. Listening to the investigator get so excited about feeling the Spirit and expressing that this Church is different is invigorating. I also loved seeing how a convert sees the Church and going back to the basics.

We walked Cody to the bus stop on Friday morning. The kids really enjoy being together...

We played a little bit of soccer, frisbee, and "Wipeout" at the nearby park. Cramers live super close to an airport so Duncan very much enjoyed the planes coming and going all the time. They were flying so close over our heads at the park and Duncan would just stop, point, and watch until it disappeared.

My happy boys!

A tasty homemade birthday cake by Steve.

The candles read 3 x 9

27 is a BIG number...oh dear.

Bobby and I went to Red Robin for my birthday burger. We both got the same burger and were NOT disappointed. It's the Royal Red Robin burger with a fried egg and bacon along with the goodness of a well done gourmet cheeseburger. I opted for kettle chips instead of fries and was also not disappointed!

Cramers took us to The Cheesecake Factory and what did we eat for dinner?

CHEESECAKE!

It was a fun decision but some didn't feel good after...whoops.

I LOVE this family picture.

Though Duncan isn't looking at the camera, this is quite possible the closest we've gotten in awhile.

Thanks go to Joanne, my mom, and others for sending fun and special birthday packages and letters! Thank you!

We've been packing up boxes here and there. Leaving the good ole' Steel City is rapidly arriving.

Duncan cuddling his Pillow Pet

Rapper Dunk here to say that he loves his pj's and his Matchbox cars.

What do we do when we're short on time and can't go to the Zoo?

We go to the pet store.

Duncan's vocabulary has grown to include "Cool" and "Wow".

It's pretty cute to hear those words come from this little guy.

Our Fun New Hobby...Posted by the Mrs.

I've been dreaming of refurnishing some furniture for some time now.

I picked the piece of furniture, a few trips to Lowe's, a willing and wise husband, and a few weeks later transformed this:

into this...

We took the pictures at night and in the room that turns all of our pictures red, so the pictures don't really convey the true look.

It was really fun to work with Bobby and experiment with what we had been reading and learning as far as furniture transformations go.

The next item up for a makeover?

This SwEeT little secretary that was doomed to be crushed and left to decompose in some land fill.

Folded up...

Look at this DARLING chair!

Of course, it's going to need a seat... :)

I wasn't sure what we were going to do with this little desk until one night right before bed I had an epiphany that my cute sister who is now engaged will be needing a desk for her and her sweetheart's little apartment!

When I e-mailed her the idea along with the pictures she admitted that she started crying.

I think she likes it... :)

I'm excited that she's excited!

The wall of this room below is going to be the new color for this beauty of an antique!

And we'll add a glaze over it to add depth to the details.

You'll just have to stay tuned for the real deal finished look!

All aboard the gateway clipper yar! by Mr.

We had a chance a week before school started to finally sight see in Pittsburgh, about time right, after living here for over a year! We bought a few tickets on groupon for a river boat tour called the gateway clipper. If your asking why Duncan and I seem so dumb struck, it's because we got a coupon for a free prize out of the treasure chest, and it was this lame paper hat! The nerve of some people, right? Overall we had a good time though.

This is Duncan pointing as we went over the first bridge of the tour. Pittsburgh is called the city of bridges #1 because it's surrounded by rivers and #2 because there are so many hill and valleys in Pittsburgh. There are Currently around 446 Bridges within the city limits.

There was a little girl about Duncans age on the boat, they hit it off pretty well, this could have been the sequel to Titanic!

Here we are on the boat with the city in the background, it really is a pretty neat city, we just don't see it very often because we live a few miles down the road, and there is so much traffic and not enough parking.

Another picture of the city

These bridges are some of the only identical bridges in Pittsburgh.

This is Heinz stadium, right on the river, where the Steelers and the Pittsburgh Panthers play.

Our trip to Utah. Posted by the Mrs.

Well, our trip to Utah was so great but it went by way too fast! We loved spending time with our family and friends.

Brookie picked us up at the airport when we arrived. We had a picnic in the beautiful Utah mountains with the Richs and Brooke, where we got to meet babies Chance and Amelia for the first time! I had a cavity filled...wahoo!, wait that wasn't fun. My mom watched Duncan while I chilled at the dentist and Bobby went mountain biking. Then we got to meet my sister's special someone that we have heard all about, and we have to say he's as cool as his stories say he is. My grandparents made the drive from Clearfield to visit and we played a smashing game of ultimate at the park.

This is a cow.

Well, it's not just any cow really it's an Andy Warhol cow. This was taken at the Pittsburgh airport (Andy's from the Burgh). I've always loved this art.

Yay for a little boy that did well on the way there and back!

It can be stressful flying with a child, you know with the whole 'being in a small confined place with lots of strangers and nowhere to take an unhappy child' part but flight attendants are extra giving with the drinks and snacks in an effort to make the child as comfortable as possible.

Side note: the Otis Spunkmeyer blueberry muffins are truly amazing.

I always love seeing the crop circles from the bird's eye view.

Bear Lake

We had a great time relaxing by the water and spending time with family.

This picture was taken on the way to Bear Lake...Bobby was driving and yes, that is a cop car.

No, Bobby didn't get a ticket, we had a flat tire! We were glad it happened in Park City and not a few miles up in the canyon where there was no shoulder to pull off to. We did offer this nice man a chocolate Dunford doughnut but he was off to have Chinese for lunch and declined.

Having a BLAST on the boat!

Duncan and I chillin' on the boat.

Family Pictures!

Sorry your picture is B/W Jim and Joanne, I was playing around with it and couldn't get it to go back! Still looks fabulous though!

Thanks Pat and Coby for taking lots of pictures!

What a bunch! I can't believe how much our family has grown!

The Mr. and the Mrs.

These are the dish towels I made my cute sister-in-laws for their belated birthdays.

Better late than never I say!

Check out the beach! It's SO close to the cabin...

Duncan and Dad just takin' a little swim.

Family Picture time!

Please excuse all the awesome whiteness, we live in overcast central.

Honey with some of her Rich Royalty's

Duncan loves to give loves!

Playing on the beach.

When we got back from Bear Lake we raced over to my parent's house where we had a small friend gathering going on. It was so great to catch up with friends, there just wasn't enough time to chat as much as we needed to!

Also, my dad purchased this sweet little scanner and we tested it out on all my recipe cards. It was fast and sweet. Now, if my recipe cards ever get lost or burned (let's hope for sure not the latter) then I won't have to start at square one with meal planning again!

Monday we chilled at my parent's casa, met Brooke's man while eating delicious salmon, and then played some ultimate-Ultimate!

Tuesday, most of the sister-in-laws, Joanne, Aubs, and I all went on a blast of a clothing shopping spree. Having 6 of us in the dressing rooms tossing clothes back and forth and showing our finds off for the group review was great. I'm not sure why it is but shopping is just SO fun!

My mom, Aubs, Duncan, and I headed to Smiths Marketplace for one of my moms major deal days. This was Duncan's first time in the kid-friendly cart. As you can see he loved it...until his little bum rash got to him and he needed to run around.

Thanks Mom for the super deals day!

We loved all the family time!

Sorry there aren't more pictures but we were so busy during our vacation that we weren't thinking about grabbing the camera.

Thanks for the fun family...you guys are the best!