Full House

Posted by Jordan

There were eleven bodies sleeping in our two bedroom apartment last weekend.... Sharing ONE bathroom! Good times! The Ross family ventured all the way down from Willard, UT to visit little lonely us over here in Colorado over their UEA/General Conference weekend. I used some of my precious few vacation days to get out of work, which was very nice indeed.

I was so happy to help them unload the van when they got here, because in addition to bringing enough luggage to fill the Ringling Brothers Circus train, they brought me PUMPKINS from Grammy's Fruit Stand in Willard.

I love pumpkins.




Every fall we always fill our house with gourds and pumpkins and Indian corn from the fruit stand in Willard and the family in Nibley that sells mountains of pumpkins for CHEAP. This year, I was starting to feel like something was drastically missing, until the big white van rolled up full of glorious pumpkins! Mom even brought me a buckskin so that I could make pumpkin pie. THANKS FAMILY!!!

It was just so nice to have our home full of family for the first time. Especially at this time of year!











Shirtless... jeans patched in the knee... I always wanted a son, but I guess Norah will have to do.


We had people piled up everywhere to sleep. It was awesome.


Mom and Dad went with Jaicee and me to the Denver Temple. Gorgeous.


For those who don't know, my father in law is a barber. When we left Logan this summer, he gave Jaicee a whole set of really nice barbering equipment, right down to the Pinaud aftershave and talc powder. Of course, Jaicee has never used such equipment, so Dad tutored Jaicee in barbering while they were down.




Later that day, we all headed out to the Red Rocks Amphitheater, which is awesome. What a cool place! It reminded me of home in Moab a bit. I took portraits of Taylor, Landon, and Naomie, which I shall not post now.

Saturday we kind of... skipped General Conference... to um... play. Heaven have mercy on us.

We had a bit of a rough start to the day with a little incident involving me accidentally locking us out of the van. We eventually called a carjacker masquerading as a "professional locksmith" who broke into the van in less than sixty seconds and charged $160 for it. Dang ripoff. Sorry Dad.

Once safely loaded into the van, we drove East, half an hour from the Denver Metro, out to May Farms in Byers. Jaicee and I have always had a tradition of hitting at least one corn maze in the fall, and though it was not quite the same as the American West Heritage Center in Cache Valley, May Farms was pretty outstanding in its own right.







Naivie and Norah were so excited about the animals, they chased them all around the farm.




We could not get this girl to stop chasing the poor chicken. It was so cute.


So this particular "corn maze" was not really corn at all. May Farms experimented this year with Sorghum Sudan Grass instead of corn. It is supposed to grow 10-16 feet tall, thicker than corn, and better for the soil.




But, having now experienced the Sorghum, I'm decidedly for corn.

Reasons:

1. Sorghum grows a little more "wild" than corn, so some of the paths were very narrow and overgrown, and in some places, the grass filled in the path in entirely.

2. The plants bend over from the weight of the seeds, which drop down your shirt and itch like crazy when you plow through the Sorghum jungle.

3. It feels more like you are on an African grassland than on a country farm. The least they could have done was let a few hungry lions loose in there to add a little "urgency" to finishing the maze.

We were there on the opening day, so we were the first ones through the new Sorghum grass maze. We had quite a time getting through, even with the map, because of said overgrowth. We ended up having to take some... corrective action... and trample the overgrowth down to make the pathways passable in some places.

All in all, however, it was still good to do a little maze running. This happened to be a fairly advanced maze, and it took us a while to work our way out. It just wouldn't be a complete fall without a corn maze.

I love the Fall.






Uh... That's my girl!



Children of the Sorghum Sudan:





It's my dream to have a farm like this someday, all the way down to the tractor-pulled barrel train...






Just as we were loading up for our hayride, we had an unexpected treat: An unannounced air show by a vintage airplane. It flew pretty low over the farm, made a pass or two, then was gone. It was pretty cool.







This kid driving the tractor couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years old. It reminded me of Knutson Corner back in Moab...







We honestly could not have asked for better weather that Saturday. It was absolutely perfect for a day on the farm.

When we were all thoroughly tuckered out, we picked out some pumpkins to take home (WOOHOO!! More pumpkins!! You can never have too many pumpkins at home), piled in the van, and headed back to the city.


We got back to Parker just in time to scarf some dinner, thrown on a tie, and head to the Priesthood Session of General Conference. (See, we're not TOTAL slackers...)

Sunday, our beautiful warm sun and blue skies gave way to a cold rain, which was okay since it was General Conference, and nice weather only tempts one to go out and break the Sabbath anyway. We actually did make it out a little later in the evening for a walk down one of Parker's many groomed trails.



Now, on the fifth day, the circus train loaded back up and pulled out of town. Once the dust settled, our house felt empty and quiet... A little too empty, and a little too quiet. Darn. Thanks everybody for a good time, for pumpkins, for haircuts, and a house full of family! I said this before, but it was just so nice to be with everybody during the fall weekend!

LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!