Duck

Ellie's first word

-can't imagine where she picked that one up-

Halloween

(witchy toes of Lil' Emily and Amy)

Grandma's Halloween doughnuts are reason enough to marry into the White family.
To label the White family Halloween doughnuts as merely a fun family tradition seems an inadequate description of this apex of holiday gluttony. My mouth is watering just thinking of those fluffy melt-in-your-mouth pastries. The stories I have heard of Halloween pasts -- the boys tell of the time when their little split level of West Valley was the hub of Halloween activity. Neighbor children and adults all waiting for their share of fried happiness. For a few years a neighbor mom attempted her own batches of doughnuts. Perhaps to relieve some pressure from the White house, most likely to start a tradition for her own family. That tradition lasted only until she tired of hearing "these aren't as good as Sister White's." I can't blame her, it's a hard act to follow. Needless to say, in my 7 Halloweens of being a White, we (Brian and I) have never been good neighbors to sit at our home and hand out candy. Our Halloweens consist of the lady-folk tending to hot oil and dough, while the daddy's go trick-or-treating with the youngin's. In my opinion, however, any booty collected in their boo-baskets are overshadowed by the far superior yumminess of doughnuts.

Ellie was so tired that night. She hadn't slept well the night before and was running on fumes. She still made the cutest little Ellie Belly you've ever seen. Spare me your "roll of the eyes, that is so stinkin' cute!" I know:) Brian's brother came through with the great graphic and I just went with it. Here with cousin Cole you can see her progression of emotions that pretty much replayed in cycles throughout the night. She did well considering.

(Thanks Raelynn for all the pictures -- in all the revelry I neglected to take any of my own)

The Move

Goodbye little house. Our first little house.Goodbye canal walk. What you lacked in beauty, you made up for with ducks. Ducks both Annie and Ellie took great delight.

Goodbye stinky lake. Mostly not stinky. Stinky only when you looked like pea soup in between rain storms in the fall. Annie will miss you most I think.



And onto a new chapter.

The move went without a hitch. As we pulled into our new driveway Heidi and Dallas, Grandpa and Amy were close behind. I was reminded of just one of the great benefits of having family close again.

We walked into the house. Annie was close behind all full of energy after the long drive. When we walked through the doorway Annie froze. She refused to enter. We assumed she could smell the remnants of the previous dogs that lived there. Finally she reluctantly followed us in, whining the whole time, cautiously peering around every corner as if expecting a big dog to jump out to protect his territory. For 3 days she whined in her kennel which was set up in the front room. Nothing could coax her to come sit with us. Not food, not play, very unlike Annie. At one point we forced her out by her collar . . . a mistake. She no longer trusted us. Poor, poor little pup. Her only relief was to be outside.
After a few days of this sulking, Brian took her to a near by trail to go for a good hard run. When she came back the adrenaline must have pushed her fears aside because upon returning home, she came running into the dining room to see what Ellie was having for dinner. She was back to her old self and has been quite content ever since. A relief to say the least.

Glorious Apples

In Nampa we lived minuets from some beautiful orchards. Acres and acres of apple, peach, apricot and cherry trees. When the fruit is ripe, the smell is divine. Three days before we were to move, I strapped Ellie to my front (a benefit of having a feather-weight for a nine month old) and a basket to my hip and we had some good old fashioned apple-pickin' fun. The leaves were a mix of green and gold. Some of the apples were almost as big as Ellie's head.

Each time I plucked one of those fat Fuji's we would be showered with a torrent of golden rain. Ellie would stretch out her little arms with all her might and grab clumsily at the falling leaves. Of course something so beautiful must be delicious. So those handfuls of golden-goodness went straight to her mouth, which she would quickly reject with a look of disgust and disappointment -- Only to try again with the next on-slot of falling leaves.We turned our lovely bushels over to the Bishop's Storehouse but on our way back to the car Brian and I grabbed a bit of natures booty for ourselves. We shined the skins on our sleeves and enjoyed the fresh taste of fall on the way home. Ellie sucked contently on the slivers of apple we spared for her.

Patience My Friends

Many great pictures and posts to come of our life after the move.

Just need to organize my pictures first:)