Popcorn!

One of the things I admire about Travis is his drive and determination. If he is passionate about something, he puts his whole heart into it and works hard until the task is complete. This year, he set a goal to grow his very own patch of popcorn with the hope of being able to have enough popcorn kernels to have at least one bowl of popcorn. He did some research about which kinds there were, and finally decided on strawberry popcorn (they are little cobs with red kernels) because it had a growing season that was compatable for this area. He carefully prepped his plot, planted, and diligently watered and weeded his popcorn crop. He encountered problems along the way like raccoons (which he set traps for), wind and watering issues, but he problem solved until the issue was resolved. After months of work and waiting to harvest the cobs and then dry them, he finally got to pop a bowl full of the whitest popcorn you've ever seen (with enough kernels for several more bowls)! Way to work hard and follow through with a goal, Travis! Getting his plot ready. He carefully planted them the correct depth and distance apart.

He found several cobs off the stocks and eaten on by a raccoon. He wasn't very happy about it, but set up a trap to try and catch one (but never did).

We had an early frost that killed the corn plants and Travis was worried that his corn wasn't mature enough, but he harvested it anyways and then kept the cobs in a mesh bag in the basement to allow them to fully dry out. He and Christian would sit for a couple of hours and get all the kernels off each of the cobs. Their poor fingers were raw from the pointy kernels.

It was a happy day when he got to finally pop his corn! I couldn't believe how white it was and I loved that there was still red on the popcorn even after it was popped. The popcorn was smaller that what you buy at a store, but tasted just as good!!

"Really" grandpa's funeral

On Saturday of last week (October 24th), I got a text from my dad telling us that my Grandpa Foulger had passed away. He had been down in Arizona with my grandma for the last few weeks while my grandpa was in the hospital. I was thankful that he was able to be there with her and got to spend some time with my granpa before we passed away. On Sunday, November 1st, there was a viewing at the church in Powell. It was so nice to see family and friends and rememer the life of my grandpa. I loved that they had brought in his carving, packs of green gum for everyone (he gave out green gum to kids when they would come in the store) and his box cutters. My boys all wore the bolo ties that my grandpa had given them last year about this same time and I wish I would have gotten a picture of them!

Monday, was a graveside memorial for my grandpa. All the family started out at the mortuary for a big family picture and for the family prayer.

All the family together. Everyone was there except my aunt Karen (who had COVID), my cousin's husband and daughter (who had been exposed to COVID) and Kyle and his family. We even had my grandpa's siblings there.

After the family prayer, we went out to the cemetary for the graveside. It was a beautifl day with the sun shining and a beautiful tribute to my grandpa.

It was great to see so many family and friends.

After the graveside, we went back to the church and enjoyed a light lunch with family and friends.

We will sure miss "really" grandpa, as my boys called him. He never missed an opportunity to tell me that he was proud of me and that I was a good mom. My kids loved hearing him tell stories about all their adventures and looked forward to when they cam e home in the summers so we could visit. They always made an effort to attend the boys' activities while they were in town, whether it be football, baseball or wrestling and were there for every blessing and baptism. I love this quote, "What matters most is what lasts the longest, and our families are for eternity.” -M Russell Ballard. I am so thankful for my knowledge that families are forever and that some day, I will be able to see my grandpa again!

Halloween

the week of Halloween was full of activites. ON Wednesday, I went to Powell to help Grandma Fouler and Cassie fill Halloween bags to hand out at the store on Halloween. The bags had pizza certificates, hot chocolate certificates, an apple, tons of candy, pop, string cheese crackers, toothbrushes and I'm sure I'm forgetting things. He had fun laughing and chatting. When we were done filling the bags (311 of them), we went to lunch with Jason and Christian.

On Friday, the schools celebrated Halloween. Travis dressed up at the middle school, but I didn't get to see it until after school because he had early morning wrestling practice. Because of COVID, they didn't do the costume parade and didn't allow parents in to the classrooms, but i was lucky to be subbing at the elementary school, so I was able to sneek into Landon's classroom and see him during his class party. They had LOTS of treats and played some games while they were dressed in their costumes. They had a blast and I'm glad they were still able to celebrate, even if it was differnt from years past.

After school, Landon, Travis and I (Carson was in Upton with the football team for their playoff game) did the business trick or treat downtown. They got lots of candy and there weren't many kids out and about...probably becuase of the rise in COVID cases our communtiy has been seeing.

This year we had Nacho Libre and a mad scientist!

Saturday was Halloween. We started the day off with Travis wrestling. After he was done, we went out and sighted in the guns (in preparation for deer season to open) and then went to Powell to Trick or Treat with Sloane. We went to grandma Foulger's ward trunk or treat and then made a visit to Jason and Cassie and visited really grandma and the Brinkerhoffs that had arrived for really grandpa's funeral. After trick or treating, we had some pizza at grandma and grandpa's house with some of my cousins and then headed back towards Lovell to visit Grandpa Monk and grandma and grandpa Asay. It ended up being a busy day, but we enjoyed seeing so much family!