It's Autumn Time

I don't think we have had a freeze yet, but it's starting to feel like autumn at least. This is about my favorite time of year. Perfect for playing outside, going for walks, and enjoying the parks.

Ashlyn posing with her jack-o-lantern. Alyssa and she scraped out their pumpkins without much help at all. Then they drew faces with washable markers for us to cut out. I had to edit the faces a little because they were pretty "intricate".

Autumn sticker art that Grandmama dropped off for them to do, since they all had strep throat.

Last Tuesday, we had our first blustery day in quite some time. We had winds averaging 30 mph with gust upwards of 50 mph. No need to rake. Just wait for the wind to do it for you.

My, How I've Grown!

Ava had her 2 year check up on October 18th. I knew she'd had a growth spurt, but I couldn't believe how much she'd grown. At 18 months she was 32 1/2 inches, now she is 35 3/4 inches. Double her height and she's supposed to be about 6 feet tall. I can't really believe that, but I do anticipate being the shortest one in my family in the not too distant future. Ava also weighs 29.4 pounds. Her height is in the 95 percentile and her weight is in the 75%. She's such a sweet "baby" girl.

My Baby's Two

Ava wanted to blow out the candles three times, so we did.

Excited about her new Disney Princess "CD" Player.

She wanted a kitty painted on her face even though her sisters got rainbows.

Daddy keeping his baby safe. She loved bouncing with him.

Ashlyn and Alyssa ran through the obstacle course like it was a race track. I couldn't even get a picture of them. Ava tried her best to do it by herself. She thinks she's so big. She was able to go through the ropes by herself.

Granddaddy helped her with the obstacles she couldn't do on her own.

Ava's favorite activity was riding the "wagon train" and the "cow train".

For Ava's second birthday we went to Maxwell's Pumpkin Farm. We never even made it to the maze or pumpkin patch. We had too much fun at the kid's activities. Ava loved feeding the goats and rabbits. She was quite the trooper.

Palo Duro Canyon Camping 10/6-10/8

The canyon flooded earlier this summer, and there's still a lot of sand in the creek bed. It was nice to walk on, but every now and then it was kind of creepy for Blaine and I because we would sink pretty deep in the mud underneath. At each of the water crossings there are culverts under the road for the water. They used to be mostly above the water, but now they are "deep" whirlpools surrounded by sand and mud. I dreamed that night that Ava walked into one of the whirlpools and was sucked under the road. I have bad dreams all the time, but even I considered that a nightmare. Blaine told me he dreamed Ava was eaten by a mountain lion the same night. We would hate for anything to happen to our "Little Munch".

Here are my three mountain goats. They are really good climbers, but you know the hardest thing is coming back down.

We're trying to get the most use we can out of our travel trailer! We spent a couple of nights down at Palo Duro Canyon last week. I "thought" we would get to enjoy Fall weather, but it was still Summer. We didn't even wear our jackets.

Cheerio Kabobs

This has to be the most tedious way to eat Cheerios.

Our Lastest Camping Adventure

Our last good bye to baby.

Ava thought hiking was great!

Blaine got a little scared, so Jonathan had to catch him.

Morgan's first hiking trip!!

That's my little mountain goat.

I've always loved hiking and climbing at the Garden of the Gods. This was our "reaching our destination" picture. I think I have one daughter who is part mountain goat.

Helen's family at the baby blessing

Sam and Helen with 3 week old Morgan. I got to hold her all during sacrament meeting, and she was perfect.

Saturday night we went to "Mr. Biggs". We played miniature golf (sort of), rode bumper cars and go carts, and played laser tag three times. I tell you Alyssa is an aggressive player. She came in 10th out of 24 people one time. Ashlyn and Alyssa crack me up running around with their laser tag gear that is almost as big as they are. Ava was a determined little miniature golf player. She kept putting her ball right next to the hole and trying to putt it in, but she kept hitting it away from the hole on accident. She kept on trying though until she finally was able to get it in the hole.

Ashlyn and Alyssa love it when they can do it by themselves. Especially driving!

I think hippos are pretty cool especially when you get to see them up close, out of the water.

Ashlyn and Alyssa befriended this peacock. We let it through a double gate, and it kept walking with us for a couple of exhibits.

We went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, and a really cool zoo. First exhibit is the giraffes. We bought to feed and pet them. Ashlyn and Alyssa were a little timid about feeding them, but Ava wasn't. She let the giraffe get the cracker from her hand, and she almost got licked in the face.

Ashlyn wanted her picture taken on every piece of playground equipment. This is her in the blue slide.

September 24th we loaded down our camper and headed to Colorado Springs to visit Helen, Sam and baby Morgan. They blessed Morgan on Sunday before Sam had to head back to Afghanistan. We had a wonderful time. Alyssa loved the playground giraffe, and we all loved using our camper and visiting with family.

Waiting To Go To Grandma's

It was Ashlyn's turn to spend the night at Grandma's. She was so anxious to go that she waited outside with her bag on her shoulder, while it sprinkled, for almost an hour and a half. What a sweetie.