Family Photos Phase #2

Poor Jake looks like he is a little person. I promise he has legs!

Family Photos Phase #1

Sunday, we drove down to Forest Park after church to take some family photos. The kids and I had scouted out a spot the week before, on a rare day off of school. The leaves were in full brilliance and I was so excited to capture a bit of it! We got there a little later than I hoped, so we didn't have light enough to shoot everything I had planned. I was pleased, however, with what we did get. My one regret is that we were not able to take a whole family photo that was in focus. I am hoping to try again in a few days, so stay tuned for that :) Enjoy!

Hawk Run 2014

Caleb has been training so hard this summer and fall, mostly for the purpose of doing well in the Hawk Run (just under a mile distance) at school. It's for the 3rd-5th graders. In 3rd grade he got 9th place, in 4th grade he got 5th place, and for his 5th grade and final year, he really wanted to win. I hardly see him nervous about things but he was pretty worked up the whole week before the race. Em and I were able to go and cheer for him and Jacob cheered for him with his class.

To make a long story short, he won 1st place by a landslide! His time was a speedy 6:01! At the end, all of the students were chanting his name as he crossed the finish line. I asked him later if he had heard it but he said "no". He was probably too full of adrenaline! All of the kids were such good sports and cheered each other on. It was really nice to see. He ended up getting the fastest time in the school. Way to go Caleb! We can't wait to see you crush your next goal!






Notice Mop, the puppet? He goes everywhere with us now. She even sleeps with him, lol.

Conference and Other Stuff

I was so excited for LDS General Conference weekend this fall. Well, I am excited for it every time it comes around! It was really nice to be together as a family, do a puzzle, eat good food with friends, make funny, traceable cartoons, read books, clean up the yard, and last but certainly not least, listen to the inspired revelations from our church leaders. We are so blessed to be able to hear their messages every six months and I love reading over the talks again when the conference issue of the Ensign comes out. I can never catch everything the first time around. My favorite talks this time were Elder Scott's talk, Elder Oak's talk, and Elder Holland's talk. And I really can't say that there is ever a time when President Uchtdorf gives a talk that I don't absolutely love it, so I am going to add his too, including his address in the Women's conference. I really felt the spirit and took so much away from this conference. It helped me gain perspective about my trials and blessings. Always a good thing! :) Just 6 months until the next one!

The pictures above are Jacob the falcon in his "nest", Caleb learning to pressure wash the porch, Caleb doing a traceable cartoon and David reading Emmy a million stories.



Emmy and I have been having fun adventures while the boys are in school. Our wonderful neighbors who have three girls, gave Emmy a scooter, roller skates and a bicycle. It rained for about 2 weeks straight so we decided to try them out inside. Mix that with potty training and a few trips around to the train store and park, and Em was a happy camper. She was sad one afternoon that she couldn't go swimming outside, so she went swimming in the bathtub instead.




I had the pleasure of knowing the sweetest little girl named Annika. She was one of my little sunbeams in primary and was everyone's favorite friend. She recently passed away from Neuroblastoma. We, as a primary, gave her family this picture of the St. Louis Temple. I had them print "a family is forever" from the Primary song, I Love to See the Temple. They are an amazing family and I know they believe they will be with Annika again. I believe they will too.

Row-day-oh

Last night we attended the Iron Horse Rodeo in Pacific, MO. I have been wanting to go to a rodeo for a while now and scoured the area in search of one close enough to attend. I remember going to rodeos when we lived in Utah and wanted my kids to have the experience too. It was pretty cold but we stayed bundled up with blankets and the kids lasted all the way through the bull riding. Our favorites were the barrel racing, steer wrestling and bull riding. Not to mention the amazing sunset! I was in my element of horse obsession days. I still want a horse, mom... And a new cowboy hat.... And some new boots.
It has rained a ton here lately, so the arena was full of mud and puddles. It was hysterical to watch the cowboys fall into the mud. They were all covered by the end of the night. I feel bad for whoever had to do their laundry! It was fun, but Utah still has the best rodeos in my opinion.

Flower planting season

October is a busy month for us. David just finished a 3 week shutdown at the temple. He did all his big projects and worked with the contractors to get some of the outside stuff accomplished. Now he has moved on to flower planting. This means very long days for 2 weeks. I feel like a single parent and have wracked my brain on how to keep myself and the kids sane. Today we decided to make sock puppets. Caleb wasn't that interested so he decided to go on a squirrel hunt instead. I love how the puppets turned out! I burned my pinkie really badly with the hot glue gun, but that's basically a usual for me. I am always burning myself.

Balloons in Forest Park

We have attended the Forest Park Balloon Glow the last few years but decided to give the balloon races the next day a try. We packed a picnic dinner and joined the city on Art Hill. It has got to be one of my all-time favorite places. It reminds me so much of the parks in Paris and really has an artsy, European feel to it.  It was a gorgeous day! We waited a while for the balloons to take off and amused ourselves with some Frisbee, wrestling (not me, the boys), and rolling down the hill like burritos. In past years the balloons have flown directly above Art Hill, but the wind was not in our favor this year. We did have a good time watching them drift over the trees and the boys had fun watching some large birds of prey dive into the lake and catch fish. Next year I want to watch from the lake in a paddle boat!

Circle of Concern 5K

David and Caleb recently ran a 5K for The Circle of Concern's Hunger Run. It was Caleb's first 5K and he was so excited. David asked him if he wanted him to run it along side him but he was adamant that he wanted to do it by himself. They both set goals of how fast they wanted to run it. Both goals? Smashed! David sprinted up the last quarter mile stretch and finished in 23:21. Caleb ran a really smart race and dug deep. He finished in 25:27! David was quick overall, but all of the really speedy "frequent 5Kers" were in his age group so he didn't place. Caleb finished 1st in the 14 and under age group for boys. Oh yeah!!!! What amazing boys I have in my life!