October 2010

October was significantly more eventful (especially by way of pictures) than September. We enjoyed the Fall Festival and Farmer's Market event that first weekend (along with General Conference....but we don't really have pictures for that...just stronger testimonies and lots to improve on). There were huge pumpkins, lots of beautiful, locally grown produce being sold, TONS of kids activities, and tons of people as well. It was great fun, and perfect fall weather to boot. It's things like this that make me love this place!

The next weekend we took a fun little trip (with a long drive) to Des Moines, Iowa. Why? Well, not only does Sam's brother's family live there, but the University of Utah was playing Iowa State on Saturday...and well, Andy and Sam couldn't resist an opportunity to attend a game when they are so far away from SLC. Sam's other brother and his wife (Joe and Shelby) also made it out. They flew in and then enjoyed the rest of their fall break in Chicago....luckies!

Anyway, it was super warm while we were there, which made it even more enjoyable. We really appreciated Amy taking us to this AWESOME pumpkin-patch, since they don't even have any here in Rapid City. This place had everything: go-carts, corn-maze, pumpkin-picking, animals, wagon-rides, a corn-box, an awesome playground area, yadayadayada....it was fantastic! We all had a ball. And it was BEAUTIFUL too.

LucyMae was pretty serious about her pumpkin-washing. She was doing this for about 10 minutes. We had to pry her away. Love this silly little girl.

Yes those are corn kernels....cool, but kind of gross too. Samantha kept stuffing fistful after fistful in her mouth.

 Bath time with cousin Ava was a party. Andy and Amy were spectacular hosts to all of us in their little apartment. We ate like kings and queens. They put up with all the craziness of so many people. They gave up Ava's room and bed for us and our kids. And were just simply amazing. We had a most fabulous time.

And the real reason for the whole trip....these boys weren't going to waste the moment either. They lived it up to its fullest. Joe wasn't prepared to actually shave his head, but he did all the art-work for the rest of us.

And, yes, I know I am not wearing the appropriate color, but that is because ally my red t-shirts are NON-maternity...it wouldn't have been a pretty sight. I did have my Utah sweatshirt (which I later wore), but it was WAY to warm at this point to have a sweatshirt on.

And I am very glad that this was one of the games that the U won, and won big! I would not have felt very good about such a big trip to watch our team lose.....thank you for winning this one Utah (even if you have been a little pathetic lately).

And 2 days after we got home, we got some visitors of our own!!!! My sister Serenity and her boyfriend came to visit. It was so fun to have them here. We did, of course, visit Mt. Rushmore, but this time got some different views of it. We also got to enjoy a little rock-climbing, thanks to Rennie and her boyfriend. Even this old pregnant lady did most of an easy climb:) It was really nice to enjoy the Black Hills in the way I'm sure we would much more often if we didn't have kiddos. This place has so much beauty and recreation to offer.

And just so I don't forget this story, we experienced a little trauma with LucyMae while they were here....she jumped off the air-mattress onto our hardwood floor with socks on....which of course ended in pain. She REALLY kinked her neck bad. We ended up taking her to the doctor, and he did x-rays just to be sure. But, it was just a bad kink that eventually got better, but she wasn't a very happy camper in the meantime.

And then our fun with our visitors ended because they had to go home...boo! But, Halloween was just around the corner, which kept life pretty exciting. We had some friends over for pumpkin-carving and yummy food. LucyMae thought she'd died and gone to heaven with all the action and fun and staying up late.

LucyMae and Samantha even had cute matching Halloween jammies thanks to Andy and Amy. Ava had the same matching ones, but we somehow failed to get a picture of all 3 of them while we were in Iowa....so here's 2 of the matching jammy girls. Man, I love these 2 beautiful, crazy girls.

 We were also able to take a much-needed trip to the Bismarck, North Dakota temple (which is our designated temple). It was a very short trip, but SO worth the 4.5 hour drive. We very much enjoyed our hotel for many reasons: LucyMae loved that she was allowed to jump on the bed to her heart's content (we try to discourage it at home), the swimming pool was a perfect temperature for the kids, the hot-tub was open to adults until midnight (every hotel should do that! I hate it when the pool closes at 10:00, and so once your kids finally fall asleep in their foreign environment, you can't go enjoy a nice relaxing time in the hot-tub. THIS was PERFECT!!!), they had a delicious continental breakfast, and they let us have a late checkout. Thanks Americinn! Sam attended the last session of the night right when we got there, and then I got up early the next morning to attend the first session and even had a little time to do some initiatories. I cannot tell you how much I needed that time in the temple. And it wasn't enough. I left feeling like I needed to go back in and just be there for the entire day. Sadly I couldn't, because we needed to get out of our hotel room and on the road home. We did go back with the kiddos for some pictures though. LucyMae LOVES the temple and can't wait b/c as she says "soon I get big and go in temple!" And sometimes she even adds "soon I get married in temple". PLEASE don't talk about marriage yet LucyMae! I am so not ready for that! You are my little 2-year-old right now, so just live it up:) 

 

 

Luckily we were able to make it home in time for our ward's trunk-or-treat that night...just barely. And we sure did enjoy driving home to warmer South Dakota. It was freezing up in North Dakota. Rapid City had a much more enjoyable Halloween weekend as far as temperature goes. LucyMae thought this whole dressing up and getting candy from people thing was AWESOME!!! She LOVED her little costume that a friend let me borrow. Samantha was an adorable ladybug if I do say so myself. And I have one hot cowboy on my hands here too. I was going to dress up as that horse from Toy Story 2, but it didn't fit (made for a child, and didn't fit over this badonkadonk of mine), so I just wore my fro wig...LucyMae thought I looked appropriately silly.

And that pretty much sums up our October. It was an awesome month, with awesome weather, and lots of fun! After a fall like that I feel much more prepared to endure a long, cold winter with 3 small children. And luckily one of them is in utero for most of the cold part:) Oh, and the big excitement of the month is that Samantha is SO CLOSE to walking! Check out the video below....the big step is that she is acting super excited about the prospect of walking now...so we are just around the corner....I can feel it!