October 2011

October started with and awesome General Conference Weekend. It was such an amazingly gorgeous weekend (high was 80 on Saturday), that we had to take advantage of it and go camping on last time. Due to the convenience of the internet we were able to watch Saturday's sessions of General Conference Saturday night and Sunday night. So we joined our new good friends, the Washburns, at a delightful little private campground on the way up to Sylvan Lake. We LOVED it! And aside from the WORST nights' sleep we've EVER had, we had a wonderful time. We knew it would get cold at night, so we planned in advance and got a campsite with electricity so that we could plug in a space-heater and put it in our tent. Well, despite how nicely warm we all were in our tent, Ben just did not find it appealing to sleep at all that night. Love that kid, but man was I mad at him that night. At one point when Sam got out of the tent in the middle of the night to get something out of the car to try with Ben, or friend Kim was going to her car to get her ear-plugs....it was that bad. GRRRR.....But we survived. 

The campground had plenty of entertainment for kids - some awesome playgrounds and other places to explore as you'll see in the pictures below. It also provided running water toilets and showers and a bathtub...LOVED that, especially with how dirty the kids got playing in the dirt:) We had an awesome dutch-oven dinner, followed by a sleepless night, and in the morning after breakfast Kim and I went on a beautiful bike-ride up the road to Sylvan Lake (quite a climb) and on the needles highway for a bit. Then we came back and traded Sam and Jesse out so they could go on a bike-ride. When they got back, we cleaned up camp and drove up to Sylvan Lake for some beautiful rock-climbing....what a day huh? Then we rushed home so Sam could get ready and go to the priesthood session.

Never mind that our handsome little fella is in pink....he wears it well right? Had to keep him warm somehow....

Our friends even have a child's rock-climbing harness and shoes, so LucyMae LOVED trying it out. She went flying up the rock like a pro, until she realized what she was actually doing and how high she was....then she kind of freaked out...but she still had fun:)

This was after she freaked out and needed me to help her get down without getting hurt...luckily she didn't get too high, and I was able to help her.

The Black Hills are GORGEOUS in the fall....it was SOOOOO nice to enjoy another beautiful Autumn here, and we didn't take one single day of nice weather for granted!

Doing hair is the way to keep kids entertained during conference....and doesn't she look cute with braids? Too bad she inherited my super thin hair!

Joy School started for LucyMae in September....and since the other moms we are doing it with preferred to do only one day a week (kind of a cram session of Joy School), we tried to fill the other day (that was supposed to be Joy School) with lots of educational activities and playgroups. We loved going to the fish hatchery and touching all the fish and feeding them. This group of girls did NOT mind getting their hands dirty...it was hilarious!

LucyMae is very into carrying a bag with her at all times...she fills them with all sorts of crazy things like food from her play kitchen, memory cards, books, dolls, necklaces, pretty much anything that catches her eye.

I also have to write this story down to remember: I can be a really bad mom....I had Ben in his carseat in the stroller, and Samantha was sitting on the handle-bar part of the stroller as we walked past the car to go to the outdoor fish-feeding place. Ben had woken up and wanted a piece of the action so I thought I would just drop his car-seat off in the car as we passed....well, I failed to follow the laws of gravity and physics and forgot to take Samantha off her seat  on the handle-bars when I pulled Ben's car-seat out of the stroller. I was back-turned putting the car-seat in the car as the stroller tipped over and Samantha smacked her head on the pavement....not a pretty scene, and all the moms and the guide watching....I felt horrible. Samantha's head was gashed pretty good, but not stitch-worthy. LucyMae had tried to hold the stroller up and had gone down with it in the process...and was a little hurt. But nothing like Samantha....do I get mom of the year award now? 

Although we missed the IDEAL weekend to drive Spearfish Canyon to see the beautiful leaves, we did it anyway. Sadly, the day we chose turned out to be a rather rainy and cold one. We were going to go rock-climbing up there as well, but that plan got officially rained-out. But we hiked to some beautiful waterfalls at the top of the canyon and got some great pictures and had a good time anyway.

On another beautiful weather day (I think it was a Monday holiday of some sort), Kim and I took our kids up to a hike (out Sheridan Lake Road) that ends up on the dam of Sheridan Lake....it was perfect weather. And it was the perfect hike for our kids. Even Samantha did most of the hike entirely by herself. I felt rather ambitious taking all 3 of my kids on a hike without Sam's help....but they did wonderful and were perfectly exhausted when we got back.

These girls have so much fun together. It has been so fun to have friends with kids the same ages (relatively), similar interests and hobbies, and that don't mind hanging out with us...

I failed to get a picture of Ben through this entire hike, but he was a saint just hanging out in the Kelty-pack having a ball. He LOVES traveling in that thing. Plus, he was asleep for most of the pictures....

We also spent ample time at the parks during the perfect fall weather. These pictures below were taken on my phone, and I failed to note the actual date of the picture when I sent it to FB - but I know it was in the fall. And as you can see, fall was a little slower to hit in the city than up in the hills....

We took a lovely trip to the temple. This time we chose Billings, Montana because I have a cousin who lives there and we have friends from Rapid City who moved to Billings this summer. And they were kind enough to offer to watch our kids for us so that we could attend a session together. THANK YOU WILDS!!!!! And we got to visit with my cousin for a little bit. It was rainy, gloomy weather the whole time, which we were a little bummed about because we had hoped to do a little rock-climbing on the cliffs just behind the temple....oh well:( We got to eat at an awesome little pizza-joint instead. Super affordable, super yummy, and they had games galore that you could take to your table and play, plus mini-TVs at each booth.

Ben is an official crawler....he can get himself around pretty good now. And doesn't he look good in blue...I LOVE HIS EYES!!!

We went to a Halloween activity at the library, followed by a Halloween Playgroup that we put together that was really fun. I wish I had more pictures of it all

 ...and this is what Samantha looked like when we got home...This girl keeps me laughing:)

Love bath-time. And I don't know, but I think my kids love bath-time a little more than the average kid. It is their favorite time of day.

And to top of the month of October we got a WONDERFUL visit from aunt Serenity! Oh, how we all love it when Rennie comes to visit. We had so much fun with her! And the weather was delightful. I think just about every day that Rennie was here I was able to go on a glorious run....I mean the kind of run that gets under your skin and into your blood and puts a twinkle in your eye and smile on your face. I was in heaven on those runs. Thank you Rennie! It had been quite some time since I had been able to go on a run without pushing a triple-jogging stroller.

We went rock-climbing on several different occasions. And she was sick while she was here, but Rennie didn't let that stop her from having fun. We ate at Alpine Inn, because we love any excuse we can find to go there, and who would appreciate a steak at the Alpine Inn more than Rennie? We had fun at our Trunk-or-Treat party, trick-or-treating around our neighborhood, hanging out, chatting.....loved the mission talks we were able to have.

And boy-oh-boy did we play in the leaves! Serenity was the queen of leaves at our house. These guys were out there for hours, jumping in the pile, Rennie raking them up again, jumping, raking....over and over. And we have no shortage of pictures as you will see....but I just like them all so much that I am not going to pick and choose...

Halloween day and night were the most delightful temperature days...the leaves were on Halloween actually. And we didn't even have to wear jackets to go trick-or-treating. It was amazing. LucyMae was Dorothy, Samantha was a lion and Ben was a Tiger. Sam and I were going to dress up as "Wizard of Oz" characters as well, but we never got around to actually finding costumes, so we were boring instead.

Some of theses pictures are out of order, but oh well. Rennie also joined me for one of my runs and we had a great time playing at the park on the way. Miss that girl!!!!

These are the post trick-or-treating pictures...in their adorable matching Halloween jammies courtesy of Andy and Amy! Aren't these sisters the best?

And then, the fun with Rennie had to come to and end when she had to go home. Her early morning flight drama is a whole other story....but to sum it up, she missed her flight due to a stupid lady at the check-in counter, but was able to get on another flight later that day.

And here are some videos below...a lot of them actually, but they're good:)