Pumpkin Patch

My moms work had a family night at the J&J nursery for the pumpkin patch.  We have done this for the last couple of years and the kids get so excited about it.  They take you on a little hayride to the pumpkin patch and you get to pick out your pumpkin and then ride back.  It is really fun for the kids and I actually really enjoy it myself.  The weather was beautiful that night.  Roderick and Rodrigo were determined to find the biggest pumpkins they could and the girls wanted little ones.  We told the kids as long as you can carry your own you can have any one you want.  Of course we were just teasing them but they did a great job carrying there own pumpkins back.  Now if we could just find time to get them carved.





Preschool

Lexi started Preschool back in September.  Her teachers are Mrs. Benson and Mrs. Mangum. The same teachers that Roderick had.  She goes Monday thru Thursday for half a day at the elementary school.  It is a such a wonderful program and I couldn't ask for better teachers.  She loves going to school.  She was so excited when she came home her first day and told me that there was a Cameron and a Aubrey in her class.  She talks about them every day when she comes home.  It is so fun having a boy and a girl in school.  I have to ask Roderick 20 questions so he will tell me about his day and Lexi well she gets home and tells me every little detail and talks about it for days.  It is so much fun to watch her learn and grow.  She wants to stay all day long.  She is learning a lot and making a lot of great friends.  I can't believe she is in school now.  Maya wasn't so happy those first couple a weeks but I think she is liking the idea of being the only one with mom for half a day.

Zions National Park

For Labor Day weekend we decided to head to Zions.  I told Rodrigo that we should probably make sure we had a reservation but he said that there were so many camping spots that we didn't need to worry.  We headed out on Saturday morning at 6:00 with 3 other families and cars following behind us. This was the first time they had been camping for most of them.  We arrived at the park around 11:30 and when we pulled up the signs posted said all camp grounds full.  The kind park ranger gave us a piece of paper that gave us phone numbers and addresses to near by campgrounds that we could check out.  I was hoping that we would not have to turn around and drive all the way back home.  We called about 7 places on the paper and the 2nd to last one we called had spots available but it was another hour drive to get there.  We talked to a guy that saw us trying to figure something out and told us  that there was a place down the rode that was free that we could camp at but there were no toilets or water.  The entire group decided that would be o.k.  I didn't agree with 3 little ones and 2 of them being girls.  We went and checked it out there were a lot of people pitching there tents but while we were trying to find a spot a man stopped us and said that someone was going through the camp and robbing people.  So we decided that was not the best choice and started driving one more hour to our destination.  We finally arrived and it was not so bad after all we got to camp right next to a lake it was pretty fun.  The kids got to play in the water.  We decided to just hang out at camp the first day and then the next day we would go to Zions. The next morning when we got to Zions we didn't realize that you had to shuttle into the park so we drove on a road with construction for the first couple of hours when we realized that we were on the wrong road.  We drove back down the canyon parked the car and got on the shuttle.  We decided we would hike the emerald pools.  It was a pretty hard hike.  The kids were troopers.  I think they helped me more than I helped them.  We had a really great time.  It is beautiful there.  When we got back to camp that night the wind had picked up and broke our E-Z up canopy and had collapsed one of the families tents.  So in the dark we were trying to put everything back together when we finally did it was 9:30 and we still had to fix dinner.  We got dinner fixed and everyone put in bed and after everyone had finally fell asleep the wind picked up and it broke all 3 of the family tents we were lucky that we had my mom and dads pop up.  So all of our friends had to sleep in there cars.  Lets just say we packed up early that morning and headed home. When we got to the exit of the campground we had to wait for 1 hour because there was about 3 feet of red sand that had blown on the road and they were trying to push it to the side because cars were getting stuck in it.  We were all just laughing at this point because so many things went wrong on this trip.  It will be a trip that we will never forget.  We also had frogs, scorpions, mice, and bats going through our camp.  I don't think our friends will be going camping with us any time soon.  I was so happy to get home. 

Cousin Fun

This summer the kids had so much fun together.  We did so many activities and had some fun sleep overs. 

Happy Birthday Aubrey!!

This post is a little late but I wanted to post about Aubrey's birthday. Aubrey turned 3 this year. I can't believe how grown up she is. She is so smart and such a little lady. She had a really fun birthday party this year. The party theme was bubbles. The kids got to play on the big blue blow up water slide and play in the bouncer and blow lots of bubbles. We ate delicious hot dogs and had some wonderful cake made by Liz. It was really fun.

Dads Surgery

Back in July while I was on vacation to Mexico my Dad had surgery on his foot. He had some ulcers that needed to be removed. The surgery went great but a few days after he developed infection in his foot which put him in a lot of pain and was very very sick. When I called home to get an update on him he was not doing well and I started to worry. We would be coming home from our trip in 3 days but that was the longest 3 days of my life. I was so worried. A home nurse was coming to my dads house to administer an IV and took take care of the infection. Man my dad has been through a lot. Just a couple of weeks ago my dad was able to put on normal shoes and the Dr. confirmed that the infection was gone. He was a trooper and had his foot wrapped in pink for his granddaughters.

Last week my dad had to go in for eye surgery because his eye was bleeding so they had to go in and burn where it was bleeding to get it to stop. If the blood got into the retina it would cause him to go blind. The surgery went really well and he said he hasn't seen this good for years. Wow!! Another Miracle that we are thankful for. Hopefully this will be the last thing for a little bit. Love You Dad!!!

Saying Good Bye

Well last night was a really hard night for me and my family. We went up to my moms house to say good bye as my brother is moving to Las Vegas today. I didn't think it would be so hard but it was a very emotional night. Roderick had the hardest time of all. He was crying so hard and it was so cute to see Cody and Roderick sitting together with Cody trying to calm him down to let him know that it would be OK. Telling him that he could get on the webcam and talk to him anytime he wanted too. Thank goodness for technology these days. We all cried the whole way home. Roderick woke up this morning and said that he missed his uncle so much already. They have such a special relationship which I am so thankful for. I can't wait to go visit them and see there new house. We are missing you already and you haven't even been gone 24 hours yet. We love you so much and wish you the best of luck in your new adventure.