Pumpkin Patch

No October trip would be complete without takning the time to go to the pumpkin patch. The girls had lots of fun going through the corn maze and also picking out pumpkins. Courtney had to help the little girls. Of course they had to have tiny pumpkins because they are so little, or so Courtney said.

Barnyard Boo

For those of you who aren't from around here, Barnyard Boo is a fun little Halloween activity for small children. We were lucky to have Dave's whole family(except his brother Dan, we missed you!) come for the weekend

Of course there was lots to do with Halloween being so near. We went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point for a little Halloween fun. I think both Courtney and Ali were more happy that it was a farm, then the fact it was decked out with Halloween things to do. Highlights of the trip were when they got to feed the ducks(those of you that are loyal readers know this is always a favorite) although they feed them corn instead of bread this time.

Another was getting balloons. Ali got a black cat that soon turned into just a long, black balloon. Courntey got a pink, princess wand. Also to mention, but not really a highlight, was the headless horsemen. Courtney got pretty scared to see him riding around on a huge white horse but with no head. I even thought is was totally creepy.

5 Mile Run

Dave and his Mom

ran 5 miles in the annual Riverton Pumpkin Run. They both did extremely well. Dave is still complaining about his feet hurting him but I am very proud of both of them for braving the cold weather and running a not so short distance of 5 miles.

Snow

Once again, we got snow this weekend. This is the first snow of the season that has actually stuck to the ground. When we woke up on Sunday, this is what we saw.

Kangaroo Zoo

We were pleasantly surprised to have my brother, Brent, and his kids come for a visit. Friday night my two nieces spent the night with us and Courtney had so much fun! One is only five weeks older than Courtney and the other is five. They played babies all night and then all slept together in the guestroom.

The next day we were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch but since it was raining, snowing, and about 30 degrees, we decided on an indoor activity.

Courtney loves this place. It's called Kangaroo Zoo and has all sorts of inflatable slides to play on. You can see that Dave even got in on the action. After playing for a few hours my nieces and nephews needed a massage from this chair. We had tons of fun seeing all the family!

Chuck E. Cheese

Courtney went to her first, official, friend birthday party on Friday. It was at the ever wonderful Chuck E. Cheese. She really did have a great time. She loved the rides and also the games that won her some tickets.
When she saw Chuck E. she was so excited. She kept asking if we could go over and say hi and get a picture. She kept standing right by him. He kept tripping over her. She hugged him tight and he even gave her a free token!
This is little Ava, little sister to the birthday girl. She did not want Courtney holding her back, as you can see. She is 18 months old and Courtney loves to be a little mom to her.
This is Brinley, the birthday girl! Courtney remembered her saying how much she loves these giant coloring books, so she had to get it for her.
Of all the prizes a girl could pick, she picks the goofy eyes glasses. Nice. Thanks Brinley and Karinne for a great party.

Courtney's new bike

I'll keep this short and sweet because I have been getting a lot of flack from people about my posts being too long.

Courtney waited all summer to get this bike from her cousin.
I don't think her life can get much better.

She insists on riding everywhere, even across the street.

Aubrey's Blessing

After finally arriving in Las Vegas, we were able to have a great weekend. For some reason, we didn't get any pics of the little cutie. If you are dying to see her, which you should be, you can go to Dan and Danielle's blog. It is under our links. This was the first time that Courtney was amazed by
the buildings on the strip. We have driven in and out of Las Vegas countless times but this time Courtney exclaimed, "Oh my goodness. Look at that castle!" She was referring to the Excalibur.

She begged us to let her go there, so we decided it would be a fun Saturday trip. When we got there, we were pretty disappointed to find that the stage had been turned into a bar. Yes, a bar! Apparently that is where all the money is. We headed down to the game section for a little fun. Having all 3 brothers there proved to be a huge competition. Dan was gracious enough to watch all three girls while we all played the roller ball game. You know the one where you get a ball in a certain color hole and your horse moves. The first horse to the end wins. Dave and Brian were talking so much smack about who was going to win. Of course, I was cheering for Dave. I was secretly hoping I would win though. We were all surprised and amazed when the winner was declared as Danielle. She won a prize for Ali and it was lots of fun. We decided that we were roller ball experts and proceeded to spend about $10 playing a few more games of it. Unfortunately, we weren't able to win against any others.

About this time, Courtney was getting very sad, due to the fact that we hadn't seen any princesses yet. We may have told her she would see some. Luckily, Dave was able to distract her by winning a different game. The one where you throw the ball and have to knock over the milk bottles. She was so excited that her Dad won her a bear. She still has to know where the bear is at all times. To top it off, the shirt on the bear says, Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas. I don't think it gets any better than that. It was a great trip. We had tons of fun and miss seeing the fam.

Snow in September?

Ok, we weren't on top of it enough to get any pictures but we are talking full on snowing. First, we drove up the canyon to look at the leaves changing colors. We noticed the temperature dropping fast. Soon it was only 29 degrees. It was snowing like crazy. We thought when we got back down the mountain it would just be raining, but no such luck. It continued to snow and rain off and on all yesterday. I just have to say that I hate living in Utah and need to move somewhere with a warmer climate. Come on, seriously, snow in September!

Getting there is half the fun

Over Labor Day weekend, we had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas for our niece's blessing. I was so excited when Dave took Friday off, so that we could have more time to spend with the family. Much to our disappointment, we broke down just before getting to Beaver. To make a long story short, after being towed to Beaver, then to St. George, Dave's parents were kind enough to pick us up. We had to leave the car, so Dave's mom also had to bring us back to St. George on Monday. Luckily, the car was fine. Taking 9 hours to get to Las Vegas, not quite as fun. I do have to say that Dave and I were able to laugh it off and still had a great trip and time in Las Vegas.

Jordan's Birthday

So here is one more thing that happened over a month ago. Oops! We were able to spend time with one of Courtney's best friends, Jordan, for his birthday.

We wanted to do something really fun with them, so we decided on Boondocks, which is a miniature golf, arcade, slide, bumper car place all rolled into one. Since my friend, Mindy, has a small infant, we opted to just let them play in the arcade part and on the slide.

I'm pretty sure that by far their favorites were ones that we didn't even pay for. We just let them think they were racing and shooting. Come on $1.50 for one game. That is outrageous! They had fun collecting tickets from the other games they played too. My skills finally paid off and I won the jackpot playing monopoly. I think we got around 300 tickets. They were so excited to get better prizes than just an eraser or braclet. Thanks for sharing your birthday with us Jordan!

I FLY

Last month, Dave had the opportunity to go indoor skydiving. For all of you who know Dave, it's not a surprise that this was not his first time. He has done it before and has also gone real skydiving. As for me, I could have gone also, but I don't think you could pay me to do it.
It was really funny. Dave had to take this little class that explained everything to you. We watched him through a glass door while he was in the class and he looked very bored. Then he got to put on this cool gear. I don't know who was more excited for Dave to do it, him or Courtney.
Dave was able to do it with his friend, Brad. I think it was alot more fun to do with another person that he knew. They took turns going in the wind tunnel. When they sat down to let the other have a turn, they were tons closer than us, and not behind the glass.
He was a little disappointed that the instructor stood so close to him and didn't give him, "room to do better tricks." I guess they thought he was a rookie.
Courtney said that she is big enough to do it and one of the guys working there said that they would let ages 3 and up try it. I decided it probably wouldn't be the best experience because in July, we went to a children's museum that let you be in a virtual tornado. She liked it at first, but when it got up to about 50 miles an hour, she started to scream. Maybe next year.

I'll Follow Him in Faith

For those of you who don't know, I'll follow him in faith has been the primary theme for this year. I am happy to report that I survived my very first Sacrament meeting program. It may come as a shock to some of you but I have never been in primary until this past April. I teach the six year olds that are turning seven. It's a fun age but also a challenging one. I never knew all that went into preparing for a sacrament program. The kids were very happy that they were able to perform for their parents and now it's over for a whole year. Whew! I think the hardest part was learning all the songs. What ever happened to the good old songs? Children are now required to learn multiple songs with more than three verses each. We also had to learn one song in sign language. They sure expect alot from the kids. The best part of the whole thing was that I got to sit on the stand with my class while Dave struggled to keep Courtney quiet and happy.

Mountain Dew Tour

Ok, I'm finally back. I got a lot of grief from some people and now you'll have to put up with my many posts of what we have been doing for the past six weeks. For some reason, we always have something going on. It's fun though.

This Saturday, Dave and Courtney got to watch the motorcyles at the Dew Tour. I had a hair appointment, so Dave decided to take Courtney out for a date. They had so much fun! Courtney loves anything her dad does, so he got her very excited for the whole thing.

She was a little disappointed though. She keeps saying, "I didn't see any bicycles." We had prepped her by saying that there would be bikes, motorcycles, and skateboards, but since they didn't want to be there all day, they only saw motorcycles.

They also went to the Gateway mall for a little bit, because it was close to the events. Courtney is way to young to realize how lucky she is. She gets to go to almost every event that happens at the Energy Solutions area and goes to every movie opening weekend, when they come out. She is so lucky to have a dad that gets tickets to everything!

Mirror Lake

We were lucky enough to be able to go camping with my parents this last weekend. It was our first time taking Courtney with us and it was ok. We had tons of fun but it was a little harder to have her with us than we had anticipated. She was pretty good though. We only had to drive about an hour and a half to get to Mirror Lake. It was a very pretty lake. I was ready to go home the first night. Soon after arriving, Dave was taking Courtney down to the lake when they told us to come and look at the bear. Thinking it was across the lake, we went to see. As I start down the trail, I see my husband and daughter about 50 yards from the bear. I tear Courtney out of Dave's arms while he follows(yes, he is crazy) the black bear into different camps. Luckily we never saw a bear after that.

We had a great time hiking and playing games. Highlights for Courtney had to be when we would have a campfire and roast marshmellows. The funny thing is that she hates marshmellows but she sure likes to roast them. She also had the greatest time feeding the squirrels and chipmunks. We would leave food out and then watch the little critters come and eat. By our last day there, the rodents had figured out that we were always leaving them food. They got really brave and even climbed right under our feet. We had a great time but were very happy to get home to bathe and shower!