Halloween

We had our ward Trunk or Treat on Wednesday night.  Drew was Super Girl, Gillian was a devil.  Gavin was just a redneck kid handing out candy from the back of his truck.  We had fun.  Darren was not too happy about the big handlebar mustache that I got for him to wear.  I was proud of him, he wore it for longer than 5 minutes.  He did complain that he kept eating hair.  We were a cowboy and cowgirl couple, not much of a stretch.  Roxy had matching horns with Gillian.  She did not like them.  At all.  When she got them off she tried to eat them.

Donut on a string eating

Devil twins

Octoberish

The chill is in the air and the leaves are bright orange and red and beautiful.  Jimmy has come back to sit on our porch swing for the month. We like Jimmy. 

Early this month I got to go to Huntington Beach and be with my family.  Laura graduated from nursing school and they moved to Pittsburg.  I'm glad I got to go visit before they moved.  

Especially glad I got to see my darling nieces.  Alice wears batman or spiderman shirts every day as well as a spiderman mask.  She also likes to put a water dish on the floor and drink from it like a puppy.  She also barks out the window.  Super cute.  So dang cute.  And Mary and Georgia are so cute and sweet.  I got to go to all three of their soccer games on the Saturday I was there.  And it was 80 degrees.  

Back here in Washington it is definitely sweater/coat weather.  We have had one week where it was solid fog.  Serious fog.  And now we have seen a week of bright blue skies and a sweltering 50 degrees for the high.  

We love having two wood burning stoves.  It really helps warm up the entire downstairs.

I've always wanted to have an old fashioned photo taken.  We had this taken at the fair in September.  It was back when Darren had his "choncho", which is what Drew named his lamb chop mustache.  I think this photo is very fitting, especially for Gavin.

We had to get Gavin to agree to take a picture to submit for his senior photo.  He didn't want anything fancy.  I kind of got some smiles out of him.  I'm sure that when the girls are seniors they are going to want a real photographer.

Can't believe he's a senior!!!

Fourteen

Drew turned 14 on September 26th.  I can't believe she's fourteen.  She's the most beautiful 14 year old girl ever.  Of course I'm a bit biased, but she just is.  She sprained her ankle just before her birthday and has been on crutches ever since.  She gets to have a key to the elevator at school that she wears on a blue crystal lanyard around her neck.  

She is a sensitive soul.  Everything that everyone and anyone says effects her.  I am constantly telling her to stop worrying.  She is so dang sweet.  It is hard to be mad at her for long because she is quick to apologize when she has been wrong and she is usually a rule follower.  She gets pretty frustrated that Gillian copies her so often but I try and tell her that it's because she's so cool.  I am so lucky that she is a good example to her younger sister.  

Love this girl!!!

Banks Lake 2013

We just had our annual trip to Banks Lake from the 17th -25th of August.  Darren was anxious to get out of town as soon as he got off work.  We ended up leaving on a Thursday evening after work.  By the time we got on the road it was past 10:00pm.  Crazy.  But Darren didn't want to spend a moment of vacation at home.  We spent the night in the trailer up by Snoqualmie Pass.  Gavin's girlfriend Michaela came with us for the entire time and it was nice having her around.  Drew stayed back with the Pedigo's and came with them on Saturday.  We took Brooke Pedigo with us.  She and Gillian are quite the pair.

It's amazing to see how our Banks Lake outings have changed through the years.  During the early years everyone was in tents and Darren wasn't able to come because of work.  Gradually we moved to a bigger sight, invited new people (Pedigo's and Richey's) and people started getting campers and trailers.  I never thought we would be trailer people but I've got to say I love it!  Camping for 10 days would be a lot different if we had to stay in tents.  Plus, our sight doesn't have running water.

We debated on whether or not to bring the dogs but we ended up bringing them all.  They had a blast.  Shadow swam a lot and played fetch.  George ran around peeing on everyone's coolers and chairs and any other stationary object.  Roxy played with her brother Coulee (Pedigo's chihuahua from the same litter as Roxy).  Holly followed me on runs and loved riding on the boat.

Gavin and Michaela jumping off the cliff

This is always the highlight of our year.  We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends to share this time with.  All the kids get along so well and everyone has a blast.  We had fun crafts.  Jared cooked a big breakfast every morning.  Lots of tubing and surfing and sunburns and mosquito bites.  And to top it off Darren and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary there.  We seem to always be at Banks Lake during our anniversary and have started a tradition of going to a Mexican restaurant in Electric City called La Presa.  And my new favorite is getting smoothies from the ice cream/smoothie truck across from Safeway.  Yum.  I think I gained 10 pounds.

Gillian and Brooke

Gavin and Drew on the jet skis

 

Me and Nasca

Soooo happy.  

Redneck traveling

baby Ty Pedigo

Amanda, Michaela and Gavin 

Drew surfing

Gillian's first time skiing. 

Jared making crepes for everyone in camp

Darren waiting for more crepes

Gillian, Roxy, Brooke, and Coulee

THE END....... until next year!