Fall Festival

Friday was Goynes Elementary Fall Festival and man were the boys excited. Not only did they get to dress up a week early in their Halloween costumes, but there was trick-or-treating, games, a spook alley, and hayrides. And we did it all. Ok, maybe not the donut eating game or the picture booth, but we hit the rest of it. I overheard comments like "It was sooooo gross" and "That's ok, I didn't do good at that game either." After almost three hours they boys couldn't decide what part was their favorite. All I got was the whole thing was "GREAT". Can you tell they had fun!!!!

Boys on the hayride

Brotherly Love

There's a Bobcat in My House

Nate was awarded his bobcat in Cub Scouts this evening. He was so excited to have his name called and to put his pin on Mom. I asked Matt to take pictures and ended up with one. So the others had to be staged. Can you tell which ones?

Nate putting his pin on me

Nate being awarded his Bobcat

Gilcrease Orchard

We went to do our pumpkin picking last Saturday. I had heard from a few different sources that Gilcrease Orchard was the place to go if you wanted a "pumpkin picking" experience. The Orchard is a year round orchard that you can pick fresh produce. Right now you can find apples, pears, pumpkins, squash, and such. I must admit, the real lesson I came away with was if they can grow that amount of produce in dirt that is more like dust then I have no excuse for not having a garden. The pickings were slim but the boys persevered and were able to find three small pumpkins. This was definitely for the experience and we will be picking up a pumpkin at the store to carve. We had a great time and by the end were covered with dirt. Nothing that fresh apple cider didn't fix, though.

MOM!!!! Is this a good one

Our tribute to fall in the desert

Matt's Birthday

On October 12th Matt turned 10!!! Oh my, no more single digits for that boy. As a mom, I had a few hard moments. Just think, at 10 I only have nine more years to teach him to clean up after himself, treat others with love, cook a meal, have a testimony, iron a shirt, stand for truth and right, and always try his best. These are only a few of the hundreds of things that will help him be the man that I know he can become. But I am blessed because Matt is always excited to learn and master new things.

Enough of the serious stuff, on to the party. Sunday was low key with a dinner of ribs and baked potatoes. No traditional cake here, all he wanted was mint ice cream. I, of course, could not let it go at that. So we had Grasshopper Pie with crushed Oreos, mint ice cream, and hot chocolate. Presents included the much begged for Ipod Shuffle, a camera, the book "The Candy Wars", a cookbook, and a joke book. The boy was in heaven.

Matt can't wait until after church to open "just one present"

This is all we see of Matt these days or should we say hear.

Last Saturday we had his birthday party with friends. Matt has decided that he is too old for a "kid" party, so he choose to have his friends over for a movie, pizza, popcorn, rootbeer floats, and as much candy as they could stomach. By the way, nine- and ten-year-olds can stomach a lot. The movie was "Speed Racer" (very possibly the worst movie made), the pizza was Hungry Howies, and the candy was plenteous. They all seemed to have a blast!!!

I was told not to decorate but you just can't plunk bags of candy on the table. Can you?

The best idea is to stay out of their way

Sitting around watching the movie.......or not

This is the best picture of what happens when you give kids candy.....lots of candy

Date Night

I finally decided that it was time for the boys and I to have a tradition that we do when Doug goes to the Priesthood Session of General Conference. We had a date night. We were going out to dinner and then to play put-put golf. Little did we know that finding put-put golf in Las Vegas is nearly impossible. Dinner was a big hit though, I let each of the boys order anything they wanted. I had the waitress amazed that each of the boys choose to have a healthy side order to make up for milkshakes and rootbeer floats. We have also learned that only a few of us enjoy onion rings. Don't worry nothing went to waste. Dad was happy for the left-overs.

Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort

Nana was able to visit us for a little while and while she was out here we went to Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Park. This is the fort that was built by the Mormon missionaries that were sent to this area by Brigham Young. We were able to learn a lot of new things about the beginnings of Las Vegas. For instance did you know that Las Vegas means "The Meadows".

I know, not the first thing I think of when I think Las Vegas either.
We got lucky and were able to see Civil War reenactment soldiers. They were able to show us rifles and also how the military operated during that time.

First Day of School

The first day of school came late this year for the boys because of year round school and something that they call tracks. Don't ask me what a track really means because it still doesn't make any sense to me but needless to say the boys finally went back to school on September 15th. What a crazy day!!!! We now live close enough to the school that the boys want to walk to school. Have you ever walked to school with every school supply that the teacher has asked you to bring? Let me tell you it is a slow progression. The same day I started watching an infant girl of one of teachers. So there I am, pushing a stroller that is a little too short while carrying three children's school supplies . We barely make it in time for school to start. For this reason, we did not get pictures in the morning. Instead we got hot, sweaty boy pictures after school. BUT they are of the first day of school. I'm just not going to try to interpret these pictures.

Red Rock

We got a weather blessing on Labor Day with temperatures in the low 80's. We decided to make the most of the beautiful weather by going hiking at Red Rock. The boys loved it. What's not to like? Bugs, climbing, running, and generally not listening to their parent telling them to be careful. It's a boys life. Follow that by In-and-Out burgers and a trip to the splash park, and the boys couldn't ask for a better day.

Kate & Spencer

On August 28th, Kate and Spencer were married in the Mesa temple. It was a wonderful experience to be in the sealing room as these two beautiful people were joined for time and all eternity. I was able to be a witness to the love and devotion that they have for each other. We are so happy to have Uncle Spencer join our family.

Air Force Dinners

In August we were able to get together with the residents and other doctors that Doug works with at the Air Base. First was the resident dinner that the Harling's were gracious enough to host. The second dinner was a goodbye to Major Kane who was the director of the resident program.

Doug, Russell, and Kel-lee teach Nick a lesson

Capt. Ke-lee Harling, Capt. Cheri Gabriel, Capt. Doug Holmes, Capt. Russ Smith, Capt. Nick Einberder practicing unity

Kel-lee and Cheri talk to Major Kane at farewell dinner