Happy Fall!

Have I mentioned the new member of our family, Luna?  The kids finally convinced us to allow them to have a pet.  She joined our family Labor Day weekend.

The boys decorated this cake for their school cake walk.

Craven Farms Pumkin Patch and Corn Maze

Craven Farms - pumpkin launch - Jessie trying to make hers go really far!

The corn maze was Alice in Wonderland themed.

 Pumpkin Carving for Family Home Evening the Monday before Halloween... Josh wearing his shirt that we stenciled using the butcher paper method (thanks for telling me how, Amy!), we thought it turned out great!

 The Friday night before Halloween, Jessie went to a party at her friend's house, so the three younger kids and I decorated Halloween sugar cookies.  Here are their creations.

 Abby loved using the mini chocolate chips.  She carefully placed each chip in its place on each cookie.  It took her a lot longer than the boys, but her creations turned out great!

 Saturday night, I took the three younger kids to a friend's house for a party.

 During the party, we left to go to the church for it's Trunk - or - Treat.  Mike and Jessie stayed at the van to hand out the candy.  They had Thriller and Monster Mash playing in the back ground. 

 After the Trunk - or - Treat we went Trick - or - Treating at Nana's house and got a photo of all four of the kids together.  If you can't tell, Josh is an Army guy, Abby is Cinderella, Jessie is Superman/Clark Kent (we also stenciled Jessie's Superman logo on her shirt...), and Ben was Luther (from Zeke and Luther on DisneyXD).  Then, the boys and I went back to the party and Mike and the girls went home.

 Abby made this Heart mask that she proudly modeled for me.

 Yesterday was sunny and in the low 70's.  Such a beautiful day in the Northwest.  So what do you do on a sunny fall afternoon?  Rake leaves and play in them, of course!

Back to School
So far, so good with my kids.  They all seem to like their teachers and their classes.  Hooray!  Jessie is in 8th grade at the middle school; Ben is in 4th grade; and Josh is in 1st grade.  Abby has two play dates each week with friends, so she is happy to be getting some time away from home, too.

First day of school photos:

Summer Re-Cap

Here's a re-cap of the majority of our summer...

Josh turned 6 and had his first friend party.  They played on the slip-n-slide and other fun water games.

Cousin Jayme turned 6 three days before Josh, so we had a combined family party for them at Lake Tye.

The actual day of Josh's birthday.

We headed east for our family vacation.  This year we flew into Washington D.C. to stay with Mike's brother for a few days and do some site seeing before we headed north to Owasco Lake.  Our first evening, we stopped by the Air Force Memorial and the Pentegon 9/11 Memorial.

The next day, we went to Quantico, VA to visit the National Museum of the Marine Corps.  It was really awesome.  If you ever have a chance to go, I'd highly recommend it!

That same day, we also stopped by the Battle of Bull Run Memorial site in Manassas, VA.

The next day we went to the 'mall'.  We saw the Vietnam Memorial wall.

 The Lincoln Memorial.

The Washington Monument.

The Korean War Memorial.

The World War II Memorial.

The World War II Memorial.

The White House.

After the White House, we visited the Museum of American History. Then we drove to the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy, which is near Dulles.

The next day we rode the metro to the 'mall'.  The kids thought it was fun.

We saw the Capitol building.

Visited the Museum of Natural History, which the kids loved.

Then we visited the National Archives (no photos were allowed).

We had about 20 minutes inside the Native American Museum.

Lastly, we visited the National Air and Space Museum.

On our way out of Washington D.C. the next day, we visited the outside of the LDS temple, where Mike and I were married 15 1/2 years ago.

Then we stopped by Liberty State Park in New Jersey and saw the Statue of Liberty.

That evening, we arrived at my brother's home where my mom, sister and her two boys were also visiting.  It's been many years since we've been together as siblings.  Love you Mike and AnneMarie!!!

After staying two nights at Mike's house, we made our way to Owasco Lake.  It's sunsets like these that remind me how beautiful it is there!

One day, we all hiked the Taughannok Falls at Cayuga Lake.

My parents were so happy to have so many of their grandchildren together!

One evening, we went miniature golfing, one of our favorite things to do when we are visiting.

Mike, the kids, and I hiked to the falls at Fillmore Glen State Park, one morning before Mike had to head back home.

We attended a cousin's wedding reception one evening.  Josh was really wearing out the dance floor!

Fishing is a favorite thing to do at the lake.  Fishing off the dock with worms for little fish is fun, but going out with Grampy to get the really BIG fish is even better.  This day, Grampy and Josh caught  25" and 27" lake trout.  Eating lake trout is also one of our favorite things to do!!

Of course, you can't forget about how much tubing we do....

And riding my parents' wave runners....

I am so happy that I can still get up on one ski!

...last but not least...swimming, swimming, swimming....

We miss you Owasco Lake!!!

Since arriving back to Washington we've gone to the local lake/beach to swim, played at the parks, caught up with friends, attended the state fair here in town, gone school shopping (many different times...) and hung out together as a family.  School starts in two days, so we have some work to do tomorrow to make sure the backpacks and lunches are ready for Wednesday.  Stay tuned for first day of school photos.