Jane is 10 and Fall FUN!!

 With Fall comes a lot of crazy fun!!  Beckham started his first year of soccer and loved it! He played goalie most of the time and was really great! His little team really grew to depend on him!!

Beckham is becoming such  big boy!! He was dying to try mowing the lawn, so to surprise daddy one day, he and I decided to mow the lawn for him!!  Beckham did an amazing job!!

In September, Jane turned 10!!!  Double digits... I cannot believe it!! I know I say this all the time but why does time have to fly by so quick :(?  This year, we decided to just do family birthday parties.  We sure had a nice time celebrating Jane.  She was a scavenger hunt to find her presents then had a ton of fun opening them :)

 She was so thrilled with all her birthday surprises!!

 She requested a gigantic cupcake as well... I did deliver :)

 Then on the weekend, we let Jane pick our family activity... Much to Beckham's displeasure- haha!
 We visited the American girl doll store and Jane was in Heaven!

 Her Samantha doll even got her skin cleaned and got the star treatment!! We also visited Barnes and Noble.  Jane begs to go there all the time.  She LOVES that store filled to the brim with books!!!

We sure love our Jolly Janie!! She is a ray of sunshine brings us so much happiness!! She has grown into such a talented, smart and beautiful young lady!!

Oh and she is proving to be rather good a particular sport which I LOOOOVE!! Way to go Jane!!

Elsie had a little Rodeo for her preschool!! It was darling.  Each kid in turn got to ride a stick horse around a loop while everyone cheered for them. They also performed some songs and we had a dinner, too! We love our little cowgirl!!

Oh and she got her very first shiner!!  She and little friend collided!!! Poor Elsie's face blew up immediately.

Here is cute little, black eyed, Elsie working hard on her homemade computer!!

Another Fall favorite is, of course, General Conference! The kids are getting better and better at listening to all of conference...but things still do get a little goofy at times:)

 After Family Home Evening one night, we decided to decorate pumpkin cookies!!

 We visited one of my favorite Missouri towns, Arrow Rock!! It is a very historical town.  They do a Heritage festival every year and I was anxious to hit it up again since this may be our last chance to.  Here is Jane, with some of the gun show performers!

 Here's the fan next to a dreamy old home!!

Of course we had to eat at the famous tavern there and get their famous fried chicken!!!

 The tavern's historical kitchen.

 We stumbled across the gentleman who hand made amazing bowls and spoons!!  His work was sp beautiful!!

 The kids were dying to make their own jump ropes since the last time we were at Arrow Rock two years ago!  They finally got their wish :)

 Watching them try then out was pretty awesome:)

 And of course the kids had to try their hand at weaving a rug!!

 As a last October hoorah, we went to the Jack o Lantern festival at Powell Gardens!! It was super neat!!

 There were tons of lighted pumpkin displays!

 and a professional pumpkin carver!!

 And all the darling and spooky halloween decorations were just so much fun!!

Can't believe Fall is almost gone again!! I sure love this season and I am so grateful for my amazing family that I get to spend it with.  Halloween pics are coming soon!!!

More fun visitors and Adam-Ondi-Ahmon

 I am determined to catch up on my blog.  But in order to do that I have to go all the way back to August right at the beginning of school.  Some major fun occurred that I would hate to skip over.

Here are Jane and Elsie and I eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Spin Pizza!!  This particular kind of fun happens nearly weekly :)

With the coming of Fall comes some rather amazing storms in Missouri!  I actually love these neat stormy nights... so long as they don't bring any tornadoes with them:)

We had some wonderful visitors in August.  Ryan's parents came to participate in some family, church business :) and it was a lucky break that the total solar eclipse happened to occur during their visit.  And not only that but we live in the path of totality and were able to see the eclipse at 100 percent!!  It was absolutely amazing!!

 We had so much fun playing on the park, chatting, eating snacks and lunch while we waited and watched!

 The neatest part was when it all got dark, the moon came out, and the city lights came on!!

 The eclipse cast the most unique shadow on the sidewalk through the trees :)

 To make the visit even that more amazing, we visited Adam- Ondi-Ahman!  I have been dying to visit there but wasn't sure of the long drive would be worth it since there isn't much there but land.  I was so wrong.  It was so beautiful and so worth the dive!

 It was so peaceful and incredibly beautiful!

 This outlook over a bright green valley was my favorite spot.  It was breathtaking!!

 Being in the most beautiful place on a lovely day with the BEST company could not have been more perfect!!

 Luckily, we drove through a darling and fun little town on our way home where we stopped to get some delicious treats!!

 The Missouri Star Quilting Company happened to be in this little town as well! Ryan's mom was thrilled.  We all loved looking through the amazing store!

 We also made the trip to Far West to see the sight where the temple there was to be built.

 The corner stones were still there.

 The last adventure we shared with Ryan's parents was going down into a nuclear bomb bunker which is on our Whitman Air Force Base. I never even knew it was there!

 Going down into the bunker made me super panicky, but it was still a very neat experience. This was the super thick, ominous door which locked the men in the bunker...

 and here is where they hung out for 24 hours at a time!!  Ugh, I could never survive this job!

 Here is the view looking up into the elevator shaft of the bunker.

The visit with Ryan's parents was amazing and we will miss them so much!

Back to School!!

 This post is quite late...but, better late then never!!  I always imagine life will get so much calmer when school starts...in truth, it gets much busier.  With sports, homework, teaching piano lessons and regular life and responsibilities...I feel quite swamped.  Nonetheless, I love Fall and all the fun that comes with it.

The end of summer brought some fun and exciting events!  Jane got her braces off!!  What a beautiful smile was found underneath!!

 We had some good friends move to Korea, so we had one last get together before they left.  Here are all the sweet friends :)

 One of Elsie's sweet little best friends, Daphne, was part of the family moving, unfortunately.  I think Elsie will always remember her sweet friend :)

 I will miss my sweet friend, as well!!  I just love these ladies!!

 Another exciting event, was when we got a dog.  Her name is Skittles!! She is 9 years old and so well behaved.  We have just fallen in love with this sweet little old lady!

 Naturally, we had our annual Back to School dinner!!  It was so fun!

 Here were the place settings.  Each little item they received had significance!

 I had fun decorating and preparing for this dinner!

 I think the kids enjoyed it as well!!

 I love this tradition.  It is a good time  for us to talk about how we act in school, how we stay safe when we are away from home and the value in hard work!!

 Then the day finally came!!  The kiddos were all so excited to start school!

 Here is Jane starting 4th grade with her good friend!!

 Here is Beckham outside of his school with Elsie, ready to start 2nd grade!!

 Heres' day 2...just because these kids are growing up so fast and are just the most amazing little people ever!!

 Day 2 for our handsome Beckham!

 A week later, it was Elsie's turn to start preschool!!  She goes twice a week and has been loving it!! I cannot believe these kids are so big!!  My heart hurts every time I drop Elsie off to school!! But it is such a pleasure and a blessing to watch each of my kids grow!!