Fall Festivities

Well I think this has to be the longest post I have ever done!! But because it is so large that means I am all caught up!! Woohoo!! Oct and Nov were full of lots of fun stuff.....so I'll start from the beginning. For the kids fall break in Oct we take our annual trip down to Rocky Point, Mexico. It's only a 4 hour drive until reach absolute bliss! Our families always freak each time we go and think we are crazy for crossing the border. But it is a great place and has always been safe and we just love it! We never have any problems and its become a great place for families to escape to and play. Plus it's a pretty dirt cheap vacation so you gotta love that. We set up a canopy on the beach and play from sun up till sun down. We love it:)

We go down with the Bybee family every year and stuff our faces full of mango's.....mmmmmm:)

Parker's first time on the beach....he did great!




On to Halloween.......I've decided that I'm not a fan of carving pumpkins! It really is gross. We might do something different next year that isn't so messy and slimy.....we'll see.

Ashlynn was a bride this year.....Tyler was Harry Potter....and Parker was a little monster....a tired one at that.

We went trick or treating with cousins and the kids had a blast.

Next up was Vertuccio Farms.....I got this cheap groupon for a fall festival there so we went. It turned out to be lots of fun! They had a 10 acre corn maze....we haven't seen that much corn since Iowa!

Tyler and Ashlynn had school things they participated in. Tyler sang in the 4Th grade choir on Veteran's Day. It was really a neat program and something he was proud to be a part of! Ashlynn had her Thanksgiving day play with her class. I got to go watch her and then eat pie and soup!

Last but not least....THANKSGIVING.......we had one day with my family and another day with Dave's side. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show of Dave's side....I brought my camera but left my battery charging at home. Oops!

It was a great weekend full of family and good food. Dave was also crazy enough to go out shopping with the madness on black Friday. We got ourselves a new fire pit for the backyard. He even found a guy that sold firewood. Well....it wasn't actual fire wood....it was cut up tree stumps that you go pick up and chop yourself. I had no idea that Dave had so much mountain man in him. He got himself an ax and now we have a nice wood pile out back. Now it's time to have SMORES!!! We also celebrated Dave's 37Th birthday over Thanksgiving weekend! I'm so grateful for ALL of our families and everything we've been blessed with this year. We've been able to have a lot of fun and make a lot of great memories. All because of Dave's hard work and determination with his office. I'm a pretty lucky girl:) Next stop......Christmas.......Utah here we come!!

Iowa

Oh my gosh I am so far behind again!! I tell ya things just sneak up on you and before you know it.......weeks have gone by! I have to do some serious catching up. I'm taking you back to a trip we had in August.....IOWA. Dave had a weekend chiropractic seminar full of classes and old collegues. I said there is no way you are going without me! So we packed up with baby Parker and left the other two with a friend. It was a treat to getaway and spend time with dear friends and remember good old times! We stayed at the Kook's B&B....aka Tom and Sara.....the farm was beautiful and full of adventure. Dave even managed to revive himself by touching a electric fence that kept the horses in. If he wasn't sure before....he's grateful to still be alive and kickin'.....thank goodness! Didn't you know I married a curious George? Mental note for next trip.....next time you decide to get up in the early morning for a stroll along the farm in the morning dew barefoot....don't grab the white rope. Awwwww Dave....you gotta love him and just laugh:)

This is Ed....Dave's best bud during school. They are a great family and due to have twins soon!

Beautiful farm.....

This was our church building that we went to....we watched this thing be built from the ground up. So neat to go back and visit everyone!

Awwwww Sara......I can laugh like crazy with this girl:)

Natalie met us at the Machine Shed....a must stop on places to eat!

It was so great to be back and remember our times back in Iowa. I had a lot of emotions come out that I didn't know I would feel going back there for the first time since we moved 4 years ago. That time in our life was one of the hardest things we've been through in our marriage. School for Dave was a hard thing to get through. But we wouldn't change it for the world. Can't wait to go back for another visit. Great people in Iowa and even better memories!

Back to school

I can't believe we are here again! Another summer is over and school is back in session.....woooohoooo!!! It's been a long eventful summer for us. I think we were all ready to get back into a good schedule and routine. Since Parker came into our family all of that kind of flew out the window:) This first day of school was much different though this year. While our kids were here in AZ....Dave and I were in Iowa with Parker at a chiropractic conference. When I made the flights a while back I thought school started on a Tuesday morning so I made or flights for that afternoon. I thought it would work out great! We would take the kids to school....at a new school I might add....and then off to the airport. Then I found out that school started Wednesday and we were going to miss it! I felt so bad and couldn't believe that we wouldn't be there. We had a friend of ours Alyssa stay with the kids that week. She was their little mommy that saved our bacon while we were gone. They all survived the first week of school......Fewwwwww:)

Ty started 4Th grade

Ashlynn started 1st grade

.........and here is where we were.......a beautiful green gorgeous farm in IOWA........this story has to be a whole new post!!

Utah continued.....

Our last stop of our trip to Utah was the Markham's. For those of you that don't know the history of how we met this family.....here it goes......Dave and I had been married about a year and moved around the corner from Kevin and Lisa Markham.....so this was 12 years ago. We met them at church and were soon asked to teach in the Primary. They asked us to come over for dinner on a Easter Sunday. We later found out that their girls Michelle and Lindsey who were 9 and 11 had a major crush on Dave and wanted him to come over!! Forget about me all they cared about was hot Bro. Campbell!! We had the best time and they just took us in and have treated us like family ever since. They also have two boys Brad and Todd that were teenagers at the time. Brad was this big cuddly dude that was 6'5" and around 250lbs. You couldn't help but love him....we all became so close pretty fast. The house right next door to them became vacant and they asked us to move in. It was one of the best times in our lives and happiest. If I couldn't find Dave I knew where to look and if Brad was missing....Lisa always knew he'd be at our place. Dave and Brad became best buds and would hang out all the time. Many late nights talking....cooking together...Lake Powell trips....hikes and motorcycle rides. We had so many good times with Brad that we will treasure for the rest of our lives. Almost 7 years ago Brad unexpectedly passed away. It still doesn't seem like he is gone. We have such a special place in our hearts for this family. They honestly treat us like we are their kids and treat our kids like grand kids. We can't make a trip to Utah without getting our Markham fix.

Grandma Lisa meeting Parker

Lindsey with the kids....she is in hair school and Ashlynn decided that she wanted to cut her hair....SHORT!!! I just let Linds take her and trusted that she would do a good job.

BEFORE........and...........AFTER!!!!

She looks so stinkin cute!! But Kevin wasn't happy with cutting her hair....this is his "I don't like it" face. He said you should never touch a little girls hair. He was funny!!

Lisa and Michelle loving Parker

We went up to Sundance one day and had lunch.....so gorgeous up there!!

Still snow on the mountains....in JULY!!

Kevin taught Ty how to ride a quad and they drove around the house 3 or 4 times and he got the hang of it pretty good. Ty had a major serious face going on there....concentrating:)

One day Michelle took the kids on a hike up to the Y above BYU. Tyler went last year but we didn't think Ashlynn could handle it. She has been talking about not going ever since! This summer she really wanted to go so off they went!

She was so proud of herself and didn't need any help going up or down. She loved it!!

This was our little house that we lived in next door. There was no one living in it when we came to visit so we actually got to stay there. It was so crazy being back in that house.....all the memories and emotions of living there came flooding back. I actually got really emotional the first night when I was trying to fall asleep. So much love and happiness in that house and good times living next door. We had Tyler in that house.....we lived there for almost 5 years. We love this house. I gave Parker a bath in the same tub that I bathed Tyler in. It was so nice to be back and to stay there. After being gone for two weeks it was time to pack up and get back home. It was hard being gone from Dave for that long. He missed us like crazy especially Parker. Parker was changing every day and growing up so fast. We had such a great time on our trip this summer seeing all our family and friends. We look forward to it every year and can't miss it!!