Carvin' Away

We were invited to the park for a pumpkin carving party with some friends today. Sierra and Zane were so excited. Luckily, Wes was clueless so I didn't have to worry about him trying to carve a pumpkin with a knife in his hand. Cause you know he'd want to do it "ALL BY HIMSELF." Luckily, he was more than happy to swing and play at the park while the middle two kids carved away.

I was really surprised at how long Sierra worked on hers. She was one of the last ones done.


It took a lot of concentration for all the kids. They all seemed so intent and focused on what they were doing. Zane worked hard carving out the top of his pumpkin.

Then, he had some fun with the gooey insides.

But, then he got tired or bored. So, he skipped the carving of the features and put on some Mr. Potato Head features instead. Whalaa. He was done and off playing at the park.

Sierra stuck it through and did hers the ol' fashioned way. She was pretty proud of the fact that this was the FIRST pumpkin EVER that she carved all by herself.

Lance, being cool and mature, just hung out in the distance with his buddy, Brock.

We ended the afternoon with some junk food for dinner - chips, pizza, pop, and popsicles. Now, that was a great afternoon! We're sooo glad Kelly called and got us out there. I had hoped to get a big group shot with all the friends and their pumpkins, but I got too carried away eating my pizza and popsicle and forgot. ....Next year.

Bonding Brothers

Nothing bonds brothers more than a nintendo ds and a blanket early in the morning.

LOST

Please call if you find any of Zane's right foot sandals.

Zane is well known in our household for losing shoes. He often ends up wearing mismatched flip flops throughout the summer because he can't find a matching set. But, now he can't even do that. What are the odds of losing all left sandals? Even after we bought a specially designated shoe basket for him, nothing changed. Oh well. And, yes, I will still go out & buy him a couple more pairs of flip flops because here in sunny Arizona we are STILL wearing flip flops with our shorts at the end of October. LOVE IT!

Our Insane Asylum

We had fun decorating our home for Halloween. With our "Insane Asylum" sign our our door, the kids had to act the part.

And then, we made our graveyard. So, we needed some dead people.
What do you think? Do my kids have a future in acting?!

Another One to Clean Up After

Cash is a great dog. Let's just get that out there. He doesn't chew nearly as much as Kota did. Shoot, Kota chewed up all the palm trees. Kota even chewed on our house trim. Cash prefers to stick to his toys, thankfully....Well, I should say that he does most of the time:) I don't know if it's instinct or what, but Cash loves to debowel his stuffed toys. I often find the insides of his latest chew toy all over the floor. He doesn't rip and shred the whole thing. It's like he methodically gets a small hole in it and then very carefully pulls out all the insides. I wonder if he'd try to do that to one of the chickens next door.

So, I'm a Sucker for My Girl

After last month's 12 hour ordeal....her first P.O.A. show....I said I'd only do it every few months or so. But, here I am again...the very next month. Sierra was all excited to go to her 2nd show. And since the location was closer and she agreed to only do english and gymkhana, we went. That meant that we were only there from noon to 6:30:) since we skipped out on the western pleasure showing all morning. What can I say? I'm a sucker for my girl.
Unfortunately, her pony, Pepper, was onery. He kept taking the wrong lead, etc etc. But, she still had fun and seemed to enjoy it. We were able to register Pepper, so they were up againest more girls and ponies this time.

Wes and Todd went off of a food search during our long afternoon.

Zane and Wes spent a few hours playing in the dirt hills behind the arena.

Sierra and Pepper did best in the gymkhana games, as usual. He's really not a show pony. They did best in Single Pole and Handy Horse, where they earned 2nd places. It was a lot of fun.

The Arizona State Fair

We LOVE the State Fair! Since we couldn't get out of town for fall break (due to Todd's busy season at work), we headed to the fair one afternoon.

Our highlights -

Started off with some good grub including corn dogs, fry bread, sandwiches, and ice cream. YUM!

Then, we headed off for the best part - the rides.

Lance and Todd dared to do the SLINGSHOT! It was amazing. I couldn't believe Lance actually got in it. They loved it!
The Zipper was Sierra's and my favorite ride!

Zane said his favorite was the gravitron ride. Wes' favorite was....well, I think Wes just loved all of his rides.



After our rides, we stopped in to see the chickens. You can't believe all the different kinds of chickens that there are. Catherine was hoping to see the rabbits, but they were already gone. Maybe next year. And then next door, we found this cool lego place. Even the big kids enjoyed stacking the legos. It gave us a nice break from walking.

Wes was throwing a fit about something...this is his "I am angry" face. Watch out!

We ended our night at the Macy's Petting Zoo....a definite favorite. We loved feeing the giraffe and the camel. What a cool place!

We can't wait to go back next year!