Kicking Myself

Shoot! It was one of those "forget the camera" days. For Family Night this week we ventured to the Dixie Classic Fair. Usually state fairs aren't really Jim or my "thing" but it was really built up around here on the radio and people we talked to and the kids were totally brainwashed- so we went for it. It was actually a really good time. We mostly walked around and took in some great people watching. Jim was determined to try fried butter and Arielle had a fried snickers. I took a bite of both, snickers won hands down! Toby picked cotton candy of course- always straight sugar for him. I chose island style noodles with lots of huge chunks of fresh veggies- weird, I know. The kids were each allowed one ride (we are on a budget and you could easily drop hundreds of dollars at the fair if you don't watch it). They decided to ride one that goes in a circle really fast forward & back and blasts music. They had smiles plastered on their faces and Arielle could barely stay in her seat due to the force. Next we went to the petting farm which had a camel, south american rats, kangaroo and some other non-traditional petting farm animals- Arielle loved that. Lastly, we caught a couple shows- a magic show and hypnotist show. The magic show was Jim & my fav and the kids loved the hypnotist show (first one of its kind that they'd been to). I think the shows made the entrance fee to the fair actually worth it. But alas...no camera- dang! Here's a link to check out the fair http://www.dcfair.com/index.php/about-us

Welcome October!

OK- first off, I'm cheating. This picture is from last October. Seems I've been taking lots of pics lately, but no family pics. So I'll try to get on that and get some current family pics soon. ANYWAY... I'm stoked that October is here. I LOVE this time of year and I'm generally in a very good mood from Oct 1st- Jan 2nd :). As far as I'm concerned October ushers in the holiday season. We kicked off this weekend by renting a wonderful classic scary movie WATCHER IN THE WOODS. It was the kids first time seeing it and it was a hit. Jim & I remember this movie scaring the wits out of us as kids. Then we went to a local church's pumpkin "patch" and picked out our pumpkins. We will finish off the decor with a giant spider & web plastered on the front of the house. This time of year is also wonderful running weather! Went out this morning for a peaceful 8 miler in a delightful light fog with my new running partner Stacie. We ran along quiet streets lined with pastures and farm style houses in the sleepy little town of Lewisville. It was one of those runs that is so good, it almost makes me consider running another marathon. Lastly, this weekend is also great because its general conference weekend! Besides listening to meaningful talks from church leaders, we get to sleep in, eat lots of good food and stay in PJs all day. Oh happy day!

Arielle's Activities

Arielle & Teddy

Arielle's Activity Day Crafts

Activity Day Baby Shower

Arielle bathing Beauty after riding

Arielle and her new instructor Michelle

Arielle cantering

Getting Beauty ready to ride ("tacking up")

Arielle's Activities

Arielle has jumped into some fun activities here in Winston-Salem. There is a great Activity Days group of at least 10 girls. They have real quality activities 2x a month. The first activity she went to they made baby gifts (pictured above) for a mom in the ward. Then they threw her a baby shower. At her last activity they reviewed the Articles of Faith. She always has a great time and learns a lot. I'm thankful for great volunteer leaders who take time out of their busy lives to bless my children!!

Every Friday Arielle and I spend the afternoon at Hidden K Stables where she is taking lessons. Beauty is her favorite horse there and she tries to ride her every week.

Toby gets the Priesthood

Can you believe my kid is old enough to pass the sacrament?! Wild stuff. Toby happened to turn 12 on a Wednesday which is Young Men's activity day here. We took him and he had to walk in a couple minutes late to opening exercises with a room full of teenage guys & girls. He was so brave! His leaders so are on top of it. Somehow they knew it was his birthday and all the kids broke out in song to wish him a happy birthday. He had a great time at the combined activity that night and has had a month full of fun Wed. nights since then. Toby was ordained by Jim on Aug. 16th- Jim did a wonderful job. It took me awhile to get a pic of Toby in his suit to get this posted! Its custom for the boys in this ward to wear jackets every Sunday. An expensive, but good looking and reverent practice.

Go Mustangs!

Toby- going for it
This cracks me up...Toby's soccer coach also coaches the 8th grade girls' soccer. He has a couple of the better girl players help asst. coach and aid the boys in practice and games. Toby has commented on the flirting that goes on. Check out this girl and guy flirting and the look on the Coach's face. Priceless.


One of the "cool" parts of being on the team is being bussed to the games after school. Toby called me from the bus and he was SO excited.

Toby and the Meadowlark Mustangs

Warning! *Bragging mom spoiler alert* Toby had his first soccer game with his new team yesterday which they won 5-0! We are so proud of Toby for being brave and trying out against a bunch of experienced 8th graders. As most of you know, Toby has an Aug. BD and is one of the youngest 7th graders. When Toby was 5 I really debated whether I should hold him back a month and let him be an older kid in school - or should I just send him. He had already gone to two years of preschool and academically he was ready. Besides...Jim & I never were into team sports, Toby probably wouldn't be either. Yay- right!! Toby has a jock streak in him. In St. George Toby had some good sports opportunities. But now in Winston-Salem he wanted to try out against 8th graders in a school of 1200 kids. I didn't want to discourage him, but I was not optimistic! Toby came home from try-outs the first day and looked glum..."Mom, I'm trying out against kids with moustaches that are as big as Dad". Thankfully he made it and actually got to play half of the first game. He brought his A game and was really aggressive. Go Mustangs!

Asheville with the "Cuzins"

"Bonky" and Joyce :)

Yep- Winston is in his skivvies (heh heh)

blueberries!

Done wore ourselves out pickin' all those blueberries

This kids is SO photogenic!

Joyce, Negy & Bahnson (at midnight!)

Negy seems to really like buckets! :)

Looks like Julie is entertaining the gang again

Tobes & Lincoln (Lincoln rarely left Toby's side)

Conner & Tobes

After Bahnson slaved over the grill and cooked us a wonderful meal, we rewarded him with a relaxing dip in the hot tub (with all the kids! LOL)

Bike jousting at the LAAFF Festival...crazy? YES

These pics taken a Roserrita's (sp?) yummy vegan restaurant

girls making their clay creations

Steve's booth- to see pics of his cute bags go to http://www.organictribethredz.blogspot.com/

kids at the festival

LABOR DAY WEEKEND IN ASHEVILLE

Over Labor Day Toby, Arielle & I ventured a couple hrs. west to visit the Sloans in the mountains of Asheville. Unfortunately Jim couldn't join us, he was too busy cramming his head full of life saving knowledge. We got to experience Asheville at its wildest at the LAAFF Festival (basically an artsy hippie fest). Steve & his friend had one of the best booths set up there selling homemade tie-dye clothing and Steve's sweet bags (http://www.organictribethredz.blogspot.com/) . The kids enjoyed being creative with clay in the kids' area. Later that night we had a fun BBQ at Bahnson & Joyce's house and got to visit with Nancy & play with cute Negy. I hadn't seen these guys in a couple years and it was so fun to hang out. Good times :) Monday was a great hike- Graveyard Fields- along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We picked blueberries and the kids swam in a stream. The weather held out beautifully for us.

Exploring Winston-Salem

Arielle finds a caterpillar
Turtles at Salem Lake

Goofy

Even more goofy

Biking around Salem Lake

perfect day for a ride around the lake!

Hoot Hoot

Air propelled chair at SciWorks

Learning "stuff"

Arielle, DDS

EXPLORING WINSTON-SALEM

We have a couple new fav places in WS. My personal fav is Salem Lake. Beautiful little lake with a 7 mile trail around it. Perfect for running & biking. Took Arielle out there and she biked the whole way around! We spied lots of wildlife- birds, turtles, nests, caterpillars, butterflies, etc. The kids really love Sci Works, a great science museum. Has different sections- body, physics, wildlife, etc. They could spend hrs. there and beg to go back the next day!