First Soccer Game of the Season

I got before and after pictures, but no during pictures. I was too busy chasing around a toddler and catching up with other moms. I got glimpses every now and then of the game and what I saw made me smile. We'll be working on eye-foot coordination around here for the next few weeks.

Funny story. Our coach asked us to be early so the kids could get warmed up and be ready to start on time. We got there at 8:35, 25 minutes early. We were the only ones there. I wondered if perhaps the games had been cancelled due to yucky weather (it rained all day yesterday). No, the games were still on. We were just super early. I had to pinch myself.

My beautiful girls

Taken at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs
July 2011

Summer Fun

We took a trip to Denver. Taber had to go take a test and we decided to turn it into a family vacation. Taber's mom and dad met us in Denver (I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of them!) and we had a fun weekend together. We discovered on the way out there that Duke is not a good road tripper. He confirmed this fact on the return trip.

We had a great time at the zoo.

Duke, Me and Isabelle

  

Part of the awesome bird show we saw



That is a whole watermelon he has in his paw

Izzy was determined to snap a picture of this peacock

I loved this metal sculpture at the zoo entrance

Liza, hot and sweaty

Izzy, also hot and sweaty

Duke, all tuckered out

Duke also went swimming for the first time. This is how he felt about it.

 Poor Liza got sick on vacation. This is how she felt about it.

It was fun to get away as a family, even with a baby who cried across state lines and another one who was miserably sick.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Saturday, we went in search of the perfect pumpkin. We had to search (drive) far and wide for it, but we came home victorious. The weather was very fall-esque (read: cold and windy), but we had a great time as a family taking part in this quintessential autumn ritual.

Pre-feeding

It took some coaxing to get Eliza to let the goats eat out of her hand. At first she would just throw the food into the pen and hope the animals found it, but then daddy showed her the ropes and we got this...

Post-feeding

This shot is priceless - the animals' tongues tickled the girls hands as they ate which sent the girls into fits of laughter.

Mommy and the girls by another animal pen

Eliza atop a giant pumpkin. Kids were allowed to climb all over the pumpkin piles here, which made for dirty pumpkins, but happy kids.

Seriously? Both girls' eyes closed? Come on! I must've spent half the trip begging and pleading for these two darlings to look, smile, say cheese, sit still...and still this is all I got. Oh well, at least Taber can follow directions.

We ended up with one giant family pumpkin that weighed 36 lbs., one baby orange pumpkin for Isabelle and one teeny tiny white pumpkin for Eliza. I couldn't find my perfect pumpkin, so I'm settling for some of the smaller, homegrown variety. While Carmichael's Pumpkin Patch (171st & Mingo, in Bixby, OK) was decent, it made me miss the one we would go to as a family each year at the Big Red Barn in Santaquin, UT. For you Utah folks, go visit this pumpkin patch. And while you're there, if you wouldn't mind, take a hayride, enjoy the view, and find the perfect pumpkin for me.