Halloween Night 2011

Ahhh!  Halloween!  This is probably my kids favorite time of year.  I think they like it even more then Christmas.  They begin talking about it the day after Halloween.  For a whole year I hear what they will be next year.  Well, this year Megan was a black cat, Emilee was a witch, and Hunter was a ninja.  

I am not sure if Megan is trying to be scary or vampire like.  Whatever it is, at least she is having fun.

Emilee for the longest time wanted to be a police officer, but we were at the store and they had this costume and she had to have it.  Notice we sprayed her hair green.  For the last few years we are either putting her hair in a wig or spraying it a different color.  She loves it.

Hunter was suppose to be Green Lantern, but about 2 weeks before he changed his mind.  That's my little Ninja.

I guess Megan is getting to big for us.  She is turning into a tween for sure.  She wanted to go with her friends instead of with us.  They had a good time though.

The rest of us went trick-or-treating with some friends in their neighborhood.  

 The kids carved their pumpkins on Friday.  

Home at last.  Let me tell ya.....with the trunk or treat and Halloween night, I would say they have enough candy to last them years.  Ya right!  You know what though?...they are already planning for next year.

Happy Halloween!

Fall Pictures 2011

It has been a long time since we have had family pictures taken.  I believe the last time we did, Hunter was just a baby.  Seven years later, here we are.  I have this friend here in Madison who takes beautiful pictures.  She took the kids' pictures in the spring and I loved them so much and so she said she would take our family pictures in the fall.  The funny thing about her is she thinks we are doing her the favor, when of course, we are the lucky ones.  We decided to have them taken at Green Mountain Lake.  These are some of my favorites.  Thanks again Karen!  You are so wonderful!

                                                  

Changes

Change.  This word can make you feel so many emotions.  When I begin to see the leaves change colors I feel so much excitement of my favorite season coming.  I love the fall time.  I love the weather, I love the holidays in the fall, I love the fall scents of apples, spice, cinnamon, pumpkin, and just the way it smells outside.  Yes, when I think of fall, I think of change, and I think Hmm, it doesn't sound like such a bad word.

Sometimes though change is hard, and that is what I feel now.  Even though in retrospect, it is really a good thing, but it still is hard.  Not long ago, our ward was split.  Only a few families were taken from us and though we miss them, it seemed OK. Then we found out that our stake was splitting.  Now, that actually was very exciting news.  There has been one stake here in Huntsville and at last there are now going to be two.  This bring us to the hard part.  Our ward was then on Sunday split for the second time.  147 people are leaving and are now in Madison 2nd.  OHHH!  What a shock!  Our family is part of that 147.  Now, I have been in a few different wards and each holds dear to me.  The friendships I have made through them have been wonderful.  This ward has been fantastic!  I have grown to love so many!  They have been fun to serve around and I will truly miss continuing to serve with them.  Yes, friendships can't change, but with all of our busy lives, it sometimes can be hard to keep those friendships alive.  Gosh, I do sound sappy, don't I.

Of course change is exciting.  The Lord's work is going forth here in the South and here in our area, we can see it grow everyday.  It is truly exciting.  We will miss Madison 1st ward very much.  You have all been wonderful to serve around.  What an awesome thing to happen and Madison 2nd ward will be an exciting new adventure.  I can't wait to serve with those families again that split before us and to meet a whole new group of people.  Those that stay back in Madison 1st, remember, I love to go to lunch, the movies are fun, and ice cream taste good.  I am up for anything.  Don't forget!!  

Lyon Family Farm, TN -- 2011

Yesterday we decided to take the kids to Lyon Family Farms.  Most people around here go to Tate Farm.  I actually have never been to Tate Farm.  Both Hunter and Emilee have been through school field trips, but the rest of us have not.  Last year was the first time we went to Lyon Farm and we liked it so much, we went back this year.  Now if you ask Emilee, she will say she likes Lyon farms so much better, Hunter on the other hand says he likes Tate.  I really don't know which is better, but we sure did have a good time at Lyons and really that is all that matters.

They didn't have this last year, but it was seriously funny.  Emilee could get herself going and then flop right in the middle.  They all had a race with Jeremy as well and the winner, EMILEE!!

So much to see and do.  I always am a sucker for a corn maze.  Hunter is hilarious 'cause he doesn't have the desire to get out of the maze, but to try and get lost as best as he can.  I would say, Hunter this way and he knew that it was, but he would say, "no mommy, this way, 'cause that is the way out over there".  Silly boy.  It was very difficult to get him out, and in the end, we came out of the entrance the way we came in.

Ah, the animal area.  Megan loves animals.  She could have stayed in here all day.  There was a kitten you could take home.  She tried hard to persuade me, but no, like that will happen.  She is lucky to have the dog we have.  I did like the pigs and for the three little pigs, there were three little houses.  One made out of straw, one made out of sticks, and one made out of bricks.  Totally cute, I just hope the big bad wolf doesn't need a cup of sugar.

 And of course to end our time at the farm was a hayride to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin.  Hunter wanted a green one.  He went and found the biggest green one he could find.  He says he wants it to be the Green Goblin.  Emilee wanted a fat orange one and Megan was trying to find the perfect small round one.

What a fun day!  

Camping in the Smokies of North Carolina

Now, don't get me wrong.  I loved my children as babies and toddlers.  They were always so cute and very fun to be around, but I love it even more now that they are a little older.  We are able to do so many fun things like camping.  We decided for fall break that we would take the kids camping to the Smokies in North Carolina (for you Hunger Games fans, we were very close to where they were filming the movie)  We were so lucky to go when the leaves were changing colors.  The weather was amazing, the colors beautiful, and the time was fantastic.  

After we got the tent set up and settled in a bit we were ready to start the camp fire so we could cook the food.  Now I have decided that this is the best part of camping.  For some reason it tastes so much better cooked over a fire.  

Funny thing about these smores.  Megan likes them without the marshmellows.  Emilee likes them without the graham crackers, Hunter likes them with the marshmellows, chocolate, and the graham crackers.  My kids are for sure their own person.

                       

Hot dogs and Smores.  That is what was on the menu.  Of course, what would be better on a camp out, right??  Now, remember when I said the weather was great.  Well, that is true, except when the sun went down.  It got real cold.  Megan not only wore her flannel pajamas, but her sweats over that and I think she might have had a fleece jacket on as well.  We weren't freezing, but it did get down to about 38 degrees at night.  Brrr, Chill, Cold, Freezing!

Before we went to bed, we even told a few ghost stories.  Megan told this one that made me laugh.  There were these boys and they went into this spooky old house and what did they see, but a floating coffin chasing them.  One of the boys decided to throw some cough drops at the coffin and sure enough, the coffin went away.  The other boy asked, "how did you know that would work?" and the boy said, "because cough drops always stop the coffin"  HA!  I love it!  

It was time for bed after that and boy was I tired, but we did get real cold in the night, but we all survived.  I did find out that my kids talk a lot in their sleep and the second night I woke up with the feeling that someone was looking at me.  When I looked up, it was Hunter standing above me.  I asked him if he had to go to the bathroom and all he did was get back in his sleeping bag and fell back to sleep.  OK, that might be just a little bit freaky and could be the plot to a scary movie.  He didn't remember a thing the next morning.  Crazy kids I tell ya, but I suppose I will keep them.

                 
                 

The next day we walked around town, shopped in some of the cute touristy shops.  The kids got to ride a Mechanical Bull, which was totally fun for them.  They rode Go Carts, Bumper Cars, played Laser Tag, and when we got back to the camp site they went swimming and after we cooked and ate our dinner they watched a movie they were playing in the middle of the camp grounds.  When we got back to our site the kids put on a puppet show for us with the puppets that they bought that afternoon.

Megan really wanted to get this picture.  I don't blame her.  When I was a kid, I always thought it looked like so much fun, so we decided to let Megan and Emilee dress up for this photo.  Hunter didn't want to.  They actually took some pretty good ones and some that I thought were totally funny.  

But in the end, we chose this one.  

After a good night's sleep, we woke up to a beautiful morning.  We decided to go on a small hike up to the falls before coming home.

                     


                      
                     

It was a good trip.  It is so much fun to do these fun fun activities with the kids.  I hope that they will always remember them.  We don't have plans for another camping trip for awhile.  We were thinking maybe for Spring Break.  There is a camp site in Kentucky that Jeremy wants to try out.