Pumpkin Carving 2010!

Ok, so we normally drive up to Greenbluff and do the whole Fall Festival thing (pumpkins, pumpkin donuts, apples, etc.), and we had good intentions of driving up there today after Church. But, it was pouring rain outside today, and when we found out that our Church was selling pumpkins in the parking lot, we quickly changed our plans! : ) We purchased 4 pumpkins (which helped support the Church Youth group) and headed home to carve out our masterpieces.
This is our "Before" picture...............

..........and the "After" picture! Mine is on the far left, then Audriana's skull and crossbones, then Sofia's traditional, and Martin's creative one on the far right. : ) We had a lot of fun today!

Montana, the Bennett's, and Yellowstone.....all in one weekend!

What a weekend! We got up early Saturday morning and we were on our way to Montana by 5am. Our destination was Emigrant, MT -- and to the new home of our good friends, the Bennett's! We have been planning this weekend for quite a while -- ever since they moved to Montana this past August. The girls really miss each other and have really been looking forward to this trip. The trip is 7 hours if you drive straight through, but we stopped for breakfast in Missoula, plus a bathroom break and a gas break, so it took us a good 8 hours total. It was all worth it to see the happiness of all 3 girls when we pulled up to their house. : ) They are a few miles south of Emigrant, just off the 89 highway. This is the very same highway that takes us right to the North entrance of Yellowstone Park. They have a beautiful mountain retreat with 3 acreas. They look right out to the Absaroka Mountains and overlooking the Yellowstone River. It is truly a sight to see -- so peaceful and beautiful.
Here is the first picture of the girls as soon as we got out of the car. We have really missed Maria......for the past 5 years we would see her multiple times a week, so this was a special time for them to be together again.

We took a walk after dinner just down the hill from their house, along the Yellowstone river. It's the same spot that they swim and tube in during the summer. The river was pretty low at this time of year, but fills up each Spring.

Maria had planned a sweet birthday party for the girls -- complete with a strawberry birthday cake, presents, and her playing "Happy Birthday" on the piano for the girls. Audriana got the set of Little House on the Praire books (yah! one of my favorites!) and Sofia got some soccer books and a Flower jewlery making kit. Such a sweet and happy night.....

Sunday morning we woke up early and were on the road by 8:30 to drive down to Yellowstone Park - we were excited about the day ahead of us! Above is a picture of the entrance into Yellowstone, the famous Roosevelt Arch that President Roosevelt dedicated in 1903. I remember visiting the park with my family back in the 70's, riding in the camper, and seeing Old Faithful...good memories. I hope Martin and the girls will remember this first trip to Yellowstone with the same happy memories that I have of when I was a child. Just a fun fact to know that we traveled 4 states in 3 days....Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming!

We saw Bison, Elk, Moose, and more Bison, Elk and Moose!

The geysers and fumaroles were a bit smelly...according to the girls. They were right....a strong sulfur odor surrounded us!

Beatiful Yellowstone sights!

This Bison was right on the side of the road -- I could have literally reached out and touched him (not!).

The star of our trip -- OLD FAITHFUL GEYSER! It erupts every 90 minutes or so and shoots up over 100 feet in the air each time.

Sofia checking out Old Faithful close up!

It was Joye and Sid's wedding anniversary, too! They are a great couple and show us a great example of true and lasting love.

There it goes! Wow!

Below is a picture of the hot mineral pool at Chico Hot Springs. This 100 year old resort is near their house and we were lucky to get to go and sit in the warm mineral water for a couple of hours (until we were so hot we couldn't stand it anymore!).

Maria has her own horse and was so excited to show us Carly (she's the one in the background). They board Carly just a few minutes from their house, so they get to go see her daily and give her "horse treats"! The girls were a little nervous at first to get into the coral, but Maria was quick to show them how to approach Carly and how to feed her the treats.

It was sad to see our long weekend come to an end, but we did have to drive away on Monday from this special retreat. The Bennett's were perfect hosts and we thank them so much for their wonderful hospitality. We were thrilled to have been able to spend time with Joye, Sid, and Maria and hope to plan another visit soon! This is a picture of their house, with the snow-capped Absaroka Mountains in the background.

The Palouse Wheat Fields........

These pictures were actually taken during Labor Day Weekend.....and I'm now just getting around to getting them posted here! I thought that the late summer wheat was a perfect backdrop for these "end of summer" pictures. The girls had fun running around and posing for these pictures.

Happy 8th Birthday, AUDRIANA!

Sister Sofia was very excited for Audriana and her big day!

8 years ago, on October 11, 2002, a baby girl was born -- we named her Audriana and she was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to us. She continues to amaze us everyday and we are so thankful for her. She adds so much to our family and keeps us all on track. She delights in knowing and following the rules and she especially loves making sure her little sister Sofia is following the rules, too, which is the cause of many arguments between these 2 girls! She is the first to tell us that we have left the kitchen with a pot on the stove and the burner still on (hello...it's called cooking!!!). She calls us back into the kitchen and if we aren't there immediately, she simply turns the burner off! She watches the clock and reminds us when we should be leaving so we are not late (Martin just loves that...yeah, right!). :-)

Things Audriana loves: Soccer, BTR (Big Time Rush -- Carlos is her favorite), ICarly, going to school, playing with friends during recess (typically always boys), reading joke books, reading non-fiction "book of facts" type books, legos, pirates, and Country music!

She's simply amazing and she's simply ours to love and watch grow. We love you, babe!

Yup.....she sure loves her Uncle Mike! He got her a very cool erector set thingy that she can build to her hearts content!

Mom and Dad got her the Star Wars Trilogy DVD's (the original ones from the 1970's IV, V, and VI). She's waited a long time to be able to watch these movies -- I told her that she could watch Star Wars once she turned 8. : ) We also got her a Paper Jam's guitar, a nerf football and Bop-It! Fun!

Jenny had fun trying to figure out how to play "Bop-It"! LOL!

Jenny and Courtney were here tonight, as well as Aunt Kristi, Uncle Mike, Grandma and Grandpa. This year we are not having big parties...just simple family dinners. Audriana chose spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread. I also made a green salad and it turned into a really good meal! Grandpa and Grandma had a good time trying to figure out just how this "Paper Jam" guitar worked!

Spider Man cake....she chose chocolate cake with cherry filling.

Jammin'

Aunt Pam, Uncle Todd, Lily, Brook and Jaime never dissappoint with gifts for the girls...but this was certainly one of the best! Audriana loves it and spent a good part of the night (after all the presents were open) playing with the Buzz Lightyear robot on the kitchen floor! : )

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!

Of course our little Natalie Wells-Dutton turned 8, too! Her birthday is Oct 10th and she had a really fun swimming party at the North side YMCA. Kim and I have had fun raising these 2 awesome girls together!

Our Sofia is READING!

This is one of those times where I sit back and think about how fast my babies (who really aren't babies anymore!) are growing up! I came home from work tonight and found Sofia on the floor with a bunch of BOB books around her -- and she was working so hard to read each and every word! She was sounding out each 3 and 4 letter word very carefully, getting most of them right! She gets it -- she knows that she needs to sound out each letter to read each word. She sat there for over an hour tonight doing this -- working so hard! The sweetest part was when Audriana was sitting next to her "helping" her read. I love our girls so much and times like these fill my heart with such pride!

Sofia first soccer game -- and she's a soccer SUPERSTAR!

Today Sofia played her first soccer game....and I am proud to announce that she was AMAZING! We could not believe it as we watched her little face get the most determined look on it that I have ever seen. She was going for broke~and it was so fun to watch! She kept her eyes on that ball and ran after it like she'd been playing for years! She did not disappoint...scoring 5 goals for her team (the only 5 goals that the team scored, by the way!). Audriana is taking some of the credit by saying "she's so good because she has been watching me for all these years!". LOL! In any case.....we do believe that we have another soccer star amongst us! Go Sofia! We are so proud of you!
I forgot how fun it is to watch 4 year olds play soccer! They really don't even know which way to go -- which is why Michelle (one of Sofia's assistant coaches) was helping them out on the field! So funny! Not to brag, but Sofia knew which way to go......

Here she is turning the ball around and ready to play it down the field for her first goal!

The other team had a player who was 5 and had played soccer before -- so it quickly became the Sofia and Maya show.

Go Sofia!