The Pumpkin Patch

Today we met some friends at the pumpkin patch.

John David was so excited. He's been looking forward to the pumpkin patch for weeks. He was so happy to see his friends there.

I told him he could pick out a pumpkin and this is the one he picked. He really likes the baby pumpkins.

He had fun playing the games........

.......and hanging out with his buddy Stetson.

Time Out For Women and Girls

So while the boys were away camping, Johnice, Katie, and I went to Time Out For Women/Girls in Arlington, Texas. Sarah stayed behind at the Gibsons since she wasn't old enough to go. I can't wait til she's old enough so she can join us.

We had such a great weekend. It was so fun to have Katie there with us, even though she was in a different room with just girls. She was so excited to meet John Bytheway and the amazing Sandra Turley. She also loved the music group that performed, Jericho Road. I actually really liked them too, especially when they did the all the boy band songs from when I was a kid. It was awesome! Make me feel young for a few minutes. 

They had this cute photo area with the fun props. Look how cute we are!

It was a fabulous weekend! And on the way home we saw this amazing rainbow.

It was so brilliant and gorgeous!

I couldn't stop taking pictures. At one point it looked like we were going to drive right to it.

But the pictures don't really do it justice. 

It was absolutely breathtaking to see in person.

And when we stopped for dinner it looked like the other end was at Tractor Supply. So if anyone is looking for a pot of gold.....now you know where to look!

Boys' Weekend

John David and Aaron left this morning to head to north Louisiana to go camping for the weekend.



































My handsome little man was so excited to get to spend the weekend in the woods with Daddy. I love that he loves to do the same things that his Daddy does. Makes my heart happy.

Conference Weekend

We totally LOVE conference weekend! 

This time we decided to make a fort and watch conference as a family inside. And of course we had to have some treats to help the kids pay attention.

And it worked! John David was pretty excited when the girls told him Pres. Eyring was speaking and he could open the Sweedish Fish.


















But there was still some meditating going on. It's a lot to take in and think about.













But when the prophet spoke, we made sure everyone was awake and listening. I'm so thankful for conference weekend, our inspired leaders, and the wonderful messages they shared this weekend. I'm also grateful for family time! I love my sweet, little family!

Volleyball Season

It's volleyball time again! Katie was on the Slammers team again. And she was so happy to have her friend Lily on her team with her this year!



They started out the season right with a big win tonight!



Way to go #16! And way to go Slammers!

Mama's Going Back to School

That's right! Over twenty years after graduating high school and attending BYU for a year and a half......I'm a college student again!!!! I am very excited to be part of the BYU-Idaho Pathway Program. It is such an inspired program, which makes getting a degree so much more accessible and affordable. I have just completed my first week of online classes and I have to admit that I was pretty nervous about how this was all gonna work out, but I really think I'm going to enjoy being a student again. Of course, I am only taking two classes and they are pretty easy (Book of Mormon and Life Skills), but I think it's gonna be fun to have assignments and responsibilities outside of being a wife and mother. I am so looking forward to this new journey to finish what I started so many years ago! It's gonna be great!

Katie's Cell Cake

Katie had a very fun and tasty assignment this week. She had to make a "cell cake". This is an assignment that we have been looking forward to for a couple of years. I was so excited to help her with this cake, but she wanted to do it all by herself. So I let her. I only helped frost it. She did everything else.



And I must say, I think she did a great job! And so did her teacher!



She made a 100! Way to go Katie!

Service at the Temple

Today we took some of our youth to the Houston Temple while it is closed to do some service on the temple grounds. It was a beautiful day for being outside.



Our group was assigned to walk around and pull weeds and vines out of all of the beds.



They worked hard, and smiled while they were working hard.





This is the awesome group of youth from our ward that gave up a Saturday to go serve at the temple.



Quite a silly bunch, but they are a great bunch of kids.



I'm so grateful for the opportunity to spend a fun day with these wonderful youth!

Planting with Paw Paw

For FHE tonight we went over to Kent and Johnice's and helped them plant their garden.



The kids were really excited, and so was Paw Paw.







It was awesome to see Paw Paw teaching them how to plant and take care of a garden.







John David was so excited to use his rake in the garden.









We planted carrots, beans, beets, and cabbage.







Paw Paw even taught the kids to spit.



I'm not sure which kid had the most fun.



Learning with Paw Paw and making memories with him....priceless.

Preschooling

This year things didn't work out to do preschool with our friends, so it's just John David and me, and we are having so much fun together. He is finally interested and excited about learning and we are making good progress. During the summer I worked with him on his colors and shapes and he is doing great with them. Since school has started we have been practicing his name and he is finally writing his name by himself. He's so proud of himself, and I must admit, I'm pretty proud of him too.



Each week we try to focus on one number, letter, color, and shape. We do some workbook pages, practice writing, play some games, and watch the leap frog videos, which he loves. He actually loves it all because he will remind me if I get busy doing other things that we haven't done preschool yet.

The other day he did a self portrait. I think it is priceless. Just like my time with him.