Weekend Away!!!

Tom and I were fortunate enough to get away the first weekend in November. Thanks, Mom for watching the kids...I am forever grateful!! We went to a resort in Harrison, Idaho. It was so nice.

We did a little browsing at some stores and we ate lots of good food at a couple of my favorite restaurants in Spokane. We went on a walk on the boardwalk at the Coeur d'Alene Resort. The sun was setting and it was so beautiful. It was difficult to take decent pictures all by myself.

I took this as we were leaving the resort. It was gorgeous all weekend but a little cold. I've decided I need to get some warmer clothes for Tom since he only had this sweatshirt.

It was nice to get away together. We missed Jayni and Mason like crazy though. I felt like I was calling my Mom nonstop to check to see how they were doing. They did great and had a good time with GraMimi and Poppy!!

Halloween

Nice title, huh? Not too creative right now! We had a great Halloween this year. Jayni planned the costumes months ago. She told me quite awhile ago that she wanted to be a witch and she wanted Mason to be a pirate.

They look so cute! Mason's costume was supposedly a 3T, but it most definitely was smaller!! He reminded me of one of the rollie pollie pirates from the movie Hook.

Jayni had to have a picture with her pumpkin. She's such a sweet girl!! I feel so very blessed to have her and Mason in my life!!

Autumn Hayride

I love Autumn and I get excited about all that comes around this time of year. Two of my favorite holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving, the changing leaves, and the brisk breeze and smell of the air.

On October 6th we went on a hayride to a pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins.

     

Jayni with Grandma & Grandpa Perkes

Beth (Tom's sister) & Rex

Bob (Tom's brother), Britta, Rex, Eli, & Asa

Tom & Ryan (Beth's husband) being goobers

Later that evening we went over to Tom's parents house for soup and scones and so the kids could decorate their pumpkins. Usually I look forward to carving pumpkins but not this year. We went the easy route with Mr. Potato Head parts.

Here's the finished pumpkins! The Mr. Potato Head parts were a little hard to poke through the pumpkins so it was actually the adults that ended up decorating them.

Family Reunions

Over Labor Day weekend we went camping with Tom's parents, siblings, and longtime family friends the Goodlander/Maus family. We had a great time! Phil & Sandi Goodlander brought jet skis with them. Jayni & cousin Rex loved riding on the tube with Grandpa Perkes.

Tom's sister Beth, came up with some great games! The first night we did some various relay races. One of them we had to eat a whole donut that was tied to a string and we couldn't use our hands. After the adults were done with the relay races the kids wanted to do the donut game.

Jayni beat her cousins, Rex and Eli, and even ate the whole donut!

The downside for me was not having any showers where we were at. I can't stand my kids being dirty! We ended up using the bin that we store our tent in as a bath for Jayni & Mason to clean up in the two nights we were there. At first Mason didn't like it...

...but soon enough he was splashing and playing in the water. Tom and I used this to wash our feet at night too.

Tom and Mason relaxing together. Tom's sister Christi, designed these cute shirts.

The last night we were there, Beth came up with the idea to have a rodeo. She even made the little horses. Here's Jayni playing with one of the horses. She wouldn't let anybody else use this horse. It ended up coming home with us.

Here's the Rodeo Princess and her favorite horse!

Grandpa and Grandma Underwood (Tom's grandparents) came the last full day we were there and made us a delicious dutch oven dinner. It was fun to be with everyone, play fun games, and eat good food!

In July we also had gone camping for the Chlarson Family Reunion. We went to Ensign Ranch. We had good times with crafts, numerous trips to the big slip 'n slide, and lots of yummy food. Unfortunately, I only took one picture. I have no idea why I didn't think to bring out the camera! The one and only picture I took was this one of Jayni on our way home.

She was so worn out from all the running around and fun she had with her cousins. We packed up and left right after breakfast and I didn't notice that Jayni had hot chocolate all over her face until we got home and had a bath.