It's Autumn Time

Can it be possible that the girls have already been in school for almost 2 months . . . or that anyone still reads this blog (ha-ha)?  I'm eating my way through the girl's Halloween candy and waiting for laundry to be done before going to bed, so I thought I'd catch up our blog.

A week before school started, I took the girls to Portland for some Mommy/ Daughter time.  They had been complaining that I "hardly did anything with them this summer", so I planned this 2 day trip, just for the fun of it.  We went bowling at a hip restaurant in Portland . . . 

Played tether ball and visited with the Bullocks . . .

Went to one of our favorite parks and joined some friends for dinner.

That night we stayed at the Residence Inn - Portland RiverPlace.  The hotel I used to work in and where I met Ken.  It was fun to be back - to show the girls around the place and introduce them to co-workers who are still there.  Then we headed to OMSI for a day of science and play.

The next weekend, Ken and his band played a gig that the girls and I were able to attend.  I always enjoy it . . . the girls lose interest after 2-3 songs, ha-ha.

And then it was finally time for school to start.  Sophia was beyond excited to be out of Kindergarten and finally into 1st grade . . . although she really wants to be in 2nd ;)

Amelia is looking so grown up as she heads into 3rd grade.  She has a teacher that hands out candy for correct answers - a perfect teacher for Amelia!

On Sept. 15, we headed to Seattle to Safeco Field to hear the Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, speak.  It was packed and we got there just as it was starting, so we had to sit behind the podium (we're in the outfield, turning our head with everyone else to watch on the jumbo screen.)

Regardless of our position, it was a thrill to be in the stadium with 40k+ other church members and to hear the prophet speak directly to us.  The girl's favorite part was riding the light-rail back and forth to the event.

On Sept. 19th, I flew to California to visit 2 hotels.  We flew over Crater Lake National Park.  It was so cool to see it from that angle.

One of the hotels I visited ended up being 5 min. from the Sacramento temple and I had time to not only visit the temple grounds, but to do a session as well.  

It was a wonderful way to end a long day.

The day I got back, I helped at Sophie's field trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.  It's almost always raining when I go there, but it is still beautiful.  Do you spy all 3 frogs?

My next adventure was to Yakima to visit another hotel.  I didn't want to take the freeway, but following my "shortest route" on GPS put me on a Forest Service road, "not maintained during winter" type road.  Thankfully, it wasn't winter and I made it to where I needed to go . . . and enjoyed beautiful views of Mt. Rainier along the way.

Oct. 13th was our ward's Chili Cook-off.  Ken and a committee were in charge of the event and asked me to get some kids from the Primary to be judges, along with the Bishop and the missionaries.  Sophie loves chili and took her role as judge very seriously.  She was just sad that she couldn't convince the other kids to choose my chili as a winner, ha-ha.

Sophie came home from school one day with a certificate of "Achievement" and told me she got her picture taken and met the Principal with a group of other kids.  Neither one of us can figure out what the "Achievement" was for, but I saw her picture on the wall at school the next time I went to volunteer.  Way to go, Sophie, for whatever you did!

Our ward had a condensed version of a trunk or treat 2 weeks before Halloween for a family in our ward.  Turns out Amelia and her friend were perfect companions for the evening.

I tried to get into the spirit of things by dressing up too.  Thank goodness it didn't rain so that me and my pony didn't get wet.

The girls had a great time gutting and carving their pumpkins.  They did it all by themselves (except for a bit of scraping out on the inside).  I was so impressed.

Sophie turned 7 . . . and this is the only picture I have . . . but isn't it a cute one?  Sophie and her best friend, celebrated Sophie's birthday at Charlie's Safari, and had a great time running around and playing.

Tonight we went to our ward's regular Trunk or Treat.  There were a lot of kids there and I actually ran out of candy.  Amelia had already gone around once and then some, so she started to hand out candy from her bucket to the kids who were still coming.  What an angel!

I've got a sugar rush, the laundry is done, and it's time for bed.  Cheers until next time!