Trunk-or-Treat

  On Saturday afternoon, we had the fun experience of going to a Trunk or Treat.  Joey and Dawson were in Buena Vista.  My sister invited Ashlyn and I to join their family at a Trunk or Treat.  Katy's mother-in-law is a principal at a nearby charter school.  They were hosting their annual Trunk or Treat.  The girls were very excited to put their costumes on.  Ashlyn was a little confused as to what exactly a Trunk or Treat was.  I tried my best to explain it to her, but she understood the free candy part, so she was very excited to check it out. 
    The weather really warmed up on Saturday, so the weather was just perfect for an outdoor event.  When we pulled up, we were wowed by the number of cars participating.  They way a Trunk or Treat works, is that cars decorate their "trunks" and pass out candy.  So instead of going door to door, kids go car to car.  There was a a really good turnout and we enjoyed looking at all the different trunks.  There were so really creative ones. The school had parents donate candy for the event, and they had over 700 bags of candy to give out!  Ashlyn made out like a bandit and left with a ton of candy.  We had such a nice afternoon enjoying the nice weather and the Halloween season.  We will definitely be going back in years to come.
    The kids loved dressing in their costumes and I think it made them more excited for the real Halloween.  I kept pointing out to Ashlyn that she got enough candy to not need to go trick or treating, but she wasn't going for that one. 

Adorable Jameson dressed like the Big Bad Wolf

Our Little Red Riding Hood and Merida. 

Ashlyn just loves her costume this year.  The hair totally makes it.

Getting candy

I thought this Duck Dynasty one was really clever.

She is seriously the cutest Little Red Riding Hood ever.

Pretty as a princess!

Showing off all the candy they got.

Posing for a picture.

   That night, since we were in the Halloween spirit, we decided to finally carve pumpkins.  We had a great time carving. 

Ashlyn did a great job of poking holes in the pattern. 

Our finished pumpkins.  Ashlyn did the cat.  My sister did the Sophia the First for Ella. 

Cross Country Race

   Ashlyn's final cross country meet was on Saturday.  The weather was cool, but not as cold as the last meet.  My brother offered to run with her for her last meet.  She was excited to run her final race.  She has worked so hard this season and I have seen her improve so much.  She has definitely built up her endurance.  The meet consisted of three different schools.  As usual, the kindergarten/first grade race was first.  Ashlyn had a big cheering section again with her parents, brother, gram, aunt, uncle, and cousins all there to cheer her on.  We couldn't see her most of the course, but she took off fast and before we knew it she was coming towards the finish line.  She did really well like always.  We were so proud of her! 
    After the race, they had a pumpkin patch and breakfast.  It was a really nice meet.  I am sad that the cross country season is over.  I will truly miss running with Ashlyn Monday mornings.  We always had fun running and talking.  I am happy she doesn't have to get up early twice a week.  Also, with the weather getting colder, morning runs are a lot harder for a five year old!
    Ashlyn had an awesome first cross country season.  She more than exceeded my expectations of how much she could run.  Out of all the kindergarten girls, she ran the most laps.  Between races and practice, Ashlyn ran about 23 miles!!!! I am so proud of her.  Not many 5 year olds can say they have ran 23 miles in two short months.  Her season was full of fun and lots of hard work and determination.  I think she definitely learned some very important skills.  She is ready to take a break now and looks forward to next year.     
     She will be starting dance club next which she is also really excited about.  She loves to dance and gets to learn all sorts of new dances.  The nicest part is that this club is all indoors!

Uncle Steven and Ashlyn before the race

Lots of runners.  What a beautiful backdrop!

And they were off!

Ashlyn towards the end of the race.  My brother was working on having her out kick runners at the end.  She got pretty good at it. 

Our little runner girl

Always smiling

Ahslyn's running coach encouraged the team to make posters for the other teams that attended the meet.  Ashlyn made this one and she was very proud of it hanging on the gym wall. 

Diana's Pumpkin Patch

  This weekend, we made our annual trip to one of our favorite fall places, the pumpkin patch!  Ashlyn was beyond thrilled when we told her we were going.  She remembers it from previous years and just loves it.  Ella and Dawson didn't quite remember it from previous years, but they still were excited to go.  It never quite seems like fall until we make our trip to the pumpkin patch.
   The pumpkin patch is about an hour drive.  We all loaded up into my sister's van and we were on our way.  We always try to get there right when it opens because it tends to get very busy.  We have noticed that each year it gets more and more crowded.
   The first thing that we did was go into the corn maze.  The corn maze is the neatest part.  It is huge!  They always do a theme with an accompanying puzzle.  The puzzle involves looking for clues through out the maze and punching a clue card.  This year's theme was Indian Jones.  It was neat.  The kids loved running through the tall cornstalks looking for hidden clues.  It seemed to be a more challenging maze this year.  We walked all around that maze and never found the final clue.  In year's past, we have always found all the clues.  There is always next year!
   After the maze, we explored other parts of the patch.  The kids picked out some huge pumpkins to carve later.  They looked at the animals and sat on the tractors.  We had a great time exploring.  We started to get very hungry for lunch, so we decided to head out.  As usual, we had a great fall day at the patch.  We can't wait for next year!

One of our attempts at a group picture. 

Look how tall those girls are!

Ella definitely did some growing this year!

Dawson

The kids really liked these little pumpkins.

Walking through the maze

Ashlyn hot on the trail of a clue

Punching her clue card

Ella liked collecting corn cobs along the way

The little pumpkin she found

Our handsome little guy

Dawson trying to pull the pumpkin cart

He decided it might be easier to push the cart instead

Of course, he went crazy for this tractor.

Daddy and his little angels

They always seem to be smiling when they are with their Dad

Pictures of Dawson

     Every Sunday, we go to my brother's house to watch the Broncos game.  It's something we have been doing for years, and we all look forward to it.  Its always a good time eating a yummy dip and watching some good football.  After the game, we all eat a Sunday night dinner together.  It is definitely one of the highlights of our week. 
    Ashlyn and I don't head over to my brother's house until game time.  Dawson and Joey always head over for the early games.  Dawson absolutely loves going to his Uncle's house.  One of the best parts, is that Uncle Steven's house backs to an elementary school.  There is a really nice park that the kids love to play on.  We just go out his back gate and we are at the park.  One morning, Joey snapped some pictures of our little guy. 

He loves the slide

This was actually another day.  One day while I was work, Joey took Dawson downtown to hang out.  They stopped at some trains.  Joey said Dawson was floored to see a real live train so close. 

There goes the train

Taking it all in

Family Photos

  As promised, here are some of our favorite shots from our family session we did several weeks back.  Our photographer is truly amazing, and as usual we could not have been happier with the shots she got.  What a great way to capture this moment in time.  Now, we face the hardest part of narrowing them down and picking which ones to print and which ones to put on a canvas.