The Wedding Day!

Michelle and Kevin got married in the Palmyra temple, which is where me and Jess got married also.  The ceremony was short and sweet, and perfect.  

As soon as Michelle walked out Phoenix ran up to her and pretended to be a dog (sometimes he spends more time as a dog than as a boy), it was so cute!!

I saw Phoenix going to pick a flower on the temple grounds and I told him to stop.  Then he said "I wanted to pick it for you Mommy!" so then of course I let him (it's justified, right?), and he gave it to Leah.  He picked a few flowers for me later on.  Sweet boy.

Oh how I love my sisters!

My brother Ben couldn't make it to the wedding.  Phoenix kept asking "where is uncle Ben?" 

At one point I couldn't find Phoenix, and then after searching for him all around the temple, we found him with Sam.  What a good uncle!

How hilarious is this picture??

Audrey has been in 3 bouquet tossings.  She has got the flowers every time.  The girl has a gift.  

Michelle looked so beautiful, and I really like her new husband.  I am hoping to visit her in the next 6 months!  We had such a fun trip.  Michelle is moving to Canada, and Joanna will be in Japan for the next year and a half on a mission for our church.  I am tearing up just typing these words.  I love my sisters so much, and I really miss them.

Pumpkin Farm in NY

I wanted to take the kids to the pumpkin farm in NY.  It was much different than our pumpkin farm, but after the kids realized that and adjusted, they had a great time.

Who knew that mini donkeys existed???  SO cute!

One of the things that they do is make pumpkin people, they had tons of different scenes like this.  I was drooling over all of the vintage furniture that I saw.

Joanna is the shortest sister, coming in at 5'2"...I still call her baby Jo.  

4 little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and broke his head...

The kids could pay money for a measly portion of goat food and then put it in a can and pull it up to the goats.  They had so much fun doing it!!

The bees were bad, Leah has a severe fear of bees and lost her boyfriend's cider slushy when running away from a bee.  There was this random cup of cider that had bees floating (dead).

Leah and her boyfriend Patrick.

When asked how the pumpkin farm was, I responded that it was funner when I was in second grade...and it was.   

New York

My little sister Michelle got married on October 12th, me and the kids went up a week early.  I told the kids that we were going to drive them up but then we pulled up to the airport and surprised them with a plane ride there!  It was hard keeping it a secret.  The kids were awesome and I will totally look into flying up to NY again in the future.  It is a long drive to do by myself with 2 crazy kids.  

Here are a few random shots from the week:

I did Michelle's hair and makeup (she did the curls), when Michelle came out of her room Audrey said "You look like Rachel!"  

I was so excited to try her dress on, but nervous that I might do some damage to it!  It took me like 5 minutes to get one of the sleeves down (it was a series of very tiny and gentle pulls), but I didn't panic.  

Me and my sisters went to Tony's  (our favorite restuarant) for a girls night out.  We also got our nails done (Audrey did too!).  This was my first time getting the shellac nail polish, and I LOVE it!  My nails still look pretty good 2 weeks later!  Audrey was resistant to getting her nails done, but as her nails were drying she looked over to me and said "This is awesomer than I thought!".  I might have a nail buddy.

The kids spent a good portion of their days playing Mario on the Wii.  Some of the adults joined in occasionally.  

Bug Fest

We had heard about Bug Fest for a few years.  It is held over one weekend in downtown Raleigh once a year.  I figured that since Travis is kinda involved with bugs that we should give it a try.  It was not thrilling, but it was free.

The highlight was getting to see a mini horse up close (shout out to Jessie ;-) ).  

Soccer Season

It's soccer season again!  I really enjoy watching the kids play soccer.  This is Phoenix's first year playing.  He hasn't taken to it like I had hoped, but he is still young.  He spends a lot of time in la-la land.  

Phoenix and his best friend Ace were posing for this picture in the middle of the game (I did NOT ask them to), you can see their coach running over to tell them to get back into the game.

Phoenix's favorite time?  The end of the game when he get's a snack!

Audrey has really improved a lot this year, she is much more confident and she doesn't (always) run away from the ball.  There are a few kids on her team that are really good, her games are fun to watch!

Myrtle Beach

When Joanna was here it worked out that we got a free weekend at a Condo in Myrtle Beach (free as in, we got it if Travis treated it for pests).  My sister Leah flew out, and I am so glad that she did!  We rented a minivan (first timers).  I kinda loved it, and the kids definitely thought it was awesome!  Audrey even did a video tour of it on her leappad.  

Want the perfect tan at the beach?  SPF 50 will give it to you!  I reapply it after a few hours, and I never burn, but I get an awesome tan.  

There are several Friendly's down in Myrtle Beach, us yankees definitely wanted to hit it up for some tasty ice cream!

The weather was PERFECT!!!  Sunny and hot.  The water was a great temperature.  It really was an awesome beach trip.

Phoenix tried out surfing (in the kneeling position), he loved it!

Me and my sisters...

We were really looking forward to trying out Pirates Voyage after our fun experience at Medieval Times.  This was Joanna's and Leah's first dinner-and-a-show experience.  

The food was good, and the show was really great.  Everyone had a blast!  After the pirates dinner, we hit up Barefoot Landing and then the boardwalk.

I am a total sucker for some cotton candy.  It was the only thing that I cared about on the Board Walk.  It was so delicious!

Every night, we played games.  Our condo had an indoor pool and an outdoor pool, we would go swimming every time we got back from the beach.  It was the perfect beach trip, made better because two of my sisters were there.