The Pumpkin Patch

For the third year in a row we went up to Studt's pumpkin patch in Grand Junction.  I got a group together and so we were able to get an awesome group-rate, which included a pumpkin.  Awesome.  Our family - minus Ben, but plus Miles' friend Malachi - went, along with Patty and Ivan, and the Coon family and the Dixon family and the Baker family.  With such a big group, our kids were everywhere!  But they all had a great, great time!

 This year they added a smaller slide - the slides are always a hit with all the kids.  So fun!

 A trip up to the pumpkin patch would not be complete without a picture of kids jumping off the hay-stack into the corn pit.  This represents only half of the kids that were there with our group!

 Lucy was a little scared and didn't jump with the group.  So then she cried.  So then we cheered her on - with Emmy being her greatest cheerleader - and she jumped.  :)

 The inflated orange-things are always fun to bounce on.  I think Miles looks super-imposed in this picture; he's just walking on the pumpkins. . .

These two boys and Jonas and Ivan went in to the corn-maze.  They were out in under 30 minutes.  Later, Ivan and Jonas took Emmy and Holly (Emmy's good friend from preschool and church, and whom Ivan and Jonas have a crush on) back in to the corn-maze.  I'm glad they are old enough to do that on their own - I'm not a fan of mazes!

 Lucy and Lila having fun going down the slide together.

 Emmy looking cute as she pumps water for the duck race.

 A running-all-over-the-place red-faced Emmy and her friend.  The kids got to go in the petting zoo - full of rabbits, alpacas, sheep, goats, and pigs.  Then there was the aviary - full of scary birds, especially a gigantic turkey.

 My bunch, including Malachi.

 My silly bunch - that's a classic Miles-face.  Malachi does a pretty good impression of it.

My favorite spot - the cool display of pumpkins!

It was a fun day - we left at 9 and got back at 5.  Fall is so great!  (Although it was actually way too hot - like 80 degrees.  Ugh.)

Super September

BCST

So the Black Canyon Sprint Triathlon was today, October 1st.  We were all excited for it!  I have a gazillion pictures because there are just too many cute ones - sorry, but not really.  :)

 Team Wilson - Jonas, swimmer; Miles, biker; and myself (Emily) as runner.

 Team Brigham - Ben, swimmer; Lucy, biker; and Emmy as runner.

 There we all are waiting to start - Jonas and Ben were set to begin their swims at 8:20 and I think that is close to when they did start.

 Isn't he the cutest swimmer!?

 Gotta love his number - makes him look all the more official.

 Jonas was in first - he had to swim 100 meters, or 2 laps.  He did the freestyle, the backstroke twice, and then finished up with the freestyle again.  I watched him on his first lap and he looked good!

 Jonas doing the freestyle.

 Jonas doing the backstroke.

 Then he was out and ran to meet up with Miles!  He was a little cold at this point.  :)

 What a goofy picture - but what else do except from two brothers on their exchange?!

 Miles got his bike (well, really, my bike) - ready to do his 10K ride.

 And Miles was off!

 I ran back inside and was able to catch Ben swimming - he's at the top of the picture.  He had to do 10 laps and didn't stop once.  Go Ben.

 Lucy and Emmy were waiting for their turns to go!

 The Ben-and-Lucy exchange!  How cute!

 There Lucy was with her bike - ready for her 5k ride.  Ben rode alongside her.

 There she goes!

In the meantime, we kept looking for Miles as he had to do the 5K loop twice.  We didn't see him and didn't see him - so I was worried that he either was just going super-slow or had a flat.  But it turns out that we just missed him the first time around. Miles made it back in record-time for him and I was off.  I had handed my camera to Patty and so we didn't get any pictures of Miles coming back and me heading out.

 While I was out running, Ben and Lucy made it back!  Ben said Lucy was awesome and was really pushing herself.  Cute, cute.

 Cutest. Exchange. Ever.  :)  Now it was Emmy's turn to run!

 Emmy had a 2k to run and did amazing - under 10 minutes.  What a running-rock star.

 Emmy was so excited about her time and told me over and over and over and over how fast she ran it.  I was so happy for her!  What a cute, little runner.

 Two besties - whether they know it or not!

 Yay for Team Brigham!  They had finished their relay triathlon!

 Then I finally made it back!  I think I had a decent time, but I'm not sure yet.  :)  It was fun.

 Yay for Team Wilson - we were now all done!

 The whole Maxwell triathlon gang.

We hung out for a little bit and then went home.  I wanted to get a picture of the backs of our shirts:

 Cute, cute - kids and shirts.  :)

 Here you can see it a little better.  Ben helped me out bunches and we were happy with how they turned out.  We got lots of compliments on them at the race.  :)

Then we went back to the awards ceremony at 1pm.  And silver-place in the Family Team division was . . .

 Team Wilson!  Wahoo!

And gold-place went to . . .

Team Brigham!  YAY!  (Okay, so turns out there were only two teams competing in the family division . . . :). Not only did they win a gold medal and bragging rights, but they also get to choose a movie and treat for our FHE on Monday.  Awesome.

The kids all enjoyed the whole event, and, of course, were super excited about their medals

What an awesome experience . . . we all can hardly wait to do it again next year!

We Went on a Date

Ben and I don't get out too often, so when his worked had no surgeries scheduled and so told all the staff to stay home on Thursday, Ben and I took advantage and went mountain biking.  It was awesome and fallish - perfect!

 We started up in the aspen forest and it was beautiful - and a little wet and rainy.  Brigham was loving it, as were Ben and I.

 So fun!

 We had done the first part of our biking adventure a couple times before.  But this time our original stopping place became our half-way point; we joined up to another trail and just kept going.  It was like a single-track path at this point and very beautiful and fun.

 Brigham always adds to our adventures.  In ways like pooping out balloons (thanks, kids!), charging and barking at all the cows that were near us, and getting a cactus stuck to his paw - which, by licking, became stuck to his tongue and then chin (for a moment I thought he had swallowed it!).  Luckily Ben pulled it out - and another little cactus piece on his paw.  Poor guy.  He probably ran like 15 + miles with us.  He did get tired near the end and slowed us down just a teeny-tiny bit (but by the 3rd hour mark, Ben and I were a bit tired ourselves!).

 We aren't the selfie type of people . . . more like the "couplie," as I'll call it.

 This was a steep and cool section of the tail.  Ben rocked it on his country-bike, riding it down the whole way.  I tried more than Ben thought I would (he thought I would walk my bike down it all - but I probably rode a little more than half!), so I did okay.  Look at how beautiful it is (and how handsome Ben is. . . :).

 I got this sticker from my father-in-law months ago and love it.  :)

The scenery was awesome!

We finished off the date with some hot cocoa and just a few minutes to spare to go and pick up the kids from school.

What a super fun day!

Miles

So this will be a sweet, but short, "brag post" on Miles.  We don't give him enough credit usually, so let's give some brag-credit when due!

So I mentioned in my last & long update how I had received a phone calls from Miles' Home Ec. teacher on how much she adores him.  Well she called again to commend him!  He made an awesome patch-work pillow and she was just again impressed with him.  I'll have to take a picture of him with it . . .

Then I got another phone call from his reading teacher!  She mentioned how she was calling parents of kids that were having problems in her class and then thought she should also call parents of the good kids.  So she left a very nice message on how she really enjoys Miles, how great he is in class and that she enjoys their discussions after class.  She said some very kind compliments about Miles.

Crazy!

Go Miles!

Courthouse Mountain

So I've wanted to hike Courthouse for a while and finally got the chance last Monday.  I went up with a few friends and had a perfect day of hiking - it was awesome!  Brigham came along, as well as 2 other dogs.  The hike itself is pretty short - 3.8 miles round-trip.  But you climb 2,000 feet and so it's pretty steep.  There is some rock-scrambling at the end and just really steep - but it was fun and I loved it!

 The view at the top was stunning in all directions!  Here comes dog Annie and owner Melissa.

 Melissa and her dog Annie at the top.  It was windy and when the sun was behind the clouds (which was 90% of the time) it was chilly!  Yay!

 My cool hiking buddy.

 I'm always happy when hiking.  :)

 This is another friend that came - Dawnell.  Melissa's dog really likes her.  :)  Another gal, Jody, came and brought her son and grandson and granddog.  :)  So there were six humans and 3 dogs.

 I love the jagged-rock look!

He's the coolest.  :)