Fetes of Fall

Some fun October times...


Oak Glen


The DINOS!


@ Cabazon


The Huge Pumpkin Slide


Peltzer Pumpkin Farm


Pumpkin Carving


School Parade/Carnival
with the cutest Peter Pan ever!


Two of the happiest kids you'll ever see!

Forever Loyal

The kids are already showing signs of being competitive (like they have a chance with us as parents!), so even though not every game is won nor is every kick of the ball result in a goal, we're learning that playing is the fun part.



Not to be outdone by big brother...



GO COUGARS!

Weekend

We've been talking about this wedding since August. When we tried to explain to Dillan that Chad was going to marry Lindsie, he was happy, but concerned. "Mommy, when am I going to get married?" I told him that he had a long time until he had to worry about that. First he had to go to school, then learn to drive, then go on a mission, then go to college, then he could get married. He had to be big, like Chad. He was okay with that.
After thinking it over he said, "I think I will marry Leah!" No Dillan, she's your sister. Roxy? Nope, not legal. Then WHO? I told him that he didn't have to worry about it, and he could start looking after his mission. It didn't settle with him. He wanted to know that there was someone out there for him. I made sure to tell him that he needed to marry a girl who 1-went to church, 2-went to school, and 3-made good choices.
Just days later when I picked him up from school, he announced that he knew who he was going to marry. Great, I said, who is it? Celeste. She's in our ward and goes to his school. Perfect, I said. She's a nice girl and has a good family. A few days later he had another announcement. "I'm not going to marry Celeste anymore. She wasn't at school today! I'm going to marry Gwenyth!"
Another girl from the ward and school. Since that day he says that she's his friend and they like to play together at school. I wonder if it'll last!

But it was fun for all of us to be apart of the wedding this weekend. Dillan remarked on what both bride and groom were wearing. He thought Lindsie's dress was beautiful and loved Chad's green suit. He's told me to go purchase a suit just like it for him for his wedding. Leah loves Lindsie, and especially loved seeing her all dressed up pretty. Chad too.



The Happy Couple


With the Old Folks


Still Smiling! (I hate pictures of me!)


Chad & Papa's own vision/creation


The finished masterpiece

Chad and Papa drew up the plans for the reception and how they wanted it to look. They actually asked for our help! We had fun helping! It turned out amazing!

Congratulations Chad and Lindsie!

Take me there

I daydream a lot. I dream a lot. There's always something new to add to my wishlist of dreams.
This time of year my thoughts normally take me to a big beautiful home surrounded by huge trees with blazing red and orange leaves that occasionally float to the ground. My children have gone to bed early, it's not even 8:00! I am sitting on a huge overstuffed chaise made of ultra soft material wearing ridiculously soft sweats and ultra fuzzy socks, in front of a large fireplace with blazing fire. I have just finished a chapter out of the best book ever written, but set my book down for the night. Chris, also dressed in ridiculously soft sweats has just put on a movie and hands me this:



Full of European imported, really expensive and fancy, hot chocolate with marshmallows. Of course, the house is still full of the aroma of fresh baked oatmeal cookies fresh out of the oven, that HE baked. Ahhhh yes.

Someday. Someday.

Sunday Morning

This is what happens when Mommy is "almost done, just doing one more quick thing before church" on the computer.





Could be worse. At least they're playing nicely together.
Am I worried? Naaaahhhh

Dillan scored his first goal on Saturday. Of course, it happened right at the start of the game, while I was visiting with another mom and getting my load of stuff set up and settled in. I looked up just when it happened. My first thought was "Oh no! Chris is going to be so MAD he missed it!" And I didn't have my camera out in time! At least Papa got to see it. Dillan played so well, he is getting so much better and more into the game. The coach asked me what I had done to him to get him to play this way. I said nothing, but I think having Papa there cheering/yelling from the sidelines helped out a lot. Coach then invited Papa to attend the rest of the games. Hopefully he will!

Last Saturday, during the soccer game, every kid on our team got to score a goal. Except Dillan. I know he came close, but the ball would get away from him and someone else would shoot it. When we got home I got on the computer and bought a portable goalpost and net on eBay. $25 + free shipping= great bargain. We can use it to practice and I know it will be used for a long time, and eventually Leah will use it too.

So for Family Night we went over to the park and set it up. Dillan practiced kicking and running after the ball and taking it away from Mom and Dad. We worked on running and shooting the ball and throw-ins. It was a lot of fun for everyone. We stopped at In-N-Out on the way home for dinner. Everyone ate like champions. Such fun times!

How sweet!

Since my baby brother is just two weeks away from the wonderful world of marriage, there has been some serious cleaning out of drawers, closets, boxes, etc. During the process, my mother came across some schoolwork that is about 11 years old. She found this essay, written by Chad. I had never seen it before. Big smiles here. (There has been no editing done prior to appearing on this blog.)

My little, big sister.
Chad Arnold, Period 5
10/19/1998

I have a pretty unusual situation. I have a sister that is older than me, yet she is shorter than I am. Her name is Kim. She is almost 19 years old, and she is attending BYU (Brigham Young University), which someday I would like to attend. My sister and I have a bunch in common. Practically the only things that make us different are our ages, what I want to major in, in college, and that she's a she, and I'm a he. She has a great sense of humor and she is a great athlete, like me.
Before my sister went off to college, we loved to hang out, and we still love to. We had a special bond, you know, like we were meant to be sister and brother. My other sister and me are good friends, but we are nothing alike, so we fight a lot and don't hang out as much. We share a different friendship than me and Kim do. I still love her though.
Where my old house was, there was a big park, with four full sized soccer fields, just waiting for me and her to go and play on them. Whenever we had time away from our busy schedules we would go down there, set up a net, and switched off kicking at the goal. She would shoot ten shots on me, and then I would shoot ten shots off her, and so on. Also, we had a swimming pool in the back yard and we would go swimming. Except, we could only swim in the summer, because in the winter it was as cold as a snowcone on a chilling fall morning.
I have some great memories of when we were younger. This one, when I was around three years old and she was around eight. We were in Utah visiting some relatives and we were staying at a campground and it had a jungle gym. Well anyway, she went up it and started swinging on a bar. So I, being the brave and strong wanna be I thought I was, started to follow her. I got to this bar and I tried to swing on it, but instead I fell on my face. I was okay, despite my stupidity. Now, this moment was a key example of how much I wanted to be able to be like my sister. She is a great friend to have, and I hope that our friendship will last forever.




Even though he's not such a baby any more (and still bigger than me) I just wanna squeeze him! Love ya Chadley!