Carving

Somehow the pictures got switched around, so here are the finished Jack-o-lanterns.  Elli did the first one to look like her own mouth.  Amy's is the middle one and Adam did the mean one.
First we had to do this.  No kidding.

Full Triathlon

Riley has been looking forward to this race for a long time.  He's done a couple sprint triathlons these past summers, but this was the big one.  I think it had a 1 mile swim then a 25 mile bike then a 6 mile run.  Riley hoped he would finish in 3 1/2 hours.  He finished just under 3.  

Here he is coming around one of the last corners on the bike.  First he swam, but after I dropped him off to register, I went back to the hotel to shower and what not, so I missed the swim part of the race.
And this is the end of the 6 miles and end of the race.  He was tired, but not as tired as I thought.  He's already talking about the next one.  He did a great job and I had fun spending my first night away from my kids EVER!  Thanks Lenette and Beau for that!

Skating Elli

Before our neighbors moved this summer, they gave us two pairs of skates that their girls had grown out of.  The skates are way too big for Elli, but she loves to skate around the street.  Luckily the neighbors were safety savvy and also gave us the knee pads, wrist guards and even some elbow pads that Elli forgot.  

Image Tag

I thought this was a cute tag from Lenette.  Hope it's not giving away too much personal information.  Here's what you do.  Type your answers into google/yahoo search and post a picture from the first page of the results.  Here's mine.  You should do it too.

My Age

Where I live:  Havelock, NC....  this actually looks like my back yard.
Place I'd like to travel:  England...  any where there.  
Favorite Food:  Bread Pudding!  I love it and always eat myself sick.
Place I Grew Up:  Idaho Falls...  that's the temple I got married in and the river we used to walk around.  
Favorite Color:  Red...  Any piece of furniture or shoe catches my eye if it is red.

Favorite Animal:   Bird ... It reminds me of my Grandma
Something I used to love:   Precious Moments... I had them all around my room and even had them at my wedding.  Wow.
First Name:  Brook

Middle Name:  Lyn...  I guess this guy is  Lyn Moir.

TRAILS

We started taking walks on a couple of trails these past few weeks and the kids and Sandy really enjoy it.  It's been a little cooler and quite nice outside.  
Here are the boys.  I don't think I could do it without Riley.  Even with trail markers, I have gone off track more than once.  He he.  
Here are the girls.  I end up carrying whatever the girls think they need to bring.
Sandy loves to run ahead and zoom back to us to see if we are coming.  She's been really good to stay with us and not run totally away.

Fun with Photo Booth

The kids love to get on the computer and take silly pictures of themselves.  These are some of the hundreds that they've taken.  Pretty funny.  You can see me in the background vacuuming in one of them.

Trip to Virginia

For the long Labor Day weekend, we decided to go up to Virginia.  We went to Busch Gardens and then to Colonial Williamsburg.  This is our walk around the streets.  The kids didn't really enjoy this part of the trip, but Riley and I would like to go back by ourselves sometime.  Even though it was a long weekend, we still came home on Sunday.  I think Monday will be a recovery day.  

Hotel

Elli after her bath at the hotel.  It felt so good to get cleaned up after being hot and sweaty and sticky.

Busch Gardens

We spent most of the day Saturday at the park.  It was very crowded.  I kept thinking how Jessica told us they didn't have to wait in the lines when they came and how I wanted to kick myself for coming on a holiday weekend.  The lines were long and the kids got tired of waiting.  It was a fun day though.  Here are the kids looking at a kiddie ride not wanting to ride it because it was too silly. 

Before Roman Rapids

Amy is ready to ride, Adam thinks the ride looks lame.

After Roman Rapids

Amy was not happy to be wet, Adam was finally having fun.

Haircut

Amy has been asking to get her hair cut for about 2 weeks.  I thought if I messed up, we could go get it fixed, but it turned out alright.  When I blow dry it, it looks pretty cute.  I usually only do that on Sundays though.

Baptism

I wish we took more pictures this day.  Adam was baptized and Riley's mom and Dan drove a long way to be here for it and we just didn't get many pictures of it.  I think I got the back of Kathy's head in one photo.  Other than that, the day went great.  Lots of friends and good food. I think I was the most nervous for Adam.  He was more upset that we had to do it on a Saturday and take up his cartoon morning, but he's a really good kid.  We are proud.

The Birthday Loot

Here we are helping out the Lego stock people.  Even Grandpa knew to get Lego fruit snacks!  He's been building and building for 3 days straight. ( Most of it is from Elise...thanks aunt Elise)

Adam turns 8!

I've kind of been slipping with the whole birthday party thing.  I really did used to have big parties and invite all their friends and have goody bags and games and cute themed invitations, but I haven't been feeling the groove.  It takes a lot of planning and stress.  Maybe next year they'll each get a party.  
Anyways, here's Adam turning 8 and blowing out the candles.
"Hey!  They keep lighting up again!"

"Mom, did you get trick candles!?"  Yes I did, but I didn't realize it until I got home.  It was the only kind the PX had.  Ha Ha.

Fresh Peaches!

After checking out our friend's blog, the Nilsson's, I had to show Riley the peaches they picked.  Riley loves peaches, but I can never pick any that satisfy him from the grocery store.  He was the most excited of all.  The farm is about an hour away and the peaches were so good!
Everyone sampled several peaches, just to make sure they were good.
We probably should've added an extra pound or more to the price.  Riley had at least 7 or 8 by himself before we were done picking.
Coincidentally, we saw our friend, Mar, with her family there too.  She had probably seen the Nilsson's blog too!  So, we asked her to take our picture at the end.  Anyone know how to make sorbet without an ice cream maker?

Canned Peaches

Here's what we did with all of them.  We bottled lots, ate lots, froze some and made a yummy cobbler.  Canning them was fun after I figured it out.  The kitchen was a mess and it took a long time, but look how nice.  Hopefully we did it right.  I love the baskets they came in.  (we did pay a small fee for them, but they look so simple and country like)

Elli and Riley

Riley was Elli's friend for the day.  After the beach, we got pizza and saw the city fireworks by the kids' school.  Everyone was pretty tired.