Sara Bareilles - King Of Anything

Love this song!

Cody's Boudlering Comp.

This is Cody's 3rd bouldering/climbing competition he has been in...  This one was in Little Rock where he placed 4th in his age division.  Go Cody!  

Run to the Lights 5K - Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO

It was that time a year again... Silver Dollar City's Run to the Lights 5K.  In the past it has been just Cameron and I running this race, then Barry joined in and now we have made it an FFA - Forced Family Activity.  It's a fun race and there is always yummy hot chocolate or apple cider at the end and of course the awesome Christmas cookies.  This year Barry at 7 cookies and made himself sick...oops.  That is what happens when you get the munchies after the race.  

Cameron had just run the state x-country meet a week prior and the conditions were wet and slick so he took it easy and ran an 18:44 and came in 7th overall out of 1015 people.  I wish I could say that. :)

Cody improved his time by 4 minutes from last years race and ran a 25:37 - all his hard work in x-country shows.  He was 123rd.  

Sierra beat me...sigh.  She improved her time by a min.  She did not train at all this time.... she came in 319th with a time of 31:16

Next I came huffing and puffing in... I had not trained much either...sad isn't it?  I was 340th with a time of 31:48

Creed and Barry ran together.  Creed was 592nd and ran a 39:33 with Barry right behind him at 593rd and a time of 39:37.  Creed actually took 2 min. off of his time last year.  

Riding the tram to the park entrance.

This light tree is pretty impressive...it does all kinds of light patterns with the music that is playing. 

This year we went a bit earlier and rode a couple of the rides.   

The rides shut down so we sat around for a bit....

The the rain came and the temps started to drop.  This is how Creed was staying dry.

We finally had to take shelter under a porch... I think the waiting was getting to all of us. 

Just before we went to go line up... 

Creed!

Creed: "Can I call Grandpa and wish him a happy Veterans day?"
Me: "Sure."
Creed: "Hi Grandpa, Happy Vegetarians Day!"
Me: "Veterans Day."
Creed making a Creed face like "oh man."

He talks to Grandpa Johnson a bit then says "Oh and tell Matt Happy Veterinarians Day."
Me: "Veterans Day."
Same face....

Then he calls Grandpa Astle.  His answering machine picks up and he leaves this message:

"Hi Grandpa Astle, I just wanted to tell you happy Veterinarians Day.  I love you. Bye. "
 :)

Hunting season has begun...

When Barry and I first got married he taught me how to shoot his old compound bow.  It was too big for me but I used it anyway.  Barry and I went hunting one night up past Utah Canyon and I took my first doe.  Now 19 years later I finally took another deer with a compound bow... the one Barry got me for my birthday.  It is like driving a cadillac compared to the old bow that I use to use. I am looking forward to the rest of the hunting season with it.  

2010 State X-Country Meet

I can't believe x-country season has come to an end, again.  On Nov. 6th Cameron competed in the Arkansas State X-Country meet in Rogers, AR.  The 1A/2A race was first that morning so we (myself, Cameron and Cody) drove up the night before a spent the night.  Barry, Sierra and Creed came in the morning.

Last year the weather was hot and people were passing out from the heat, pretty sure they didn't drink enough water for the conditions.  This year the race was cold.  I would guess it was in the low 40's when we arrived.  But we won't complain, it was better than hot for sure.

Cameron came in 7th overall which means he made All State with a time of 18:01 (another P.R.)

I loved this board. It was the coolest thing.  You could see their splits while they were running and their places they were in. 

When you are a running you have to have your style! 

Cameron with his coach Ernie Yeager.

HALLOWEEN in Corydon IN. What? Where?

This year we did something a little different for Halloween.  We went to Corydon, IN to deliver some goats and go to a production goat sale.  I know you are all jealous of this... Halloween and goats what more can you ask for. The kids were a little reluctant to say the least but decided they would make the best of it.

Last year Barry and I traveled to Corydon to the special goat sale to buy some new goats for our herd.  We noticed that Corydon is a very "homey" little town with a lot of history to it.  After we saw their Halloween Fall Fest on the square and the trick or treaters we decided if there was a way have the kid experience Corydon on Halloween we would do it.  And that is how Corydon and Halloween ended up together for our group. 

At the sale Creed found a new friend who he ran around with for the most part of the day and  the people who were putting on the sale, who were knew,  realized they were short handed for people to work the goats through the sale barn and ring asked if  Cody and Cameron would help.  It was a paying job so Cody was willing and ready, which is funny because he really HATES it when I have him help me work goats at the house.  Maybe I just need to pay him.  Hmmmm. :) Oh, a side not.  They had a free lunch which consisted of shredded goat meat sandwiches.   Sierra thought it was fine until Cody told her she was eating goat, then she refused.  They actually were quite good. 

After the goat events were over we headed back to the motel and the kids changed into their costumes. 

After getting read we went to Wendy's for a quick bite to eat and then off to the town square for the FREE (we like free) Fall Festival. 

The Mormon church building - looks pretty cool.  This year and last year we tried to go and alas no one was there. We believe that it was their Stake Conference.  I really wanted to see inside. 

After every game you could get a piece of candy. 

We stayed at the fall festival for a while and then headed out to go trick or treating.  The kids were amazed at how many people there were.  

Our trick or treating turned out to be a fail.  By the time we went almost all of the houses were out of candy.  It wasn't even that late - around 7:00.  When we drove into town, when it was still light there were a ton of kids going from house to house.  I guess we should have done that part first.  Sorry kids. :(

The candy piles were quite small for most of the kids.  For some reason Creed's pile was half way decent.  Maybe his big brown eyes did their magic and that is why he had the most.  

As parents, we felt pretty bad since we drug the kids 10 hrs from a "for sure thing trick or treating" in their home town to a small town that was over run by other Halloween goers who took all the candy.  Our solution? WAL-MART!  Off we headed to the Halloween candy isle and let the kids pick out one big bag of candy of their choice.  

It's not the same as going door to door but it was better than nothing. :) 

Later that night Cameron, Cody and Barry went to a fun haunted house at the Theater.  They said it was not the evil kind of scary but the old school scary.  They really enjoyed it.

Alas, I don't think the goat sale will fall on Halloween out there again for a while so the kids will be spared the trip, MAYBE.  All in all we had a good time.  I love spending time with my family and I am going to miss these times (FFA - forced family activities) when they are all grown up and gone on missions and college.  Sigh.  But for now...I am going to soak it all in.