October

Once again in October we went camping. This time we went camping/ATV riding. The weather was much cooler this time but it was still really, really nice.  We basically rode trails all day and played by the camp fire at night!

 The trails were absolutely beautiful. The was an old railroad shed.

 

 

 trails + mud = happy kids!

 

EXHAUSTED!



Throughout the month, we spent most weekends at friends houses watching our Vols play! One night Lydia wanted to dress just like daddy!

 

 

 

Then Halloween week came, I'm not a big fan of Halloween but I do enjoy some of the traditions of Halloween; my favorite being pumpkin carving. Layton thought it was so cool that we could cut them and pull their guts out!

 



 

And thanks to Pawpaw this year, we had "yard art"!

 

 

 I always tell my girls to pick something out to dress up in from home or come up with something we can make. (With the exception of last year, Pawpaw instisted he buy them a costume!) Layton decided to be an India girl and Lydia decided to be a Diva! We actually decided to go "old fashioned" trick-or-treating. The girls thought it was fun to walk around a neighborhood and knock on people's doors for candy.

 

 2009

 

I have no idea why I'm not able to get a picture without one of them throwing a peace sign up. But I thought it was somewhat appropriate that the India offered peace... 

 

Again, after trying 3 separate times, I gave up.

 I might miss the "peace sign" days! 

 

 

                                                                            Lydia

 

Layton



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



September

I don't know why I am such a bad blogger these days. I still read blogs daily, I just have zero energy to update mine! I take tons of pictures with my phone, having all intentions on blogging about them. I even write out paragraphs and include the pictures with the documents, I just don't actually blog them!

Warning...overload of what has been happening!

September started out with us taking our (new to us) camper out for the first time! I can honestly say this was the first time I was really excited to camp. I love the idea of camping, just not the sleeping in the tent part. I can't locate my pictures right now but we bought an old 1974 model Shasta camper. It is so ugly on the outside but it wasn't too bad on the inside. After a good cleaning, a new paint job and our own little touches to it, it is now super cute on the inside!

 Unfortunatley I didn't take one picture all weekend! :(   We went camping with a group of friends from church. We try to go every Labor Day weekend. The weather was perfect, warm during the day and a (little) cool at night. Saturday we floated the river in rafts and had a great time. Sunday we woke up with severe thunderstorms. It scared us but thankful the camper held up well and we stayed cool and dry!

The end of the month we celebrated our cousin Kathryn marrying Gibb. Layton was asked to be the flower girl. She has been so excited. I’ll admit I’ve been a little anxious about my spunky, loud, little girl being involved in something that is quiet and elegant but she did great. We started Friday night with the rehearsal.

 

 

During the day Friday and throughout the night, it rained 4 inches and the rehearsal dinner was outside. Obviously, we had a tent over us but still...outside! To say it was muddy is a complete understatement but we made the best of it and had a wonderful time, despite the mud. Layton immediately found entertainment by catching the biggest worms I have ever seen. Thankfully I was able to talk her into letting them go and sitting down and enjoying dinner. The dinner was wonderful and I was excited that (my picky eater) Lydia tried several new things and liked them. She even ate meat without ketchup – GASP! After dinner, it was time to dance. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures. My girls rocked it though. They danced their sweet little legs off! The band actually left a CD with Kathryn “for the little girls who had such a good time”.

Wedding day, we slept in, ate breakfast and then went for manicures/pedicures. It is SO nice being pampered. Layton asked the poor lady doing our nails 5,246 questions. The lady was so patient with her! By the time we finished getting out nails done it was time for Layton to be at the church for pictures. She had to be there 3 hours before the wedding, so I was super anxious how I was going to get her white dress to stay WHITE and her to stay OUT of trouble! Thankfully, the weather was beautiful and we were able to walk around when she wasn't needed.

 

Beautiful! 

 

Her and the ring bearer. He wouldn’t hold her hand, he would only hug her. And when he hugged her, he would hug her tight and long! She didn’t mind though! Unfortunately, he fell asleep about an hour before the wedding so he didn’t get to walk with her down the aisle.

 

I tried so hard to get a picture of my girls but Layton wouldn’t cooperate. This picture is so funny to me, it represents a typical day in our life: Lydia being herself (sweet, calm, obedient) and Layton being herself (silly, loud, sneaky)! Right before I snapped the picture, Layton would pinch Lydia. Layton swore she was NOT pinching her but I think this picture proves her wrong!

 

Layton did great walking down the aisle. She placed one petal by each pew. It was time consuming but very cute. Once she got to the altar, she took Ali’s boutique of flowers and ditched her basket! She did great through the wedding, just a little talking!

 

Notice her ditched basket! 

The wedding was short and sweet. And afterwards, it was time to party again! The girls enjoyed dancing and visiting! Layton told everyone she seen that she was the flower girl, before and after the wedding. She took her “job” seriously. About two hours into the reception and Layton was out. The band was so loud and my sleeping beauty slept through it all. We feel so blessed to have been a part in the wedding and are proud for Kathryn to have met such an amazing husband. We wish Kathryn and Gibb many years of happiness.

After sleeping in on Sunday, we got up and went to Reelfoot. Our Mimi & Papa celebrated their 58^th anniversary, amazing. We had lots of fun seeing the eagles and walking out on the piers.

The food was wonderful and the weather was perfect.