Pumpkins, Caramel Apples, & Wagon rides...

Fall has arrived! So did our good friends from South Dakota. Well, Cindy and the boys arrived on their way to their new home in Virginia. Allen is STILL deployed,(we missed you, bud!) We didn't tell the girls they were coming so they were SO SURPRISED when they showed up in our driveway! Sam called Alden from the car and asked her to come out and play. Their reaction was priceless. I wish I would've thought to get it all on video. Sunday we took the kids to Young's Dairy farm for their Fall festival. They had such a good time. We took a wagon-ride tour of the farm, Trace and the older kids conquered the corn maze and Beckett hung out in the pumpkin patch. Their visit was too short--they had to leave this morning, but it was so good to see them!

The Fabulous Four! Alden, Sam, Mariah, & Alec


For completing the corn maze they were awarded 4 trips down the super slide.


I love this picture of Trace with Alec & Sam, they look scared out of their minds! Good times!

#39

Trace celebrated birthday #39 yesterday. Unfortunately, it wasn't so celebratory he had to return back to AFIT for his Winter quarter. Back to the books for him! There should be some law stating that you shouldn't have to go to school on your birthday! Poor guy!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie! you need to start cracking on your 40 before 40 list...You've only got 364 more days to complete it! LOVE YOU!


In honor of the official start of hunting season I found it only appropriate to get him a deer cake! (which he loved!) Yes, thus marks the days of lonely weekends as my husbands out searching for food! I am so excited!! (not!)

All I want to do...

Whenever Beckett here's this song he'll start grooving and singing along with the chorus and then he'll stop and wait for the chorus to come again. It was too cute not to get it on tape. Beckett wasn't the only one with boogy shoes, as you can tell with Trace's shaky video! They were having fun!

All I want to do @ Yahoo! Video

Wagon Crash!

Oh my goodness!! Over the weekend I witness this horrific wagon crash! Warning...this video is very graphic...please brace yourself. Good news, not one single little person was physically injured...thank goodness :-) Don't attempt this at home!! PS. if you want to hear the sound, you will need to pause the playlist at the bottom of the page.

Forever's as far as I'll go!!

Yesterday Trace and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. I don't know where the years have gone--they've flown by. Trace and I met at our best friends wedding. When he walked into the church for the rehearsal I turned to my girlfriends and mentioned that I would marry him someday. After they laughed at me, they reminded me that I hadn't even met him and didn't even know his name. I assured them that I would find it out before I married him! We fell desperately in love and the rest was history! We had a whirlwind courtship that spanned over two states. I was going to college at NAU in Flagstaff, AZ and Trace was already in the Air Force and stationed in California when we met in February. He asked me to marry him on a beach at sunset May 25th and we were married September 14th...ONLY 7 months after I had met him! I am sure people doubted if we would make it. We only dated for 7 months and this courtship was entirely long distance. But, here we are today...12 years 3 kids, and 3 dogs later. Life in the military together hasn't always been roses and sunshine but every minute has been worth it! There are so many things I love about Trace, from the way he makes me laugh to his playfulness with the kids. There are no doubts that he adores his family and we adore him! Thank you Trace for being my "bestest" friend and choosing me as your life partner. It's been a wonderful and blessed ride and I look forward to many more years to come!

Wednesday Meme

I blog-lifted this from my friend Sandie's blog (I hope you don't mind) It looked like FUN!

1. My uncle once ... drove 6 hours to meet my mom to pick me up so that I could spend the summer with them (he actually did this more than once...Thanks Uncle Jeff!)

2. Never in my life...did I think that I would lose my mom to breast cancer.

3. When I was five... My parents divorced

4. High school was... alot of FUN I have lots of great memories!

5. I will never ... Say NEVER!!

6. Once I met.... Trace, I knew he was the one for ME!

7. There’s this boy I know...who every time he looks at me, he takes my breath away!

8. Once, at a bar... I was with my brother who had gotten in on a fake ID and an undercover cop came to our table and carded me--the one with a legal ID!

9. By noon ...I hope to be finished with my errands.

10. Last night...I attended the AFIT spouses Book Club

11. If only I had ... known that I would only get 32 short years with my mama cita I would've seized every opportunity to spend with her and made it more meaningful!

12. Next time I go to church...I will be volunteering in Beckett's class.

13. What worries me most ... something happening to my husband and children.

14. When I turn my head left... I see my husband in the recliner watching Fox News

15. When I turn my head right... I see my back-yard through the window.

16. You know I’m lying if ... I start laughing

17. What I miss most about the Eighties is ... my body... I want it back!! (ha!)

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be ... your guess is as good as mine!

19. By this time next year ... I will be settling into another house in another city.

20. A better name for me would be ... DAL-- Dannie Always Late! Yes, Trace's term of endearment for me!

21. I have a hard time understanding ... why people abuse or neglect their children.

22. If I ever go back to school ... it will be a miracle!

23. You know I like you if ... I invite you over for dinner.

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be ... all the little people that helped make it happen... (TOTALLY KIDDING!!)

25. Take my advice ... life is too short to worry about the small stuff. Really in the big scheme of things, it's all small stuff! Our God is bigger than it all!


26. My ideal breakfast..... Cinnamon Roll french toast with a side of eggs over medium

27. A song I love but do not have is ... I can't think of one that I don't have either on Itunes or Playlist.

28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest ... going to Sedona and driving to Flagstaff by way of Oak Creek Canyon.

29. Why won’t people ... stop texting when they are driving down the road???

30. If you spend a night at my house ... we would stay up late chatting.

31. I’d stop my wedding ...if I felt like I was making a mistake

32. The world could do without ... Ignorance

33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than ... have to stay the night deep in the woods by myself!

34. My favorite blondie is ...the one you get at Applebee's!

35. Paper clips are more useful than ... staples

36. If I do anything well it will be ... taking care of my family

37. I can’t help but ... think there are more good people in this world than their are bad people.

38. I usually cry at ... having my feelings hurt, or if I have hurt someone else.

39. My advice to my nephew/niece ... Embrace life and live it to the fullest!

40. And by the way ... If you're reading my blog, I'd love to hear from you! I feel like I am talking to myself sometimes.

Like Father, Like Son!

Popcorn, Anyone?

Festival after festival, the local communities seem to have these great events for families to enjoy on the weekends. This past weekend was the Popcorn Festival...yes, they celebrate Popcorn here!!(along with beans, potatoes, strawberries, pumpkins...you name it, they have a festival for it) The town of Beavercreek closed off a large street to host this event. There were arts and crafty type booths aligned down this street and of course there were many booths making the delicious Kettle Corn and all kinds of other "Good Eats" (BBQ, Corn-on-the-Cob). First order of business was to get our bag of hot Kettle Corn as you could not ignore the sweet aroma filling the air. We washed it down with a delicious cup of old fashioned Sarsaparilla and Cream Soda that was drawn from an old oak barrel. There were so many booths promoting their handiwork that it became a blur moving from one booth to the other. Strategically positioned in the middle of the street was a wagon cart holding three precious "free" kittens that my girls locked eyes on. For the next 30 minutes, both Trace and I were dealing with our girls begging for a new kitten. Then we noticed this high school boy holding a sign that said "Need a Prom Date". Sadly, he was not getting any takers. I assume because there are several months until prom season and in the life of a highschooler alot could change between now and then! Although he lost his dignity that day we admired his ambition and creativity. Eventually, we landed at a carnival type attraction that was a scaled down version of bungee jumping. The girls were willing to wait an hour to get their turn and they had a blast jumping 15 feet in the air doing flips. After about three hours of enjoying the Popcorn festival in the hot sun, we were spent and ready to go home. This next weekend will host a new festival for our family to enjoy...can't hardly wait.

Columbus

This weekend we were able to spend some time with our friends the Callahan's . They are old friends from South Dakota who happen to also be stationed here in Ohio. They have two daughters one who was in Mariah's 2ND grade class in South Dakota. They moved last summer so it was nice to see them again. They invited us to their home in Columbus. Robert and Trace took in a game of golf and Amy and I hung out and got caught up. The girls--I hardly saw them, they were busy playing. They kept themselves entertained all day long! They invented a play store they named "Patty-Whack,Nicknack's!" in the crawl space of the Callahan Home. Beckett had a good time, too! He warmed up to Amy like they were long lost friends. It could have been all the pretzels she was feeding him. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! This definitly rings true for Beckett, if you have food, he's your friend. He also acquainted himself with their cat "Pumpkin" However, Pumpkin didn't care for Beckett too much. He would hiss every time Beckett came near him. HA! After being man-handled one too many times Pumpkin let out her frustration by pouncing on his head. I think he finally learned his lesson. Beckett also got to shuck corn for the first time. Amy had picked up some corn from their local farmers market--and boy was it GOOD! After the guys returned home and dinner was eaten we retreated down to the basement for some WII tennis, and Guitar HERO! We had a great time, Thank you Amy and Robert for having us over!! We'll have to do it again SOON!

Can you get me an agent?

Alden for the last month has asked me to contact the Disney Channel to get her on one of their shows, any show. She's been very persistent and asks almost daily. Tonight she matter-of-fact states that she needs an agent. I asked her to "come-again?" She says Can you get me an agent? I ask her why she would need an agent? she simply replies "To get on the Disney show--It's always been my dream" OH BOY! I don't think she's going to let this one die.