KANSAS

Over the Labor day weekend we took a trip down to Kansas to visit the Sarles family. Abby had been waiting for this trip all summer and was so excited to go. She got up at 4:30 am and didn't fall asleep at all on the 8 hour drive there. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins, and it was fun for us to catch up with Jolynn & Sean and hang out with them.

Abby & Taylor were pretty much inseperable. One night Taylor fell asleep watching a movie, and Abby our little night owl was still up at 10 pm so we took her down to bed with us. Taylor woke up at 2 am and Jolynn found her on her way down to find Abby because she didn't want to miss a night of sleeping with Abby.

THE FARM

They have this great free petting farm there. It was super hot out that day, and all the days we were there, but we had tons of fun anyways.

Beckham, Taylor & Abby

Beckham, Abby & Taylor

Ally

Beckham, Ally, Taylor & Abby (the drama queem)

She thinks the bench is too hot, but nobody else seems bothered by it????

Ally finally got brave enough to feed the animals.

A COW TO MILK

Abby

Ally

BABY GOATS

They had baby goats and for $1 you could buy a bottle of milk to feed it. It was kinda of funny to watch all the goats try to get the bottle. Abby was kind of a chicken and was pinned up against the fence by a buch of goats trying to get her bottle. She did finally manage to fend them all off and find one to feed her bottle to.

Ally feeding the baby goats.

Abby trying to fend off all the hungry little baby goats.

Taylor & Abby feeding the baby goats

Finally a nice little goat for her to feed

TRACTORS TO RIDE

Ally

Abby

There was tons of other stuff to do there too but we were so hot we decided to hit Sonic and go home.

THE TRAIN RESTAURANT

They had this great train restaurant in the mall there. Everyone got lil' engineer hats to wear....

Abby, Taylor & Jolynn

Ally & Beckham

Then they had a phone at your table and you would call in your order......

Abby placing her order

and then a train would deliver the food to your table.

The kids thought this was really great, and so did the adults (cuz it kept the kids entertained while we were waiting for our food)

Be sure to watch the video of the train delivering our food:)

Ally Jackie Beckham Abby & Taylor

All the kids (this was the best shot we could get of the 4 of them)

Then we took a drive up to see the RLDS temple and the visitors center for our church.

The RLDS temple

Beckham, Taylor, Ally & Abby

The Savior was supposed to be in the background, but I think I had Curt take the picture, while Jolynn & I tried to pose all the kids. There is always one that has to be a pickle:)

Our family

Ally & Abby driving the covered wagon

Taylor & Beckham driving the covered wagon

The visitors center was really great and very kid friendly. They had lots of things for them to play with and to see what life was like for those children crossing the plains.

We also went to a great BBQ restaurant called Oklahoma Joes, but I forgot to get out the camera:(

Then we headed back in the van and drove home, and lucky for me Abby did fall asleep for a little while on the way home. We also saw this semi full of the little pigs and the girls liked looking at them. However the semi was driving so fast Curt had to go 90 mph just to catch up so I could get a picture.

The little piggies

THANKS Jolynn & Sean for a great visit, we really had a good time:)

BEACH BUMS

My kids love going to the beach and since this summer has been so hot we have done that a lot. Abby is getting braver in the water, and has even put her face in which she is very proud of. But one thing they love to do at the beach is bury themselves in the sand. Escpecially Gabe and Abby, Ally doesn't really hold still long enough and Elijah prefers to be the one burying the kids.

ABBY

ALLY

ALLY

GABE

ABBY

NICKELODEON UNIVERSE

I took Abby, Stephen, Gabe & Elijah to Nickelodeon Universe for the day. They had tons of fun going on all the rides. Abby even went on the the log chute, although she told me when she was done that she wasn't going to go on that again until she was 6.

Abby on the mini bumper cars

Abby on the Wonder Pets, High Flyer

Stephen & Gabe on the Sphlat-o-Sphere

All of them on Mini Coaster

Gabe driving the bumper cars

ALLY'S FIRST PEDICURE

So everytime I paint Abby's and my toes I make sure that Ally is napping and doesn't see, however one Sunday I tried to sneek and do mine before church quick, and I got caught. I ended up having to do all of ours. Ally was so proud of her little piggies, she showed them to everyone. Sorry about the pics, but Abby was our photographer for the event.

All done!

SAILING

The Boat

Amy, Dana & Amy, Cory & Josh, Curt & Me, & Cort

Amy, Amy, Cory & Me

A few weeks back we had the opportunity to go sailing with our good friends, the Oelkers. We had never been sailing, so we weren't quite sure what to expect, but it was so much fun and so relaxing. The weather was absolutely perfect, we even jumped in to cool off for a bit. The sail boat was gigantic, and at first I wasn't sure we were all going to fit, but once we realized you just sit on the top of it, there was plenty of room for all. The boat was built by a friend of theirs' father, and you could have lived on it. It had a downstairs with a kitchen and a bathroom. It was so cool. We had sort of a picnic supper, and you had to be sure to hang on to your stuff or you would lose it to the water. I was even brave enough to go out in front of the mast for a few pics, although it wasn't funny when the wind picked up a bit and I thought I was going to fall in. I also thought it was funny that when the wind changed directions the sails would switch sides and you had to be sure and duck or you would end up in the water. Luckily that didn't happen to any of us. So Thank You to the Oelkers for inviting us, and Happy Birthday to Amy!!! We had a blast!!

T-BALL

Abby decided this year she would like to try t-ball instead of soccer. She was pretty good at throwing, batting & running. She still needs to work on her catching and her attention span. She thought each base was a seat to sit on and play in the big giant sandbox. She certainly had a lot fun!

What an arm?

I think it's going to be a homerun!

She is soo fast!

Wow, look at the size of this sandbox!

GOLF

Curt has been trying for over 8 years to get me out on the golf course with him. I am not sure why I never want to go just didn't seem like my thing, but he finally got me out there and we had lots of fun. We went with 7 other couples from our ward, and we played best ball between the couples. For those of you who don't golf that means that whoevers ball was closest after each shot we both shot from that spot. We won, and I think by the end I was doing pretty good. They had various prizes for farthest drive, shortest drive and stuff like that so everyone got prizes. Scott Langston, a good friend of ours did a great job setting up this outing, so a big THANK YOU to him:) Curt went a little camera crazy he said he didn't know if he would ever get me out there again, so he needed lots of pictures. Oh and I think I had the prettiest golf clubs, they were pink, thanks to Angela for letting me borrow them.

Team Pumptec (Us)

Team HPO (Scott & Amy Langston)

Team General Mills (Roger & Leigh Galloway)

Team Excedex (Dave & Sonya Payne) and Team Polaris (Brad & Emily Hacking)

Team HP (Cameron & Julie Hunsaker)

Team Cargill (Mark & Mary Haake)

Team Polaris (Brad & Emily Hacking)

Team HP (Cameron & Julie Hunsaker) and Team Honda (Ryan and Andria Yoes)

Curt

I had to have a clean ball, right?

Oops, I missed!

I am starting to look like a pro.