Dewberry Farms

We heard a lot of good things about Dewberry Farms for the past couple years, so we finally decided to try it.  It did not disappoint!  They had so many things for the kids to do.  They were entertained the whole time!

The ziplines and the huge slides were their favorite!

While the big kids played, me and Had took turns trying to cool this little baby off!  Even though it was the end of October, it was scorching outside!!!

We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and I think this is where Dash had the most fun!  He laughed and was so happy the whole ride.  In true Jerzi fashion, she had to find something to be upset about (not sure what) on the ride.

All 3 of these guys had to show me how tough they were.  I loved watching them all show off.  I felt like I was at a carnival and they were all trying to impress me.  That dude in the red shirt... 💓

The kids loved the cornmaze!

After the pumpkin patch, we carved the pumpkins on Jerzi's birthday.  For some reason Had thought his pumpkin was appropriate, so please divert your eyes.  I'm embarrassed it's even in the picture, but the rest looked great!  Jerzi did the bat, Jete did the face, and I did the spooky ghost. Dash, well he just ate the guts and seeds! Haha

Jerzi Turns 5!

This little cutie is 5 now!!!  

Jerzi is a funny, spunky, sassy little thing.  She has been a handful since she was a baby, but we love her to pieces.  She always makes us laugh with the funny things she comes up with.  She's full of personality and we love having her in our family!

We had to start the day out right with butterfly pancakes for breakfast.

Jerzi is a very independent little thing and thinks she can do everything herself.  She told me she could make her own sandwich, and was so proud when she was finished. (Too bad it was "way too gross" for her to actually eat it.)

She's a wild child and can throw some serious tantrums.  She loves gymnastics, pink, all things girly, and teasing Jeter.  She just loves Dash to pieces and wants to help with him all she can.  She's got a wild hairdo if we just let it go, but she's got the best hair ever, full of body and curls, and I love experimenting new hairdo's on her.  She's a crazy sleeper.  She's very shy around other people, but she's slowly coming out of her shell.

She's been asking for an American Girl doll girl for a couple of years now.  So we finally took her to the American Girl store for her birthday and let her pick out the doll she wanted.  She chose Isabelle, and she just loves her!!!  It was so fun making this little girl's dream come true.  

Carrabba's for her birthday dinner and dessert!

My First Ragnar

We moved into our new house, and we had only been there for a few weeks.  I met a girl in my ward that told me how there are a lot of ladies in our ward that run.  I was so excited!  Then I got even more excited when she told me how she just got pregnant and she was supposed to be running in a ragnar race, but couldn't anymore because of her pregnancy, and asked me if I wanted to take her place.  I had no clue who the other girls were, but I jumped at the chance!

I am so glad I did!!!  I met a bunch of these girls for the very first time  (our ward is huge!) when they came and picked me up to head to Austin.  We had so much fun together!

So in a Ragnar Race, you have a team of 8, and someone is constantly running.  We each had 3 legs to run, one of which is in the night.  Our course had a base camp, where every runner would do some sort of loop out and come back to the starting spot to swap with a teammate.  Most everyone running the race camped.  We were fortunate that one of our teammates had a camper, so we were one of 2 campers there!!!  It was fantastic having that thing!

Everyone was so nice, and I made some great friends!

I got diarrhea bad after my first leg.  It was horrible!!! During my 2nd leg in the night, I could barely run cuz I needed to go so bad.  But I was out in the middle of the woods, running all by myself, on a rocky little trail, in the dark.  There was nothing I could do!  It was pretty much the worst.  My 3rd leg was a little bit better, but not too much. Man, I lived in those nasty portapotties when I got done!  

But even with all of that, I had so much fun, I'd do it all again!!!

Crossing the finish line together with our last runner!

I love these ladies!!! I'm so glad I was able to fill in for Suzanne!

From Top Left to Right: Emily Cook, Kristie Archibald, Debbie Moody, Angie Toler, 

Me, Carolyn Gordon, Camille Woodward, and Kate Zollinger

Kids kids kids

Jeter started playing flag football.  Can I just say how much we are all in love with this?!!  He is the quarterback for his team and he is having the time of his life.  Me and Had can hardly take watching it, it is so much fun! He scores every game.  And when we are in need of a 1st down, the coach has Jete keep it and run it himself, and he almost always get it, or a touchdown.  We've realized how far ahead he is athletically compared to other kids his age.  It's hard to be humble about his athleticism because, well, we're just so proud of him and happy that he loves sports as much as we do!

We bring Jerz and Dash to his practices, and they are pretty good for the most part.  Sometimes watchin this girl is as much fun as watchin Jete play football.  

She's got so much sass and personality, and yet, she's so sweet with Dash, and entertains him so I can pay attention to what's happening on the football field.

And then there's this little guy!  I can't stop watching him either.  He's too cute, and his cheeks are too soft and squishy.  I kiss him way too much, but I can't help it.  I feel like I have to soak in every little second with him, cuz he's gonna be old and all grown up before I know it.  He's also started crawling, which makes me happy and sad at the same time! I really don't want him to grow up, but I love seeing him learn new things every day!

When I take the kids out and go for runs, he always has to ride like this in the stroller.  It cracks me up, every time!

He also ate his first sandwhich, at 7 months!  It's ok that he doesn't have teeth to chew right?

 And I have to throw this random one in here because Jete got his school pics taken and I just think it's so darn cute! (This is a pic of a pic, so for some weird reason, it distorted his head a little bit. It's not really that big. haha)

Jerzi's 1st day of Preschool

She was totally ready to start preschool, like 2 years ago (and so was I).  But when the day came, she was a little nervous. Still excited, but nervous.  We are doing a little preschool swap with a couple other moms from our ward, where we take turns teaching it at our houses.  I'm excited for it, because it will give me a chance to see how she interacts with the other kids, and what she knows, but also give me a little one on one time with Dash on the days when I'm not teaching.  

 Back to this girl...yep, she's starting preschool.  Not high school, or jr high, just preschool.

She looks so old.  

She looks so cute. 

I can't take it.

My kids are growing up on me, and I hate it. 

1st day of 1st grade

This cute little boy was all smiles for his first day of 1st grade, at a new school, in a new house.  I am beyond thrilled that we live on the same block as the school and he can just walk or ride his bike there.  We've heard the school is awesome and we're excited to find out for ourselves!

 After school, I have to be there to pick him up or they won't let him come out of the doors.  It's a little strict, but I guess better safe than sorry!

We made it a tradition to go get ice cream after school on the first day every year.  They love it, and I love to hear all about their first day.  Win, win!

I love these 2 ice cream faces so much!

Jeter turns 7!

We went to Idaho in July, and headed to Fuller Fest at Bear Lake on Jeter's birthday.  I was a little worried that he wouldn't feel like it was a special day for him, because of the excitement of Fuller Fest.  But I couldn't have been more wrong.  Jeter is such a sweet boy and was so happy that he got to see all his cousins on his birthday.  I told him sorry that we didn't plan a birthday party for him, and he said, "Mom, I had like the biggest birthday party ever!  Kids and adults even came!"  We had cake and ice cream for him at the gigantic house we were staying in, and he got to open some presents from us and from his cousins.  

We even got to have his favorite meal, hamburgers!!!  

I really did feel so bad that I didn't do some elaborate birthday thing for him.  In fact, I hardly saw him on his birthday.  He was way too busy having so much fun with all his cousins.  Whenever I went to go check on him, he was having the time of his life.  I felt a little sad that he didn't need me to help make his birthday great, cuz I feel like that means he's growing up.  And I hate that.  But at the same time, I'm soooo happy that after being away from all his cousins for basically his whole life, he can pick right back up where he left off with them last time we saw them.   

Jeter is seriously such a good boy.  His school teacher only had good things to say about him.  He is smart and wants to be the best at everything he does.  Most of the time he ends up being really good at whatever he does.  But it can be a bad thing for him too, because he has a hard time trying something new because he's afraid he won't be the best at it.  He is very athletic and doesn't ever stop thinking about sports.  He wants to play them or watch them all the time.  He makes friends easily and always tries to do what's right.  He follows directions almost to a fault because he never wants to get in trouble.  He is a good big brother to Jerzi and Dash.  We love having him in our family.  We love him so much!!!