Wildcat Den State Park

This weekend we went camping with Garran's parents. 

We went to Wildcat Den State Park.

It was seriously they perfect time to go. 

The weather was BEAUTIFUL! 

We could not have asked for anything better and we enjoyed the company as well. 

 This was the view from our tent.

 This is the kids checking out the campsite and enjoying being outside.

 Cullan brought his binoculars. 

After we got the tents up and everything organized we went for a walk/hike..

Here are Garran and Ayla before we left. 

(I love that smile of Garrans! Swoon!)

 Here we all are going down the trails. Of course the boys took off ahead, leading the pack. They kept calling it their adventure. It was so pretty. There were trees everywhere and they were all changing colors. LOVED IT! Have I mentioned fall is my favorite time of year. 

 Everyone checking out a bridge and the different things that were around. 

 Like I said, the boys kept running ahead. They were headed down to where the caves were. I mean caves and trails. A boys HEAVEN!!

 Of course I was crazy with my camera and had everyone pose for a picture. I try not to bug people to much when we do fun things, but I love having pictures to remember all the fun moments.  I don't think anyone minded. ;0)

 There was a small channel, I think that is what you would call it. There was not a lot of water, it was mostly mud. But it was fun to look at and check out.

 A little farther down the trail we found this cool bunch of tree roots. Garrans mom said something about how they would make a pretty picture. I agreed and everyone climbed up. I think they would have climbed up there regardless, but I got a picture anyways. 

 After we went for the walk, we came back to camp for dinner. I have decided if we ever have to live in tents, we are parking ours next to Garran's parents. His mom is a pretty tasty dutch oven cook. Much better than I. So we have already staked our claim if we ever end up in tents!! 

 Even though Garrans mom made some yummy dutch oven apple crisp, they still brought marshmallows for the kids to roast. I think my kids really enjoy the roasting part much more than the eating part. I was having fun playing with settings on my camera to try and get some fun pictures with the camp fire. 

 Breia was covered in marshmallow by the time we were done, She does enjoy the eating part of roasting marshmallows. She is so stinking cute.

 Here is most of our group sitting around the camp fire, just hanging out talking and enjoying the beautiful night. 

 I tried to get one shot with everyone but me, but it came out blurry. ;0(

The next day we went to a mill that was just at the base of where we went to camp. It was pretty cool to go in and look at all the fun stuff. I have to admit that in my old age, my fear of heights was giving me some trouble. The stairs were so steep and there was not much of a railing. Coming up from the basement my knees were so weak. I wish it did not bother me so much. So I did not go to the top of the mill. I enjoyed taking pictures outside. 

 Cullan and Kael waving to me from upstairs. 

 The kids learning about ground corn. 

 I don't know why, but I told Garran that this picture makes him look creepy. The only thing that helps is that Garran has a baby on his back. ;0)

 Look at that team work. Makes a Mama happy!!

 Garran doing some sifting. He sat there for a long time. I was surprised at how into it he got. 

 Kael and Briea found this in the basement. They were pretty interested in it until I said it reminded me of Hansel and Gretel. Then they were not so interested. I had to kind of laugh to myself. 

 You have to look closely, but you can see Garran, Ayla, Cullan, and Grandpa hanging out the Mill windows. I was up on the bridge at the time with Kael. 

I would recommend Wildcat Den State Park to anyone. It was really pretty and the trails were fun. It is right by the Mississippi on the Iowa side. 

We had fun spending some time out doors, trying to relax from life, and spending time with Garran's parents. I hope we get to do some more camping. The kids really love it!

I love quotes!

And i really love this one!

‎"Something kind of Sad

about the way things have come to be. 

Desensitized to Everything, 

What became of Subtlety"

it's official...

i graduated from the level one cake decorating class. 

i have to say that i do not feel like i really got what i wanted out of it. i know i posted before that the lady teaching the class was very nice, but not the best teacher. i don't feel as confident as i would like, and I still feel as though i will just have to figure a lot of it out on my own. 

that being said, here was my final cake. 

i decided to do a chocolate fudge with banana cream filling. butter cream icing of course. it turned out ok. there is a lot i would like to still try. however, with three birthdays in October and my  new found cake decorating hobby, don't be surprised, if you my local friends get a mysterious cake on your door. Please take it. I really can not have cake in my house anymore. I don't even want to eat it at this point.

oh, i do have pictures of the other cakes that my friends did. however, at the moment i can not find the cord i need to get them off my camera. so when i find it, will post them as well!

i start the level 2 class this Thursday, but with a different instructor. i am hoping to learn a lot more. 

i have really enjoyed taking these classes and just doing something fun one night a week.

Celebrations.

So this year, I asked Kael what kind of cake that he wanted. He said that he just wanted to help make it and that he wanted it colorful. So I decided why not let him decorate it. It is his birthday and kids love to do stuff like that anyways. So I got it started and then he took it over, with some help from the rest of the family.

 The kids all got a different color of frosting to help stir.

 Kael waiting ever so patiently to have me finish icing the cake.

 Briea thrilled that she has a whole bowl of icing she is in charge of. ;0)

time to decorate!

 Everyone got to add their own individual touch.

 Look at that talent. Little cake designers!

 the finished project. Kael thought it was great. That was the most important part. I thought it was a very abstract peice of work. ;0)

this year instead of doing a couple little presents we just did one big one. So here is Kaels new bike!!

I can not find the picture I took of him on it, but he was really excited about it.

of course i had to take a video of our big happy birthday song! i love cullan and briea at the end. they were so into it!

5 Short Years.

Five short years ago today we had already dropped Cullan off at our "Friendly Neighbors" house. 

I left in tears. I don't know if it was hormones or what. I was sad that I would be leaving Cullan for three days. I was scared about giving birth again. All I could think was that if something went wrong, I would be leaving this sweet little boy and Garran. I know. It sounds dramatic, but I am a worrier by nature. Anyways, by now we were sitting in the hospital. I had the nicest nurse ever. Garran and I still had not decided on a name and so we were discussing things and waiting for our sweet baby boy. 

I remember wondering how I could love another baby as much as I loved Cullan. 

However after my easiest labor of all four, my fears were put to rest.

It was love at first sight. 

He was adorable and I could not imagine my life without him, even though he had only been with us for a few short minutes. 

And now....

5 Years Later

Here he is. 

Handsome, Energetic, Social, Funny, Dramatic, and so full of LIFE!

Kael has so many wonderful characteristics. We love him more everyday.

These last 5 years have gone by so fast. It feels like we were just at the first picture. 

We Love You More Than You May Ever Know!!

Happy 5th Birthday 

Kael!

Fun Fair

Tonight Cullan's school put on a fun fair and it sure was fun!

We had a really great time. I have to admit that both Garran and I were nicely surprised at how many fun things they had to do for the kids. Things were very fairly priced and the kids had an awesome time playing all the games and doing all the activities!

We ate dinner there first. 

Hot dogs!

The kids were excited about that!

 I am about 99% sure this was Cullan's favorite part. They had a couple huge bouncy house things and he spent most of his time playing in those.

 Briea on the other hand had fun at the bouncy houses but really loved all the animal stuff. she stayed at the mini petting zoo for a long time.

so did Kael. he has always been my little animal lover. he is very sweet and soft to them. he is always asking if we can get different kinds of pets. hopefully one day we will. 

 garran tried to let Ayla check out the animals with Briea. I don't think she was having much of that. Briea on the other hand was not afraid at all. She cracked me up. She and this duck were having a mini stare off. all of a sudden this duck quaked and her and she just reached over and pinched its beak closed. she was very soft when she did it, but I could just see her saying, "I don't think so DUCK!"

They also had pony rides. 

Guess who was in heaven.

Yep these two kiddos.

We took multiple turns on the ponies.

At one point, every time we went around briea would yell "yee-haw" and wave a pretty wave to the people waiting in line for a turn. 

They were so cute riding the horses. I even snapped a little video of them.

 after the pony ride, Kael decided that it was time to go do some rock climbing! 

 here he is getting all harnessed up.

 this was a pretty decent sized rock wall for a 5 year old. kael showed no fear. he just hopped right up in line.

 Cullan stood with Kael while he waited for his turn.

 Kael getting harnessed up by one of the rock climbing students from the college.

Look at him go. He did not make it to the top to ring the bell but that did not matter at all. I was so proud of him for trying something new. I kept telling him what an awesome job he did. I hope he tries those sorts of things more often. I get so excited watching my kids strike out and try new things that they have not yet experienced.

video of kael. Sorry it is sideways and short. i was trying to watch other kids so i did not get most of it.

 Cullan playing bags. Guess he takes after aunt sara!

after most of the games we decided to go on the hay ride.

 look at these two cuties waiting for the ride to start. 

i just love them.

 three more cuties. 

Sometimes I can not believe how big they are getting.

 Cullan took this picture of Garran and I. 

I am trying hard to be in more pictures. 

 more cuteness. 

i just thought i would through it in.

 while on the hayride we found out that this tractor is famous. 

Zach Effron and Dennis Quad are in our town and the two adjoining filming a movie. This tractor was in it. They borrowed it from the farmer. The movie is about a farmer and his son. The dad wants his son to farm, but the son wants to be a race car driver. I found a link to the movie HERE. 

Here we are at the end of the night.

Fun Fair Over and we were ready to head home. 

It was starting to get really chilly so it was the perfect time.

I am actually looking forward to more nights like these, now that we are officially parents of school aged children.

(sigh, I can not believe i just said that)

almost here.

kael's birthday is sunday.

he will be 5!

today at school he got a birthday sticker, happy birthday sang to him and he got to share cupcakes with his friends. 

all in all, he had a great day!

noodle nunchucks

well i had just sat down at my last cake decorating class for the level one group when my phone rang. 

we had made Chinese for dinner that night, and used chopsticks while eating. 

i had finished dinner and left.

garran calls me and says, "hey you might need to come back home.". 

i asked what was the matter. 

garran said he was not sure what happened. he said kael was sitting in the chair and the next thing he knew he was crying and saying that his face hurt. 

he had some how managed to "noodle nun chuck" (that is what our kids call chop sticks, don't ask, I don't know why) but anyways, he had somehow managed to "nun chuck" himself in the face.

so i left class early and took Kael to the ER for him to have his cheek looked at. it was not a very long cut. however it was deep and in a bad place. Garran and I both thought that because of the location it would need stitches to heal and not constantly keep opening.

we were right. 

3 big stitches.

i told Kael afterwards that they had to sew him up to keep all his handsome-ness inside. he thought that was funny. he was really brave till they stuck that needle right in his cut. i have to admit that this was the first time i witnessed someone getting stitches. usually garran deals with this stuff. however he had a ton of grading to do, so i went. i tried to not think about how painful it was to have that needle stuck in your cut, but i think i may have tensed up just as much as poor kael did when that needle went in. 

oh well. he is doing well, and those stinky stitches will be out next week!

out.

yep.

100% out!

relatable!

This comic strip almost always makes me laugh. 

Probably because most of the time I can totally relate!

This is what happens.

When you spend the evening with friends you do not get to see that often but that you know you can always laugh with and have a good time.

We tried to surprise our friends that Palmers for Stacy's birthday, which is tomorrow. 

Happy Birthday Friend!

She figured it out, but we still went and had fun anyways. We ate dinner at this super yummy place called "Tokyo". Then we walked around the mall and just chatted. Had some ice cream and ended the night at Target. 

I know it might not sound like the most amazing double date in the world, but I laughed so much it was totally worth every minute.

Of course at the mall we had to stop in the Halloween shop. The boys stayed up front and talked while Stac and I looked around. 

We found these gems and I could not resist a picture with them.

Thanks for a fun night Palmer's and Hope you have an Amazing Birthday tomorrow Stac!!