Apple Orchard

Chris had spent a lot of days in the car and couldn't stand the thought of hanging around home yesterday. So we headed off to the Apple Orchard with Lexi!

Lexi and Chris with their prize bags of apples! They had a contest to see who could pick the most!

Lexi took this picture!

Happy Birthdays!!!

Happy Birthday Erin!! You are such an amazing friend! I've loved watching you become a wonderful wife and mother. I'm so blessed by our friendship!

Happy 18th Birthday Dalton! I was so blessed to have gained you as a brother when I married Chris. It's been wonderful to watch you grow up, and Chris and I are so proud of you!

Pumpkin Patch

Allison, Nicole, and I all took Elijah to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. It was one the only warm days we've had since we've been back, so it was the perfect day for the pumpkin patch!

Showing off his messy hands and face after roasting marshmellows.

Making his way through the obstacle course.

We were trying to get a cute pic beside the pumpkins in a the cute chair....he was more interested in the fudge we had bought earlier.

Resting in Sidney, Nebraska

Recaps of the week: I drove from St. Joe to Worland, Wyoming on Monday, which was a 14 hour drive. Then from Tuesday thru Friday I've been getting up at 6 every morning so I could shower, get my maps ready, eat breakfast, and head for the courthouse to do research. The reason I've been getting up so early is because of the Mountain Time Zone, which is an hour earlier than Central Time Zone. I couldn't sleep past 6 because it would actually be 7 in Missouri. My body was used to getting up at 7 everyday. Just this week I've driven 2,600 miles, more or less. It felt really awesome not doing anything yesterday, but watch movies. Luckily, my room came with a love seat couch which I took advantage of. I set up a little movie center. Yesterday I watched Tropic Thunder, Bangkok Dangerous, Max Payne, Hostel 2, and Evan Almighty.

Just trying to show Dalton up with his mad photo editing skills. I don't have any photo editing softwares on my computer so I actually had to do my own stunts. Here is a picture of me teleporting from the couch to the bed.

Movie Center

Sorry about my dirty socks, I didn't realize those were in the picture.

How Much Would You Bid?!

We cleaned out our closets the other day...which of course means it's time to put some stuff on Ebay! I was taking pictures of some of Chris' shirts yesterday and Emma was pretty sure she was supposed to be in the picture!

National Land Marks on the Oregon Trail

Just wanted to share pictures of what I've seen on my mini adventure.


Devil's Gate


Devil's Gate is a narrow cut made by the Sweetwater River through a rock formation. Devil's Gate is three hundred seventy feet high and more than a quarter mile long. length. Martin's Cove is about four miles west of Devil's Gate.

Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock rises four hundred and seventy feet above the North Platte River in western Nebraska. The tip of the formation is three hundred and twenty-five feet above the base. To fur traders, mountain men, and the Oregon and Mormon Trail immigrants, Chimney rock marked the end of plains travel and the beginning of the mountains on the overland trails.
Beyond Chimney Rock, the next Oregon-Mormon Trail landmark was Scott's Bluff. The first traders to see it was Robert Stuart and the Astorians in 1812. The bluff was named for Hiram Scott whose body was found near the bluff in 1830. The Oregon Trail picture is taken from the summit of Scott's Bluff.

Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail Landmark

Scott's Bluff

Meadow Muffins

Doesn't that sound good, don't you want to rush to the store and buy some?

If your answer is "Yes"..........please continue reading.

Don't be fooled by the name, it's not what you think it is.

Buffalo chips were as important as any landmark on the Oregon and Mormon pioneer trails. Dried buffalo manure was the only "firewood" for cooking and heat that could be found on the prairie. One of the first tasks when the Oregon and Mormon Trail wagon trains stopped at night was to gather armfuls, or aprons full, of dried buffalo chips. Called "meadow muffins", it took two or three bushels of chips to heat a meal.

Mini Project in Nebraska and Wyoming

Snowy Mountains

Looks like an advertisement for the Scion xA. What a cool Pic!

World's Largest Mineral Hot Springs

Hot Springs

Wyoming Scenery

Nebraska Archway that is actually a museum.

We Love Being Home!

Pumpkin Fest 2008

Today was the annual Pumpkin Fest! Which means this morning was the costume contest/parade. Last year Elijah was a very adorable skunk and recieved second place in his age group.

This year, he was Paul Stanley (the guitarist of KISS). He looked awfully cute!! He also placed 1st in his age group this year!!!!

Walking in the parade!

Sitting withall his great prizes!!

Lexi had decided she wanted to be a dalmation, so we dressed Eric as a dog catcher. They got 2nd place in the family group!! All in all it was a successful, fun day, full of fun prizes!!

It's hard to see in the picture, but the cardboard cut-out was actually a very cute dog-catcher's truck!Lexi and Eric walking in the parade!

After the parade we enjoyed some of the fun carnival rides!

I HATE SPIDERS!!!!!

If you know me at all, then you know I hate bugs with a passion. At the top of the list are spiders. Even a very small one will send me into a screaming fit until Chris (or someone aside from me) comes in and kills it. Before I headed back to Texas this last time I had bug-bombed the house. I did this after seeing a spider two days in a row. (I don't mess around with bugs in my house!) I've been pleased to not find any bugs in my house since we've been home. However, on the outside of the house is a different story!!
It seems we have a spider infestation on the outside of our house. When we came home I was freaked out to find three spider webs on our front porch with very large spiders in them (even Chris was shocked at the size). We took some hornet and bee killer (it's all I had) and sprayed it down one side of our porch. Aparently that particular web was actually a nest! We killed 4 quite large spiders that came running out! THEN this massive spider came out:

Needless to say I quickly went to the store and bought spider killer which I bathed the outside of my house in. I honestly can't tell you how many massive spiders we've killed!

I really thought all this spider nastiness was behind us, then we decided to do some yardwork today. We started hauling some landscaping bricks from the front yard to the shed in our back. We found a large spider nest in the bricks. Now, these spiders weren't big, but Chris is pretty sure they were black widows. After some internet searching, I think I agree! FANTASTIC, we now had black widows!!! (I say had because I quickly doused that entire area with my handy spider killer). Then we go into the shed and kill another two nests of quite large spiders. Chris also found the mother of all spiders in the back window.....it was quite a bit bigger than the one in the picture up above!!!

Needless to say, this has only fueled my intense fear of spiders!! And I'm quite seriously considering bug-bombing the perimeter of my house and possibly the entire neighborhood!!

"Look Aunt Gi-Gi, it's my silly run!!"

Fun Morning!

We got to keep Eli this morning for a few hours. We had a busy morning and tons of fun! We took everyone, dogs included, to go for a walk/run. Then we headed home to make fall sugar cookies. I always make sugar cookies in the fall and at Christmas time. It was pretty fun to have some help today!

Finishing up our walk

Sprinkling flour out for the dough

Rolling out the dough!

Cutting out cookies!

Emma got in on the fun!

He's the official taste-tester!

Back in Mo!!

We are officially back in Missouri! Chris' Step-dad, Andres was nice enough to come down and help us pack up and drive the uhaul home for us. It was so great to have his help!!
I was nervous about Marathon's first big trip! I was so afraid she would be too hyper, but I didn't even consider her getting car sick!! We're all of 2 minutes out of town and she started throwing up! It definitely made for a rough first half of the trip, but she was fine the second half!


We got to end the day with Elijah and Emma reunited!!