Wild Things Farm

Korben & Gabriel

King of the tree

Rachel & Ada

looking off into the distance (or at the horses)

hay ride

"Patches" the horse

"Don't poke her eye"

Our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group meets at our church twice a month, but the other Tuesdays of the month we are doing playdates. It has been so much fun! Last year we would say we were going to get together on the off Tuesdays, but rarely did it. This year we were intentional and actually planned some things to do. Sometimes we just go to a park and let the kids play, but we have a few other planned activities as well. We went to the Wild Things Farm a few weeks ago. It was a perfect fall day! The weather was beautiful and we had so many moms and kids come; I think there were about 40 moms and preschoolers that day!

We went on a hayride to start off, which was so much fun and all the kids seemed to enjoy it. We only stopped long enough for everyone to pet "Patches" the horse. Gabriel kept wanting to touch and poke her eye, but did learn how to pet her gently. We went through a corn maze, which was really too much for preschoolers, I think. Each child got to pick out a little pumpkin to take home. Gabriel just wanted to throw them. The only bad thing that happened was that Gabriel pushed a couple of pumpkins off onto a little girl's head. They were the ones sitting on top of the hay stacks and she was on the other side sitting on the ground. It was one of those slow motion type situations in my mind in which I wanted to stop him, but wasn't fast enough. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt, just surprised.

The last part was a little petting zoo with a baby pig and some goats. Gabriel wasn't interested in feeding the goats the stale popcorn that was offered, but he was interested in eating it himself! Gross! I didn't let him have anymore after that. He didn't seem to understand that it was for the goats.

We loved the Wild Things Farm!

Nebraska trip

Kevin & Karen in front of their restaurant

Tour of the stadium

Didn't purchase it, but had to try it on.

cool fountain

indoor practice facility

Wayne and I went to Nebraska for a few days at the end of September. Grandma & Grandpa came to stay at our house with the kids. It was our first time away together without the kids in about a year and a half. I had always wanted to go to a Husker football game in Lincoln. We had been once to see them play in the Cotton bowl a few years ago, but I had never been to one at Memorial Stadium.

We arrived on Thursday evening and had dinner with Brett (Wayne's Christian Challenge director in college) & Mary Yohn at Laslow's which is one of Wayne's favorite restaurants in Lincoln. It was great to see the Yohn's and catch up with them. We walked around the campus on Friday and were treated to lunch at Bread & Cup by Kevin (one of Wayne's mentors in college) and Karen Shinn, who own the restaurant. The food was delicious; I definitely recommend it if you are ever in Lincoln! Friday night we went to eat at Yia Yia's pizza...wow, some of the best pizza I've ever had! We went to a movie afterwards, which is a rare treat for us! Saturday we went to breakfast at Bread & Cup. They had delicious breakfast and very good coffee (so important in our book). The morning was cool and cloudy, so we hung out at Barnes & Noble for a while, also a rare treat for us.

We headed over to the stadium around 4:30 and got seated in plenty of time, a little too much time, ooh, did I say that out loud...to watch the game which started at 6. By that time, the sun had come out and it was near perfect temperature. The Huskers won the game, but didn't blow the South Dakota jackrabbits out as expected. They didn't play that well and so the crowd was not into it as much as I expected they would be. It was still fun and amazing to see 86,000 in attendance.

Sunday morning we went to church at New Covenant where Wayne was a member when he lived there. We enjoyed it and started making our way home afterwards. It was so good to see our boys. Micah just smiled and giggled when we came in the house. They missed us, but did great and had fun with Grandma & Grandpa. We so enjoyed our time and were appreciative of Wayne's parents for being willing to take on our kids for four days!

Paint the Park Pink on the Green

The Bell tower on UAFS campus

In honor of my Aunt Nona

Dad came out to show support

Mom is a 14 year survivor!

Survivors walking toward the starting area

The survivors

Mom and I participated in the Paint the Park Pink on the Green walk last Saturday. I think it used to just be called Paint the Park Pink when it was at one of the local parks, and then they moved it to the UAFS campus. It was a beautiful fall day, perfect weather for the occasion. Mom and I went to the survivor breakfast before the walk and then the walk started at 9 am.

Mom has always wanted to participate in one of the Susan G. Komen walks/races and something has always come up that prevented her from taking part. So, this was a fun day and I'm glad it worked out for us to go. Dad came over and walked with us. There were hundreds of people who participated in the walk. We walked all the way around the beautiful UA Fort Smith campus.

There were pink flags all around the campus in honor of hundreds of people.

We had two flags out, one in honor of Mom and one in honor of Aunt Nona, Dad's sister who passed away in 2007. She had breast cancer many years ago and it was another kind of cancer that took her life, but we still wanted to honor her. She was dearly loved by our family.

Just Pet the Cat

We have a cat that frequents our yard for some reason. I think she belongs to one of the neighbors behind us, but really likes our backyard. She likes Gabriel too even though he seems to want to torture her. The other night I was gone to a meeting and later I read what Wayne had posted on his facebook status:

"When I imagined what being a parent would be like, I never envisioned myself saying the following: "Don't sit on the cat. NO. DON'T SIT ON THE CAT!...Don't poke it, either. No, don't hit it! Don't step on it. Don't pull the tail. Pet it. Pet the cat. Just pet the cat...Good. Just like that. Pet the cat."