A New Adventure in Bike Riding

At a garage sale this summer, I found this bike trailer for a great deal. Unfortunately, it was missing the piece that attached it to the bike. Luckily my resourceful husband (after much needling) was able to order the piece and it works like a dream. The girls love it and even I can ride them around the neighborhood.

Buckled in and ready for the ride.

And they are off!

Rachel: The Jack-O-Lantern

Rachel got all dressed up for Halloween.

She even had the perfect toothy jack-o-lantern smile. Claire wanted to call her pumpkin.


I tried a fancy video of the laughing pumpkin. We'll see if it works.

Happenings 10/7-10/13

We had a busy week, as seems to be the usual thing now. The weather cooled down quite a bit so I rode my bike to campus every day this week, which was made nicer by the fact that the local schools all had a week-long Fall break -- never heard of that before -- and so there was less traffic on the roads. Plus, I went pretty early each day because I am trying to finish two papers by the end of the month.

I had another USTA match on Tuesday evening in Mayfield, and my partner and I won our match. It is fun to play real matches, but the action is kind of slow -- the way to win is to just get the ball back over the net and wait for the other team to make a mistake. Going for winners at this level just makes more unforced errors. That season is over for me -- kind of quick. I will continue to play with my friend from the ward, which is more fun and more of a workout anyway, until it gets too cold.

Friday morning, JJ and the girls went to a farm with some other people in the ward, (This one was much better than the last. The funny thing is that we passed this place on our way to the one the week before and there were a ton of cars and everything and we thought "Thank goodness we aren't going there with all those other people." Well, they knew something we didn't. This farm was much bigger and even though during the week they cater to schools and daycares, they let us just join in with a group so we enjoyed a storytime, hayride - although Claire was STILL disappointed because she really wanted a hayride and we ended up in a wooden wagon type ride instead of the one with the hay - pumpkin patch, corn grinder, wagons, swings, more corn boxes, tricycles, cows, goats, pigs, and other animals along with a corn maze. We went with two other mothers who each had two kids and we had a great time. Claire led us all through the corn maze and then picked out a green pumpkin to pick and take home. She also loved using the old equipment to get all the corn kernels off the cob and then grinding up the kernels and feeding them to the cows. I thought she would be afraid to feed the cows, but she wasn't at all, even after getting nipped twice. She was pretty worn out when we left. Rachel loved it too. She fell asleep while I was holding her when we ate lunch.) and then that evening, after they came back, we went to campus to run in the Homecoming Race, a 5K run around campus. JJ pushed the stroller and walked and ran, and I ran. I almost won my age division, 31-40 -- 3 of us -- but another guy was 30 seconds ahead of me. (We were obviously last, but I was pretty happy with how we did considering I was jogging/walking while pushing two more bodies. It brought back memories of the Potato Festival Run when I was 5 and last. The policeman here followed us along just like he did then - bringing up the rear. We had a good time though. Claire and I sang and waved at people along the way.) It was a fun race and nice
weather.

Saturday we left early to go to the temple in Nashville. It takes 2.5 hours to get to the temple, and we dropped JJ off for the 10:00 session and I took the girls to a park, and then went back and when JJ came out, I hurried in for the noon session. (It is a small temple and looks just like the Monticello Temple inside) It worked out great this time, but we heard that it is uncommon to be able to trade off like that. (I was just able to glance at the Celestial Room as I walked through to go out because I had to hurry so much so Paul could get in. I even had to repack my temple bag when I got home because I just threw everything in there.)When I finished, we tried to go to the zoo, but it was really crowded and about ready to close for some reason, so we went to the science museum which was really great, and it was hard to get Claire out of there. (It was fun for Paul and I too. They had a lot of really cool things to play with and it always makes it more fun to go somewhere Claire can run around and touch everything. Rachel of course had a good time as always in the snugglie.)

We ate dinner in Clarksville on the way home and got home around 8:15, just enough time for me to finish preparing my talk for Sunday's meeting.

Hope you all had a good week! We love you!


A Day on the Farm

Alli, Jonathan, Jonah & Claire on the "hayride".


Claire in the corn maze.

J.J. & Rachel by photographer Claire.

Claire searching for the perfect pumpkin.

"Hmm. How about this one?"

"Looks the right size."

"I think this is it!"

J.J. & Rachel try out the pumpkin.

Claire, Jonah, Alli & Jonathan

Peek-A-Boo

Rachel loves to play peek-a-boo. It always brings on the giggles.

Ready?

Where's Rachel?

Peek-A-Boo!!

Want to play again?

I just love this game. It's so exciting!!

Princess Potato Head Pumpkin

This was our version of pumpkin carving this year. Grammy Judy found this neat set of Princess Potato Head accessories and they worked out perfectly for our pumpkin.

The green spot on the side of the pumpkin face is compliments of mold from sitting out for about three weeks.

Happenings 09/30-10/06

(This letter is late and you may receive 2 or 3 letters this week because I have been late adding my 2 cents! )The school districts here have a full week break in the Fall, which begins on the 8th. Murray State has a one day Fall break, which was on Friday. So, JJ planned a day trip for Friday and it turned out to be a lot of fun. First, we drove about 1.5 hours east of here to a family farm north of Hopkinsville. They had hay rides, a petting zoo, pumpkins, and an apple orchard. But when we got there, they would only give hay rides to school groups, and there was a huge school group there -- over 100 kids. It was quite overwhelming for us because it wasn't that big. But we did hang out at the petting zoo for a bit and bought some apples and pumpkins from their store. We were hoping to pick some apples, but they had a late spring freeze that limited the crop this year. But it was fun anyway. (Claire was very disappointed about the hayride and picking apples, she kept asking for the next two weeks everywhere we went, "Is this where we are going to pick apples?" or "When do we get to go on a hay ride?" I am learning as a mother not to mention things she will get excited about until I am sure they are going to happen! When the people were showing the kids the pigs, they chased them around and grabbed them and made the pig squeal and wiggle, which made the kids a little freaked out so they were screaming and between the pigs squealing kids screaming it was a bit much for me let alone Claire. She did enjoy the swings, corn pit (like a sand box, but filled with corn instead) and petting the other animals plus we got some yummy apple butter, frog jam (haven't tried it yet) and apple cider, so it was worth it)

We then drove some backroads north to Princeton, where we had lunch at a café downtown and then toured an old, restored home called the Adsmore House. We were taken on a guided tour and it was a really neat place. The tour was kind of funny because the guide acted like it was a day back in 1890 or something, which was kind of weird. Claire was a little excitable, but made it through pretty well. (I had been wanting to go see this house and it was really beautiful. I told Paul I would love to live in an old house like that but I would want it already restored and fixed up like this one was before I moved into it. Well there are lots of old houses, but since I am not up to doing the work right now and don't want or wouldn't be able to pay for a restored house, this fantasy most likely won't happen any time soon.)

After touring the house, we drove north some more to Marion, where there is a large Amish population. JJ had a map in a brochure and half the roads were gravel roads, but we followed a lot of them. (I am quite the navigator. Paul occasionally complains about my routes, - hard to believe, but true - but this day, they were very scenic and he didn't mind much.) The area is really hilly and the farms are situated in the valleys between the hills so it was really pretty. We were driving around about the time that school apparently let out, because lots of Amish kids were walking home from school – all barefoot and smiling. (Also all carrying little igloo type coolers which I thought was kind of funny) We passed a few kids going the same way as us on a dirt road and they were laughing mischeiviously as we passed, probably because 100 yards down the road it was blocked by a big creek. (Later as I was looking at my map, I noticed the little star next to the road which when looking at the key indicated it was a creek crossing the road. If I had noticed this earlier, we may not have gone this way and missed out on the fun that was to come.) We stopped before the creek and then I got out to take a look and the kids caught up
with us and told me that we could make it because it wasn't very deep. As JJ said, wouldn't we be smart taking driving advice from Amish kids? The banks of the creek were high and the road cut into the banks, and there was a foot bridge that the kids walked across. They waited on the other side to watch us cross, and when we backed up instead, they made fun of us, giving us the chicken call. So much for nice Amish:) We thought that was pretty funny. Now this foot bridge was straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, held by cables between trees with old wood slats with gaps and cracks. After the kids went on, I took Claire up to the bridge to go across, and it was a little scary,
swinging back and forth 20 feet above the water. I only went partway with Claire and then took her back to the beginning and then went all the way across and back, and then JJ did the same. I made sure to hang on to the cables because everything else looked as if it could fall at any time.

After playing on the foot bridge, we turned around and made our way to our goal -- a bakery and greenhouse. We made it just before they closed, so we were able to buy some homemade bread. (The bread was delicious! I would like to try some of their pies and desserts also, so maybe we will have to take a trip back to pick some up for Thanksgiving or something. They also had a greenhouse that I would like to check out in the spring. There were all kinds of goods for sale at these peoples homes (more bakeries, veggies, horse shoeing, cabinet making, etc. It was fun to drive through there and the people we saw were very friendly. Paul was very curious as to why their buggies didn't have side windows, I'm not sure they don't because the ones we saw didn't have their tops on them at all but Paul saw that the picture on the road sign didn't, so we will have to investigate. I thought that was a pretty funny thing to be curious about though. We also saw "junk buggies". In some of the yards there were buggies that were old and not functionable anymore, just like you see cars in some yards that belong in a junk yard. I wonder if they have junk yards for buggies around.) We then drove home, getting back
around 7:30.

On Saturday morning, I took our neighbor, Doug, to the driving range because he said he had never played golf and wanted to try it. We had fun and he hit some good shots for his first time. After I got back I watched conference with Rachel while JJ and Claire went to a birthday party. (We went to a party at the gymnastics place here and Claire LOVED it! - so did I. The smell, the equipment, everything brought back so many memories, I was itching to play too. - She had so much fun and I thought "Finally I have the answer to our potty training problems! If you go potty on the toilet, you get to go to gymnastics." Well, I guess nothing is that fun or exciting to override the convenience of going in your pants. I also learned that your body changes a lot after having a baby- I knew this before, just not in this way. I went to bounce on the trampoline with Claire and almost wet my pants.) We all watched (this term is used very loosely since with the girls I catch about 10 seconds at a time) the second session, and then in the evening I went to a pizza dinner prelude to the priesthood session and then came home.

Sunday we watched both sessions of conference at home, but it is quite hard to pay attention to everything with both girls wanting to play or wanting attention. I enjoyed the talks, though, and was impressed by the things that were talked about. (I am just very grateful they come out in print and on the computer since I don't get much from the television)

Earlier in the week, I had my first USTA tennis league match on Wednesday, and our Murray team went to Mayfield, 25 miles away, to play their team. The league is a men's combo league, which means they match doubles partners unequally -- a higher rating with a lower rating. My partner and I won our close match, and I enjoyed playing. Our team captain told me to self-rate low, so I think I am rated lower than I should be, but I still make a lot of mistakes, most of the time because I try to do something besides just get the ball over the net. Sometimes it can be kind of slow, but it is fun to play a real match.

Well, that's it for this week. We love you!


Claire on the haystack.

Stop the pig's squealing!!

Caire, Paul & Rachel

In the corn box, the work is never done.

Ride 'em cowgirl!

Welcome to the farm!

Pat the Bunny, Claire and Mommy

The Billy Goats Gruff

A day on the farm sure wipes you out!

Who's tired?

Indiana Jones has got nothin' on us!


Amish farms in Kentucky

Belle- the Claire interpretation

Claire loves to be Belle from "Beauty and the Beast". But can always be counted on to add her own touch to the outfit. This is the "Winter Belle"