Thanksgiving Week- Part I

What an awesome week I had! Thank you God for the blessing of my mom and friendship from Appi! We had a busy week so I will probably have to do this in 2 posts. Appi, Morgan, Harrison, Lillie, and Mom arrived here last Saturday night around bedtime after driving a half day on Friday and a looong day on Saturday. They went to church with us on Sunday and then I planned Haven's birthday for that afternoon. Haven wanted a "Little Mermaid" party and a "pinata" (she pronounces it as spelled....not with the spanish accent over the "N"). She had a great turn out and had a wonderful time with all her special friends. Mrs. Joy from our church made her cake as her gift from her and she did a great job!

(Yes--Mason has a blindfold on!)

Haven was very happy that her Nuna was there for her party!!

Next, we decorated cupcakes with sprinkles, gummies, M&M's, choc chips, etc. Here are some of the masterpieces.....

Haven's friend Gabi...

Appi's son Morgan (above) and daughter Lillie (below)

Haven's friend Alaina


Appi's son Harrison (I caught him while he was eating his!)

On Monday, we went shopping in downtown Durango......

Checked out the train station

And I promise you that you won't visit us without visiting the Rocky Mt. Chocolate Factory!! This is Appi's kids with the bear that sits outside

We then visited Mesa Verde National Park......here we are waiting for the guided tour....

This is the Spruce Treehouse Cliff Dwellings of the ancient Pueblo Indians.....There's a valley between where mom is standing and the dwellings

The whole crew!

Well, I am going to have conclude at another time......our company left this morning and today by 4 it started snowing and covered the ground! They got out just in time!

Elks and Prayer Requests

I forgot to mention the other night on our way home from ABQ, we were about 5 miles from the house and hit an elk. It scared me pretty badly because it is such a huge animal but the damage was not too bad because we got him in his back hind leg. It did do enough damage to declare the van undriveable but we are able to drive it. Thank you God that it didn't come thru the windshield and everyone was safe!

While I am extremely excited about Appi Pate, her 3 kids, and Mom coming in 2 days, my heart is very heavy for our niece Kayci who has lost her baby and is presently having to give birth to it. Please pray for her and her husband Jamie who are walking thru some very dark days right now. We love you Kayci and Jamie and are VERY sorry that this has happened.....

ALBUQUERQUE

We had such a fun weekend in Albuquerque at the YAFL State Tournament. We arrived on Friday night and many of the other team members were staying at the same hotel so the kids had fun swimming and hanging with the other boys. Our first game did not start until 2pm on Saturday so to appease Landon, we started our day out at the zoo.......This shot was taken right before going in and that's Max who spent the weekend with us there with the kids

We started out with our favorites....the apes and monkeys....which Landon is absolutely in love with! He fully intends to be a zookeeper one day and has declared that the Golden Lion Tamarin is his favorite monkey

I loved how neat it was to see the gorillas..they just seemed so close.....

This next picture was Baby Reece....so cute!

We found the polar bears to be very interesting as that one on top was working to get that big piece of plastic up into the pool behind him....and he did it eventually with audience that clapped at his accomplishment!

We had such a better experience this trip than the one in July where Mason was sick and Haven fell down and the temp was 100 degrees! It was cool and all of the animals were out and no one was hardly there....

OK so my favorite animal is the giraffe...check out this video of two of the males aggrevating each other.....

At the tournament there were 4 divisions....we were in the 2nd division and I haven't a clue who we were even playing but we creamed them 32-0. I don't know why but there were no weight limits at state tournament which means that Mason could carry the ball for the first time ever. He was soooooooo excited because they had a couple of plays with him at tight end. During the first game they did the play and he caught the pass! It was so exciting! But that was the only time he got to do it. Coach told us later that the score was so bad that they didn't want to keep running it up but that he planned to play Mason a lot on Sunday at tight end. Here of some pics from the Saturday game.....

Mas and Max....

One happy team after an easy win!

Much time was then spent at the pool at your own risk! The ballgame continued with about 20 boys in the pool!!

They also had a pizza party

Haven was a little worn out after a busy day and fell asleep on top of Daddy....

Sunday was a different story. Saturday was cold but Sunday was FREEZING!!

I don't know how Mason caught his passes but he did and he was soooo close to his first touchdown!! Oh, well....maybe next year! We were the ones that got creamed on Sunday by Rio Rancho and came in 2nd in our division which was still an awesome football season!

I do have to brag on my Mason.....we had the YAFL end of season party last night and his coach told us that Mason probably hasn't said 5 words to him all season (you all know he doesn't talk that much to adults) but that he thinks Mason has the most talent of anyone on the team and that next year he can probably pick his position on the 7th grade middle school team! We knew that Mason loved it and gave it all he had. He learned a lot this year because he hasn't played since 2nd grade and we attributed a lot of that to the very talented coaches that encouraged him (even though we wanted to wash their mouths out with soap quite frequently!!).

I want to leave you on this note........

ROLL TIDE!!!! (Isn't that baby elephant ADORABLE!!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MIKE!

MIKE celebrates 41 years today! I am so blessed to have him as a husband and father of my children. We are heading to Albuquerque for the weekend to Mason's state football tournament so we may not get to celebrate his special day properly but we are anticipating a great time. We're all staying at a hotel with an indoor pool so Mason is so excited. His friend Max is staying the weekend with us because his family couldn't go. I'm getting off the subject so let me redirect and say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE OWEN....WE LOVE YOU"~~

Salmon Run

Hey guys it is that time of year when the salmon run up the streams and the bald eagles come to eat them. I am posting these pictures so Mr. Rayburn Junkin can have the evidence he needs to show people in Alabama that salmon run up and spawn in the streams of Colorado. These are Kokonee Salmon. They are everywhere. Beginning this week you can just throw a hook out and snag them and take as many as you want.

Pumpkins, Birthdays, and Fall Festivals

OK, so to play catch up here, Denise sent the kids a surpise in the mail one day that included pumpkin carving kits. We have never carved pumpkins before so the boys really enjoyed it and I wanted to post pics so that Denise can see what they did....

The first one is Mason's and of course, I believe you can tell which one is Landons.......Thanks Denise and Jeff for your 'surprises"!! It was fun!

Last Saturday, both boys had their first basketball game (Mason's team won and Landon's team lost) and then Mason had a 4 hour All-star football practice, so I took Haven and Landon to Pine Valley Church's Fall Festival for a little fun. Afterwards, we went to the Shank House next door who was also having a festival that was a little too WiLd for us! All 3 kids got a cake in the cake walk and mom and dad got a lesson in where NOT to take your kids on Oct. 31st!

Landon was dressed as a nerd and Haven was Tinkerbell....Mason didn't dress up but did sport his football jersey.....The highlight for Haven was getting to ride in a fire truck~

On Haven's birthday, she helped me make her a sprinkle cake with sprinkle icing......

I also took her to the indoor pool with two of her friends for a little birthday swim, and she shared her cupcakes she made.....

This is Alaina and Tommy Jane...

Our family celebration included singing Happy Birthday and cutting the cake and she got to open her present from us.....a freaky cat that acts way too REAL!! Funny thing is that you couldn't convince Haven that the cat wasn't real!

The kids are out of school today and Mason has a friend over today. We are going to the Bayfield High School game tonight because they are introducing the 6th grade football team at half time. Since we've left Pickens Co., this will probably be our 2nd or 3rd high school game that we've been to in 10 years. Mason will love it! Tomorrow we have 2 basketball games and the All-Star Football Game in Farmington, NM. Busy, Busy, but I love it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET HAVEN!

Haven turns 4 today and it is unbelieveable! Time just flies the older I get! She was so cute yesterday, anticipating her birthday today and she would say "Mama, tomorrow's my birthday...Landon, tomorrow's my birthday....Mason, etc..." Then last night she told me to wake her up so that her bubba's can sing happy birthday to her. And they did as well as decorated the house with balloons. She is now anticipating going swimming with 2 of her friends, Alaina and Tommy Jane after they get out of school. She's got her bags back, her cupcakes ready, and has asked me every 5 minutes if it was time yet. She helped bake her birthday cake today so that was special. We are postponing her party for about 3 weeks to Thanksgiving week so that Mom and Appi's family can be here for it because they are spending that week with us...so exciting! We'll have a family party tonight for Haven where she'll get to open her "kitty cat" she's been wanting for so long. She brings such joy and laughter to our lives, not only from who she is but experiencing the boys relationship with her also...it's so precious to watch (most of the time!!) I don't have a baby any more, that's for sure!
I wanted to post a picture of her but computer keeps shutting down every time I try. I'll post some later!