Santa flying in.....

Every year for the children's Christmas party at David's work they have Santa "fly" in on an airplane, this year, he "flew" in on a t-37. The kids think it is the coolest thing. I think it is cool too, how many kids get to see Santa flying in on an airplane (okay they really just see him taxing in)? Here are some pictures of him giving Ben, Mara and Ashlee a hug right after he gets off the airplane.

The last is picture of the kids sitting on Santa's lap. I was expecting Ashlee to freak out while sitting on his lap, but he was prepared with candy canes to bribe the the kids.

Family pictures gone crazy

On Saturday we went to Lucy park and took our yearly family pictures. We have never hired a photographer. David's pretty good at it finding a good spot. The kids are getting used to smiling at a timed camera. Ashlee's not, but she won't smile even with someone there trying to get her to smile. I decided to post some out takes. We had one goofy picture and sometimes David forgot to set the time and it just took when we weren't ready, one was pretty funny. Here you go....


























The good pictures are going out in our Christmas card. If you don't normally get a Christmas card from us, email us and we'll get you one.

birthday surpise

I have a great husband!!! He decided throw me a surprise party for my big 30th! He told me he was going to surprise me for our date the Saturday before my birthday. He didn't tell me what we were going to do, but I figured part of it was going out to dinner and I thought maybe to a local play or something. After we left dinner I had to be blind folded. We ended up going back to our house full of people that sang "happy birthday" to me. He invited all my friends(and their husbands) by a inviation a couple a weeks ago. It was a blast, we talked and played games. Everyone got babysitters for their kids. So it was adults only. I had a great time. The only complaint was it was too short, but thats life. Here's a picture of me next to my birthday sign.

Pumpkins away!

Halloween
The kids and their cousins had a blast trick or treating. Our neighborhood is the spot to go trick or treating so there are a lot of people out. Alden (David's brother in law) commented that it reminded him of the trick or treating on "E.T."

Here is a pictures of the kids in their costume....except I forgot Ashlee's cat ears. She wouldn't keep them on.





Pumpkin Bombing
On Saturday, we went to one of the airports in town to watch their annual pumpkin bombing competition. David's boss flew his Russian airplane (a Yak for those who are familiar). One of our neighbors had a contraption set up that dropped multiple pumpkins along with a few smoke bombs of different colors. The kids had a blast cheering when a pumpkin made it on the target.

Ben liked how the pumpkins"blew up."



Ashlee clapping


Ben took some pictures too.

Aubrey with an airplane taxiing by

David, Elaine & Mara

3 things in one

So a lot has happened this week and I haven't got a chance to post them until now. First Mara and Ben both had field trips on Thursday. Mara's Teacher has been reading a book in class (Trapped in Death Cave), and they went to go see the area where it described. They went to the Wichita Mountains Visitor’s center (we went to the mountains last week, but we’ve never been to the visitor’s center) Afterwards, they went to a small town north of Lawton, OK and walked around to see the sights of the book. Then, they went to a park to have lunch and play. David got to go since he was night flying this week and didn't have to go to work till later. Here are some pictures he took.

This first one is with Mara and some of her friends in front of a stuffed buffalo

Here is Mara standing on the "rickety" bridge. David said that the kids were afraid to walk over it because it looked so old, but apparently cars drive on it so it was pretty safe.

Ben went to a farm area where the teachers had set up different booths with different pumpkin activities. At one booth, they read them a book and they all planted a pumpkin seed, at another they took out the seeds and then carved it, and at another they just got to play with a whole bunch of pumpkins (sort them, stack them, roll them down a small hill). Ben had a great time. We also went on a nature walk and saw some deer. I got to go with Ashlee. I was worried that it was going to be too cold. It was cold, but we had gloves and a warm coat so it wasn't too bad. Ashlee had fun hanging out with the big kids. Many of the little girls there liked to "mother" her. It was cute. I of course forgot my camera so I asked someone to take some pictures and they haven't sent me them yet so will post them later.

Next is Ashlee turned 2. We didn't do anything big. Just cake and ice cream and opened presents. Here are some pictures of her blowing out her candles and opening her present. We got her a doll that laughs and cries. Each time it would laugh, Ashlee would laugh her head off.

Last, our little community here had a pumpkin rolling contest on Saturday night. The kids had fun rolling their pumpkins to a target. It took them quit a number of rolls but they both finally did it. After Ben did it he kept doing it. He probably did it about 10 more times. Ashlee wasn't old enough to do it, but she did like to walk right in the way for the where the pumpkins were being rolled and almost got clobbered by pumpkins a couple of times.

Mt. Scott

After our Stake Conference in Lawton, Oklahoma some people in our ward have a picnic in the "mountains" of Oklahoma. When I first heard about these picnics I thought...mountains in Oklahoma? But they are pretty decent for Oklahoma, nothing compared to the mountains in Colorado, though. The kids had fun. The mountains are in a wildlife refuge. They have Buffalo, elk, and long horn. The kids had a blast seeing the animals. They also enjoyed playing on the rocks on Mt. Scott.

Some more from the past...

Here are some cute pictures of Ashlee at the playground. As you can tell she loves the slide.

Driving in a T-6

At David's work once a year they let the spouses "taxi" in the air plane they instruct in. So I could to drive around in the T-6. They won't let us fly, we have to stay on the ground, but it is still fun seeing all the cool stuff that David does. I am always so casual about David's flying, but it is these taxi rides when I realize how hard it is.

Before we go out to the airplane we had to practice putting on the many seat belts you have to put on and you talk about a few of the MANY switches that there are to flip. Here is a picture of me, David, and Ashlee in the practice T-6. For the real flight Ashlee had to go to a babysitter (one of the students was babysitting).




Here is a picture of me with some of my friends, Terri and Amya, who are going for a ride in their husbands airplane. We have to wear our husbands flightsuit. David is quite a bit taller than me so my looks a little baggy.

Here is a picture of me getting ready to ride. With all the stuff you have to wear it can get pretty hot, luckily the T-6 has air conditioning. Gotta love new stuff.

Overall it was a fun day! I was pretty tired at the end of the day and now understand why David is exhausted when he comes homes from work after flying twice.

Stolen Blog

I've taken over Elaine's blog because she said there was nothing to post and she's been so busy with Primary... She's starting to claim it is both of ours.... Anyway, Mara's school had a little Freedom Parade on Sep 11th. Here is a little video. (Ben was sick that day.)

In other news, Ben likes to call the neighborhood cat his... He found it one morning hanging out in one of Ashlee's strollers...

And just so Ashlee doesn't feel left out... this is a picture Mara took of the kid's new faucet. I thought it was neat picture of Ashlee...

Tag I'm it

Okay so I was noticing that lots of other people were getting tagged and really relieved that I was not one of them......there goes that. Thanks Teresa. I really don't know what to say since I am pretty open and tell everyone everything about me, so I don't know what to say that everyone doesn't know, but here goes.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the Person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
5. Let your tagger know when your entry is up

I was tagged by http://teresa-ofwhatalife.blogspot.com/

1. When we were dating I told David I was never going to marry him because I was never going to be Elaine Lane. Then I decided I can't pass up this great guy so I tried to convince him to change his last name.......it didn't work, so here I am as Elaine Lane.

2. I am like my kids in when the TV is on (but not on kid shows) I don't hear anything. My kids could run out in the street naked and I wouldn't notice. So I have learned I can only have TV when the kids are asleep and I am not doing anything else. Poor David though, he tries to talk to me while the TV is on and it becomes a one sided conversation.

3. A perfect day for me would be to just read all day while a maid is cleaning my house. I love to read, and when Ashlee takes a nap I could do a hundred this for the house, but no, I read. So, anyone out there recommend a good book?

4. Until starting this Blog I rarely got on the computer. I had my own email account but never really checked it and relied on David to check it. Now I am on all the time updating my blog or looking at other peoples blog.

5. I would love the calling enrichment night leader!!!! It's like planning a party everything 3 months with someone else's money!! (this one is for you, Teresa)

6. I used to HATE pink. I would never wear it. When Mara was born, I decided that she needed to wear pink because that is what baby girls wear. Then about a year or 2 ago, I randomly decided to by a pink shirt for myself, and now it is one of my favorite shirts.

Whew that was tough. Well, the rules don't actually say I HAVE to tag anyone else so you are all off the hook!!

Soccer Kids

Here are some pictures from their first soccer games. Ben had a BLAST. He gets so excited out there. Other parents comment that they just love to watch him because he gets so excited. He is up and down and everywhere. He know where the ball is and where he should be. He made the first goal of the season for his team. His teammates were so excited!! One of them came up and gave him a big hug.

Mara had a tougher game. Her's was in the afternoon, so it was hot. 2 of her teammates didn't show so she had to play the whole game. The other team was pretty aggressive and didn't have a problem with pushing Mara's teammates down. So Mara got a little frustrated. Hopefully the next game will be better. Here is a cute picture of her though.

Six Flags

We spent last weekend with David's sister Dorothy and her family. We went to six flags. At six flags we met up with Dixon and Karen Croft and their son Titon. Dixon went to the Air Force Academy with David. We had fun. It was hot, but the lines were short. It was fun to hang out with the Crofts. As you can tell by the pictures the kids love hanging out with their cousins.

First day of school

Okay so I am little late on getting this on but here are the pictures of the kids first day of school. Ben's first day of kindergarten and Mara's first day of 2nd grade. They both seemed to have a great time. Ben was a little worried about the fact that there was not as many toys in kindergarten as there was in preschool but he loves the playground and being around all his friends. Mara loves her teacher and is having fun doing her school work.

Kid Photographers

Mara put batteries in her camera (my old camera) and the kids went crazy taking pictures. We'll start with Ben's pictures in his room... It shows you what he thinks is important...

I like this one... very artistic in a kindergarten kind of way...

Now for Mara's... The kids started making funny faces... Again... very artistic...

the rest of our vacation

After Nauvoo, we went to Ohio to see David's family.

We had a great time. Here are some pictures of Mara and Ben at the splash park, Ashlee with her cousin Alyssa at the zoo with a bird, and Mara and Ben climbing a tree with Samantha and Gabrielle at grandma's and grandpa's during hide-and-seek.

Nauvoo

We had a great time in Nauvoo. We met up with David's sister, Wendy. We hit all the sights and saw how they lived back in the 1840's. We got to ride horse carriages, oxen pulled wagons. David's neices watched the kids while we went to the temple. Here are some pictures and a video.

Here is a video of Ashlee dancing.