Fall soccer wrap up

 This was Kelton's first year on a boys only team. I think he was surprised a bit by the speed of all the of boys, but he never complained.  He was always very anxious to get back on the field after being subbed out because, "his team needed him!"  He's pretty confident in his ability to score goals for his team.

He played on a team with his buddies, Max and Everett.  And even though I could barely get them to hold still long enough for a buddy shot, at least it happened. 

 

Kelton loves this game, and I love watching him, even if his crazy antics from last year are starting to fade away (sigh).  

The Cheetahs

Lotsa Leaves

One benefit to all of the leaves falling off the trees in one day, is that it made for one of the best leaf piles we've had here in our little front yard.  The boys loved it.  It was tall enough that instead of just jumping in, they climbed up the tree then would drop down into the center of the pile.  Perfect!

Then, when it is time to clean them up, into the bags they go!  Kelton saw some pumpkin bags on our neighbor's lawn and wanted to decorate some bags of his own!

Adulting hard core

My brain hurts from so much adulting.  With all of the chaos of summer, school, and Ironman racing I haven't had a lot of mental energy for a lot of the adult things I need to take care of: refinancing the house, building 401k's, financial planning, switching CPA's, establishing a will, budgeting, dealing with insurance agents, repairing my car, selling my car, and now buying a new car.  Jeremy and I have spent hours on the phone, uploading documents, meeting with agents...I am completely spent!  Once everything is all settle it will be really nice.  Getting it there though...I'll be glad when it is done!  In the meantime I have a smallish consolation prize for all of this adulting...a new car!

Let's back up a week and a half ago.  My car started making noise on Saturday after driving around to all of the kids sports games.  I didn't drive it the rest of the night because I was worried about what I was hearing.  The women's session of General Conference was that night and in order to get there I had to find a babysitter and a car.  It was worth it though because the girls and I had a great evening.  Sunday night we drove my car to the church but we couldn't hear anything.  Monday afternoon I was on my way to pick up Cambrie from math club after school when my car started making horrible noises.  It was jerking, grinding, whining, and I didn't like it one bit.  I immediately pulled over and needed to call not only a tow truck but I also needed to find a ride for Cambrie.  I had no idea who else was at math club with her so I didn't know who to call. I called about six friends who lived up in the neighborhood when Polly finally called saying that she had picked up Cambrie outside of the school.  She then came and met me on the side of the road and rescued my boys from having to stay and wait for the tow truck with me.  We towed it in and they told me that I'd need a new power transfer unit for my all wheel drive and that it would take about a week for them to get it back to me.  A week later they called telling me even worse news.  As they were repairing that unit they discovered that the real problem was rust and metal shavings in my transmission.  They were going to have to replace the entire transmission.  Suddenly this became a very different discussion than just a simple car repair. 

Jeremy and I have talked about getting a bigger car for our family, but didn't want to deal with the expense right now.  With this new information about our Mazda though we had to change our plans.  Since the car was in the dealer's shop we were able to work out a deal to trade it in as-is for a new/used car.  We were limited to the used car choices they had on site.  There were two that made sense and were the upgrade that our family was looking for.  One was a 2013 Tahoe that was a very basic model but honestly wouldn't have solved our storage, ease-of-access issues we have with my car.  The other was a 2016 Expedition that had all the bells and whistles.  If I could chose any used car, this would be it, except maybe the color.  But to have the exact car I wanted and to get a great deal with our trade in?  My car has been paid off for a couple of years and I really wasn't excited to have a car payment again, so it was really tough to say yes.  Ultimately though we think it is the best choice for our family long term, so we now have a new car.  When I went back to the dealer today to empty my car it was really tough.  I've loved my Mazda.  It has been an amazing car, and was so reliable for years.  So many memories, and I hated saying good-bye.

Chicken Tree

Our first snow came early and our tree chickened out.  It dropped all of its leaves in one day.  It was kind of crazy to look at that perfectly round pile of leaves underneath it.  It's also kind of crazy to look at that gorgeous young woman hanging out under that tree.  

Pumpkin Patch Time

It's pumpkin patch time!  Even though we currently only have one car (that only seats four), we knew we needed to make a trip to the pumpkin patch before the weather completely drops this weekend and the snow rolls in.  It was everything a pumpkin patch trip should be, including the walking for miles in the pumpkin fields waiting for the kids to find the absolutely perfect pumpkin.  

Daxton could care less about how perfect it was.  He couldn't understand why we weren't taking home every pumpkin he passed.  

It was tough this year finding pumpkins that fit the kids' visions because they were almost all exactly the same size and shape this year.  

Eventually we found a pumpkin that was perfect enough for each one of us.  

After the pumpkins we headed to the hay bale maze which is just as fun as pumpkin hunting.  Jeremy was playing tag with the kids and found that it is a lot harder now than in years past because they can leap across the gaps like he can.  Of course, they aren't nearly as sore as he is after all of that leaping.  

Daxton grew tired of the hay bale maze and wanted to hang out in the tractors.  

A good ol' traditional hay bale picture of my kids.

The only way to get our pumpkins and all of our kids home was to put McKenzie in the back of the car laying on top of the pumpkins.  Luckily we had all shed our coats by that time so we could lay them down as a bed for her.  Yea for small humans!

Day of the Girl

I signed up the girls and I for a Day of the Girl run challenge.  Ragnar was fundraising for girls in Ethiopia who wanted to start their own long-distance relay.  All we had to do was run, then submit our miles to Ragnar.  My girls joined me on this blustery day and we ran about 2.5 miles together.  I've gotta say, I loved every minute of it.

Babies and a Bridal Shower

When you have one brand new niece, one brand new nephew, and one bridal shower for your sister-in-law to be, it seems like a great excuse to fly out to Utah for one day to be a part of it.  Cambrie and I did something a little bit crazy, we left the house at 4:30am to catch a flight to Salt Lake.  

Our first stop was up in Logan where we were able to meet Graham Kelly Thurston.  He was born on October 1, and we are so thrilled to have a new member of our family.  Cambrie was really excited to be able to hold him and kept saying how little he was.  Graham was adorable, so happy and calm. 

Next we went and visited my Grandma.  She and Jay moved into a new home and we wanted to see it.  She's looking as beautiful as ever, and still gives the best hugs.  

Our last family stop in Logan was meeting up with Alan at the Crepery.  I think Cambrie and Sam were just as excited about the really cool chairs as they were the delicious food.  

We said good-bye to Logan and drove down to South Jordan for the next round of family visiting.  Alysha and Pippa had just been discharged from the hospital and once they woke up from their nap we stopped by to meet the littlest addition to the King family.  Pippa is only 5 lb. 6 oz.  She is absolutely tiny!  I've never seen a baby so small, and so healthy.  Cambrie just kept looking at how tiny she was and how long her fingernails were.

  Cydney's bridal shower was our last engagement of the day.  Leesa and Lynette outdid themselves on the food and decorations as always and it looked fabulous.  

It was a great atsmosphere and there were a lot of friends and family who showed up.  Cambrie was our secret surprise as no one knew she was coming.  That was fun!  

Since Cambrie hadn't originally planned on coming to Utah with me, she didn't have a bridal shower gift for Cydney.  We stopped at a little boutique up in Logan where Cambrie found these adorable metal frame pumpkins that she couldn't wait to give Cydney.  

We wish we could have stayed and partied longer, but we still had to catch a flight back home to Colorado that night.  We didn't make it back home until 12:30 and we were both completely tuckered out.  It was a lot of traveling, but it was worth it.