fall vacation part 1

 We decided we had to check out the Smoky Mountains in the fall.  It was peak season and so incredibly crowded, but we had a great time and the colors were unbelievable!  Jeff and I fell in love with the Smokies when we hiked them about 6 years ago and were so excited to take our girls.  Jeff took Friday off work and we headed out that morning.  The girls are seriously obsessed with hotels and that is what they were the most excited about.  Savanna hasn't forgotten about the bunk beds we stumbled upon on our trip out here and she kept saying, "Like bunk beds really bad!"  She was okay with the pull out couch, but she really wanted bunk beds...of course we would have liked that too since they sleep better that way.  Either way, we were just happy to get a room.  We got the last room available at any hotel.  We got in and the roads were just jam packed.  It took us an hour to drive a few blocks.  Seriously insane.  It was too late to hike that night so we got settled into the hotel and then walked across the street to a miniature golf course.  I have lousy pictures because I didn't have the camera.  The girls have never been and they were so cute.  The course was also a super cute farm course and the girls loved it.  The girls really didn't follow the rules, but it was more fun that way.  Heidi had a blast trying to figure it out.  Caimbree was an absolute riot.  Not only was she the easiest little traveler (it was about 4 hours from our house), but she was a dream the whole time.  She was so cute at the golf course.  She figured the game out pretty quickly and tried to do what we were doing.  She also figured out which person had which color ball quickly.  At the end of each hole she would bend over and pull out the balls and give them to each person.  She got it right every time!  Heidi and Savanna only wanted Caimbree to get them their ball.  We had a fun time.  We then walked to dinner and headed back to the hotel.  The girls slept sort of okay except that they woke up at 5 am (which was really 4 am our time).  We had a hard time getting them to fall back asleep and I'm not convinced they ever actually did.  We didn't anticipate getting much sleep though so it wasn't that big of deal.  They were too excited to wake up and eat breakfast at the hotel I guess.  We had such a fun day and were all excited to hit the trails!

painting pumpkins

The girls really wanted to carve their pumpkins for family night but we figure they will rot before Halloween if they carve them now.  So we painted little pumpkins instead!  The girls were counting down the minutes for Jeff to get home from work so we could start family night.  They had been planning and designing and talking pumpkins and paint colors all day.

 It was so much fun to watch each of them paint in their own style and they all had so much fun.  I think the best part for everyone was watching Caimbree.  Oh my goodness she was so cute.  She is getting so interactive.  She could not believe she got to do what the big girls were doing and she was in heaven.  She was so dainty about painting and every time she got a little color on the pumpkin she would squeal with delight and try to say, "Pretty!"  It was soooo precious. She was so funny too because if she got any paint on her skin she would try to get it off, but she would try to get it off with the paint brush and couldn't figure out why it wasn't making the paint go away.  Watching her paint that pumpkin is a memory I hope will forever be etched into my mind.  We sure love family night, and tonight was especially fun!

zoo+pumpkin patch=super fun saturday

 We had a super fun Saturday!  Jeff's aunt and uncle were in town and we were so excited to see them!  We love Bob and Julie!  We met them for breakfast and then we took them to one of the girls favorite places--the zoo.  It was so nice to spend time with them and let the girls meet them.  It was the perfect morning/afternoon.

 All three girls fell asleep on the car ride home from the zoo.  We got home and fed the girls a late lunch.  Then we decided to go to the pumpkin patch and pick our pumpkins.  Definitely one of my very favorite places to take the girls each fall.  We had so much fun!  Sorry for the picture overload....again.  Caimbree is obsessed with slides.  She cracks me up.  She would have you slide her down all day.  It gets tiring but the look on the face and the joy she gets from every slide down makes it worth it.  She really is such a doll and we love her so much.

 The girls favorite part was the corn.  It was so fun!  It was in a little house and you slid down a slide to get in.  The girls laughed and laughed and wanted to sleep there.  It was definitely their favorite part.

Caimbree wanted to get in so bad.  Jeff put her in and she was so very happy.  It was cute because as soon as Jeff put her in, Heidi told all the other kids loudly, "Hey Everyone!  My baby sister is in here now so be careful."

 The girls buried each other, did somersaults, and laughed and giggled together.

 We took a hayride and picked our pumpkins.  Heidi wanted to walk the whole field until she found the absolute perfect pumpkin.  Then she spent her time plotting how she was going to carve the perfect pumpkin.  They loved the experience.

 Oh my goodness did Caimbree love the pumpkins and she was just so adorable.  She found this little pumpkin and wouldn't put it down.  We think she was even trying to figure out how to say pumpkin.  It was so fun to watch her experience her first real experience with pumpkins since she was so young last year.  Love, love, love this baby girl of mine.

 The funniest part of the evening was watching the girls in the little barrels.  They were pulled by a four wheeler and they were all excited at first.  What they didn't know was how bumpy it would be.  By the end Savanna was completely off the seat and she was crying and Heidi had a scowl on her face.  They both exclaimed how much they hated it.  They have never been a fan of these and this year was no exception.  Yet we try every year!  Maybe next year they will love it ha ha.

 At one point Caimbree decided to climb in the bottom of the stroller and laugh like crazy.  We were all laughing at her.  Oh my she is funny.

 There were so many fun things to do, the weather was amazing, the scenery was gorgeous, it wasn't horribly crowded,  and it was only 12 minutes from our house.  We will definitely take the girls back next year and we may even take them again before they close for the season.  Such a fun day from beginning to end!

testing for family pictures

 I scheduled our family pictures and then decided I better figure out what we are all going to wear.  I was pulling outfits out and the girls were dying to try them all on and take pictures.  Let's hope the enthusiasm is there when we actually meet the photographer ha ha.  I actually got a couple of shots of them together that I don't want to get lost.

 I love this one of Savanna because it is very hard to get a picture of her with a really natural smile.  I also love it because Caimbree is looking at her like she does all the time and it just melts my heart.  I can't wait to get our family pictures taken for real.  I hope the weather and illnesses cooperate so we don't have to reschedule!

Natchez Trace Parkway

Hooray for a wonderful conference weekend!  What a rejuvenating weekend and what a wonderful time we have had together listening to uplifting messages and enjoying beautiful weather and scenery together.  Please forgive the picture overload, I just could not pick my favorites and we took a lot.

Saturday morning we woke up and went for a run at the lake.  It was actually kind of cold and rainy!  We listened to conference after that and took naps.  That evening we took the girls bowling...always a hit at our house!

 Sunday morning we wanted to go to Fall Creek Falls but it was 3 hours away and we weren't sure how much rain there had been and if the drive would be worth it this weekend.  So instead we tried out the Natchez Trace Parkway area.  There are tons of hikes, waterfalls, and history.  It's just outside of Nashville and was only about an hour away.  What a beautiful day!!  We had so much fun enjoying the breathtaking scenery.  Have I mentioned how much we are absolutely loving our new area?  It seems like we are always on vacation visiting new places and enjoying fun places together.  The hikes were great for the girls and they were all in good spirits.

 We stopped and had a picnic lunch and kept exploring.  We really wanted to stay longer because there were so many trails and things to see but Savanna and Caimbree were both getting ready to pass out from exhaustion and we decided they should probably get a little nap on our way home.

 We took the scenic route home and got home in time to watch the last session of conference.  We had so much fun together today.  Savanna keeps asking to go hiking again. We will definitely go back because there is so much more we want to see.

 A lot of the trees are starting to change colors, although most of these pictures don't show it much.  We are hoping to hit Fall Creek Falls soon and we are also antsy to get to the Smokey Mountains before fall ends.  Oh how I wish we could freeze time with the girls for a few years.  It's nice to not have school schedules and demands yet and they have so much fun checking out new places.  I feel so blessed to be surrounded by these beautiful people.  Life is good!

fall!

 This post doesn't have a whole lot to do with the title but I think it's important to note that we survived our first southern summer!  Fall is just as amazing as we had hoped it would be.  The temperatures are heavenly, the colors are starting to change, and we are trying to take it all in, in spite of some less than ideal moments.

This week wasn't bad, it was just a little hard, nothing major, just life with little ones sometimes.  Heidi had the same little bug Savanna had and wasn't feeling or eating well for about 8 days.  She seems to be over that, knock on wood.  Caimb had shots and we all had flu shots.  Caimbree is also working on molars and has definitely not been her happy, easy going little self.  She hasn't been napping well and wakes up in the night quite a bit.  Her little gums look incredibly painful and we are hoping those stubborn things pop through sooner rather that later.

Last night sums up what I'm talking about when I say the week was a little tiring.

2:30 AM-- I hear Savanna calling me to tell me she needs to pee.  I take her and get her settled again.

3:00 AM--I hear Savanna calling me again.  I go in to try to get her to go back to sleep before she wakes up Heidi.  She is laughing telling me she found Caimbree's binky in her bed.  I had to laugh myself.

3:30 AM--I hear Savanna calling me again...sigh.  This time she says, "Can't sleep mom some reason."  I promise her the world if she will just lay still and quiet.

4:00 AM--I hear Savanna calling me again.  "Hug, kiss mom."  I can't be too upset about that.

4:15 AM--Caimbree starts screaming bloody murder.  I give her ibuprofin and pray that will do the trick.  No such luck.  On top of the teeth she can't breathe because she's been stuffed up since the shots.  I clean out her nose and rock her until she falls asleep at 5:40.

6:15 AM--The two oldest come and wake me up.

 They have been surprisingly great today even though I am sure they are as tired as I am.  Savanna has been so cute about helping get the house cleaned up everyday and Heidi and Savanna have gotten along much better today than they have the past three days.  Blessing.  Caimbree was even a little more chipper today which was surprising and is taking a better nap.  Blessing.  We had so much fun jumping on the trampoline together this morning.  The girls loved playing this game they invented called "zoo".  Caimbree and I would walk around the outside of the trampoline and the girls would be pretend to be different animals on the trampoline.  They thought it was hilarious.  Then we went for a wonderful walk and searched for leaves.  We came home and traced them and colored them.  It was a fun fall activity.

I should also mention Caimbree had a bit of an accident yesterday.  She is definitely my most accident prone and I have always been a bit concerned about how much she falls.  I mean, she falls all.the.time.  For no reason.  I even asked the doctor to watch her walk to make sure her hips and muscles and everything looked okay.  She said she thought she was probably just a little clumsy. Anyway, yesterday I was putting dishes in the dishwasher.  I heard her little feet walking on the hardwood floors.  Then I heard a huge bang followed by a horrible scream.  I ran to see Caimbree sprawled on the floor.  Savanna said she was walking and just fell on her face.  She didn't trip on anything.  I picked her up and held her and noticed her mouth was gushing blood.  At first I thought she must have knocked a tooth out, but luckily she didn't.  She wouldn't let me get a good look and I could not get the bleeding to stop.  The bleeding went on for over two hours!!  I was starting to think I might need to go make sure she didn't need stitches somewhere.  I still can't figure out exactly where or how she even hit, but at least she's okay and has all her teeth.  If any of my children end up with a broken bone, my money is on my little Caimbree.  I hope she gets a little more stable soon.  We had the little white table out because we had company over and needed extra space and she was so cute sitting at it all week.

The other picture on here is a cute card that Savanna got in the mail from a lady in our ward.  She had missed church when she was sick and the lady I sat next to in sacrament meeting was asking about her.  She sent her a get well card and Savanna was all smiles carrying her little card around for a week.  We love our ward so much!

Anyway, this post is a bit scattered and jumbled, but we are all excited for fall and Halloween and colored leaves and cooler temperatures in spite of any exhaustion!!  This is most definitely my very, very favorite time of year!  I can't wait to enjoy this beautiful season with my beautiful girls!