It's Election Day!

Have you voted?

Owen's kindergarten class held a mock election last week.  They learned about each candidate, their family and pets, and then were given jobs as registrars, tabulators, and handed out stickers after students voted.  Here are the results:

 

President Barack Obama 15 votes

Governor Mitt Romney 8 votes

Halloween

It was a fun but low-key Halloween.  The night before Halloween we carved pumpkins.  Both Owen and Adler LOVED exploring the inside of the pumpkins and making a big mess!

On Halloween morning Adler's child care center held their annual Pumpkin Parade and kids paraded through campus getting candy from the staff.  When Adler realized everyone was handing out FREE candy, she was sold.  It may officially be her favorite holiday!

Adler chose to dress up as Dora on Halloween morning.

Adler and her friends Viola and Morgan

That evening I took off work early to get the kids ready for trick-or-treating.  Owen dressed up as a Star Wars Storm Trooper (only because he wanted the gun that went with the costume) and Adler was a Duck.

Owen and Kameron

Adler, Kameron and Owen

My storm trooper and little duck

We absolutely love the Halloween Festivities surrounding the Governor's Mansion.  All of the houses in the area are completely decorated, the streets are closed, and the kids run wild.  It's a blast and we're disappointed that this will be our last Halloween in Carson City.  It will be hard to beat.

Governor's Mansion

 

Ryder & Owen



It's Official!

After nine wonderful years in Nevada we have decided to move back to Texas.  We will be working through the month of November and then plan to move the first or second week of December.  We'll be moving to South Austin, where Micah has already secured a job.  I'm hoping to take a little time off work to get us settled into our new life there and then will begin a job search myself.

 

This is a decision we have discussed since I became pregnant with Owen, and now six years later it's actually going to happen.  We definitely have mixed feelings about leaving Carson City and are going to miss some amazing friends who have become our "Nevada Family."  I can't even imagine saying goodbye.  We're also going to miss the seasons, the mountains, Lake Tahoe, our jobs, and this gorgeous tree in our front yard.

But we have many things waiting for us in Texas, including ALL of our family.  Every single member (including a new nephew, Noah).  We are also looking forward to reuniting with old friends and starting new jobs.  We both love the Austin area and everything it has to offer.  Plus we'll only be two hours away from my family's ranch in central Texas.

 

So, the decision has been made.  Our children will grow up in the wonderful state of Texas and I hope one day they will consider themselves Texans.  We will spend future holidays and birthdays with many family members.  Owen and Adler will have close relationships with their grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts.  We will spend many weekends and summers at both the Ranch and in College Station.  They will attend football games and other events at Texas A&M University, and maybe even one day attend as a student.  It's the right decision.  And as difficult as it's going to be to leave Nevada, I don't think this is a decision we will ever regret.  Let the tearful goodbyes and endless packing begin. 

Corley Ranch

During the month of October we visited the Corley Ranch Harvest Festival not once, but twice!  Owen's Kindergarten class took a field trip there, so I took the day off work to help out.

Owen's class on the hay ride

The afternoon Kinder Class, all sporting their tie-dyed shirts

Adler loved this pretend horse!

The class getting instructions on how to pick their pumpkins

The search for the perfect mini-pumpkin

 The Kindergartners used their pumpkins in class for a week, doing all kinds of fun experiments.

Here's Owen's and Adler's pick!

 During the class field trip, the kids were not able to go into the petting zoo, ride the mini-train or see the pig races.  Owen was really disappointed so I promised a second visit (I'm pretty sure Corley Ranch did that on purpose)!  So two weeks later we visited on a weekend with friends and were able to participate in everything.

Micah and Adler feeding this goat a treat in the petting zoo

This goat was a little feisty.

Owen running away into the corn maze.

I love this photo of Micah & Adler

Adler and Beya getting a wagon ride

Pig Races!  Pumpkin won both races!

Kameron, Owen & Ryder on the train

Adler and I with Ethan

Just a little crack to make you smile!

Nevada Day!

Nevada just celebrated 148 years of statehood!  There are always lots of celebrations including a carnival and parade, plus work and schools being closed for the day!  Last Saturday we celebrated by waking up early and helping new friends set up their hot air balloon for take-off.

 I had a great time learning how to set up a hot air balloon and get it ready to launch!  I almost got to go for a ride, but ended up giving my spot to a kid.

Owen helped me hold the balloon while it filled with air.

Nice balloon!

Owen, Alex and Ryder entertaining themselves before the balloons launched.

There were about 20 balloons that took flight over downtown Carson City.

Later that morning we watched the Nevada Day parade with a group of friends.  Here is Owen with his buddies Kameron, Ryder and Ethan.

First School Photo

I just received Owen's first school photo!  I know school pictures are cheesy and totally uncreative, but I LOVE it.  Both my mom and dad have my 13 years of cheesy school photos framed together and I can already picture Owen's collage hanging on my wall!

The Green Dragons

The last two months have been filled with soccer practices and games for my two boys.  Micah has been coaching the Green Dragons and Owen has been my favorite player!

Gael, Owen, Ryder, Sohan & Christian

All good soccer teams need a banner and Micah created this masterpiece!

Owen excelled in soccer, mainly because of his speed.  He was always the first down the field and always had his eye on the ball.  I was really proud of him and have to admit, I much prefer soccer over baseball!

Coach Micah giving a pep talk

We finished the season off last week with a pizza party and trophies. 

Here are the boys at their final game last week.

Monterey, CA

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Monterey to visit my bestie, Tracy, and her wonderful family.  It was her daughter Cecily's 4th birthday AND I was able to finally meet the newest member of her family, baby Ian, who was born on August 27th.  He is a sweet, perfect baby who I enjoyed carrying around for much of the weekend.

I was delighted to tote Ian around during the birthday party, so that Tracy and Matt could focus on Cecily and their guests.

 Owen and Adler had a blast hanging with Cecily and playing with her toys (i.e. making a disaster of their cute house).

Adler & Cecily

 We spent a little time at the beach, getting some rays and playing in the sand.  Of course the boys had fun searching tide pools for ocean creatures.

Micah & Owen climbing around the rocks

The Birthday Girl, Miss Cecily!!

 We also spent one afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium but actually have no pictures to prove it.  We were too busy racing around from one exhibit to another.  The kids adore that place and the new Jellyfish exhibit was pretty awesome!

Here are the ladies at Bubba Gump saying our goodbyes before we started our drive home.  It was wonderful spending the weekend together....such a treat to live within driving distance.  We already have plans to see each other again in a few weeks!  Can't wait.

Tough Mudder

Micah and a group of his buddies finished Tough Mudder on September 23rd at Northstar (a ski resort just north of Lake Tahoe and close to Truckee, CA).  The course was 12 miles long, up and around a mountain, and included a bunch of crazy obstacles.  It took them a little over 4 hours to finish.

Go Honey Badgers! Getting ready to start.

Throughout the course, obstacles included: multiple mud crawls, 15 foot high jump into muddy water, swimming through a tank full of ice water, monkey bars, carrying logs up the mountain, carrying a teammate, muddy tunnel crawls, climbing tall wooden walls, electric shock, and getting over a half pipe.

Just after a mud crawl

The Muddy Mile

Gladys and I purchased spectator tickets for the event and took the kids to cheer on their dads.  We didn't get to see very much of them, but the atmosphere was great and we were able to watch the last 2 obstacles at the finish!

I took Owen, Adler and Ethan up the chair lift see see a couple of other obstacles.  We had already missed Micah though.

Owen and Ethan supporting their Tough Dads!

Here's Micah coming into the final obstacles.  After waiting a long time and searching for him, we were thrilled to see him (un-injured).

Micah had no problem climbing/jumping up the giant half pipe.

Here's the Honey Badgers working together to get Steve over the ledge!

View from the top of the half pipe.

One obstacle left to go!

The Honey Badgers right before the final obstacle, the electric shock.

Micah protecting his head from the electrical wires.

CROSSING THE FINISH LINE!!!!

We were so proud of Micah for finishing such a crazy, challenging event!

Owen & Ethan getting their sugar-high on!

Micah all cleaned up and ready for a big meal and a nap.