October was over in a flash. It went by so quickly that the only photos I took were from Halloween.  This is my favorite family picture ever.  We did a Steampunk theme.

The past few weeks have been in the 40's. 

Today was so pleasant that we decided to go hang out at the river.

I took this photo because I took the same one 4 years ago.  4 years doesn't seem very long ago, until you look at how much they have grown. (see photo below)

We had crazy rains in Aug and Sept.  I think that because of these rains we had the most beautiful fall.  The colors were absolutely brilliant and beautiful.

Oklahoma Sugar Arts Show

I just got back from the Tulsa State Fair and Oklahoma Sugar Arts Show.  Thought I'd show you the construction before the results.

 

Finished product.  My gingerbread tree house.

I also entered the sugar masquerade mask competition as well.

Finished product.

So, here I am loaded up and ready for the 12 1/2 hr drive. I only lost 4 pretzels and one piece of wheat chex off the roof.

This years Gingerbread division was few in #'s.  Only 5 entries! 

Here is a picture of all my goodies that I won.  I got 2nd again this year. 

 Next years is going to be awesome!

This is the one that beat me.  Not sure why it posted sideways but we are not going to focus on it too much anyway so it can just stay sideways :0)

Misc. Events and Doings

This month has been so fun.  Here are some of my favorite snap snots.  All of these photos are not that great because they are all from my phone, but you get the idea.

The boys finally got away from Mindcraft (a video game) and rediscovered the mud in the backyard.

This is a photo of the boys in the Animas River, YIKES it's so low.

More of my favorites from the day in the mud.

Seriously!! This kid is so freakin' cute!

This Aug my boys and one of my mom's art students got to do their own show.  They had a great turn out and we sold 7 pieces that night!

First day of school.  Em said "Mom, seriously do you have to take a picture?"  Yes, yes I do!!!

1st day of 8th grade

1st day of 4th grade

1st day of Kinder

O had his 1st bus ride home from school, he said it was so cool!

Greg got some mustaches for his birthday.

He turned the BIG 4-0

So backtracking a bit.  I went to the International Calligraphy Conference in Colorado Springs with my mom in July.  I took a fun book class and then I took at class that taught us about layering with watercolor, calligraphy, acrylic, etc.  Here is what I completed in my class. I still can't believe I did this painting.  It is watercolor and gouache.

And this is one of my favorite pictures of my mom and I.  Each night they had a party with a snack.  Some of them were caramel apples, chocolate fountain, and cupcakes.  So each night we would do a funny photo,, just because.  This was my favorite from the series.

A Weekend At The Cabin

We had one more weekend with the family before school starts.  We had a couple of camping spots picked out but there was a 70% chance of rain for the weekend.  I did not want to be somewhere stuck in the trailer or in a tent in the rain.  So I called my aunt and asked her if the cabin was free, for the most part it was so off we went .  We realized as we packed that we have not been there in 6 or 7 years!!!! That is WAY too long because it is such a great spot. The best part was, it was supposed to rain and nothing sounds better than the rain on that tin roof. We decided that since there are 5 beds upstairs we should have my sister in law come and bring her kids.  The 5 boys had a blast upstairs, not sleeping.

Hot dogs were roasted in the fire pit outside. 

The best part about the cabin is there is no itinerary, no phones, no tv, and no schedule.

O and his cousin are the same age. They fight like brothers but then make up just as fast.

Defiantly friends forever 

I took the 5 boys on a hike to a couple of my favorite spots.  The aspen forests, the small pine trees and the oak are starting to fill in where the fire cleared everything.

I have never seen a blue beetle before, this one is so cool.  Wait, did I just say that a bug was cool..... yes, yes I did !

Em had a great time on the hike but his legs did not.  This is why you don't hike in shorts, heehee.

The boys had fun playing horseshoes.  My nephew came over and said "I wasn't paying attention and I got mine stuck in the tree".  Granted the horseshoes were plastic but this thing was like 14 feet up in the tree.  Funny kid.

Greg had a great time just relaxing, building the best marshmellow cooking fire and playing yatzee with all the girls and kids.

We decided to go to the lake to cool off and to blow off some energy.

The little guys had a blast throwing mud

This kid is growing up so fast, he is not a little guy any more.

Then there is this kid, wow, where does the time go.  I tease him about his "man feet" and he is now in adult clothes. I no longer shop the kids section and have now realized that he is a young man.

Skippin' rocks

This is one of my favorite trees from the fire.  Its like it was twisted and pulled, its pretty crazy.

Snack time on our hike

A view down to the cabin hidden in the trees

As we sat down at the fire pit we found the initials that Greg had carved about 7 years ago.  So we added little O, it was about time we got up there.