September Little Things

We spent Labor Day Weekend at the cabin.  The kids and my dad rebuilt the fort outside.

We went to a service project for Foster Care.  We filled bags to give the kids when they get removed from their homes.  Braxton in particular loved it.  He did not want to leave.  He worked and worked and worked.  Will and Drew came along, it was really fun to serve others with our cousins.  Foster Care holds a special place in our hearts since our sweet Kara Weston (Jake and Alayna's Daughter) was adopted through foster care.

 Cameron and Owen Hill did some experimenting one day after their teacher had done the same experiment at school.

 We spent many hours getting ready for the patch to open.  The week before the opening party is always a lot of work.  We have about 1 month with no work because the vines are so long and they only need to be watered, then the work comes at us 10 fold.  The vines die back and we have to get all the big weeds, shuck all the corn, pick all the gourds and babies, and get out all the whole set up.  It takes a whole week of evenings and all day Saturday but it is all worth it.  Dakota is showing us an "anomaly" as he called it.  It is an Indian corn that has like 5 coming off of one.  It pretty neat.  

Dakota created this cool tower at Tara's House.  She has the coolest toys.

Brax took a nap one Sunday afternoon with this cool thing on his head to block out the sun. 

 Picking Day!  The boys always pick the biggest ones in the patch and once again this year they succeeded.  Dakota 10, Cameron 7, and Braxton 13.  The 9th year of the patch.  It has gone by so fast. We sold out this year in a record 15 days.  It was insane.  I even had to restock with some other farmers pumpkins and they sold out in 2 days.  I finally just closed down and said we had sold out. It is amazing the support we get from everyone.  It is so good to have something to work toward for our family each year that benefits our boys mission funds.  This year Shane and I decided Braxton could put his portion toward Spain, where he hopes to visit Gonzalo next summer. 

Braxton turned 13!! I cant even believe I have a teenager!  I need a whole post on this so I can do 13 things I love about you Braxton.  Soon

 Opening Day was a hit.  We did family and friends separate this year, and Tara drove the train on Friend day and saved our lives.  It was fun to have all the cousins over to spend the day before anyone else came.  

Dakota made this creation out of the pumpkin vines during the party.

Gonzi last day and first day of school

Gonzi's last day in Utah and the boys first day of school happened on the same day this year. Braxton started junior high at Wahlquist and Dakota 5th and Cameron 2nd. It was a crazy busy day sending everyone off for short day and then hurrying home to get to the airport. Shane was required to go into the airport and sit with Gonzi until the plane left so the boys and I had to sit in the airport for 2 hours waiting. It was a long day for everyone and always sad to see him leave (bittersweet).  Sometimes I just want my normalcy back so it feels good, but we sure love him and consider him a Spanish son. 

Gonzi sat on Braxton's head on the tramp the day before school and broke his glasses.  So Shane decided that it was time for contacts. He has done very well with them and puts them in every morning before school.  He got some cheap replacement glasses just in case. He has a new hairdo and no glasses and goes to junior high. Just like a new kid. He really likes junior high and is doing fairly well. He hands in most assignments on time and his grades are pretty good.  We went to parent teacher conference and it was different visiting all the teachers. Some were helpful and seemed really good and some were short and to the point. He had a C in one class and the teacher said 'looks like he's doing good' and my jaw dropped. I suppose a C isn't good to me, but he got that taken care of. 

Lagoon

We took Gonzi to Lagoon.  We have not taken our boys there for years and never been as an entire family. It was really fun.  The big boys and Shane spent the day on the big rides and Dakota, Cam and I  spent the day on little kid rides. I was a bit disappointed we couldn't be together, but they just had different views on which ones were fun. We stayed until close, almost the last ones out of the park. Exhausting but fun.

End of summer misc.

The weekend before Gonzi left the Weston men went for their annual backpacking. It was really a good time. They caught tons of fish and Gonzi realized what life is like without WiFi. He thought his phone was broken, pretty funny. 

This is inside our gourd tunnel, it was so beautiful. 

I got to experience my first time in court and it was a blessed day that Kara got to be adopted by Jake and Alayna.  It was very formal and I cried quite a bit. It was a very happy day.