More October Happenings

At Gavin's Preschool Pumpkin Patch, Logan poses for the camera in fashion right after his brother.  The motto in our house is 'monkey see, money do.'
 

One night for our church's mid-week activity with the young men (ages 12-17), we had just about every guy over for video game night.  Hence all the shoes.  We had a Wii, PS3, and Xbox all running various games throughout the night.  My boys were in heaven watching all these older boys play, dance, and wrestle.  Oh, and there is a picture of Captain American waiting for his family to finish getting ready before school drop-off while reading the Target Toy Catalog.    
 

Monday night is Family Night in our house.  And we realized the Monday before Halloween we had not carved pumpkins yet.  Well with only little pumpkins in the house, we decided to paint our lot instead.  It was a great age appropriate activity and we all had lots of fun.  
 

Shopping and Peru

Shopping with these two can be a hoot!  Gavin's guitar jacket was bought, while Logan devil dog's costume was not.
 

Earlier in the month, Sean's cousin Nate received his mission call to serve for two years for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the Lima Peru North Mission!  We are excited to start sending him letters and packages, but we will have to wait until March to do so.  Our sweet family indulged us and let us join in the fun via FaceTime when he opened his call.  The room had fits of excitement for Nate as we then got passed around from person to person to say a quick hello.  We are blessed to have such amazing families.  
 

Bobby Dodd Stadium in Downtown Atanta: Brigham Young Cougars vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

At the end of October, the Brigham Young Cougars came to town to play against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.  Sean and I were able to sneak away with some friends and enjoy a great game where the Cougs won 41-17.  With the sun shining and just a bit of breeze, the game was perfect made mostly because we won.  Way to go, Cougars! 

Happy Thanksgiving: A Thought of Gratitude

I was making the boys' beds Sunday morning when I suddenly noticed silence in the house.  It was too quiet in fact.  Then, as if directed, I heard Gavin's hearty laugh coming from the front yard.  Looking out the boys' windows, I see my family sneaking a bit of pre-church play in the front yard.  Sean is pushing Gavin on the tree swing while Logan is shoveling leaves besides them with a sandbox toy.  Everyone still in their pajamas.  Everyone still wearing their house slippers; Gavin wears the Spiderman ones while Logan wears Lightening McQueen.  

A wave of gratitude filled my heart as I reflected on that moment.  I quietly said a prayer of thankfulness.  We live on a quiet street in a central location of this bubble we call Peachtree City.  We are healthy, happy, and loved.  Heavenly Father has blessed this phase of our lives immensely and we have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. 

On Monday night, we had Family Night where we took turns revealing what we were grateful for right now.  Logan said corn and edamame since that is part of what we had for dinner.  Gavin said his school and church friends.  Sean said his job and Peachtree City.  I said my healthy body and the sun.  Then we ended our round with naming each other; Gavin said Logan, Sean said me, Logan said Gavin, and I said Sean.  We have each other, and truly that is a thought of gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family this Thursday.            

A Few More

Logan while touring the Walking Dead filming locations.
 

Not only were we happy to have the Miners visit for a week, but we were happy to have daddy off work too.
 

Some 'Grandma Jeana and Gavin' love.
 

Peachtree City, Georgia: Saying Good-Bye

It's always hard to say good-bye to ones you love.  We missed them the minute they left and cannot wait to see them again.  We were so happy that they came to visit us on their precious vacation time away from work.  

Our Miner Family: Kortney, Chase, Grandma Jeana, Gavin, Grandpa Steve, Logan, Sean and Kristen

Downtown Chattanooga: Tennessee Aquarium

Making the most of our visit, we toured the Tennessee Aquarium while in town.  We had heard from some good friends here that the aquarium was worth the trip and maybe even better than the Georgia Aquarium.  It is hard to compare the two equally, but we will say that we had a blast at the Tennessee one.  It was housed in two large buildings and both were well designed for crowd control.  Not that we had a crowd since it was a weekday afternoon.
 

Sting Ray petting pool.  Look at that beautiful belly on Kortney.
 

I am trying to see if Kortney notices that I posted this picture of her.
Just remember I love you, Kortney!
 

Just look at these two.  So lovely, so exciting.  We love these two so much, and we are so excited for this baby girl to get here.  The end of January will come soon enough but at the same time it will take forever too.
 

Gavin inside the piranha tank.  You can barely see his feet spotlighted at the bottom of the tank.
 

How our boys stand up to a penguin's height.
 

Party inside inside the giant crab tank!
 

On our way to the second building.
 

It was a dreamy day filled the ones we love.
 

Chattanooga, Tennessee: Lookout Mountain Incline Railway

After the race we left Alabama and headed home for a good night's sleep.  The very next morning we woke and traveled north to Tennessee to the cutest town of Chattanooga.  It is right on the water and has this really charming, southern feel in the air.  There is quite a lot to do in Chattanooga, but we chose to ride the Incline Railway to Lookout Mountain.  The railway is about one mile long but has an incline around 72% (thank you, Wikipedia).  It actually felt pretty steep.  Gavin said it was a pretty cool ride and on our descent back down Logan exclaimed "weeeeeee" with his arms in the air.    

Views from the top.
 

Riding the train.
 

It was a little chilly at the top, so I sacrificed my jacket to Logan.  That is why it looks like he is wearing a jacket dress in all these pictures.  Why is he without a jacket?  On the ride north to Tennessee, we stopped to grab some breakfast from McDonald's and he gagged/threw up all over his jacket and the pregnant lady in the car.  Both were eventually cleaned up and just fine.  
 

Still riding up the mountain, apparently.
 

A few steps away from the top of Incline Railway is Point Part.  This cute, little historic park sits on the corner on the mountain overlooking the city and the river.
 

A view of Chattanooga.
 

History mixed with a beautiful view.
 

Love these two.
 

Our childrens' family.
 

Talladega, Alabama: NASCAR Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500

Now back to the Miners.  Despite being almost exhausted from Six Flags the day before, we forged ahead and attended the NASCAR race at Talladega.  It was our first visit to Alabama since moving to Georgia and Superspeedway lived up to its name.  The track was large and long, and yet we had an easy time getting into and out of the track.  Sean was gifted a sweet scanner for his birthday that we were able to enjoy during the race too.  The weather was mostly cloudy with a chilly wind blowing once in a while.  The sun would make an appearance every now and then to warm us up, and I was grateful for it.  And gratefully, Grandma Jeana stayed home with the boys while the rest of us got our redneck on.