october

i have loved getting to volunteer at laurel's preschool.  her teachers are AMAZING.  
 
pirate day.  aaaargh!

 
first snow of the year

 
school pic.  passport photos.  and a shot to remind me that he IS still a baby...

 
4 going on 18, the gorgeous yellow tree across the street, our "walk" home from school one warm day

 
freddy and his buddy benjamin watching the garage door fix-it man

 
precious people

 
halloween time!

 
laurel was cinderella and got to wear her dress to the party at school.  mrs slater as mrs potato head

laurel's dress lights up!  i helped with the pumpkin bowling game.  so cute! 

 
snack time

 
that night we went to the platings' to trick-or-treat.  like my costume?
freddy LOVED being batman.

 

our last halloween in colorado springs.  love these friends!

sweet september

i've got lots of photos to post, so bear with me... ha ha ha

 
this beautiful creature was in paula's backyard the day after i picked up freddy, who was playing in said backyard.  yikes.  apparently the waldo canyon fire messed up his food supply, so he decided to come grocery shopping in our neighborhood.  again, yikes!

 
my cousin sarah and her friend laura spent the night on their trip across the country.  we love having visitors!

 
a typical saturday in the fall.  i think they're saying "boo longhorns."  sorry kids.  better get used to it...

 
big truck!  a.k.a., in our house, "DEE DUH!!!!"  we hear it all day every day.  8-)

 
more visitors!  cousins mary and adam on their trip across the country


one weekend we had a short visit from kissy and buddy.  we surprised pat with his early 35th birthday gift.  the beloved big green egg

 
to say he loves it would be the understatement of the century.  thank you buddy and kissy and abbi and pops for chipping in!!!

 
time to go cheer on the falcons

 
perfect day for a football game

 
laurel participated again in the falcon cheer clinic

 
this time with her friend molly paige!  thanks to the usafa cheerleaders these two both know all the words to "call me maybe."  we are so proud...

 
little man.  little football fan.

 
yes, this is my new favorite picture.  but don't be fooled.  i didn't watch a single play of the game...

 
guess who loves to swim now?!?  almost as much as he adores his big sister...

 
pizza night

 
another falcon football game.  two rayners braved the elements.  the other two enjoyed being warm and toasty inside the house!

 
a few shots of some of our friends in the church nursery

 
these are some happy, magical, fleeting days.  i pray that i won't take a minute for granted and i'll enjoy every stage!

the big house

the following weekend, thanks to some really really really good friends, pat and i had a couple of days away with some of our air force academy friends.  USAFA played the university of michigan in football.  how could we pass that up?


friday night started early, with delicious nachos and margaritas.  it was a long night.

tailgate on saturday.  

perfect day.

HUGE stadium

the falcons fought hard and came so close!  the only thing that would've made the day better is a WIN.  

very thankful for cory's RV that evening.  brrrrrrr!

meanwhile...

thank you platings and stanfords.  you guys ROCK!

 

i missed this little booger so much!

first day of preschool

 
can you tell how excited she was?

 

 
i mean, she looks like a teenager sometimes!




 

also, first day of ballet.  8-)

labor day adventures

the day after we climbed pike's peak, the kids and mom and i flew to huntsville, alabama, where pops was waiting to take us to tupelo.

 
baby girl is not used to mosquitos...  but they sure do love her!

we had a restful couple of days in tupelo, then we headed down to the beach.

 
i told laurel she could relieve herself in the ocean.  so she just let 'er rip.  this will make a good rehearsal dinner pic one day...

 
what a beautiful day in destin!  in the little time we spent in the condo, we were watching hurricane isaac on the weather channel.  that night after dinner we got a call from the sheriff's office issuing a mandatory evacuation.  so much for our relaxing week at the beach!  we loaded up the car and left in the wee hours, to avoid the (nonexistent) traffic.  headed 6 or 7 hours north to smith lake!

 
the kids did a great job in the car.  what a treat to have an unexpected visit to our favorite place! 

 
no signs of mean ole isaac up there.  it was actually a restful day and a half.  then we headed back to destin.  lots of time in the car.  i think i read all 3 hunger games books...

 
pops was exhausted from all the driving!  the weather wasn't great, but we were thrilled to know we could sleep in the same beds for the next 5 nights!  :-)

 
my boy

 
so happy

 
the whole johnston crew was there for our annual labor day weekend reunion.  we LOVE our time with our cousins, and we were especially excited to see daddy!!

 
isaac cleared out and we ended up having a couple of beautiful days.  so thankful.

 
creative cousins - reopened their restaurant, umbrella santini.

 
special special memories.  

everybody except mej3