Meet our new Pumpkin "Punk"

Landon named our pumpkin "punk" because that is as close as he can come to Pumpkin!!!. Good times......

Lombardi Ranch - Oct. 24, 2008

Todd ditched work early yesterday and went to Lombardi Ranch with Stacy and the kids. We went on a guided tour of the ranch and checked out some animals and the petting zoo. Landon was SOOO tired, but once we let him run around, he had a blast. He especially liked the petting zoo where he tried to poke all the animals in the eyes. They must get that alot cause they just sat there and took the abuse!!!! We got to pick a few pumpkins to bring home. I have a feeling FHE on monday is going to be pumpkin carving night. Enjoy the pics.....

Treadmill Thrill Ride.........

Don't ask me why, but my kids love the 1 second thrill ride on the treadmill. Skye thinks its funny to crank up the speed and watch Landon try to keep his balance. It has really helped him learn to balance alot better. They will do this for hours, if we let them. They have a blast! Ahh, to be young again.........

Saydi's Baptism......

A few weeks ago, we traveled to Las Vegas to see Stacy's grandparents and then we continued on to St. George, UT to see our friends the Campbell's. Saydi was getting baptized that weekend, so we were able to be there to see that. We had a great time, even if Matt killed me at Wii Golf.

Treehugger-in-Training

Landon deserves a special post just for this picture. Stacy snapped this picture of Landon giving a tree in our campsite a big hug after we got done calculating our carbon footprint for the trip and deciding how much to spend purchasing carbon offset indulgences (just kidding) :)

Camping At Hume Lake - Sept. 5-7

This past weekend, we took a trip up to Hume Lake in the Sequoia National Forest. We took some time to visit some of the giant Sequoia trees in the Sequoia/Kings Canyon area. We drove to Chad and Lyndsay's in Clovis on Thursday afternoon, spent the night at their house, then hit the road for the Lake late Friday morning. After we got to the park, we stopped at General Grant's tree on the way to the campground. Don't ask me the story about that big tree, cause I don't remember, but Stacy might. Landon took a nice face plant once he was set free from his mean old car seat. He was running up the path and WHAM.......he tripped over his feet and face planted on the asphalt. Poor guy. I snapped a great picture of his pain, but Stacy wouldn't let me post it!!!! He was back at it within minutes having the time of his life.

After we got checked into the campsites and camp set up, we went down for a leisurly stroll around the lake, which turned into a 3.5 mile hike. It was really cool to see the whole lake, but we brought too much stuff along the way to carry. After getting back to camp, Chad and Lyndsay made a great BBQ chicken meal with corn on the cob, salad and the works. Great food!

Saturday morning, Grandpa and Skye made a very healthy french toast/peach dutch oven meal. it had lots of brown sugar, butter and all that good stuff in it. Needless to say, it tasted fantastic! We spent Saturday at Celebrate Sequoia! at a nearby campground, which was a festival with booths and crafts and stuff. After doing that, we headed down to the lake and that is where we tried to roll the log. Grandpa, Chad and I could only get about a quarter rotation. We convinced ourselves that it is bottom heavy and there is no way to actually spin it. We tried, but we kept falling off. I took Skye out on it with me. She was really brave, but we went in the water a few times. The water was freezing, by the way, but we kinda got used to it after being in it for awhile. Everyone had a blast at the lake beach. For dinner, I made a chicken/rice dutch oven recipe that we tried in Wrightwood in July.

Sunday, we got up and had dutch oven sour cream coffee cake, broke camp, and headed down to the lake. We rented a rowboat and chad and lyndsay paddled the lake in a canoe. Landon contributed to the peace and serenity of the clear blue mountain lake by screaming most of the time. Once I decided to go back, he quieted down and chilled with Skye as they dipped their hands in the water. After we got back, we fed the ducks the last of our bread rolls and hit the road for home.

Hume Lake is a fantastic place. We will definitely be going back there again, maybe every year. There is alot to do there and we could only fit in a fraction of what there is to do.

Dance Recital

Yesterday was Skye's annual dance recital at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center. She did a great job, although she said that she had butterflies. She has worked hard over the last year to learn her dance steps. The whole recital was great. Here are some pics