What....she's not afraid??

As many of you know, Shelby is afraid of just about every living thing. She is very scared of dogs, cats and has never liked petting zoos. Here you see her feeding a goat. She spent about 1/2 an hour feeding these goats. She had such a great time.

She is so happy to be by the sheep as well. She actually pet the sheep. I can't even tell you how excited I was to see her having fun instead of being scared.

She is actually petting a bunny. She stuck her fingers in the cage and everything. She wanted to spend so much time with the animals, I was a little concerned that someone had stolen my child and substituted her for someone else.

Lexi was also very excited to spend some time with the animals. She was feeding them as well.

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Today, we went to the pumpkin patch with our small group from church. We had a great time. They had a hay maze for the kids, a corn maze, and fire pits with private party areas.

We had roasted hot dogs and made smores. It was a lot of fun. We attempted the corn maze, but after about 1/2 hour we ended up at the entrance again and we did not think we could go any further. We had a great time walking around in circles.

We went on a hay ride and the kids had a great time. They thought it went really slow, but it was fun no less. John and the guys in small group started talking about tractors with scoop hoods and dragster possibilities and the women just rolled our eyes and laughed.

They had a petting zoo as well. The girls actually had a good time feeding the goats, sheep and pigs. All in all we had a great day. The weather was good, but a little cold. It started to rain at the end, so it was a good time to go.

Our beautiful girls

I was out taking pictures of the beauty that we live in and the girls were with me. I had to take a couple of pictures of the beauties that God gave us. Shelby is 7 1/2 and doing great. She is still so active and growing like a weed....how do we make the growing thing stop?

I don't know about anyone else, but this little one does not look 9 1/2 to me. She is getting so mature and really loving the idea of growing up. I, however, am having a very rough time of it.

I look at these smiling faces and I thank God for my girls. We have been so blessed with healthy, active, crazy girls and I would have it no other way. There are days when I want to pull my hair out, but I think I will print this picture and remind myself of the treasures that I have.

This is what I get to see when I drive to my house everyday. The mountains, the colors, the apple and pear trees, the river.....WOW!

Fall in Naches

I wanted to send some pictures of Naches and the beautiful picturesque setting that we get to live in.

These are pictures of the Naches River and the beauty that God created.

Just another amazing setting that God gives us to look at.

Lexi plays piano

Thanks to Uncle Mick, Lexi has been able to begin piano lessons. Mick sent us a digital keyboard and Lexi has been having a great time learning how to play. Right now it sits on our dining room table, but Grandpa is making a table for it. The table is coming along and we are excited to add it to our home decor.

Mrs. Montgomery is Lexi's piano teacher. She is wonderful. She is bubbly and ever so kind. Lexi is learning a lot and is hoping to play a Christmas piece in December at a retirement community in Yakima. We are so proud of her and the wonderful progress that she is making.

Updated House Pictures

OLD FRONT OF HOUSE.......

NEW FRONT OF HOUSE.....

Pete, Betty, John and Lynn all had a hand in making this house look so good. Pete and John did most of it, but you know. This is what it looks like today. We are still going to make the columns bigger and do some painting, but I wanted to get an updated picture for you. As you can tell, the color of the strip under the lights is the actual color that we are painting the house. I don't know, there is something special about having a "racing strip" on the front of your house.

Gymnastics has started!

We have started Home School Gymnastics! We go once a week for an hour and the girls get to have instruction and some free time as well. Here, I had to ask Lexi to stop so I could take her picture.

This picture is a little blurry, because if you know Shelby at all, asking her to stop bouncing for a picture is like asking her to not eat for a month, almost impossible.

A moment when Shelby is actually standing still to decide if she wants to jump in the foam pit or if she wants to keep doing cartwheels (her personal favorite).

Thank goodness Lexi is not really worried about her looks yet, but she was having a hard hair day.

More pictures from the Fair!

This is Shelby's first time on the Cyclone. She is riding with John and is not scared at all. Lexi is waiting to see how it goes before she attempts to ride. In the end, this was the favorite ride of the day. They all went on it many, many times.

Lexi and Shelby's first attempt at the bumper cars did not go so well. Lexi had some problems steering and they were not able to navigate very well. They had fun, but did not want to ride them again.

Grandma DeVore decided to join them on the big swings. Lexi was a little nervous, but having grandma go with them helped. This was, again, one of the favorites of the day.

The giant slide is another big favorite. John did not go on it this year, but the girls showed him how much fun he was missing. When it was not too busy the attendant would let them race.

A day at the Fair!!!

It has become a family tradition to go to the fair on the first day. John takes the day off and we spend the whole day riding rides and having fun. We buy wristbands for the girls and John and they ride unlimited rides for hours on end. It is my job to take pictures and I was ready this year, however, the camera only held out for about an hour before the battery failed.

It was a bright, sunny and hot day. The girls had a great time. We were looking at all the boats and campers. The girls were trying to decide which one would be the best to buy. Lexi liked the blue one and Shelby like the biggest one. I guess this shows us what is important. HA HA

Candy Nation was an exhibit at the fair this year. They were showing how Jelly Belly's were made and a lot of different kinds of candy. I love this picture because the kids are posing for me, but John and his parents are reading the information. They had a section with See's candy and the I Love Lucy episode with the candy on the conveyor belt. Shelby thought it was so funny, she stood there and watched the section they were showing three times.