The last weekend in September, when Elena had her date to Homecoming, the Arkansas Canoe Club had its annual rendezvous. I really wanted to go to practice my canoe skills. (My goal is to go sideways across a river while still pointing downstream. I haven't made it yet.). But anyway, Leo had work, like usual, so I decided to take Isabel and Sebastian because I wanted them to learn too, but we needed another rower, so our good friends let me steal their son to bring along too. Logan was actually thrilled to come and I hope he had fun with us. It was good time. And this might be one of my favorite photos of Isabel ever.
On the drive home we stopped for some Dairy Queen.
I traumatized all three of them with the book, Touching the Void, which we listened to on the way there and back.
I brought our pie irons since it was only older kids along, which we haven't used in years, and our dinners were so good. People kept asking me what they were and jealously looking at our delicious food (okay maybe not jealously, but there was definite interest.) Also, I stink at socializing.
The area was so beautiful!!! It was at the Ouachita River near Malvern. I wish we were able to drive there just a week or two later when the leaves would start to turn. The Ozarks are beautiful.
Early morning frog catching.
The class, later that afternoon, went really well except Isabel and Logan who were in a canoe together, were tired out and couldn't make it back to shore. A couple random guys there had to go fetch them. Sebas was my partner and we barely made it back. It was tiring paddling for that long when you're not used to it. We also took a class, How Not to Die. I was happy that most of the things I already had learned/self taught myself. Although, I am still sorely lacking on hands on experience. Someday.
I had my trailer to carry stuff, and the kids played cards in it for a while before heading to bed in our tents.
Logan and Sebas got their tent set up. Anyway, it was super fun, I was glad I didn't have little kids with me, so I could actually practice and learn, but on the other hand, they all would have loved it.
Most of the kids in our ward went to Eisenhower High School, Kate and Elena were the only LDS kids, (I think there was another boy actually), at Goddard High School. So Kate and Elena went with dates to the homecoming dance at Eisenhower a week after the one at Goddard. The Fawsons are always amazing and had all the kids come to their house for photos beforehand. This was the weekend I was in Arkansas.
Elena and her date, Michael.
My parents were leaving on their mission to Fort Bluff, where they had to dress in costume. I made my mom one dress, and then this one just because. It was a little too small unfortunately.
I also made her the period accurate bonnet, but that was a bit much. They are hard to see in, no peripheral vision whatsoever. I thought it was cute anyway.
Our always Eeyore Nicolas.
Playdough! I think Efraim was begging me to make him some for a long time.
After the air show, (the weekend before) Elena went with a group of friends to Homecoming at Goddard High School. Kate, her best friend, came to pick her up, and it was so funny because they had bought the exact same dress off of Amazon without knowing it, just in different colors. (Yep, these pictures are all out of order.)
I love driving past the fields on the way to pick up the kids. I think this is soybeans.
On Sept. 24th, we went to the McConnell Air Force Base Air Show. I didn't know this before moving to Wichita but its nickname is the Air Capitol of the World. Apparently, it's been that since 1929. For one, Amelia Earhart is from Kansas. And Beechcraft, Cessna, Stearman--that later was bought by Boeing, Lear Jet, Airbus, and Spirit Aerosystems all were/are manufactured in Wichita. Also, the US army in WWII manufactured Boeing B-29 bombers here too. Many of our friends in our ward worked in the aero industry. So yeah, there's an aviation museum by the Air Force base and an annual air show. We were so hoping that Leo would be able to come with us to the airshow, but true to his then current job, he had to work. He pretty much was always working at that point. Even if he was home, he was working on his laptop. Anyway, that is not the point of this post.
I thought this car was cool.
Skydiver.
The air show part was really cool.
They lit off smoke bomb type things as the airplanes pretended to bomb the area. It was loud, and fun.
The boys were mesmerized.
And after we stopped at Andy's Frozen yogurt for dessert. Yum. I will miss that place.
I'm a mom and a nurse, hopefully decent at both but that's debatable. I love history and family history and blogging is my way of keeping my family's history. Most of all, I love Leo (mi papacito esposo de Colombia) and Ana, Elena, Isabel, Sebastian, Nicolas, Jubal, and Efraim (mis hijos). My other passion is also dark and rico and from South America--that would be chocolate. Basically I like to eat chocolate, eat chocolate icecream, eat frozen hot chocolates from Dairy Queen, eat Peppermint Yorks, Junior Mints, and of course dark chocolate truffles. Okay, now that I've wiped the slobber off my chin from thinking about all of that, I'll get on to the rest of my blog. Oh, and I'm trying to learn Spanish but spend too much time blogging/sewing/reading/sewing instead.
"Managing a home involves much more than keeping a house clean, organized, and attractive. These skills are important...but these skills are only a means to an end. The paramount objective is to create a setting where family and friends are comfortable and happy, where there are good dinners and good times, where there is fun and laughter, where children acquire good habits and are taught life skills and how to be self-reliant and responsible, where challenges are faced by coupling temporal endeavors with eternal perspectives, where joy through gospel teaching and living prevails, where kindness and respect reign supreme, where love is strong enough to bind the family forever, and where children are nurtured toward eternal life."
--Daryl Hoole
“Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.” Elder Boyd K. Packer - November 1993 Ensign
"Dear Prude,
Sober of not, I am forever yours."
-Percy French, a letter to his wife (1776)
"Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories."
-John Wilmot
"Science advances, it's like a ladder--one step leads to another. But art isn't like that. Art is about being human. Children make art instinctively. Archaeologists know that when they find evidence of art, they're found evidence of human beings. It expresses all that is best in us--our desires, our hopes, our truth. And so, art changes, but it doesn't get better."
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