The P-Man sitting on the practice field.

Parker & his buddy, Devan in the football team meeting room.

Parker in the football stadium.

The P-Man in the press room, where they have all the All American jerseys hanging.

Parker standing on the bench inside the locker of a football player, last name Parker.

Parker by the Gay Street bridge and TN river.

Some of you heard about Parker's recent field trip, so here are some of the pics. I got a substitute for my class so I could go with him, and I am so glad I did. He had a blast, and I got to meet some of his class buddies. I am actually the classroom mom, so it worked out well for that because I got to scope out the other parents for helpers during the class parties. They rode the school buses, Fun, Fun, Fun! 40 six and seven year olds riding a bus with a driver that looks like he just left the motorcycle bar, who was blasting "Highway To Hell" over the bus speakers is one AWESOME way to start the day! We went to the athletic dept. building were they have a big football shrine set up. Then we went into the indoor practice football field, where they ran their hearts out, and took a tour of the weight room where we saw several players working out. When the kids saw them, their little eyes were as big as saucers, not so much cause they were football players, but the fact that they were at least 6 ft. 4 and 300 lbs. It just so happens that we saw Chris Lofton, one of the basktetball players, too. We then went into the football team's meeting room, sat in their big comfy theater chairs, and watched a football hightlight video set to some rap music. We loaded back up on the buses, and headed to the football stadium, walked around in the locker rooms, and sat in the stadium for a little snack. We then headed over to the basketball arena, said hi to the soccer coaches, checked out both the men's and women's locker rooms, and ate lunch in the basketball players meeting room. After our UT sports, we headed to the sunsphere, the giant ball from the world's fair, that you can ride the elevator up to the observation deck. To top off the day, we went to Volunteer Landing to see the riverboats, and bridges. It was a fun and exhasting day. In my efforts to scope out the parents, one of Parker's friends is the assistant athletic director for UT, so he was our field trip connection for the day, Sweet!

Dallin wanted to be something gross, and very scary. We vetoed all crazy costumes, and agreed on a vampire. Scary, but not too bad. Although, he looks pretty gruesome in this photo.

Parker, the magician with the rabbit poking out of his hat. He makes his teeth disappear. :)

Gretchen as "Princess Analiese" from Princess & the Pauper Barbie movie. And yes, she has her hand on her hip, head cocked to the side like she is 13 yrs old. She is one FUNNY girl.

Parker, Gretchen and Dallin with the giant Mayfield Dairy cow.

Hanging out on an electic engine.

Smiling on the train, waiting for the all aboard call.

Parker, no teeth, and Dallin with a left over black eye from an incident with a tinker toy and a little brother riding the choo choo.

Dad and Gretchen enjoying the train ride.

The gang in front of our engine #610. All Aboard!

The boys talking to the birds.

Parker and his goat buddy. This goat ran up to him as soon as we walked through the gate. He followed him around even after he ran out of food.

Gretchen with one of her statue protectors at the zoo.

The boys inside the giant crab tank tube.

Dallin, Gretchen and Parker in front of one of the huge salt water tanks.

Dallin and Parker watching for Jaws.

Gretchen with an Emperor penguin statue-see the difference in heights?

Gretchen and her winged friend.

Parker & his butterfly friend. By the way, Parker has lost 4 teeth in 2 weeks.

Dallin, Parker and Gretchen waiting for a shark or stingray to swim by.

Happy Fall Ya'll!
This past week was Fall Break for those of us who still follow a school calendar-4 out of 5! We had several ideas for the week, but with our day to day life so hectic, we decided to do what we love most. We vacationed in TN, where the leaves are in full changing effect, and the cooler weather has set in. We spent the first few days down in Chattanooga at the lovely Country Inn & Suites. We started out the first day at the TN Aquarium, which is actually like 2 aquariums in one-a fresh water and salt water. We started out in the salt water where the sharks were,OF COURSE! They actually had a touch pool with some small sharks, stingrays, blue & yellow tangs (like Dory). One of the stingrays had a love of little kids and would swim right up to the edge of the tank and "wave" really fast and hard. I thought that Dallin and Gretchen were actually going to end up swimming with them, and once Parker realized that they had removed the barbs he was okay with it. You know all he could think about was the poor crocodile hunter. They had a butterfly pavilion, I do not know what it had to do with salt water fish, but it was cool. All 3 of the kids were able to get one on their little fingers, so we considered that part a sucess. The newest exhibit is penguins, which are Gretchen's favorite. They had little statues of the different kinds, and let me tell you the emperor penguins, like in the movie, are over 4 feet tall. I was expecting much smaller little birds. We saw some HUGE crabs, and they had a tube through the center so kids could stand inside and look from the middle. Pretty cool! We also saw a rather large octopus playing with a ball. It seemed to be enjoying a little diversity from the coral and rocks. There were seahorses, jellyfish and more. Of course the best part was the 5 story salt water tank with tons of fish in various sizes and 3 huge sharks. DaDa DaDa DaDa DaDaDA!!! Definately the THREE boys favorite! Then we went to the fresh water museum that also had these huge 5 story tanks where we saw tons of river fish, turtles and snakes. They had a touch tank in there as well with these sturgeon. They are a protected fish in the wild because people catch them for caviar. So if a large 4 foot fish bites your line, toss it back fast.

The next day we went to the Chattanooga Zoo. It was small but really cute and well set up. It actually had a ton of animals, and pretty active animals at that. Gretchen loved all these terra cotta statues everywhere like the ones in China that guard palaces. For whatever reason she thought they were "really cool". We did see the craziest birds, that liked to say "Bye Bye"!

We then went to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and took the a fall colors train ride through a tunnel and over some cool bridges to this other little town where the railroad yard was. They restore all these original steam locomotives, and even an old electric engine. We watched them take our engine off, and turn it around on the train turntable, very cool, and change tracks so it could hook back up to the front. We explored the train yard and climbed up in an old caboose. It was a blast!

The next day it finally started to rain, after months of being dry. Of course it had to rain during fall break. So we headed back to Knoxville via the Mayfield Dairy. We watched a movie about the Mayfield family, and how they got started. Plus this cool machine that only Mayfield uses that takes wierd tastes out of milk from funny stuff cows eat, like wild onions. We donned out hairnets, even Richard, which is funny since he shaves his head. We took the tour, where they were filling up chocolate milk bottles called "The Chug", Grammer's favorite, as fast as they could. We saw how they make the jugs, fill and cap them, where they make the icecream, and how they package it. Then we topped off the tour with a giant scoop of icecream, YUMMY!

We came back to Knoxvegas and watched the Transformers movie. The next day we went to Dollywood-which was perfect. It was cloudy and did sprinkle a couple of times, but it was full of retired people, so....NO LINES! The kids got to ride all their favorite rides. Unfortunately the train was packed with the retired crowd, so we opted out. We checked out what they were making in all the craft booths that were there for the Harvest Festival: sourghum, applebutter, honey, fiddles, harps, baskets, blankets, soaps, woodcarving, woodturning, etc. I had some yummy apple butter and biscuits, while Richard opted for the giant Turkey leg, succotash with okra in it, and cornbread.

Then Richard and I had Chelsea come babysit so we could have a "day date" as the kids called it. We did our favorite, shop!

Yesterday, we went to the zoo with our friends the Hardings, who we are moving Jan.1st to Maryland. The kids ran off some energy, and we checked out all our favorite animals: Gretchen's zebras, Dallin's bugs and lizards, and Parker's red pandas.

We are now hanging out, doing a little playdoh, coloring, piano playing, bike riding-Gretchen got a big girl bike this week, cookie making, car washing, candy corn eating, hot chocolate drinking, and whatever strikes our fancy for our last day of our relaxing fall break. Tomorrow is the kid's primary program at church. Richard is going with a friend to the TN Titans vs. LA Raiders NFL game in Nashville, so it is just me and kids tomorrow. Then back to the grindstone: school, work, Rich out of town a few days, with a couple trick or treating events thrown in for fun. Now the countdown for Christmas Break...55 days to go until Dec. 21st!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Rebekah!
We love you and wish you a super birthday!
Hugs & Kisses XOXOXOXOXOXO!

Gretchen and her best buddy, Rebekah!

The boys with their favorite 4 year old cousin!

The birthday girl, looking cute as always!

Happy Birthday Aunt Dare! We LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE you!

As you can see, after 3 kids, I finally have one that likes to clean. Without ever telling her she will rinse off her dishes and then she puts them in the dishwasher. I know several adults that don't do that, and big kids. You Go Girl! She a daughter after my own heart. Two weeks ago, we decided to have a girls day and a guys day. The boys went to play golf at a par three course, and when I asked Gretchen what she wanted to do she said...SHOP! It was tax free weekend, so you know how crazy it was, and I thought she would get tired of walking(big girls that shop don't need strollers) and the crowds looking for a deal. Well, 5 hours later, the girls was still going strong; looking for that next cute outfit she needed. I love this girl!

Whoa baby! Check out those muscles.

Parker and Gretchen as superheroes, note the winter gloves and hats. They said it makes them stronger. They are just desparate for cooler weather.

We're SOOO excited about our first day of school!

It was the First Day of the Fourth Grade...for Dallin. Dallin was so excited when I picked him up on the first day, that I could barely contain him. He LOVES his 24 yr. old teacher, and thinks she is SOOO cool. He has been this way everyday! WooHoo! He did get his T-CAP testing scores back from last year, much like the CAT test, and he scored very high in all 5 categories. He is in the advanced level for math, reading, grammer, science, and social studies. He got it from his mom! :)

It was the First Day of the First Grade...for Parker. He has not had such a great start. We really aren't sure what is going on. His teacher, who is really sweet, the prinicipal and myself are keeping an eye on the little guy. His teacher says he is a smart, well mannered boy that is really sweet. Unfortunately, we are seeing big tears in the eyes almost everyday.Hopefully, things will get better. :)

Happy 9th Birthday Dallin!

Our eldest child celebrated his 9th birthday in July. He decided on a laser tag party with his buddies. They played a couple of laser tag games, ate a lot of pizza, and chowed down on cake. By the end they were all a bunch of sweaty boys. Sorry, no pics, they use blacklights. Then Dare, Ryan, Owen and Elijah came to visit for the weekend. We spent Sat. at Dolly's Splash Country Water Park. Believe it or not we stayed ALL day. The boys rode most waterslides, with Ryan and Richard braving the Fire Tower Falls, a slide that drops straight down. Then we went to church, ate some birthday chocolate chocolate chip muffins, and went to the park. It was a fun weekend, and Dallin said he had a great birthday.

Dare, Ryan and my cute nephews Owen and Elijah came to visit for the D-Man's b-day.

A couple more of our visitors.

One of our little visitors for Dallin's birthday.

Our 9 year old on his birthday! Happy B-Day you old guy!

The Birthday Boy at his Laser Tag Party.

Dallin, Parker and Gretchen on their first flight. Papa's friend, Mr. Neil flew them around Zebulon, Franklinton, and surrounding areas. They all three loved it.

Dallin the co-pilot.

Parker the wingman.

Taking a break at the Dallas World Fair Park.

The gang at the Dallas World Park Aquarium.

The boys looking festive for the Fourth.

Our independence parade princess, ready to wave and throw some candy in the Denton 4th of July parade.

The boys passed out after a day of fun. Parker, Trevor and Dallin waiting for the horse races to start at Lone Star Park.

Loading up in the gates.

Warming up on the track.

The horses rounding the final turn.

Sydney and Gretchen at the Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth.

Cooking up some chow over the campfire.

Camping out under the stars.

My little cowgirl, Gretchen. YEEHAA!

Searching for some groceries.

Gretchen an Sydney doing some grocery shopping.

Gretchen doing some "fishing" off the pier in the discovery play area at the science museum.

Sydney, Gretche, Kara, Rachel (cousin of Kara), Parker, Trevor and Dallin at the Science Museum in Fort Worth.

Sydney and Kara sporting their glam look.

Parker searching for his next victim.

Parker and Dad taking a little break from swimming.