What a fun weekend!!

Friday night we went to Nikki's 14th birthday celebration. We started by eating at Bravo (an Italian restaurant at Jordan Creek Mall). The service was not good, but the company was! Nikki wanted to stay in a hotel at the mall and shop until it closed then go swimming with her friends. While the girls were shopping we took advantage of the pool, and Kenna and daddy swam until almost 9 o'clock!

--family at Bravo!--

--Her first time in the big swimming pool!--

--she had no fear, jumping, swimming, telling daddy to let her go....it was awesome!--

The next day we got up early, got all dudded up and went to a photo session in Boone. My friend has a professional photography studio and that is her full time job. She shot pictures of us as a family and of Kenna in her Halloween outfit. More to come on those!

After the photo shoot we went to Hickory Park for lunch, then home for a nap.

--waiting for food at Hickory Park--

That evening I decided we should call Gona and Baca and go to Center Grove Orchards. I had heard about it on the radio and it sounded like a blast! They had hay rides, petting zoo, lots for kids to do, train rides, pumpkin patch, corn maze and pick your own apples. For a girl from Washington, I was pleasently surprised at how yummy the apples were! We bought cider, pie and a half peck to take home and munch on all week!

--kenna trying to pick up a pumpkin--

--playing in the pumpkin bins--

--silly family!--

--another silly photo op!--

--the toddler train, Kenna LOVED it!--

--large view of the train--

--petting baby goats (they were SOOO cute!)--

--I am asking for a baby goat for Christmas!--

--these goats climbed on the building and all along these planks!--

--feeding momma goat--

--they had the cutest 3 little pig houses!--

--brick house--

--view of the barn--

--Josh was surprised I could milk the fake cow--

--Kenna LOVED the corn pool. Who would have thought playing in corn could be so fun--

--Baca also enjoyed it!--

--we rode the tractor to the pumpkin patch--

--Daddy and kenna tring to find the perfect pumpkin--

--gona and kenna pretending to be farmers--

--the end of a fun day!--

We took our pie home to Gona and Baca's and watched Smallville. We had such a fun and eventful day. I think we will make this a ritual every year! Kenna spent the night and she came home with stories of being the big bad wolf. I think her and Kenna had a fun morning of talking about the three little pigs :)

Sunday we did chores all morning then headed out to Grandma and Grandpa greats in the afternoon. We watched Uncle Mike harvesting beans with his new combine. Kenna and Daddy went for a ride, and she thought that was pretty neat! Hard to go back to work with all the fun we had!

Avi's birthday

On September 20th we had quite the busy schedule. In the morning I helped out with the Latino Festival in downtown Des Moines. Best Buy sponsored a booth this year, and it was really cool!

--interactive games, rockband, racecar simulator, mariocart Wii, and xbox games--

--Nascar truck--

--Bestbuy Nascar--

Then, after I helped with that for a few hours, I stopped by the hospital and got to meet Charlene's new addition. Macie Lynn Kohl, 9lbs, 2oz. She seems very sweet. I can't remember kenna being that small!

--sleeping quietly--

That night we had not one party, but two! First was Avinash (Avi's) party. He is turning two and is quite the young man. Sashank works with Josh, and I just love attending their events! It is such a neat cultural experience for kenna, because the majority of his friends wear their fancy attire from India.

--young birthday boy--

--party before a lot of people got there--

Later that night I went downtown and met up with a friend from school. She is celebrating her new singleness (recently divorced.) We had drinks (well I had water) and talked until about 10:30....past my bedtime.

That day was also Shelly's birthday, but they were out of town! Crazyness in the Skinner house!

Finally a Denver update

That's right...almost a month later I am FINALLY updating everyone on the Denver trip we took from September 10-14th. Kenna and I drove to Omaha, because tickets were $150, instead of $650. And since she is a big girl now, she needs her own seat :) We got up early on the 10th and loaded the car. We had the little potty and some snacks to keep her entertained. We were so proud because mommy made it the park n ride without getting lost!

We arrived at the airport and were doing great all the way through security. But, to our dismay, all of the bathrooms in our terminal were closed. So we had to leave and go through security not once, but twice! So it was me, Kenna, both sets of shoes, my backpack, with laptop and stroller that all had to go through the scanner. Thank goodness it wasn't crowded!

Kenna did great on the airplane ride. Mommy snuck in some new toys that really did their job at distracting the whole time!

--playing at the airport...notice the big orange signs that tell you the bathrooms are closed. Not good for a recently potty trained toddler!--

--her own seat, what a big girl!--

We got to the airport and called Grampa Bob and Gary to come get us. We waited quite a while, because I guess they got lost getting to the airport! Boy was Kenna ready for a nap when we finally made it to their house!

--view from their house--

The majority of the trip was spent in true Skinner style, playing cards, eating, playing more cards, taking a nap, playing more cards, you get the picture. It was a little hard to keep Kenna entertained considering Gary and Susanne have no kids, and fancy adult toys. Luckily I brought a mermaid and curious george DVD. That kept her busy most of the time :)

This is also purely for my own memory but boy did Kenna have a hard time going potty there. She was all plugged up from the travel and we did everything we could from feeding her fiber rich foods, to sapositories....it was awful! But as soon as she got home she was completly fine. Something to be said about your own potty!

Here are some pictures of their amazing house!

--back deck. Bent trex, really neat design!--

--backyard. Rabbit proof fence being installed along with pavers around all of the planters--

--view in the afternoon--

--SWEET sink in Gary's office, he had to remodel his whole bathroom just to make it fit :)--

--main hallway (loved the woodworking in the house!)--

--pretty decorative flooring--

--imported doors, with hand carved dragons--

--custom made metal table, (sorry we had so much stuff on it) was a work of art in of itself--

--there are multiple LCD screens that control the whole house--

--fancy toilet in main bathroom--

--controls for fancy toilet, I never personally tried it :)--

--the "brain" behind the audio/video. Every TV is hooked up to this. Has 6-7 terabytes of storage so all movies, music and recorded television is available from any TV any time--

--view of driveway looking at backyard. They are still finishing pavers in the backyard--

--paved trails around garden--

--Grandpa Bob pushing Kenna in the hose contraption--

--kenna loved exploring, here she is with the rock she found--

--kenna and great grandma--

--pretty Colorado flowers--

--kenna showing off her belly--

--4 generations!--

We had such a good time, and Gary and Susanne were such gracious hosts putting up with a toddler! Hopefully we can all get together again soon!

Halloween!

We have picked out our Halloween costume! Check her out!

Cute kids

The other night Josh took Kenna over to Chloe's for dinner. After dinner they took their bath together, then sported some cute towels. Chad thought it was worthy of a photo session. He has a small studio in his basement, who knew??

--Chloe and Kenna after their bath--

April and Nate are engaged!

The title says it all, but after spending 7 months apart because of the military, April and Nate met up for a week in Hawaii. And he proposed on a hike through the rain forest. SO romantic :) I am so happy for the two of them, that I had to post their picture! Love you guys!