Assumptions...or ACORN at work??

Today I received my voter registration card from the State of Alabama. For those of you who never knew my real name was Yvonnie, there is a reason for that...it's NOT!! It seems strange to me that someone would randomly assume that my real name couldn't just be Vonnie, and change it, even though there was no "Y" to be found on the document I filled out.

I'm sure it was just a fluke mistake, but I hope it won't keep my from being able to cast my vote on November 4th. Since it is so close to the election, there is no chance of correcting this error.

What will keep you from voting?? Justin and I have refrained from posting political blogs, but don't let that make you think we don't feel STRONGLY about this very consequential election! If you are undecided about voting or undecided about who to vote for I would suggest taking a few moments of your time to listen to this weeks broadcasts from Focus on the Family. Dr. James Dobson has dedicated this week to topics related to next weeks election - everything from the Sanctity of Human Life, to parental rights, to national security!! They have been eye opening to say the least!!

Another trip to the Pumpkin Patch...

After we had a brief visit to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch with the boys' preschool, we decided to make it a family outing as well.

The Scenery (minus the pumpkin patch)

There was a beautiful sunflower field. I hoped to have a chance to grab some pictures of the boys with these gorgeous flowers, but they really had no interest in posing!! This Bumble Bee however, gave me ample opportunity to take pictures of her!

The Inflatables!!

The Pony Rides!!

The Petting Zoo!!

Sweet Treats!!

The End!!

A Weekend Window...

Because Justin had to work on his 8 page written final this weekend...nothing to exciting happened around here - But I thought I would share some random photos!

Zach LOVES to play photographer. He wanted to take a picture of E and I and when he was done said "I'm such a great artist!"

Friday night and Saturday night both Superman and Red Power Ranger were invited to fall parties. We aren't really Halloween fans - the scary part of it is frustrating and I really hate trying to explain the "yucky" things that the boys see at every store we go in. Zach is especially sensitive to it...but we sure do love dressing up, decorating pumpkins, and getting candy. Friday we went to some friends' house, the boys painted pumpkins and made masks! Saturday Justin's school put on a Fall Festival - an abundance of food, candy, pumpkins, and about 800 kids!

That night Daddy really needed to get to work on his paper, but his sugar high came crashing down and he succumbed to sleep instead! Zach enjoyed his movie night with Dad, even though Dad missed the movie.

Internet surfing already. This past week Eli discovered that he could climb up on the chair and get to the computer ALL BY HIMSELF!! It was a constant battle this weekend keeping him away! But he sure look cute up there clicking on the mouse!

With only minimal procrastination, Justin finished his paper Sunday after church...he spent the majority of the afternoon outside watching the boys while he worked on it. Who knew he was such a good multi-tasker!!?

The tub is small, but these three boys LOVE to be in the tub together!! I'm not sure if it's because they are boys or because I let them get too dirty, but we could bath at least twice a day, and still go to bed filthy!!

Hope you all had a great weekend as well!!

REDNECK "Y"

Hey all,

Vonnie and I wanted to first apologize for being delinquent in our blogging. Then we wanted to lay a guilt trip on our faithful readers and say it was because no one leaves comments, so where is our motivation?? Then we thought that if we made our faithful readers mad about the no comment comment then we wouldn't have any readers, so we decided to just fess up and say that we have been busy, or I have been studying a lot, or that we got snowed in for two weeks and didn't get any pictures! What kind of example am I? I tell Zach that he needs to tell me the truth and then here I am lying to the world! (I should have been a politician--you pick the party!) :)

All of that mumbling and rambling to lead up to some pictures we took a while ago. The boys have really been enjoying their bicycles but don't really like the hills, so we had a solution for them. We would make them "exercise" bikes!! Living in the south right now and not being from the south we see some things that are "different!" And this REDNECK "Y" is just a chance for us to blend into our surroundings a little bit!! :)

Love to you all, and sorry we haven't been keeping up on our blog. We will try to be better...I guess Eli probably grew a foot since his last post, and the other two are going to their Junior Prom next week! :)

The Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch!

After reading my Sister's blog about her trip to a local pumpkin patch, I decided it was about time to post our pumpkin patch pictures from our trip last week! The boys' preschool took a trip out to The Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch last Wednesday morning. Since Justin didn't have to be in for class until the afternoon he was able to come along with us, which was fantastic!! I'm not sure how I would have carried pumpkins plus Eli!! The place is Christian owned and offers a hayride, petting zoo, pony rides, inflatables...the whole works. We were only able to participate in the hayride, but hope to head back next week for the other activities and possibly even an evening bonfire!!

Someday I will actually be able to get a picture of them looking at the camera!! But at least they are all smiling in some way!

On the hayride out to pick out our pumpkins.

Eli had a great time playing with his pumpkin!

And thought it was pretty tasty!

Daddy trying to carry his pumpkin the "cool" way!! Definitely not how mom carries one!

Like father like son!

Seth wanted a picture of him holding these two pumpkins while sitting on a big one! He didn't want my help so it took him about 5 minutes to get both pumpkins up onto his lap! It was hilarious!

This pumpkins about twice as big as he is - he would pick it up if he could!

The ride home!!!

Justin's 4th MS 150 ride

Hey all,

With the move to Antigua last summer, I was unable to keep my string alive of riding in an MS 150 annually. We also moved this summer and I missed the Wyoming ride I have done in the past in August, but was happy to find the Alabama version of the ride was the last weekend in September! The other pleasant suprise is that we didn't start at 6,000 feet, and go over some 8,000 foot passes! We started at sea-level and climbed all the way up to maybe 200 feet above sea level. The reason that is so important is that for a normal MS 150 I will have put in close to 1,000 miles of training prior to stepping on the bike! This year I put in a whopping 150 miles or so...that might be generous. So there was no telling how the body would react! Fortunately it worked well, and got even stronger the second day, as long as I didn't try and adjust where I was sitting on the seat!

On day one we followed the wrong arrows...and added about 16 miles to the ride when we came to a sign "DEAD END"...fortunately the guy I was riding with and I followed the wrong arrows another time and cut 12-miles off of the ride...we ended up right at the prescribed 75 miles for day one!! :)



The school I am going to had a small team of 4 and we raised over $3,000 to help the fight against MS. As many of you know that is a cause near and dear to my heart as Vonnie's father Dave has been diagnosed with the disease for going on 10 years now. I look forward to the day when I am able to do the Oregon ride and he can be at the last rest stop to give me the sustinence to make it the last few miles home! :) If any of you would still like to donate to the cause follow the below link...for those of you who want to be sure I rode the miles before sponsoring me, you can follow it now too! MS 150

For all of you who sponsored me this year!! THANK YOU very much and I hope to see you next year!

-Justin

The Montgomery Zoo...

Last week we headed out to check out the Montgomery Zoo! We are small town kids, so the zoo doesn't have to be huge or fancy to impress us! We basically had the entire zoo to ourselves with the exception of a couple of other people...and the boys had a great time...so we were impressed!! As is usual for me at the zoo, I find myself trying to take a lot more pictures of the boys than of the animals (the boys are part animal for sure)! Here are some of my favorites!

"Let's go guys!!" This was really Eli's first trip to the zoo that he cared about. It was so fun to watch him be excited about what he was seeing!

These two were our tour guides. After each animal, they would stop, find where we were, and lead us in the direction they wanted to go!

Eli and his finger...this game could entertain him for a very long time!!

Seth outside of the lion exhibit.

Checking out the Zebras!

My boys! I took so many pictures of this and I didn't get one of them all looking at me! It was a good try I suppose!

Just tall enough to peek over!

My big 5 year old! Isn't he handsome!

Seth being his goofy self! He loves to pose for me, but he usually is doing something crazy!