Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day . . .

Lori came to McMinnville for her dentist appointment on Wednesday.  She came by to get me and then dropped the boys and me off down at Riverfront Park while she went to see Dr. Roberts.  We walked the Barren Fork Greenway all the way to the dam and back.  It had been a while since I had done that and I was glad to see the improvements that have been made.  Then, the boys played on the playground until Lori came back.  Next we headed to Rocky River.  (Joe was already out there bush hogging).  

It was a beautiful September day and a perfect day to be outside.  We built a fire and roasted hot dogs and made s'mores.  And the boys played and played and played.  Joe even convinced them - ever so slowly - to take a ride with him on the tractor.  At the end of the day, when asked what their favorite thing from the day was - that was it :) 

Holly's World

I sent a camera with Joe to take pictures while he was with Holly & her family.  These are what he brought back --

Lane's pre-school

"I'm a puppy!"

I had a good visit with the Blatters from September 20-24th.  Holly left work early and picked me up at the airport a little before noon.  We went for lunch and then on to her condo.  We had a good catch-up visit until time to go get Lane at pre-school.  His school is so cute and "school-ish".  There are lots of prairie dogs outside the school fence to keep little boys entertained. The floors appear to be walnut boards and his room looks like a regular kindergarten room.  We found him on the playground with his friends and teacher.  He came running to his mom and was no trouble at all for me to coax away from her.  He kept looking at the hat I was wearing and asked, "Do you have a horse?"  

Soon after we got back to their home we went to the complex playground where Lane and his stuffed toy friend, Mimi, met some other play friends and took many trips down the slide.  Each time he went down he celebrated with a robust shout of, "I did it!"  He never quite made it down the big slide but was thrilled that he could throw Mimi down and she also got a hearty, "She did it!"  Later he actually went down the big slide once because his dad had arrived and was chasing him. Then we had supper together while catching up on all their exciting plans.  Holly kept having contractions and we were cheering her on--but no baby.  Clinton had just got the news of the job offer in Houston and the mood was celebratory. 

It was four days in which we did some cooking, lots of talking, drove down to one of the two Cracker Barrels of which Colorado can boast--about an hour away in Colorado Springs, visited a nice state park for a picnic and just had a grand old time.

Sunday was special because Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve was visiting and speaking in their stake.  It was a regular two hour meeting--like stake conference but not stake conference--and Elder Holland spoke for about 40 minutes or so.  His message centered around the importance of the decisions made during the teen and early adult years of our lives.

Cannonsburgh Village

On Thursday, September 20, I took Joe to the airport to fly to Denver to visit Holly & her family.  I did some shopping in Murfreesboro afterward, and then went to Lori's to stay with the boys so that she and Patrick could go on a date.  I spent the night, we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel the next morning, and then I came home.  

On Monday, September 24, I met Lori and the boys at Cannonsburgh Village for a picnic before going back to the airport to pick up Joe.