Okay, so I think I'm finally caught up after this post (see below...TONS of new posts..and make sure you scroll all the way til you see the posting on David's DC trip..unless you get to bored looking at all these postings before then:) Anyway, for David's birthday I got this great deal on going sailing. David has always wanted to go sailing so I surprised him with a 2 hour sunset sail. We had a great time and the weather couldn't have been better.

David even got to take the helm for a while...
David and our "Captain" Chuck...he was a really fun guide...gave us lots of history on the Buffalo waterfront. He was also full of funny trivia, which was good for some laughs!

I can't believe how big my girl is getting! Maia started school last week and it was a sad/exciting day. I debated whether or not to put her in Pre-K (It is every day for 2.5 hours) but then decided that she would love it and it would give me a little break too. So she started last Wednesday....it is just sad in a way to see her growing up so fast. It really just happens too quickly! But it is exciting and she loves going every day. I'm still trying to get used to arranging my day so that I can take her and/or pick her up everyday, but it's been really nice to have some total free time (she is at school during Elise's nap time, which is heavenly)
Maia and her best friend Rylee...it is nice to have someone to carpool with!

There is this really great spot next to the runway at the airport that we like to go play at. We haven't been for a while, so when the invitation came up to go last week, we were excited!
This first picture is courtesy of Maia: I told ya she was getting better!


The backhoe was pretty cool to watch too...

Over Labor Day we were trying to decide what to do since David had a day off school....I got searching different orchards and came across this one that had pears to pick! We were so excited and the best thing was how cheap they were...35 cents a pound!! We picked a bushel and a half (which is A LOT) and then came home and canned them the same day. Lots of work, but well worth it. I didn't want to do it that day, but David talked me into it since he was there to help and I'm glad we just did it and got it done. And they are an awfully nice addition to our food storage:)

My little helper....

Look at how big this tree is!!
Elsie couldn't get enough of them...she kept picking them up from the ground and eating them.
I just can't get enough of these two cuties...sure love them!
I love the fall season here and one of my favorite things about it is all the orchards that are all around. I've been thinking so much about how this is our year of Buffalo "lasts" and I'm going to be so sad when next fall comes around and I'm unable to go to an orchard to pick fresh fruit. Yes, Buffalo winters can be a little long and dreary, but besides that, it is such an amazing place to live and I'm going to miss it so much!

Megan and I hit up some estate/garage sales a couple weeks ago...and I scored this awesome chair that goes perfectly with the new style of living room I'm doing( I need to post pictures of that...). Okay, well if I must be honest, I guess I have to say that Megan scored this chair for me. It was priced at $65 and since I'm not much of a barter-er, she talked the guy down to $45 for me. What a steal! Thanks Megan, it looks awesome and we love it!
I'm going to miss garage sales so much when we move.

On September 7th, David had a birthday....and not just any birthday...a BIG one...like a 30 year old one! So of course we had to celebrate big!! I threw a big party for him at our house and it was a great time playing games and mingling with friends. David was a good sport to go along with everything I had planned (even wearing the birthday hat Maia and I had made for him:) I made up 30 question quiz on David that I had everyone take (Bron got the most correct with a score of 26, very impressive!). We also played a "name that song and artist" game with songs that were popular when David was a teenager...this game was so fun and brought back lots of fond middle school/high school memories haha! Travis won at this game...don't remember the exact score, but it was impressive as well...I never can remember the names of songs, let alone the artists too! And the final game was a pinata...David LOVES pinatas for some reason so we just had to do one. The rules were that you could only use your body to try to break it. It made for some really great laughs, let me tell you! I wish I could upload the videos but I'm having some technical difficulties with my video camera downloader stuff, so snapshots will have to suffice unfortunately. Anyway, thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

The kids were loving dancing to the music while we played the music game...
And the pinata...like I said, I wish I could upload the videos, they were so funny! Oh well...

David has been trying to take Maia on Daddy/Daughter dates on a regular basis. Usually they just go out for ice cream or something like that, but no matter what it is, Maia gets SOOO excited. So David came home one day and said he was taking Maia on a date to watch a UB football game. She couldn't wait. I didn't know that there were so many other dads taking their kids out too! It was really sweet. Maia had a great time and kept talking about the "baseball" game...(obviously David needs to teach her a thing or two about sports:)

So I don't know if any of you know how much of a Glenn Beck fan I am married to...David LOVES listening to him and is constantly talking about him. So when he heard about the Rally that Glenn was putting on in Washington DC of course he was dying to go. He and some friends made plans about a week or more before the rally, but things just kept coming up and more and more people ended up not being able to go. David was so sad, he was so set on going. But he finally came to grips with reality and let me plan some fun things for us to do that weekend instead. So I got a few friends together to go hiking and swimming at this really cool national park close to here that we have been wanting to go to. Anyway, Thursday night plans were set for us to leave at 8am...I was just leaving to go to the grocery store to get stuff for our lunches (at about 9:00pm) when David gets this text from Bron that says "You still want to go to DC?" to which I respond, "He's kidding right?!" I mean, come on we had all these plans now! But no, he wasn't kidding, he had arranged some things with his schedule so that was was able to go to DC (Bron is as much of a Beck fan as David). I knew that I wouldn't be able to tell David he couldn't go no matter what. He was SOOOOO excited I couldn't possibly set my foot down and refuse to let him go. So, being the wonderful wife that I am, I said he could go. (Sorry to everyone for ruining our plans for a fun hiking/swimming day). I hadn't seen him so giddy and excited in the longest time! He and Bron had the "time of their life" and talked about it for days afterwards. And it was actually fun here at home too. Megan and I planned some really fun things with the kids and kept ourselves plenty busy. And I even survived 3 hours of church by myself with both kids which is a real feat:) Okay here are some pictures of David and Bron's trip:

A girl that David went to high school with came out to see the rally too and stayed with David's sister as well so they all went together to the rally.
The man himself...
David and his little sister, Julie...
And a trip to the DC temple...
The best story of his whole trip is that David and Bron went to church with his sister wearing jeans and t-shirts because they didn't bring church clothes. She goes to a single ward and she said the rumor mill was sure going after people saw her with these two guys who I'm sure looked liked investigators:)