Nate is a fun kid. He is always busy and loves to do just about everything- ride bikes, play video games, soccer, baseball, acting in plays, reading, playing the piano. He is a good student at school and loves his teachers. He tries hard to be a good friend and usually has a little crush on someone. Nate can't wait to turn 8 next year so he can be baptized and start cub scouts (he wears Robert's old scout shirt all the time and has the scout oath memorized already). He will say some of the most thoughtful things sometimes and the funniest things at others. We never have a dull moment with this kid around. Love you Natey the Greaty!

One of the highlights in first grade here is the field trip to Apple Annie's. The kids love it! They get to go on a hayride out to the pumpkin patch, choose their perfect pumpkin, learn about corn and its many uses, go through the corn maze, eat a picnic lunch and play in a pool of corn kernels. It's pretty much the best day ever!

We had such a fun time when Clark and Alyssa and their kids came to visit!

The rockers

Cute Mr. Jude

And we thought it was pretty sweet that Colby and Trent wanted a picture with Robert and Gabby:)

How many kiddos can you find?

Gabby had the best idea for her birthday party this year...cupcake wars! We all said is was a blast! The girls got really into it and had so much fun coming up with different and creative cupcakes.

They started off painting cupcake boxes while everyone showed up...

Then they made teams and everyone came up with a team name.

It was a tough judges panel of experts :)

Here's how it went...There were 4 kinds of cupcakes and all different toppings, flavors and food colorings they could use. We had 5 categories- Best tasting, best looking, best individual cupcake, unusual ingredient (they had had to use things like bacon, cinnamon, banana) and best overall.

The judges had some hard decisions to make...

They all looked delicious!

With a little teamwork, it turned out to be a fun party and everyone got to take cupcakes home in their fancy painted boxes. 

Here are a couple requests from the birthday girl on her 9th birthday back in September...

-breakfast in bed with waffles, nutella and whipped cream

-to wear Carter's clothes to school

-to get checked out of school and go to lunch with Mom

We must love our Gabby girl a whole lot!