They Say It's Your Birthday!!

Yesterday was Tyler's 27th birthday, hard to believe my "baby" is all grown up. I took this picture two weeks ago when I met he, Tu, and his good friend Derek in San Francisco. When we got to the Golden Gate Bridge it was raining "cats n dogs", so all 3 of them bought the famous $2.99 ponchos to stay dry. They loved the look. Sorry it's a bad picture of Derek, though, for some reason he was looking at his shoes. We had a great time out on the bridge in the pouring rain with the kids in their styling ponchos.

Love you, Tyler, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Ironman Goes Trunk or Treating

"Ironman" and his mom asked us to go the the Town of Queen Creek's annual Trunk or Treat with them last night. It was a perfect night, and there were tons of activities for all the kids. When we first got there, Peyton wanted to be held so he could check it all out. But.....

after getting his first peice of candy,

he realized just how fun it was, and was off and running!

He got to do the bean bag toss, petting zoo, ball toss, and best of all, learn how to rope a cow. This cowboy was a great teacher, and Peyton loved getting the rope around the cow head and then the "fun part" of running and pulling the rope.

After that, he gave pin the tail on the donkey a try. This was a great festival, no matter how well you did, you got prizes or a piece of candy! Unfortunately, the line for the trunks of candy was over an hour long, but there was so much else to do, our little guy never knew he was missing anything.

We followed up all this fun with a trip to Chik-Fil-A and time in the playland. On the way home, our little "Ironman" was completely tuckered out!

Goin' to the Punkin Patch

For the 4th year in a row we took Peyton to the Pumpkin Patch on the "J Curve" (a landmark when you live in Queen Creek, AZ). Being 3 years old now, he was a pro at the pumpkin picking process.

Step One: Run up and down the pumpkin aisles so you have an opportunity to view each and every pumpkin at high speed.
Step Two: Test out the pumpkins. The perfect pumpkin is one you can pick up by yourself, and most importantly, one you can lift all the way over your head without assistance.

Step Three: take it over to the scarecrow and make sure he approves of it as well.

And finally, show it off to your Mom and Grandma, they will appreciate that you have the very best pumpkin ever!

All that's left now if waiting for Trick-or-Treat!

They're Engaged!!!

I've always known how blessed I was to have a son who I not only love, but admire as well, and now he's engaged!! While he and Tu were in Thailand on vacation, he surprised her with a proposal at a beautiful waterfall, and best of all, she said YES! She's a beautiful, smart and charming young woman and she loves my son! These are pictures from their engagement and trip.

Right after the proposal, ahhhhhh.......


The engaged couple at a temple site.

I pray they will be blessed, happy and have an amazing, adventurous future. I love you both!

Wave The Wheat!

If you are a University of Kansas Fan, you'll already know that after each Jayhawk touchdown and at the end of each home game, everyone "waves the wheat". Today was the first win of the season and the first win for our new football coach, Turner Gill! so it seems appropriate to post this picture of the KU cheerleaders in an actual field of wheat. Hope we are waving that wheat a lot this season!! Go Jayhawks!

Today is the first day of Football season for my KU Jayhawks today, let's go Hawks, beat NDSU!!

A Visit To The Family Up North

We just got back from a visit to Minnesota/Wisconsin to visit Bruce's family. We had a great time visiting his two sisters, his brother, and his 93 year old mother. The cooler weather was a great perk of the whole trip. We got some fun family pictures of all 4 of the children with their mother, ate LOTS of great food (all of you who know the Horken's will know what that means), and played lots of competitive games. If there is one thing this family knows it's how to have fun competing with each other.

On our way home from a lunch in the Fargo/Detroit Lakes countryside we stopped to see a 150 year old family church. Unfortunately, as we got back to the cars, a flat tire was spotted. It was a tough way to find out that the new car we were in did not have the right parts to the jack! We did find, though, that in small town America, tow trucks make service calls out to the country, and ended up having an afternoon we hadn't planned on. The weather was 70 degrees, it was breezy, cow were mooing and it gave us all "bonding" time.

Ah, sure, you betcha, we were on our way only 3 hours later, and back to another fine homecooked meal!