Happy Halloween from Cowboy Ammon & Maddie Sue our Indian Princess…

This year we went to Trunk-or-Treat with Ben and Jan and then they joined us for our wards Fall Festival and Trunk-or-Treat the following week. It has been wonderful having them so close!

Maddie's First Birthday... And More

Where's Waldo... I mean Nathan. Hint: He's wearing a hat.
The older that I get, the quicker the time seems to fly by. I don’t know where the last three months have gone.

Nathan ran his first marathon this month. He did really well despite his legs cramping up. We are so proud of him for sticking with it. He still has blood blisters on his feet and was a great sport about us not being able to cheer him on. Ammon was back at the hotel throwing up and had awful diarrhea. Maddie also fell off the bed and has a huge goose egg on her forehead. I was relived that it popped out, because she had a huge indentation in her forehead when I initially picked her up. She had fallen asleep in the morning and I laid her down to tend to Ammon. Next thing I know she is screaming and evidently hit her head on the corner of the bedstand. What a day in Hartford... We hope Nathan's next marathon goes much smoother.

The downside of living so far from family is that our families generally miss out on seeing our children during most holidays and special occasions. The upside to this is that when we are together, these times are very special. Maddie Sue absolutely loves her Grandpa King and Uncle Matt and clung to them pretty quickly. It took her awhile longer to get used to Grandma though. For some reason Maddie is more partial to men, but she loved Grandma as long as mom was totally out of sight. Ammon kind of preferred this though, because he and Grandma were able to have lots of one on one time without having to share her as much. Anyone that knows Kathy knows that she is the Craft Queen. She and Ammon made foam Christmas crafts; and somehow missed capturing pictures of them doing these.

Maddie Sue turned one year old on October 21st. Since Grandpa & Grandma King and Uncle Matt visited us for a few days in October, we thought this would be the perfect time to celebrate her birthday. Here are some pictures from Maddie Sue’s party:

Thank you to everyone who made this event so special!

We met with the doctor from Brown University and the Hasbro Children's Hospital. The first appointment seemed to go very well. Grandma King helped with Maddie Sue and Ammon while we met with the doctor. Thank you so much Kathy! The second appointment was a bit of a frustration. After a phone conversation with the doctor, I felt a little better about the direction that he wants to take with Ammon though. He feels that Ammon suffers from asperger's syndrome. I think time with truly tell whether or not this is just his disposition or if there are other underlying issues. We're not focused on a diagnosis as much as we just want to find ways to help him with some of the challenges he's experiencing.

A Busy Weekend

There is an orchard not far from the house that we love to visit every year. We pick our own apples and sample their homemade products. They give free hayrides and freshly squeezed apple cider. This is a beautiful time to be in New England.

Maddie got to pick her first apple. It's too bad she was more interested in picking up rocks and putting them in her mouth.

I love this face.

Ammon in front of all of the autumn gourds.

Daddy loves his little girl!



I ran my first marathon on Oct 10 in Hartford. I got a little too excited and thought I could hang at a pace that I wasn't ready for, so I hit the wall pretty hard. At mile 21, my right leg completely cramped up and went rigid. I hobbled to the side and was worried that I may not be able to finish the race. I sat on the grass and stretched my leg. A marathon worker pushed down on my back to help me stretch it out. I was able to continue, but legs felt dead. I just had to will myself for the last five miles. My goal was 3:30 for the 26.2 miles, but I ended up finishing at 3:41. Despite not reaching the goal, I was happy with the result. I didn't give up and I learned some lessons for future marathons. Thanks to Lona for dealing with a horrible night's sleep at a noisy hotel, a sick child, and closed roads... Ammon was back at the hotel throwing up & had horrible diarrhea. The ride home was quite an adventure to say the least.

Lona took the kids to a children's museum. The kids had a blast and we hope to get out there again when they will have more time to explore.

Maddie Rocks

This is a very special chair. It was given to Lona by her great grandmother. Maddie loves it as much as we do!

September Updates

The craziness has ended in our household as Nathan finally has a day off after working almost 30 days straight. The kids have enjoyed the quality time with him today and I have enjoyed the time that I've had to catch up on work. I love my kids so much, but I also love to have breaks from them every now & then... Here are a few pictures from the past month:

Ammon at the Woodstock Agricultural Days

Artist Ammon at it again... This is his monster face. It is a constant struggle to keep Ammon dressed. It's a common joke in our home that Ammon will move to a nudist colony once he's old enough to be out on his own.

Enjoying a tastey snack outside with Ammon

Our little Monkey