10 years and 7 months - October is officially summer for y'all! 😃

Happy 10 years and 7 months sweet, Aspen! 💜 

You keep growing and getting more "teen-ish" 😆 every day it seems. I can't believe how old you are. Time is flying by for sure. 

We started the month getting ready for basketball. You two are about to start a rec league basketball team and I can't wait to watch your first game. You two were hanging with us on a Friday night while your Mama and Daddy celebrated his 37th birthday. We took y'all to get dinner. We were riding in the Publix shopping center and you wanted to stop at the shoe store. It was SO cute that you wanted some basketball shoes. We let y'all pick out your favorite pair and this was your choice. ❤️ 

We had so much fun hanging with you two. 

Pops and I went to LR Burger and y'all wanted to hold off for McDonalds. 😂 You did split a milkshake to hold you over. 

Y'all love to go in the basement and watch You-Tube or a movie. ♥️ 

Y'all finally talked your Mama into Mine Craft. You two and your Daddy play it together. I'm grateful your Mama puts limits on it. You would much rather be outside hunting and fishing but just in case 😜 

We left for our fall trip to West Jefferson on your Daddy's birthday. We hadn't been gone long when Pops knew we had a tire problem. We stopped and found a large screw in it. The tire had to be changed. I LOVE how you want to help no matter what is being done. You are SUPER smart with all the things like this and I love it. ♥️ 

Your Daddy wanted to stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We stopped in Flat Rock, NC. 

We made it to Lansing, NC - one of our favorite places to hang and fish. 

You are a talented sportsman! 

We're not really sure why we get two cabins in NC but we do. This was your cabin. Ours was about 20 minutes away. We came back and celebrated your Daddy. Your Mama bought him a chocolate-peanut butter pie in Lansing. 

You and B were fascinated by the "landline" phone on the wall. I called your house so y'all could talk. hahahahahaha! 

Your cabin had a checkers board on the porch! SO fun! 

We had a bon-fire and made s'mores one night. We were in NC for four nights. 

We drove to Damascus, VA to bike on the Creeper Trail. We took a van to the top of Whitetop Mountain and rode the 17 miles back down to Damascus. SO.MUCH.FUN! We all loved it so much! 🚴 

We rode through towns and beautiful creeks and so much beauty. 💛 

Pops has a way of setting up his trip-pod. I love this picture! 

We went to Backbone Rock right outside of Damascus once we were done. We hiked to the top to overlook the road. SO fun! 🤩 

We explored around the rock too! 

Such a beautiful area. You and B left with us while your Mama and Daddy were able to relax on the last night. We loved y'all coming back to our cabin to spend the night. After our trip to NC - Dee Dee and Pops left for a road trip to CO. 

The balcony off of your room at our cabin! 

Snacking on grapes! 🍇 

We were going to watch a movie but you were asleep before it started. You were exhausted. 

West Jefferson had a rolled ice cream Christmas store. It was a hit! 

We went to Sweetberry in Monroe - you weren't a fan of ascai berry. This is the day that Dee Dee and Pops got home from our road trip. The fall festival was happening in Monroe. 

While we were in CO... we saw this tree in an Aspen tree 🌳 grove. We would never mark on a tree but it was fun to see a tree with your name on it! ♥️ 

You drive the golf cart these days and do a superb job! 

😂 

Having a gumboil fight in the front yard... 

I love when you come up and hang and talk... 

You and your Mama and B went apple picking with us in Ellijay. The apples were SO good. We were able to pick pink lady apples. 🍎 

Pops went down the underground slide... 

You picked some HUGE apples! 

I love you! ♥️ 

They had a petting zoo too! 🐐 

SO funny! 

We had an eye-rolling contest. 😆 

I love when it's y'alls idea to take a picture! 

We stopped by Amicalola State Park too! The trout lake was stocked FULL! Neither of y'all brought your fishing pole and you were not happy. LOL!

They have a brand new visitor's center that was cool to look through...

The falls were pretty dry but beautiful! 

You wanted to climb the 425 or so stairs to the top. I don't think you thought we would but we did and had a great time! 

We made it to the top! 

Y'all can jump for a LONG time on your trampoline...

Pops taught y'all how to start a fire with this starter...

You LOVE to skin squirrels or chipmunks or all the things. YUCK! 😂 

Sometimes you go so hard you can fall asleep during vest time! You've done REALLY well this month. We pray for you every single night. 💜 

We still love to play U-Dog 

We took the easier route this year.... Publix for pumpkins hahaha

You don't go in Publix much but when you do... you want a cookie 🍪 

You and B can be a little hyper! 😂 😆 

♥️ 

You love to play with Truett 

How is this already happening? You are weed eating for your Daddy! Go, Aspen! 

You can be a little stubborn and have a bit of a temper at times. 😯 

You were outside squirrel hunting and found an injured dog. It turns out this dog had been missing for a week and there was a reward for finding him. Your Mama hadn't even seen this. Thankfully your Mama found the owner and they took him to the vet and he is going to be ok. They brought the dog back over to see you and to bring you $200. You were SO excited. Way to go, buddy! ❤️ 

They brought y'all Halloween buckets and your $$$! 😊 

You can pester and pester and pester your Daddy way too far 😳 but I love it when you don't push his limits but wrestle and play. 

 Back to reality. You all took FIVE weeks off from school (October and the first week of November). This is because y'all did school during the summer. It was so much fun watching y'all play outside and doing some fun things during your time off. What a blessing to be able to do school on your own schedule. Your Mama works so hard to help you learn and grow into who you need to be. I'm proud of her and y'all too. 

I can't wait to watch you play basketball 🏀 soon. You are excited. You are competitive and love to try new things. I know you'll do great. 

You spend your free time (when you can) hunting and fishing and looking for all the animals. You have a few traps set out to catch raccoons or... ! Pops and I took you to Tractor Supply so you could buy a bigger trap. We've been paying you $10 to cut our backyard. We paid you $20 to watch the boys (Thomason and Truett) while Pops was on a work call one afternoon. You were pretty excited. 

Basketball is the first thing that has come along that you don't "really" understand - rightfully so. You've never been around it. You don't like to be "told" a lot 😉 but I'm hoping you will take instruction and learn and be the best you can be. 

You are loving Stem class from Summit. You are making a windmill. The semester will be over in November. You also take art class there. 

You are very independent and self sufficient. You like to do it all. You love all things outdoors. You are competitive and sassy. You are outspoken and things need to make sense for you. I love your determined spirit and even your hard headedness - most of the time. 😆 You make friends easily and aren't shy at all. 

Your Dee Dee loves you to the moon and back and back again. 

You are growing SO fast! 

Always know you are SO loved. You are prayed for every single day. I pray for your health and for your walk with the Lord.  I pray for you to make wise choices and make good friends and to never go along with the crowd but to be BRAVE and always do the right thing. We are still "bobsies" in so many ways but you are turning into a Pops boy. You run to him when we get home from a trip or when we are outside. It's sweet. ❤️ You told us after several trips this month that our traveling without you was getting RIDICULOUS. hahaha! You keep us laughing and smiling and I'm grateful for the times we get to hang and talk. I love couldn't love you more. 

Here's to November and exploring and having another week off from school. 🎉 ❤️