Halloween Sneak Peek

Halloween is just around the corner (two weeks!!!!) and we are excited around here at our house full of boys.  We picked our pumpkins a few weeks ago and already bought costumes.  I LOVE Halloween and the boys do too.  I think mostly I love FALL and Halloween gets grouped into that somehow.

As many know, I have an extreme love for pumpkin patches and want to own one someday.  This week, we started our Halloween outings by going to "Barnyard Boo" which is basically when they set up games and hand out candy at the Farm at Thanksgiving Point.  My kiddos loved it and I loved watching them enjoy it.  I even let them wear their costumes.  Sometimes I let them wear them to the store.  I figure the more they wear it, the better!

Leo is a Tiger this year.  He isn't very fond of wearing his costume.  It was actually quite warm outside, so I don't blame him for wanting to take it off.  He wouldn't even let me put the pants on him.

Iron man and my monkey doing their favorite part, the obstacle course.  They each did it at least 10 times.

Bowling!  Benson will not be a cute animal or anything I suggest for Halloween anymore.  It's kind of sad, but I do like Robert Downey Jr. Ironman.

My little monkey!  I love that Griffin will still wear a furry costume.  He was a monkey for his first Halloween too.

Leo playing furry horseshoes.  His favorite part of the day was all the treats.  He is going to really dig Halloween.

Throwing eyeballs into Halloween buckets.  

"Candy please!"

Just a monkey playing Halloween croquet.

Cute Halloween boys!  Such a lucky mamma I am.

Losing the baby spot

For some reason, I get a little weepy and sad when my children get pushed out of their baby position by the appearance of another baby.  It makes perfect sense to me that Keith will forever be the favorite child at his house because he is the baby. :)  There is just something special about your baby.  I remember the sadness I felt when Benson got pushed out of it (when he is was still a baby, just 17 months) and when Griffin lost out to Leo at almost 3.

As I grow and mature and attempt to figure out motherhood, it is amazing at how much more I enjoy each baby.  My frustrations seem to lessen and my heart swells with each small thing they learn.  I am even starting  to mourn that my big belly will soon be gone.  (I must be losing my mind).  Don't get me wrong, I still lose my cool on a semi-regular basis, but I feel in general-each child that comes makes me a better mother and person.  They stretch me in new ways and help me relax and enjoy things more.

I have just enjoyed every minute of Leo's life.  He is a very joyful and happy boy and I am so grateful he is my baby (for a few more weeks anyway).  We are quickly approaching his second birthday and getting him ready to be a big brother.  He likes to look at pictures of babies and rub my tummy.  He recently got moved into his own room and a toddler bed.  The transition has gone very smoothly.  The first night he got out a few times and yelled for me, "mom, mom, mom, mom, MOM!"  Now he just goes to bed and seems to like it in there.  `Here is to hoping his big brother transition goes as smoothly.

I think Leo is every one's favorite in the family.  He is a very good talker and can say whatever he wants.  We all love the cute things he says.

He worships Benson and loves to wear a backpack to match his hero.  He also sings the BYU fight song everywhere he goes.

Tiny little guy in a tiny little bed.  I love the way he wants to cuddle with his "malk and bankie" when he wakes up.

His #1 favorite thing to do is play on the iPod.  He is obsessed.

Keith and I are both equally obsessed with this sweet boy.  He is so much fun.

He has the biggest sweet tooth ever and is always asking for a treat.

We love you Baby Leo.

Girls California Trip-with no kids!!!

  Keith's family does a so-called "man trip" every year or so.  Generally they attend a sporting event of sorts and drive around the clock to do so and come home.  They even take all potty-trained "men" on these sort of trips.  Us girls have been feeling left out and have always wanted to do a similar affair-however, we did not want to see a sporting event or bring any small or large child with us!  Haha!  We finally got our wish.  Keith's sister Amy has a friend who owns a beach house in Cayucos, California that they graciously offered to let us use for free.  After careful planning for a long time, we finally succeeded on having our very own kids-free-girls-only vacation.  It was amazing.  It was everything we dreamed it would be.  I want to go back.  Right now.

We all flew to Los Angeles and met there.  Sadly, Janelle couldn't attend, but we figured 6 out of 7 wasn't all that bad.  Plus I am pregnant enough to count as more than one.  :)  The airplane ride was evidence enough that we would have a good time.  We laughed and laughed.  We got our sweet mini van and we were on our way.  First, we stopped at the infamous "Patrick's" from Diners-Drive-Ins-and-Dives.  At least I think that is what that show is called.  I got the Avocado Burger and sweet potato fries.  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm.  My hamburger literally had a whole avocado on it.

Dangit, Alisha's eyes are closed.  But aren't we cute? 

Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger eats here on a regular basis.  Mary sat in his "throne," which makes sense since she is so large.  HAHA.


No high chairs!  Yay!!

Soon we got to our sweet condo and bought a few groceries (aka candy) and settled in for the night.  The next morning we toured Hearst Castle.  It was very interesting and has lots of priceless works of art in it.  The best part was lunch afterward.  We ate so good the whole time we were there, which is all I really care about.



This is Keith's mom, Carol.  She is basically the best mother-in-law that ever existed.  She paid for a lot of extras, which made the trip more affordable for us all.  Plus she is hilarious and loads of fun.  I just could not say enough good things about her really.

This is me doing the "Duck face."  I know, don't be jeal if you don't look as awesome as I do.  Did I mention this trip would have been a tiny bit more fun if I wasn't 33 weeks pregnant?  

Here is all of us at Hearst Castle.  What a fun group of girls.  I love them all like I love my own sisters-which is a whole lot.  What a miracle to marry into such an awesome group of women.  It makes me excited for all of my boys to get married some day and finally have some daughters.

Here we are inside Hearst Castle.  We sang the Newsies song the whole time.  That guy sure was a freak.  We saw lots of naked statues and tapestries.  Every square inch of that place was covered in priceless art, amazing.

Next we set off to check out the Elephant Seals (actually we ate amazing sandwiches and salads first, not to mention peanut butter cookies).



I would say that Elana loved the seals the most.  She pretty much dictated our trip because she is a published author and the rest of us are not.

Please don't confuse me with the elephant seals-they are the ones on the beach.

Next we finally got to put our toes in the sand and water and hit the beach.  It was liberating to say the least.

Yay!  The Beach!!!


Proof that I could bend over a week ago.  I can't really do that now.

The beach was beautiful and we spotted seals in the water.  We walked around a tide pool and saw a few star fish.  It was a little chilly, but so much fun.  Afterwards we got candy and hot chocolate and watched the sunset.  And laughed really really hard.


Elana enjoyed some grape Big League Chew-nothing beats it.

Some of us enjoyed hot chocolate and diet coke.  Oh yeah, and onion dip.

I don't know what was so funny-but it was.  

The view from our balcony.  Oh so peaceful.

The next day we rented a surry and nearly wet our pants peddling it around Morro Bay-a great memory.  

I was the only one who had ever ventured on one before and let them know that it would not be very much fun, but it would certainly be funny.  We laughed and laughed and actually managed to survive the trip because we could take breaks! We also had some awesome mexican food when we were done and some window shopping.

Really, I could have spent the whole trip doing this.  Who doesn't love the beach?  And talking with some of your favorite people on the planet?  And eating delicious food?  We had an amazing trip and I am so grateful that Keith watched the kids so I could go and enjoy myself.  I just wish I could go back!

Also-thanks Amy and Carol for all of the cute pictures.  I didn't take any while we were there because I was too busy relaxing!!