October Fun!

Get ready for the overload of pictures. We wore ourselves out every weekend this October because the weather was fabulous!
-Of course we hit the pumpkin patches...altogether 4 times!

Every year Mason tries to lift a big pumpkin and is surprised it's too heavy. Always following the surprise is the frustration (meaning, mini tantrum)

So Joe puts Samuel on top of the maze next to the sign that says "No standing on the maze". He took him right off after I threatened that Samuel could fall and lose another tooth. No, not that!

-We went to the circus and during intermission the kids had an elephant ride. $8 per kid for 15 seconds...ouch. But how often do you get to ride an elephant?? We're such suckers I know.

-Boo at the Zoo 2 times: Our zoo is awesome here and they throw a pretty fun Halloween event. Samuel dressed as Peter Pan and Mason as Captain Hook. I thought Samuel looked pretty Shakespearean in this picture!

They played carnival games, danced with the witches, and marched in a costume parade. -We went to 6 flags twice this month. No pictures but we had so much fun! Samuel sang karoke "I want Candy" on stage (by himself!) and they both participated in the costume parade. They just wore their superman capes to the park and looked pretty funny among all the real costumes, but Samuel's dance on stage totally made up for it!

-Here we carved pumpkins with our neighbors next doors. The adults were more into it than the kids, but still fun!

-Ward trunk or treat: Samuel and Mason in their real costumes as Captain Hook and Captain Jack Sparrow. We had Samuel watch Pirates of the Carribean with us so he could become familiar with his costume and he loved it. Anything pirate is his thing!

Aren't Samuel's dreadlocks killer? Thanks again mom for the costumes! -Finally, trick or treating in our neighborhood. We went with our neighbors and the kids had a blast. I love how everyone, adults included, really get into Halloween here!

Joe and I dressed up to be the prisoners of our pirates. Then Joe took it further and said that truly we are prisoners of our kids everyday. Samuel is saying...no time for Halo tonight dad, you have to wake up early with us tommorrow morning!

Phew! That was our October. We literally did 2-3 major activities every weekend. We even suffered the flu this month! I just love the fall! My favorite time of the year by far. Any fun ideas for November?

It's a GIRL!

Yep, for those who didn't know, I am pregnant...with a GIRL!!! Holla! Our Vegas trip was a major success :) I was trying to find a more creative way to break the news but as weeks continued to pass I decided to just announce the news before I delivered a 3rd child without having told all my friends.

So, here are the facts: 20 weeks along, due March 17th (St. Patrick's day everyone tells me), a GIRL (did I mention that?), and my worst pregnancy to date.

I shouldn't say that since the baby has been strong and healthy so far, but my have I suffered this time around!! It's gotten a lot better but even at 20 weeks I'm still losing my meals here and there. I'm anemic so I lay around all the time with no energy and I've got painful varicose veins. Yep, just got my presciption for my compression hose...lovely huh? My next door neighbor is due the week after me and she is having the time of her life being pregnant. No nasuea, no veins, and full of energy as she zips back and forth to the gym.

Oh well. However miserable I have been, I cannot forget what a blessing this pregnancy is. It was a year ago that they found a tumor in my uterus. And now I'm arguing over girl names with Joe! (He's so opinionated at the wrong times!) Anyways, Trapnells...we're going to have to postpone our plans for a cruise dangit. One day when we're 50 I'm sure we can coordinate our lives and go!

Here's a picture of my cute boys. More to come!

Utah fun!

Ok, so this Utah trip was combined with our Vegas trip, but as usual I am very behind on my posting! We had a blast as usual. The pictures start out at Cherry Hill...a kid favorite!

We were so excited when Tyler and Katie decided to come out an join us at Cherry Hill. This was our first look at Zaida. Isn't she so precious? I had the opportunity to rock her to sleep and loved every minute of it! Thank goodness for Bella and Lily who were always great help with the kids. My boys miss them tons.
After 7 hours at Cherry Hill, Mason gives a sleep thumbs up.

The night of 4th of July. We had a picnic at a park with the Berrett family and then watched fireworks afterwards. So much fun! It was also cooler that night so it was that much nicer!
Here we are in Park City. We took the lift up and the Alpine slides down.

For some reason Samuel felt like posing for pictures that day. He was cracking us up, doing any pose Joe asked him to.

Here is Samuel's first hike. He took a spill and is crying here...he has a hard time comprehending "walk slow and carefully". But other than that he had a blast!

On our way back from Vegas, we got to stop and visit the Trapnells. We love those guys! It felt like no time had passed since we had last seen them. We saw their beautiful new home and were plenty entertained by their kiddos. Damon, my little buddy throughout dental school actually took this picture. Pretty impressive for 8 years!
I also got to see Tara Summers, one of my best friends from Milwaukee days. She now lives in Bountiful, UT which is so cool b/c she's only a couple of blocks from Joe's parent's house. Anyways, I didn't catch any pictures from our visit, but we had a blast!

Vegas Baby!

For our anniversary, Joe surprised me with a little getaway to Las Vegas. Let me tell you, I love these kind of surprises! Thank you Tom, Suzy, Emily, T, Bella, and Lily! It was a team effort to watch our boys! So we left the boys, and headed to the Bellagio. Joe, I know I give you a hard time for being "thrifty", but this time you really spoiled me! The Bellagio was gorgeous. Here is the Botanical Gardens in the courtyard of our hotel. Don't mind us, we still get a kick out of taking these kinds of pictures!

Here's Joe relaxing by the pool. We made sure to do a lot of this! Along with eating.We watched the Cirque du Soleil "O" show...the water one. It was amazing! We also watched the broadway "Jersey boys" (my favorite show), and the Cirque du Soleil "Ka". Lot's of shopping on the Vegas strip. I saw many things I liked...but a little too high end for me!After sleeping in (my favorite part of the trip), we'd eat a huge brunch, and then explore the different hotels. Here is the courtyard in the Wynn. A waterfall at the Wynn
Ceasars PalaceOutside Paris, Venetian, and Palazzo.So much fun to get away! I'd never really been to Las Vegas and I really liked it! Our trip included my favorite things: sleeping-in, good eating, relaxing by the pool, and great shows. Thanks so much Joe! I had a blast!

Thanks for my camera!

Thanks for my new camera Joe! I've been bugging him for a Nikon SLR camera for 2 years now and I finally wore on him. This was the best mother's day gift ever!! My goal was to take my own pictures of our boys since every professional photo shoot with these 2 scoundrels have been disastrous. Plus, I was getting annoyed that my other camera wasn't quick enough to get their faces in any pictures. The 3 frames/sec feature can keep up with them! I am still figuring out my camera and have yet to photoshop, but here are samples of my 1st try:

Can I add one more time that I love my camera? Thanks Joe. And Happy Anniversary...9 years, oh my goodness we're old! I am so lucky to have you in my life. Love you so much.

1 Week of Disney= 2 Very Exausted parents

So here we are, our annual family trip to Walt Disney World. 1 year later, and the boys were much easier and more eager this time around. We had a blast, but after going nonstop for a week, words cannot describe the exaustion we felt by that last day.

1. Magic Kingdom-We visited this park 3 different times (see what I mean about being tired?) 2. Epcot-we spent 2 days at this park. It was focused on innovations and different countries.

3. Hollywood studios-Really neat park themed around making movies. Here we are in the "Honey I shrunk the kids" themed playground. The coolest playground that made you feel tiny 3. Animal Kingdom Or Animal "Ding Dong" as Mason calls it.

This is probably my favorite park b/c of the scenery & animals. It has an African feel to it.

5. Character restaurants. We spoiled the boys by taking them to a couple of restaurants where the characters actually came to our table. This one was called Chef Mickeys and they got one on one attention from Mickey and his original 5 friends. The food was amazing as well. Now we actually thought that this next restaruant would be Winnie the Pooh and friends, but that night was Cinderalla night. I kept thinking of all my friends with their little girls b/c they would've loved this. All these little girls were dolled up in their glittery cinderalla dresses to meet the cast, it was so cute! Then there was my boys who had no idea who she was and could care less that they were meeting her. Where she came by our table, they didn't even want to take a picture with her. After talking him into it, Samuel broke away from his mac n'cheese and posed. This may have been the 1st time Cinderalla has ever been rejected!

6. So during our trip, the boys got really into meeting the different characters and getting their signatures & pictures in our book. We met too many characters to mention, but here are a couple:

Samuel loves Toy Story and was Super excited to meet Buzz Lightyear. We braved a heavy downpour of rain to meet this guy, but seeing Samuel's face made the wet clothes worth it. The things we do to make our kids happy.

I think this picture is funny b/c Mason was pretty scared to meet the Beast. I would be too. Look how big he is just kneeling, he's huge!! But he braved it.

Finally, the surprise of the trip was how much Mason like Mulan. He'd never been interested in watching the movie, so he must've thought she was pretty cute b/c he kept wanting to see her. We stood in line to see her twice and she spent a lot of time with Mason on our 2nd round which was so sweet. He always finds her picture 1st in his autograph book.

Well our trip was in Feb, so I am a bit behind but all in all, that was our disney trip 2010. It was so much fun to see the boys get excited over the rides and meet these characters that they know from movies. However, I must admit...it was quite a lot of work and very exausting! We had 2 toddlers who were still in diapers and relied on daily naps which they did not get most days. While it was much easier than last year, I am thinking next year will be even better! Can't wait!