Date night is back!

Kris and I do a babysitting exchange with some friends of ours and therefore get a date night every weekend.  That's right, every weekend.  We love it! 

Last night we did this:

I'm telling you, it never gets old.

L-R: Chris, Jenny, Ashley, Kris

I LOVE the face Chris is pulling and the fact that he was screaming just as loud as I was!

Tonight we are doing this:

L-R:

Carson, Ethan, Ryan

(little Ethan was already asleep)

Popcorn?  Check 

Movie?  Check. 

Fort made out of a quilt frame?  Check.

Loving this babysitting exchange/date night every weekend???  Triple Check! 

Play-doh Party

Kris whipped out the play-doh and we had ourselves a little play-doh party.  At one point (as with all things, it seems) the play-doh became guns and there was a shoot out.  What is it with boys and guns???

Kris teaching Ethan how to make "snakes". 

My best creation:

Kris' best creation:

The End.

Disney Halloween

Kris and I were "bad" parents and didn't take our kids around the neighborhood to go Trick-or-Treating.  In our defense, by the time Halloween finally rolled around we were all Halloweened out!  The boys got a super deluxe Trick-or-Treat experience this year at Disneyland.  We bought special tickets and they were able to get all dressed up and run around collecting candy at California Adventure Park and meet-and-greet their favorite Disney characters.  Ryan was in awe of everyone's costumes and Ethan was the big hit in his shark costume.  Everywhere we went we heard people commenting on the "cute little shark".  One Disney worker even told us that in all the Disney Halloween parties she had worked she had never seen a shark costume.  So there you go, dress up your kids as a shark next year and be the hit!

I apologize in advance for the terrible photos, naturally since we paid extra money for this once a year special experience I would forget my camera's memory stick and have to rely on my camera phone.  Argh!

Speaking of "Argh!" Ryan was a little nervous about meeting Captian Jack.  Can't you tell?

I spy Mickey.  Do you spy Ryan?

Happy Halloween!

Pictures from our Ward Trunk or Treat.  There were so many creative costumes!

Quilt Challenge

I'm learning I sometimes need a deadline in order to get things done. My sister called last night and said there is a baby shower next Saturday for an extended family member and did I think I could get a quilt done and put in the mail to arrive in time? Um, let's see!  My machine is back from getting repaired and working great.  You'd think I'd get going on finishing all those quilt tops for the shop, but I instead find myself catching up with all the Project Runway in my Tivo.  This challenge is just what I needed to get sewing again. 

I finished piecing the top today and I'm really loving the color combo and the simple design. I'm excited to quilt it and send it off.  Hopefully the new mom-to-be-loves it too! 

I'm so proud of all my hard work.....I think I need a reward.  And since Kris just finished midterms I'm declaring tonight date night.  Dinner and this movie is just the ticket!

LA Arboretum

I'm in love with all these free days that are offered at the local museums and parks. It sure makes exploring easy and guilt free. Today we made our first trek to the Los Angeles Arboretum where we walked, ran, played and overall enjoyed the beautiful gardens and wildlife. Wildlife at the Arboretum consists of peacocks, geese, squirrels, turtles and koi fish.  And I guess if we are being technical I should include these two:

There was a little bit of peacock chasing.  Sorry peacocks!

We also played in a big stick house, seriously people, they have a big house made of sticks...very cool!

And my favorite, the waterfall.

Underwood Farms

Fall, who doesn't love fall?  Right now every blog I visit is paying homage to Autumn and why shouldn't they?  It's just about everyone's favorite season with changing leaves, crisp temperatures, sweaters, and the start of the holiday season.  Hooray!  I just wish we actually had fall here.  Utah I miss you!

Yesterday it was 93 degrees outside but we were determined to get into the Fall spirit. We decided to take the boys to Underwood Family Farm and explore what they had to offer. I think we'll have to make it a yearly trip because Ryan really got into it. They had carnival games, pig races, corn mazes, tractor-pulled trailer rides, food booths and more. I loved the pig races, Kris helped Ryan win the pumpkin toss, Ryan got a pony ride, and Ethan...well Ethan was ornery most of the day but we made it work. Sometimes that's just the way it is!

Even with our sweaty faces, red cheeks and cranky kid we still had a great time.  Just ask Ryan!

I'm feeling a little nostalgic

It always happens to me when I dip into my photo archives. There is just something about seeing Ryan and Ethan as newborns that gets to me every time. These little trips down memory lane usually end up as bawling sessions where I cry to Kris about how, "they are never going to be this small again" and, "I want baby Ryan back!". Needless to say this is not a Kris approved activity for me.

For some reason it's the pictures of Ryan that really get to me. Maybe it's because he was my first and for two years it was just the two of us spending our days together waiting for dad to come home, or maybe it's because Ethan still seems like my baby and come six months from now when he's a little bigger then I'll be bawling at his newborn pictures...who knows?!

Ryan was the first grandchild on my side of the family so every "new" event in his life was a big deal for everyone. Case in point: His first Halloween he had 3 costumes! Tonight I found these pictures and of course...it brought on the waterworks. These aren't sad tears, okay some of them are, but really it's more about remembering what fun times those were. Happy tears...I guess is what I'm trying to say. Just look at this kid! Wouldn't you miss that?!

What a happy time we had.  Remembering it makes me appreciate today all the more!

The letter "M"

This morning when I was getting the boys dressed, Ryan came up to me and with a big smile said,

"Today was brought to you by the letter "M"!

And then he ran off to play.

Do you think maybe he watches too much Sesame Street?

And the winner is.....

Tiffany! Congrats Tiff, shoot me an email and I'll get that package in the mail. :o)

Thanks to all those who checked out my new shop and responded with encouragement. It's been fun to finally get it up and running! It has definitely fueled my creative juices so as soon as my sewing machine comes back from the shop I'll be playing around and hopefully have some fun hand-sewn items for y'all to look at.

Once again, you're the best!

More Play!

I took another trip to the Huntington Gardens (gotta love free days!) and I still haven't seen all that this place has to offer. I forgot how enormous it is. What I would really love to do is leave the kids with a babysitter and take Kris there sometime. It's a place you just want to wander and enjoy how beautiful everything is. Someday...

We were once again joined by Ethan and Carson and also some other new friends, Finley, Dieter, and Hadley.


Carson and Ethan having a grand time getting soaked.




Finley decided to wash her hair.


Do you remember this cowboy quilt I made for my friend Emily and her soon to be baby boy? Well, surprise, she had a girl instead! I guess it's a good thing there were a few cowgirls in that quilt! Here is Emily with her little cutie Hadley.




(Don't forget this weekend is the last chance to enter my giveaway, I'll post the winner Sunday afternoon. Good luck!)

Play

We took the opportunity this week to play with some new friends. Ethan and Carson moved into our ward (along with their parents) and they are the exact same ages as Ryan and my Ethan. We've had them over to play a few times and this week we went to Disneyland and Huntington Gardens.

Here is our day at Disneyland.







I am SO happy Ryan has a boy his age to play with. They have become great little buddies and even give big hugs whenever they see each other. We are excited they moved here!

Welcome and Giveaway!

I have been wanting to wait and do this when I had everything done, but a broken sewing machine made that impossible, so I'm going to go ahead and welcome you to my new shop:



I have been talking to Kris about selling my quilts and other projects around town or on-line forever so I decided to quit talking about it and just do it! I have 5 or 6 quilts that I will add to the shop as soon as I get my machine fixed (grrr), and a few other pretties as well. I have a lot more to add and many ideas in the works so check back again.

Now for the GIVEAWAY! Fly by the shop then come back here and leave a comment mentioning your favorite thing and if I draw your name you'll get a little prize in the mail. Easy as that!

(a sneak peak!)

Bath Time

Fish Farm

For our last Utah activity we were off to go to Barker's Trout Farm to let the boys go fishing. My Grandpa really wanted to see them catch a fish, but it's hard for him to get around these days so we took the boys and videotaped them catching fish after fish....after fish! And who do you suppose caught the most fish? Well, if it wasn't little Ethan James, yes it was. That kid would only have to dip in his hook and lift it out again to see a fish on the end of it.






Ethan was so good, he even caught Ryan once!


Thanks to a recent Harry Potter fascination going on at our house, Ryan was casting spells throughout our vacation. I guess he got a little bored while waiting for his fish to be cleaned because he grabbed a stick, I mean wand, and proceeded to yell "Expelliarmus!" to everyone around him. After disarming his Grandpa he moved on to other unsuspecting victims.




I just love his stance, Harry would be so proud!

Yellowstone through the years

Almost every summer growing up I took a trip to Yellowstone. Most times I went with my parents, other times with my grandparents, and one very special summer my older sister let me tag along with her on a friend's trip.

I love Yellowstone. I love how beautiful and peaceful it is. I love looking for animals and eating Wilcoxson ice cream bars on the porch of the Old Faithful Inn. I hope to pass on my love of Yellowstone to our kids. We haven't been able to go every summer that we've been married but we are trying to make it a tradition.

Here is our first family vacation to Yellowstone:


This was our second summer together; just me and Kris. Although, I did find out a day after returning home from this trip that Ryan would be joining us soon!

Our second family trip:


Ryan was about 18 months (Ethan's age now) when we went next. I'm about 4 months pregnant with Ethan in this picture. I have vivid memories of this trip. Maybe it was because it was the first trip we took with Ryan. I remember pushing him in his stroller down the boardwalks at Mammoth. I remember the next morning he ate a banana while playing on the porch of our cabin and he always fell asleep holding the quilt I made for him every time we got in the car. He was so much fun at this age, why do they have to grow up?!

And this is us now:


I've decided that we are going to have a family picture taken on this rocker every time we go to document how our family changes. (And just to avoid anyone asking, no, I'm not pregnant this go around!)
There are a lot of things I'm going to remember about this trip as well, like Ryan calling out "Hot Water!" every time we drove by a hot pot, and that he wanted to go find some more "Stean" which is really "Steam" from the geysers. I will remember how Ethan's favorite vantage point was on top of Kris' shoulders. My favorite thing was watching all the kids (we met my family there) in diapers playing in Yellowstone Lake.







I can't wait to go back!