October 2010, pt. 2

The rest of our October was pretty typical.
 

We celebrated Casey's birthday (his cakes always turn out really bad--sorry, hon!).

We went to the corn maze and activities at Thanksgiving Point ...

 

 

which the boys loved a lot!

I enjoyed my gorgeous ash tree ...

until the first major wind storm arrived.

We decorated Halloween sugar cookies.

We enjoyed Halloween costume parades for preschool and Kindergarten.

We carved jack-o-lanterns ...

which turned out very cute/cool this year (as usual).

We had a Halloween "Spook-Up" (which is what Evan called a party) with our friends and family.

And, of course, the kids dressed up and went trick-or-treating.

But not for very long because it was freezing on Halloween this year!

September 2010

I realized I better hurry and catch up before this baby comes. He's expected on the 29th, unless something happens before then. So I don't have much time. Here we go.

September started out with our 2nd annual Labor Day staycation. We went to the Children's Museum in Salt Lake first.

Some of the big kids enjoyed it as much as the little kids. We stayed the night at a hotel in SLC where we enjoyed some swimming, but not any hot tubbing because it was broken. [BIG frowny face]

We hiked to Bridal Veil Falls again where the boys hiked up for a closer look.

Emily and Kate hosted a murder mystery dinner party at our house with our cousins. That was fun!

And last, but not least, we celebrated Aunty Kake's birthday, complete with Birthday Bingo, of course.

July 2010

Last 4th of July (well, 3rd, since the 4th was on Sunday) I took the kids to see the hot air balloons again. This time we went extra early so we wouldn't miss the filling-up and lift-off of the balloons. Well, we got to see them filled, but they were not able to lift off because of (apparent) windy conditions. Can you tell they rolled right out of bed for this picture? :)

I still can't figure out why they couldn't lift off, but what do I know. It was still fun to see them.

This was my favorite balloon, of course. That is my kind of Coke bottle! Just the right size!

We also did a little fishing that weekend. The kids loved it. As you can see they caught some pretty big fish! :)

I caught one about the same size and Evan was kind enough to take him off the hook and release him for me (I don't do that).

We also went to my cousin's house and hung out with her family and my other cousin's family and their friends. Here is a picture of all the cute kids! It was lots of fun!

Of course July involved a lot of sprinkler and/or pool days.

Evan liked the sprinkler high ...

Owen liked the sprinkler low (if he liked it at all).

Owen turned 3 in July! Evan and I went to Macey's and picked up this AWESOME balloon for him (although I think maybe it was a little bit more for me). I love how huge it is compared to him! We also grabbed a little cake, which Owen had to have for breakfast.

Owen loved his new real golf club from dad.

And his awesome old-school Little People (only bigger now) from Mama and Pata Jones.

We had all the cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents from Casey's side of the family over to celebrate with us. Aunt Anahi made amazing and delicious Batman cupcakes.

(By the way ... can you tell Owen went through a cheesy grin phase around that time of the year? This one is a great smile compared to most. I do think the really cheesy ones are pretty cute, too, though.)

We set up a Batman pinata in the studio. It was great fun for all the kids!

As I mentioned before, Evan had another round of swim lessons. This time it was with my dear friend Jennifer's kids. We used to be next-door neighbors so it was great to see her so often again. It was so much fun just sitting and chatting while they swam each day. And Evan was doing amazing things in the water by the time he was done. I included a video of him jumping off the diving board!

Way Back When Evan Turned 5

The lucky kid had 2 parties since his aunts couldn't come the first night. He got a lot of fun things, thanks to sweet friends and family.

That is the Lego cake I made. It's no masterpiece. That's what's great about a 5-year-old boy: it's blue and it's a Lego brick and that's all that matters.

Here is one of many large snowstorms we had this past winter. I spent a lot of time shoveling this year. I had to get a picture of Owen in this hat. It was a little small, but so hilarious.

The boys made a snowman.

Owen was very entertained throwing snowballs at me through the door. That's the best way to get hit by a snowball.

The Happiest Birthday on Earth

Kate suggested I add photos from her real birthday. Now that was a party! She, Emily and I went to California for a long weekend. We visited Grandma Berkline and on Kate's birthday, we went to Disneyland because she got in for free. It was so fun! Kate and Emily are Disneyland die-hards so it's great going with them. We were there from open until close. And it was extra special because the park was Halloween-themed.
(P.S. I stole these from Kate's Facebook. I didn't have a purse-sized camera so Em and Kate have all the photos. I would have stolen some from Em, too, but I didn't see hers on her Facebook.)

Here we are on the tram ride into the park.

I think this is in line for the Haunted Mansion. (One of these things is not like the others ...)


This was on Small World. Thank goodness Grandma gave us her fans to use that day. It was HOT!

This is Mullet Man and his woman. We enjoyed laughing at his expense.

Here is Kate, so scared of the pirates!

Here is Kate's birthday button. We kept track of how many times people told her "Happy Birthday." I think it was close to 50.

This is right before the BEST Star Tours ride EVER!
(If you get a chance, sit on the back row and lift up your feet and arms. Let the craziness take your body where it will!)

The Buzz Lightyear ride.

We got to eat dessert at the Blue Bayou. (Yes, dessert only. It's too pricey.) Little did we know that they were about to close down for good. We were lucky to even get a reservation ... and it was at 9:30PM, if I remember right.

The Blue Bayou.

On my favorite (NOT) ride, Splash Mountain.

Heading home in the deep abyss of LAX.