The weekend before Halloween our neighbors and us threw a party at their place. They decorated it all, made a great haunted house in their garage and organized a scavenger hunt. We were in charge of food. It was fun playing "caterer" for the week leading up to it and scouring pinterest for ideas and turning it in to the real thing! Here's a few pictures of the party and some of the food. Lots of people, lots of fun!
Part of their backyard
Cooper and Derek
Our announcement that we're expecting!
The night before Halloween we carved our pumpkins together. You can't really do it any earlier because the warm weather rots the pumpkins really quickly. It was super funny watching Adele and Jack dive right in and Cooper being really grossed out by the pumpkin guts. Both boys wanted scary pumpkins and Adele wanted a kitty.
Halloween night we set out to trick-or-treat at 5 and went for about an hour and a half. Afterwards we had the Carlsons and their family over for chile, cornbread and salad dinner with pumpkin pie dessert. The missionaries joined us and we had a yummy halloween feast and the kids ate a lot of candy!
All day Friday it poured down rain. We had plans and reservations to camp with our friends and neighbors, the Carlsons and the Reillys. However, we are camp tenters and the way it was pouring and the continuous flash flood alerts on my phone just weren't looking too good. The weather was supposed to get better over the duration of the weekend so we packed extra shoes and clothes for every one and made it out of the house by about 7:30 Friday night. The further up the mountain we got (about 45 minutes from the house) the less it was raining. The kids were sleeping when we got there and one by one woke up as Jake and I set up camp. We had our head lamps on and had bought an extra tarp just before leaving to shield ourselves from rain. We made it through the night, had the boys and dog sleep in the car right next to our tent and woke up dry! The rest of the weekend was a blast. We had great camping food, the boys rode bikes and scooter. All the kids played together really well. They learned to chop wood and start fires. We went on a beautiful hike all together and spent quality time around the campfire. We are blessed with some really great friends and had a wonderful time together as a family.
Little girlfriends, Chelsey and Adele
Adele, Chelsey, Trevor, Jack, Derek and Cooper. All kids are same age, within months.
choppin' wood
hiking through the valley
It was a really scenic and beautiful area
caught a lizard
wore a lizard! (Stephen)
I'm glad it didn't rain while we were there but double glad we were able to set this up just in case.
Poor Griffin dog locked up cause he's cray-cray.
hauling wood
Who eats like this when camping?! The Carlsons do! Super yummy!
After our exchange students left (literally, 4 hours after I dropped them off) Jake's mom flew in from Washington. We showed her around town, she took us to Claim Jumper for an early dinner and we packed all evening to leave the next morning to drive up to Washington. We drove up to Yreka, CA the first night and stayed in a ghetto little motel room. Left early the next morning and made it home by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. The kids and the dog (oh yeah, we brought the dog) did great the whole way. No throwing up! That's a big deal for us. It was cold and rainy when we pulled into town. We spent the week cramming in as much as we could and seeing as many people as we could see. Jake's parents flew him up for the end of the week to attend my 10 year HS reunion with me and drive back on Monday. We left early Monday morning. Jack puked about a mile away so we turned around, showered him off and grabbed a couple of towels and lots of bags for the long drive home. The plan was to go all the way and we did it. Pulled into the driveway at about 2 in the morning. Jack was sick a few times on the way down, mostly in Northern CA. Tuesday was a recoup day and Wednesday was Cooper's first day of school. We had an amazing summer to say the least.
First day of school
Mom Brag----> first in his class to receive a HUGS award second year in a row
Our friends Megan and Brandon offered to take the kids for a night on our anniversary weekend. Jake worked all summer in Newport Beach and stayed with a nice family from our church a few days out there. They had told Jake they'd be gone the weekend of our anniversary and we were welcome to stay at their house if we wanted to. We took advantage of these generous offers and drove into the sunset together Friday night, walked downtown Laguna and ate at a pizza place that night. Stopped at DQ for some ice cream and called it a night. The next morning we went back in to Laguna for an amazing breakfast at Nick's then wandered all around Laguna and Huntington Beach for the rest of the day. First time away as just a couple EVER! Really, since our honeymoon. About time!
The one and probably most important picture from our anniversary: Breakfast at Nick's in Laguna Beach. AMAZING!
In our last few days in Utah our friend Laura, owner of Sugar Grenade Designs and Photography, did a photo shoot for us since Jake was able to come for the weekend. She took some amazing pictures and we're blessed to finally have done a family photo in 8 years of being married. Thank you Laura! Below are some of my favorite silly pictures and ones of the kids that really capture their personality. Jake also took the kids on a hike. Jake, Laura and I went to Provo to see a rooftop concert that was rained out but we had fun anyways. And we visited our friends, the Burnsides, on our way out of town.
Such a great trip! Can't wait to go back for Thanksgiving!
Holden, Piper, Beckham, Jack, Adele and Cooper. Old pals :)
