Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween! My friend from Utah, Nicole was in town on vacation and brought her two girls over to go Trick or Treating with us. Our kids get along so well! When Gabe woke up the next morning, he came into our bedroom and asked where the girls went. He told me that he wanted them to sleep over and stay to play with him.

Sierra looks for the good candy while Ashlyn holds the bowl.

Ready to go!

Gabe dressed as a Dragon

Ashlyn was a High School Musical cheerleader

This is Gabe's signature pose.

The kids got lots of candy (that they aren't even very interested in eating!) and had a great time TOTing. Our neighbors across the street made a fantastic spook ally in their garage and Gabe went through it twice! When the costumed kids jumped out at him, he laughed every time. Ashlyn thought it was scary, but fun and Nicole's girls were a little scared. I carried Sierra through so she and I are now bonded! ;) Somehow my camera missed Madi, but she was here too, in her TinkerBell costume. Sierra was dressed as Silvermist.

Lavender Hill Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to Lavender Hill Pumpkin Patch this past weekend to pick out our pumpkins for Halloween. The patch is a local, small organic farm and we had gone there last year. The kids picked 4 pumpkins and then also recieved tiny pumpkins as a gift from the farm. When you buy your pumpkins, they give them names. I'm trying to remember the names ours got... one was "Prize Winner" and another was "Orange Smoothie". I think it's funny that they name all of their pumpkins. The big ones had pretty funny names.

New Living Room Floors

Just about 2 weeks ago, while Brian's parents were visiting, we put new flooring in the living room. With the help of Brian's dad, brother Dan, and BIL Dan (yes, there are two) it was done in less than a day from start to finish! This is the same flooring we put in the dining room about 6 months ago. It feels so nice to cross another room off the "To Do" list!

This is the living room before we moved in.

It was actually designed as a formal living/dining room

but as we have no use for either, we decided to make it our

main living/family room. The chandelier in this pic

was replace with a ceiling fan/light.

Our living room now. I have two more pieces of furniture

coming. One is a console/sofa table that will go

under the window to the right and we'll use it as a sort of

charging station for phones, etc. The other is an

end table to go under the clock. Both are white.

One day, we'd like to add a piano.

Here's another view of the room.

The front door is there on the left.

The fixture on the couch is Ashlyn. ;)

Texas... Yeehaw!

I just got home from Texas Monday night after visiting my best friend. She just had her adorable baby Dylan and I was so glad that I was able to go and meet him and spend a few days with her family.
I had a really great time, totally relaxing and fun. I met some really nice people and saw a few I'd met before. And best of all, I got lots of time to hold and snuggle sweet Dylan. I know I should have taken pics and posted them but I really didn't take any... I was busy loving on that cute baby boy!
Thank you so much to Stacy & Jamie for letting me come out and hang with them for a few days!!

Back to School

Ashlyn headed back to school on Monday... this time as a 3rd grader! She is very excited at the prospect of learning to write cursive! She was also excited that our neighborhood got a bus (as was I, considering the school is just over 5 miles away!).

Here is Ashlyn, waiting at the bus stop.

Gabe & I walked her to the bus stop.

The bus is here!!

She's had a great week so far. She really likes her teacher. I hope the excitement is still there when she starts getting homework next week!

This busy life!

I know I haven't been staying on top of my blog lately, but I've been busy, really!!
Because we tend to host so much company (it's been someone every month since March!) and we still have our busy lives to live, we haven't been able to get a lot done on the house. We start a lot of projects that don't always get finished. We are attempting to get 2-3 months to ourselves to catch up and get some projects done. I am currently working on Gabe's room, which has waited a long time. We're putting up bead board in the lower half of his room and hoping to get that all done this weekend, but of course it's so much more than just that... it's chair rail and baseboards too!
Meanwhile, Brian has been very busy at work, getting home late and working plenty of weekend hours as well.
Gabriel goes back to preschool tomorrow (Yay!) and Ashlyn is enjoying her visit with her grandparents in Utah. She left Wednesday and is spending one week with my mom & Don and one with my dad & Jennie. Summer has gone by pretty quickly!
Hopefully my next update will include Gabe's finished bedroom!!

Ashlyn's 8th Birthday

We celebrated Ashlyn's 8th birthday today (two days early) and went to CB's Cupcakes at the mall. This place is so cute! Ashlyn invited 5 of her friends and they decorated cupcakes together. The theme was Harry Potter (what else?) so the cupcakes were red velvet with yellow (gold) buttercream frosting. The girls had a lot of fun putting all kinds of toppings on their individual cupcakes. Ashlyn included red and yellow gummy bears on hers.

I love the decor!

Ashlyn in her special chair. I want to make one

for my scrapbook room! It has chiffon ruffles

all around the bottom, like a tutu!

Blowing out her candle.


Opening gifts at home.

This is an inside family joke... we got Ashlyn a Snuggie!

She thinks it's totally great and plans on using

it tonight while she reads.

She was so excited to get her very own

(PINK!!) iPod! We pre-loaded it

with all of her favorite music from The Beatles

to Gwen Stefani.

Listening to "Dani California"

Wearing her Snuggie. Haha!! (And little

brother being silly)

We feel so lucky to have such an amazing daughter. She's intelligent, funny, beautiful, and caring. Ashlyn has a very important role in our family and she fits it perfectly. We love you so much Ashlyn!!! Happy Birthday.