Halloween Fun

Friday afternoon, I took the kids to our City's Trick or Treat party at the mall. We went with some of Mackenzie's friends and it was so cute to see the girls trick or treating together. Garrett wasn't very into it. It was really hot outside and his Dinosaur costume was cooking him. We ended up taking half his costume off.

Mackenzie decided to sit on this blow up witch's brew and ended up on the ground, with the deflated witch....lots of laughs. Poor thing.

On Halloween, we thought we'd sugar up the kids first thing in the morning with Halloween donuts, then we went hiking and to play at the park, then carved pumpkins. Girls vs Boys. Mackenzie and I carved a bat (I wasn't really interested in winning, I was more interested in keeping it simple and easy). Garrett and Daddy carved Scooby Doo with a witch's hat on. Clearly Daddy and Garrett's win!! Great job boys!!!

Both Blair's parents and my parents came over for dinner and to see the kids in their costumes. My camera's battery died, so I need to get Blair's mom's pictures. For now, here is all I have. Doh, not even a family picture this year. Blair and I went to a Halloween party after taking the kids trick or treating and I meant to get pictures of us dressed up with the kids dressed up, but Garrett was so tired, we put him to bed. Oh yeah, and our camera died. Wow, I'm so on top of it this year ;)

Preschool Musical

Our Halloween festivities kicked off on Friday with Mackenzie's preschool Halloween party. As you can see, Mackenzie was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz for Halloween. This was her choice 100%. I personally am pretty weirded out by the movie and always have been. She loves it though! She really wanted Garrett to be Toto for Halloween...no way, that's where I draw the line.

Hmmmm...this Bingo is tricky stuff.

Mackenzie getting ready to sing Halloween songs. I guess I was bugging her by taking pictures, because she finally told me, "No, I'm not looking at you or smiling for any more pictures." And for Mackenzie, that's pretty bold. She is usually sweet as sugar. :)

A proud Mommy.

Daddy & Garrett with Mackenzie.

Catching Up

Here's a few things we've been up to...

Hiking
A week or so ago, we strapped Garrett into our hiking backpack (which he surprisingly loves) and headed out for some family hiking in the hills by our house. The kids love it and it really brings out the kid in me. It actually is pretty fun to climb hills in the dirt and see the pretty view from the top. Or maybe it's just seeing the kids' reactions that brings out the kid in me. :)





















































Mackenzie picked out our pose for this picture. Gotta love a girly girl.
















Primary Program
A week ago, Mackenzie was in her first primary program for church. She memorized her part and when it was her turn to say it from the pulpit, she even remembered it! She sang all the songs beautifully. My favorite part was when they had only the Sunbeams (Mackenzie's class) sing the first verse to "How Firm A Foundation" in the microphone. While I really wanted to take pictures during church, I refrained, and got some before church instead.
















And we finally talked Garrett into getting in the picture. He refused to sit in our lap though. Mr. Independent these days.















BYU Game
And this part of the post hurts. I was and still am really really jealous that Blair went to the BYU/SDSU game a couple of weeks ago. I'm a huge football fan too, and pretty much love watching any game. So I was pretty bummed when the game was a "boys" thing and the girls were left behind. Oh well, I was promised a trip to an USC game for being left behind. I'll stop being pouty now and post the pictures already. Blair went with his Dad, his brother Travis, and friend from church Lance.




















Blair's friend Freddy was at the game with his son, Tre. They came and said hi to Blair at halftime.
















Double the Fun
This past weekend, our friends Freddy (yep, same one pictured above with son Tre at the game) and Mandy had their third baby, Knox. (Congrats Freddy & Mandy!!!!!) And we got to have their adorable kids over for a sleepover for a few nights. Their kids are about the same ages as ours, so Mackenzie and Garrett loved it!! One night, we made Halloween cookies and the kids had a blast. Giving four kids ages 4 and under extra sugar before bed probably wasn't the best idea, but oh well, it was fun dang it.

Not a Chance

Had to share a funny conversation from this morning, while we were eating French Toast...

Mackenzie: "Mmmmm....syrup is yummy by itself."
Mommy: "Yup."

Then, a minute later,

Mackenzie: "One time you should just give me a pile of syrup for breakfast."

Oak Glen

I've been looking forward to going up to Oak Glen for years now and have never had the chance. I've imagined it....cool fall weather, warm apple cidar, good ol' apple picking, and piping hot sky high apple pie. Well, today was the day and I went with the kids and my parents (Blair is at the BYU football game) and our Oak Glen experience was none of those things. It was pretty warm outside so warm apple cidar was the last thing we wanted, and it was so crowded we decided against apple picking and apple pie. But it was beautiful up there and a nice change of scenery. We even saw some evidence of fall!

We ended up stopping wherever there was the least amount of cars and that ended up being a pick it yourself pumpkin patch. We hiked up to the patch with the little pumpkins (so the kids could carry them) and got to pick our own pumpkins off the vine. It was actually really fun! The kids loved it and had to hold their pictures for every picture - even the picture in the apple orchard. :)

Then we stopped at one of the farms. The kids were excited to see a Llama (their favorite book right now is Llama Llama Red Pajama) and some ponies. Okay, so I was really excited to see the Llama too!

Overall, it was fun, but I HIGHLY recommend going on a weekday, right when it opens.

"Ooh Ooh Ahh Ahh"

One of my favorite things about being a stay at home mom is being able to take the kids fun places on a week day in the middle of the day. No crowds, no stress. Garrett has been asking to "go see the monkeys at the zoo" everyday for days. He got new puzzles for his birthday and one is a zoo animal theme and whenever he plays with it, he asks to go to the zoo.

So....I had more free tickets to the Santa Ana zoo, so I decided to take the kids for a couple of hours one day last week. The Santa Ana zoo is pretty small and doesn't have a lot of animals, but they do have a lot of monkeys, so Garrett was thrilled. There were no crowds and they had volunteers out throughout the zoo with reptiles to see and pet. Mackenzie got to pet a giant millipede and a huge snake, and she loved it. I didn't get any pictures of the kids with the animals or near the animals, since it was just me and the kids. I was occupied with lifting them up to see the animals, pointing out the animals, and holding their hands. But I did get some shots of them with some of the climb on toys/exhibits.































Garrett looking at a waterfall...he LOVES waterfalls!




















Mackenzie and Garrett both loved taking turns "driving" the jeep. I think they each had three or four turns.





























Garrett is braver than last time....I brought them here a few months ago and he wouldn't touch these egg shells, and this time he was climbing all over them.





































It was a great couple of hours and not too exhausting!!

Rev It Up

Saturday, we went to the annual Canyon Lake Car Show. Blair LOVES everything about old cars and we used to go to car shows all the time. Life took over and we haven't been to a car show in years, so we were excited to finally get to go to one!

The day got even more exciting when we spotted Chip Foose!!! We've watched his show Overhaulin' for years and we love all his work, so we were beyond stoked! His parents live in Canyon Lake, and he was just there for the car show with her daughter, but we were able to meet him, get a picture with him, and get him to sign our car show shirts. He really seems like a nice, down to earth guy.

And here is Chip's car he showed. No words.

Garrett is just like his daddy and loved every minute of seeing the "hotrods." He kept saying "Hot Rod right there!!" and pointing to them. In fact, he just saw me posting these pictures and said, "Hot Rod! I like hotrods!!!" He was so sad when we left...