Pumpkin patch photo shoot!

Every year I love taking the boys in their Halloween costumes to a pumpkin patch to get some cute pictures. As you can see it was a success!! We actually went to a little nursery so they had it all set up for picture taking. I always feel a little bad that I come to take pictures and never buy a pumpkin, I just can't bring myself to pay $25!!

So as you can see Trey picked to be Buzz Lightyear. I had asked him if he was excited to go trick-or-treating, I think you can tell that is a YES!!

Kaden is the cutest little dragon I have ever seen. It's so cute to watch him try and walk around. 

I love all the beautiful colors of fall and all the excitement of the holiday season. It's so fun to get the kids all dressed up! Happy Halloween to all of you!!

Good luck Peter!

Today Jeff's younger brother Peter will be entering the MTC to serve a mission in the Philippines. Although we could not be there to see him off we were lucky to have him out here for the weekend. The boy's had such a great time with him & will miss him very much! 

We made a quick stop at a pumpkin patch to get a picture and I got some cute ones of the boys as well.

It just so happened to be the Air Show in SF the same weekend so we spent a Saturday afternoon at the beach. The Blue Angel Jets were also there which is always cool to see a jet fly under the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Another great stop was at Golden Gate Park. They have a wonderful playground and it is right by Zona Rosa, our favorite little Mexican joint, so dinner was great. It was so nice to have a few days together and despite the rocky ending to the trip, which I will save for another post, it was wonderful. Peter we wish you all the best and know you will be a wonderful missionary. We love you & good luck! 

Visit to the Andersons

A few weeks ago the boys and I headed up to Washington to watch my sisters kids while they want on vacation. Everyone thought I was crazy to go watch 7 kids by myself for 10 days but as you can see we had a lot of fun. Here Trey and Jacob, AKA: Jimmy Hendrix and Taylor Hicks, were cruising in the Jeep. 

We also had a Halloween day with the boys and made haunted rice crispy treat houses. YUMMY!!

Here Kaden is playing peek-a-boo with their dog coco. It was the cutest thing ever!!

Kaden also went from taking a few steps to full on walking and even running while we were there. I guess getting him out of our cramped little apartment really helped.

My boys were in heaven and had so many fun things to do every day. Trey's favorite things to do were jump in the bounce house, drive the Jeep, pulling Kaden in the wagon and playing with his cousins. Forget Disneyland our next vacation will be to the Anderson's!

Trey's favorite day was when aunt Kim took him to 2 train museums. He was so excited and can't wait to go back. Thanks aunt Kim!!

Kaden's favorite thing was watching the washer and dryer. He would walk in there and point up at them and walk out and just say 'WOW' and walk right back in. We had such a great time visiting with everyone although I wish I would have had more time with Kim and Brad but I am glad they had a great trip!

"If you're going to San Francisco..."

We won't be there! That's right we're moving!! Jeff recently found out that he was accepted to complete his 4th year of school at a hospital in Albuquerque, NM. This means that after Jeff completes his last round of finals at the end of May, we'll be packing a moving truck and heading to the desert. While we're excited for this new opportunity I have to admit that the physical effort of moving is not something either Jeff or myself are really looking forward to. So, please consider this an open invitation if you would like to come for a visit in the next 8 months! The decision to move was bitter sweet as California has been a joy to live in with friends that we LOVE, a ward we feel blessed to be members of, and weather that can't be beat! With that said, we look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that will be ours once we move on. Just in case you're wondering...here's some useless trivia regarding our new town:

-Population: 835,120

-The Sandia Mountains are the predominant geographic feature visible in Albuquerque.

-Sandia is spanish for "watermelon" and is believed to be a reference to the coloration of the mountains at sunset: bright pink and green (I said it was useless trivia).

-Home of the Isotopes, the AAA affiliate of the LA Dodgers.

-2 hours south of Los Alamos; one of three sites involved in the creation of the atomic bomb.

-Host of the largest hot air balloon gathering in the world known as the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta; the most photographed event in the world! (Really?)

-Home to Sandia Peak Tramway, the worlds longest passenger aerial tramway.

"Let's live here...we'll rent to start"

This summer ended on a busy note for us so although we are behind on blogging we have been having a lot of fun so I can't complain. Back in August we decided, kind of last minute, to run down to Monterey for a few days. We had heard that it was a great place and after being there for only 2 days Jeff and I were ready to a buy a house. Okay not really since the townhouses start in the low millions but we could always rent to start!

We stopped at Point Pinos Lighthouse in Pacific Grove to watch the sunset that was really pretty. This lighthouse sits on a golf course and is actually the oldest lighthouse on the west coast that is still in use. I love this picture of Kaden's fat little finger pointing the way! 

Carmel beach was another great stop. Our boys love the beach and the sand was so clean and the waves were huge. At one point we were wading our feet and this huge wave came in. I was holding Kaden and before I knew it the water was up to Trey's chest and covering our blanket at the same time. I was so worried that Trey would be scared after that and he just laughed and thought it was a great time.

We also took a ride down 17-mile drive which is a beautiful road along the coast. It was not the best drive for kids who get easily car sick!! This is the house that we stopped at for Trey to throw up; we call it, 'Castle de la Puke'!

Cannery Row is a cute little shopping area. It used to be a whole bunch of sardine canning companies until they over fished and were forced to move. We didn't have too much time here so it will be our first stop next time.

View looking back at Cypress Country Club along 17 mile drive.

Trey's favorite stop was Dennis The Menace park where they had an old steam train that they kids could climb up on. It was such a great park and Trey would have stayed all day if we would have let him. They also had some really fun slides and playgrounds that we tried to make Trey go on but he didn't seem to care about anything but the train...big surprise!!

The Lone Cypress Tree, AKA: The Pebble Beach Logo was another great stop off 17-mile drive. Like Father like son's I watched as my three boys looked out over the ocean wondering what the three of them might have been thinking. 

And last but far from the least Jeff's dreams came true as he stepped out on the greens of Pebble Beach Golf Links, but not for a round of golf. The course is seen in the distance behind Jeff and Kaden above Carmel Beach. I swear for a moment I saw tears well up in his eyes but he said it was just some sand in his eye!! Although I don't understand why in the world people would actually pay $500 to play a round of golf it was VERY beautiful. There were so many things we didn't get to do in the short time we were there so I am hoping we will make it back there soon!

#17 teeing off in to the view of the Pacific.