Pumpkin Carving

This week we carved our pumpkins.  Eli was a big help, mostly contributing by taking the pumpkin guts that we'd already carved and put in the garbage, and putting them back into the pumpkin.

Halloween Pictures

Well, I've posted more this month than I have in a long time. Probably because we've had so much going on with the holidays starting up. I love Halloween and we've been going crazy with Halloween activities here. My friend Erin offered to take some Halloween pictures of Eli, so here they are. He loves Toy Story, so he got to be Woody the Sheriff from Toy Story this year.

Pictures used to be a lot easier. I swear, now when he sees a camera the smile just leaves his face and whatever moment I was trying to capture is gone in a flash. This is how the majority of the photo shoot with Erin went - Eli crying and trying to get away from the woman with the camera.

Art time

Kamrynn came over and we had a little art project for the kids involving shaving cream, coloring dye and paint brushes. The kids went crazy and I finally got lots of cute picture of Eli smiling, since recently he has been on a smiling strike every time I whip out the camera.

The diligent artist.
So, when you combine colored shaving cream and the dirt on my patio, you get one very messy boy. Not only did he have fun painting, but he kept rolling in the dirt. He is all boy.

Schneph Farms

We took Eli to Schneph Farms for their Harvest Festival that they have every year. They have all sorts of great stuff - a pumpkin patch, pig races, rides, go-carts, hayrides, train rides, tons of food, live music, and more. Here is Eli, totally entranced by the pig races.

Kamrynn came too. Here they are on the airplane ride.
The petting zoo - Eli trying to pick up the baby goat.

Fall Pictures

Eli and his partner in crime, Kamrynn

New favorite hiding place

10 Year Reunion at Disneyland!

As of this fall, it's been 10 years since I spent a semester abroad in Jerusalem. Someone posted our itinerary from 10 years ago online and it amazes me to look at it and think, '10 years ago today I was on the Sea of Galilee', or '10 years ago today I was floating down the Nile on a faluka' (especially when I add on 'and right now I'm covered in peanut butter and macaroni and my 2 year old is throwing a temper tantrum in my living room.' I find it's better if I try not to compare). It was the most amazing experience ever - we got to travel all over Israel, go to Jordan, Sinai, Egypt and live minutes away from the Old City in Jerusalem. I made great friends while I was over there. A lot of those friends I still keep in touch with. 6 of us left Jerusalem and went on to be roommates at BYU until we graduated. We had so much fun together, living at Regency. Since it's been 10 years since we met in Jerusalem, we decided we needed to have our own 10 year reunion. It took way more planning than it used too, since we now needed to arrange babysitters. It was also my first time away from Eli (and Isaac's first time with just him and Eli flying solo - actually he spent the majority of the time at his mom's, but essentially he was solo with Eli).

Here is the 6 of us, Dec. '99 in Egypt.

Then later, Regency Roommates - Kenna, Natalie, Katie, Me, Desiree and Rachel.

Since Natalie has VIP Disneyland connections, we decided to go to Ca. and spend a few days at Disneyland and Ca. Adventures and a few days by the beach (ok, we never actually made it to the beach, but you could see it from our hotel). Thanks to Rachel we also got great hookups with the Marriott.

Nat's VIP-ness was able to get us all into Ca. Adventures and Disneyland for free (and get us shopping and food discounts!) and Katie's fabulous mom, Deb, even happened to be there, so we were able to meet up with her and her friends. Here is all of us after Splash Mountain, where we got soaked and flashed (or should I say, Katie did some flashing - warning to all: if you go down Splash Mt. in a skirt, it will fly up and that moment will be caught on the candid camera they have taking your picture on the way down!). You may not be able to tell in this picture, but we are actually completely soaking wet.

My new favorite ride was Toy Story at Ca. Adventures. I've never been to California Adventures before, but I loved it, even though I had to pass on many rides since I was pregnant. Luckily, Kenna was 7 months pregnant, so I had someone to keep me company. I don't think I've walked that much in either of my pregnancies as I did the 2 days we spent hopping between the 2 parks. I passed out in my bed every night, I was so tired. Here is Katie and Deb on Toy Story.

Also another new Disneyland favorite: the Monte Cristo sandwich at Cafe Orleans. Oooooh, so good. Still dreaming about it. We also got to go to H&M, my new favorite store that even had a maternity section! This is the first girls only/no kids trip I've done since I've been married and it was great. There was even talk of a 5 years from now trip and another 10 years from now (I'd say a 15 year/20 year reunion, but that makes me feel really old).

The 6 if us at Disneyland (sorry your head is cut off Rachel).