Phoenix Fiesta of Lights Parade!

Friday night we went to the Phoenix Fiesta of Lights Parade!
It was a lot of fun. We weren't exactly sure where to park
and where we would sit so we had quite a walk to get there.
But it was worth it! There was tons of people! Next year we
will have to scout out a good spot ahead of time and make it
a party!



Dillon loved it!


Taya loved it too! There were marching bands, a bunch of
big balloons (like the giant snowman), Tons of vehicles
covered in Christmas lights!


Dillon liked this one...a big camper trailer covered in lights.
Sheriff Joe Arapaio was on one of the floats. He's pretty
controversial around here. It was cool to finally see him in
person, we've seen him on the news a bunch. He got a lot
of "cheers" and a lot of "booooos" pretty interesting!


He really loved this one...A TRAIN, A TRAIN!!!



Dillon and Taya, such cute kidlets! We had a great time!
We are going to make it a tradition! Christmas lights are so
much fun to look at and a great way to feel some Christmas
spirit!

First Thanksgiving!

We had our very first Thanksgiving at our house!
We have always been with extended family for the holiday
and have never had much involvement with the prep for the
meal! We cooked our first turkey and all the fixins! It was
a lot of fun!


Here is our table set with all the trimmings! Dillon and
Taya decorated turkey placemats with markers and
stickers!


I posted the menu for all to start salivating in
anticipation of what was to come!


Dillon and I made these cute turkey name tags
to mark who sat where!



Our friends Jennifer and Michael Shields came to share in the
feast (they also brought some yummy fixins). And also Mike's
good friend Mikah came over as well!


We had a great Thanksgiving! I really enjoyed the prep
and adding all the little things that make it a special day!
Thanks so much to our friends for coming to share it with
us! We missed being with family but it was definately a
memorable day! Happy Thanksgiving!

Las Vegas!!!

We took a little family getaway to the fabulous Las Vegas over
this past weekend. Ron and Janet (aka Grandpa and Grandma)
were down in Vegas for a conference. We spent a few days
having a blast!


Taya and Mike watching the water show at the Bellagio.
The stuff on the water is fog but it kinda looks like fire.


Dillon had so much fun! He loves all the attention he gets
from Grandpa and Grandma!


Here's the fam enjoying the show!

Jaymie and Henslee were with us too. Kaytie and Paul

and their little guy Dean joined us later.

Dillon got to meet his favorite thing in the world

right now...Transformers! This guy is Bumblebee

he transforms into a Camaro. Dillon was so excited

to see him he couldn't stop smiling!

We drove up to Hoover Dam to walk across the new

bridge. (We already drove over it to get to Vegas) It

is a huge bridge. We have watched it being built over the

last 2 years during out travels to and from Utah. Now that

it is complete the drive time is significantly reduced. So

awesome!

Sooo high!

Taya was there too...strapped in the stroller!

We wandered around a new part of the Las Vegas

strip called City Center. It was pretty cool.

Dillon loved the huge pumpkins they had on display

in one of the shopping malls.

I don't know what this is but something super cool.

A tornado of water in a tube thingy!

We of course went to Circus Circus and played in the

Arcade!

Taya doesn't look too excited here but she really had

lots of fun!

We had a really great trip! Las Vegas is one of our most

favorite places to go. So many fun and exciting things to

see and do! It was so nice to see family and spend some time

together!

Halloween Festivities-Saturday and Sunday!

On Saturday night we went to another party at
Jaymie and Jesse's church. There was another
trunk-or-treat so the kids got double candy! Hooray!


Here's just another pic of the kids in their costumes.


And another of me and Taya.


We had lots of fun at the party. There were balloons (always a
hit with the kids), some carnival games, pumpkin carving contest
(Jesse's pumpkin won 1st prize!), yummy food and of course the
trunk-or-treat!


Jesse, Jaymie, and Henslee. Such a cute family of cows!
Moo!

Henslee is by far the cutest cow I have ever seen!

Taya and her daddy!

Sunday evening Jesse, Jaymie and Henslee came over

to our house for a little party. We ate a delicious

Jack-o-lantern pizza (courtesy of Papa Murphy's), Mike

made his famous ghoulishous sausage dip with chips, and

for dessert some ooglie eyeballs (brownie balls dipped in white

chocolate). We had fun!

Halloween Festivities-Friday

On Friday night we went to a Halloween Party at
our church. We had some dinner, the kids played a
few carnival games, and we ended the night getting tons
of candy from a "trunk-or-treat". We had a lot of fun!
Here are some pics of our costumes.


Dillon loves Transformers so he is Optimus Prime.
(The leader of the Autobots/the good guys.)


Here he is with his mask on. He picked his costume
out weeks ago and has been so excited to dress up!


Taya is a black kitty. (I went as a witch.) She has
been pretty excited. We ask her what she is going
to be and she says "kitty", then we ask her what she
is going to say and she yells "meow"!


Mike is dressed as Megatron (the leader of the
Decepticons/the bad guys). It was so much fun
for Dillon because they could battle!


Here we are: witch and black cat!

I didn't realize when we were taking these pics
I had the camera set on night snapshot so they
aren't the best. We are dressing up again so I
will hopefully get some better pics to post at a later
date! Happy Halloween!

Halloween Festivities-Thursday...

If you carve pumpkins here in AZ they will be wilted and
mush in no time so this year we decided to decorate our
pumpkins with stickers.


Dillon chose monster truck and race car stickers.


Mike had a bunch of different sports balls for his stickers.
(chosen by Dillon)



I chose ladybugs.


Taya chose my little pony and some other cute
animal stickers.


Here are the finished pumpkins! (Super cute, easy, fun, and
my favorite: mess free!)


After decorating our pumpkins we headed to Brooke's Pumpkin
Patch at Mother Nature's Farm. There was all sorts of fun stuff
for the kids...


Alexander's Adventure Maze!

Which way do we go? (notice Taya in the back left just

wandering) :)

Heading for the exit!

Hooray! We made it through!

Taya crawling through a large cement pipe!

The kids got to choose their own pumpkin from

the pumpkin patch.

They also got to decorate them.

We got to go on a Hay Ride pulled by a tractor. Dillon

chose to sit right at the front to watch the tractor. It was

really fun.

On the way out the kids got to sit on a tractor. Of course,

Dillon was loving it!

It was a really fun place to go. We had a great time!

Happy Halloween!