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!

Road Trip to Utah!

The kids and I took an almost 2 week trip to Utah.
(Mike couldn't come because that is just way too much time
for him to take off from school and his externship.) We sure
missed him but we had an awesome trip! Here is our travel
log with tons of pics!


On the drive there we stopped in Mesquite for lunch.
We got to hang out with Kaytie and Dean at a park.
Dillon took Dean for his first slide ride!


Taya loves to slide!

We then headed up to Logan to spend a few days with
Grandpa Ron and Grandma Janet. We also got to see
Kirk, Shaughnessy, and Ryon!


Here we are at The Old Grist Mill having lunch.

We all got huge sugar cookies with frosting. Yes, Taya

is loving it!

Ryon is enjoying his too. He is so stinkin cute!

We also got to spend a day with Mike and Janelle and their

cute family. We went to the Hill Air Force Base Airplane

Museum. The kids loved it!

Taya and Miley. They are 3 months apart in age.

Super cute!

Dillon and Taya had fun pulling each other around

the house in the lego wagon. Dillon's turn.

Taya's turn.

While we were there I became slightly addicted to building

legos. Here is my masterpiece...truck, trailor, and 3 race

cars. It took me forever but Dillon loved playing with it.

Hooray!!! My sister Kristi returned home from serving

a mission in Houston Texas! We all went to the airport

to welcome her home!

Here she is...isn't she gorgeous! Welcome home Kristi

so great to have you back!

We spent a few days with Grandma Susan and

Grandpa Jim. Dillon decided he wanted to be some

golf clubs and go for a ride.

Always a blast to ride on the golf cart!

Taya just posing for a pic. She looks so grown

up in this picture.

We went to Kevin, Brittany, and Kaylee's house to

hang with them and Grandpa Randy. Playing the

Wii is always fun!

Dillon played golf and bowling.

Kaylee wanted to play too. Mmm..tasty!

She is so super cute!

Too soon the fun was over and the time came for us to

pack up and make the 13 hour drive home. We had a

wonderful time with our families! Thanks so much for

all the fun! Welcome home Kristi!

P.S....

So we are driving out in the middle of nowhere somewhere

in California and we get stopped by a train! A TRAIN !!!

I know can you believe it? We are seriously in the middle

of nowhere! I had to get a pic to document this event.

Here are the children. Yes, Dillon was super excited

about the train in the middle of nowhere!

So, the first train goes by, it was pretty slow by the way.

Then just as it was clearing the road another train was

coming in the opposite direction on the other track! Yes,

in the middle of nowhere not 1 but 2 TRAINS!

Wow, we sat there for about 10 minutes watching trains

go by. Yep, in the middle of nowhere! :)

Taya's Birthday!

Holy moly my baby girl turned 2! It's crazy how time seems
to just fly by sometimes! Anyways, we had a great party day!
The kids and I drove in to Phoenix to meet Mike for lunch.
We went to Peter Piper Pizza. The kids had a blast!


You know, every now and then you just get that perfect
cheesy grin pic.


Here's Taya on the train (choo choo)!


That evening we had a little birthday bash at our house.
Jesse, Jaymie and Henslee came over.


We made Monkey's favorite treat (aka: bananas with peanut
butter and chocolate chips). Super tasty!


Dillon really enjoyed the chocolate chips. In fact he couldn't
even smile at the camera he was so busy eating. :)


Opening presents

She was pretty excited about everything!

More presents

This was the climax...

...Tada!...a kitchen! She also got some clothes (the hat

she's wearing) a super stylish pair of boots, accessories for

the kitchen and a cozy coupe car.

This is the monkey cake. I was pretty proud of how it

turned out. (notice the 2 candles in the bottom left corner)

Taya is wearing her favorite PJ's, her monkey ones. These

were the inspiration for the theme of the party and the cake.

Attempting to blow out the candles!

Hooray, her very own cozy coupe. Dillon got one when he

turned 2 and Taya loves it. They are always fighting over his

so we decided she needed her own. And it's pink! Now they can

both cruise around in the back yard together!

We had a super fun time! Thanks so much to Jesse, Jaymie, and

Henslee for coming and celebrating with us. Taya had a great day!

She is so much fun to have in our family. She loves to play with her

big brother, she is talking up a storm and she loves to sing.

We love her very much! Happy Birthday Taya!

Cracker Jax!

Saturday night we went to a place called Cracker Jax.
It is a family fun center in Scottsdale. There is an arcade,
go carts, and mini golf among other things. Dillon and Taya
had so much fun playing in the arcade. They got lots of tickets
and prizes!


Dillon got to drive the little go karts all by himself! He
was so excited and he loved it!


Taya wasn't big enough but she had a sucker so she
was happy just to be hangin out!


Dillon is a cautious driver, he wasn't going very fast but
he was making the turns and staying right on the road!


We all went mini golfing. What an adventure! Taya just
had fun carrying her club and pink ball around (she had to
have the pink). Dillon stayed one hole ahead of us and just
played and played.


Mike and Dillon went on some bumper boats together.
They had a blast, Dillon was laughing the whole time! I
tried to get some pics but they were way blurry.

We had so much fun! Dillon keeps asking when we get to
go back.

Update...

Here's an update on a couple of things...
Over Labor Day weekend we went for a little drive
to see the Arizona Supreme Court (where Mike works
for now doing his externship). Across the street from the
Supreme Court is the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum.
We walked over to check it out. It was closed but there was
a couple of cool things outside to see.

This giant mural on the back side of the building. Wow
that is super awesome! (Mike, Dillon, and Taya are standing
on the right by the truck.)


Here's a close up just chillin with the workers!



A giant bucket that once was attached to a huge
excavator. Did I mention huge!!!



There was a small mining train on the track so
of course Dillon was lovin life!

A giant wheel that once belonged to a mammoth

dump truck like the one in the mural! It was pretty

cool to see, we'll have to go back some time when it's

open.

Dillon started Preschool last week. He is loving it!

Yes, I took the traditional first day of school pic!

What a cheeser! He must be excited!

Taya needed to get a picture too because it was

her first day taking Dillon to preschool!