Halloween

We have been up to lots of things during the Halloween season. Here are just a few of the things we've done...

Gotta love this!!!


Dressing up in random masks...

Decorating cookies with some fun neighborhood friends (thanks, Kiki)...

Peyton, dressing as Pongo, from 101 Dalmations...

Going to Peyton's Halloween Preschool party...

Peyton and his friends concentrating on decorating cookies...

Going to see Kylie at her 1st grade Halloween parade...

I got to help out with her Halloween "Orange" party with Ms. Hupscher...

Carving our family pumpkins...

The finished product...

Going to our ward's trunk-or-treat...

After candy is all gathered, the trick is to throw your kids in the trunk so they can't escape and toss them a sucker... :)

...and the loot...enough for a ton of stomach aches!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

School Days!

(I love how Porter is taking a picture, too!)
Well, the kids are off to another year of school. Kylie had her first day of 1st grade and Peyton had his first day of preschool.

Kylie is all day long from 8:50 till 3:11 (weird time, huh?!) so that was what got me. My little baby girl was in someone else's hands for the whole day. I kept telling Kylie how much I'm going to miss her. When dropping her off, I told her I was going to go and then gave her a huge hug. A minute later she turned to me and said, "You're still here?!" So, I said okay, I'll finally go. This time Kylie was the one who turned to me, and very sweetly said, "Mom, I'm going to miss you VERY much! I love you!" That's what made me cry....and made me leave so the whole world wouldn't see me cry. I got in the car and Peyton was wondering what the heck was up with me. Why are you crying?! But he wondered if I would cry for him the next day when he went to preschool. :)

She had a great first day, but was tired afterwards. She's excited and will have a great year!

Of course she wanted to do some posing...

Kylie saw her friend, Brooklynn, on the way in on their first day...

Now, it was Peyton's turn. We dropped Kylie off for her second day of school and then headed up to take Peyton to preschool. He was so excited! He did so well! He told me everything that they did...songs they sang, where he sat, snacktime, pictures they colored, all about the letter M, etc. etc. He loves telling me and I love hearing! He will have a blast in preschool with Ms. Teri!


(Again, I just love the photo taking from Porter. :) )

Porter had some special Mommy time and ran errands. It'll be fun to be with him and take some special time for my little Buds!


I sure love ALL my kids. They are all so dang cute! Miss them, love them, squeeze them, hug them, kiss them!

Weekend trip to Cali

Who can resist this face??!!!!

Just a little bit ago we took the kids to the beach in California! We left Saturday morning, stopped off in Barstow and shopped a little, and then headed for the Newport Beach area.

We checked into our hotel and then went to heaven...Sprinkles Cupcakes. It is so delicious and worth the wait in line. It's not the same eating a shared cupcake with kids dangling on your arm, but still nice and sweet. I did, however, enjoy a whole raspberry cupcake to myself inside the hotel bathroom later that day when the kids fell asleep. :)



We then went to Corona Del Mar Beach. It was a nice beach that was surrounded by cliffs. It had small waves for the kids, which they loved. The only thing bad about it was there were people everywhere! People on your left, right, top, and bottom! It was so crowded. Porter quickly made friends with everybody!

The kids also liked getting buried in the sand.

The kids had fun at the hotel. We played in the indoor pool at night and also the hot tub. Then off to bed. The kids loved having pop tarts, applesauce and capri suns for breakfast (usually it's fruit and cereal or oatmeal or something like that...but we're on vacation!) :) Luckily the pool opened up early and we were off to the indoor pool again. The kids loved showing off to Chris all they learned from swimming lessons during the summer.

Then we went to Huntington Beach that day. Actually it was really cold. Not just cold because we are from Las Vegas (and anybody who knows me knows I'm always cold), but other people were wearing sweatshirts. Not us...just our swimsuits. Didn't even think of that. But we still had fun. (I liked being wrapped up in the towels). Then the sun eventually came out, thankfully. The kids enjoyed digging a huge sand hole, building sand stairs, playing ball, jumping waves, finding a trillion seashells, and more.

After being there all day it was time to head home. We were all sad to leave, but glad we could go. We had a great time and it is nice being only 4 hours away from a beach!

Swimmin', slidin', and havin' fun!

With this nice weather we have been outside a lot! We have loved swimming, playing in the sprinklers, playing on our playground, going to the park, and tons of other fun activities.

The kids are all ready to go swimming at the hotel...

The kids were excited for their new Toy Story slip-n-slide...This is how Kylie started to slide, but with a couple tries she did it the real way and was a pro.

Peyton slid like this for maybe 1 time...

...then liked to slide standing up for the rest of the time.

The kids liked playing with the flower sprinkler that sprays everywhere...

I had to stick these pictures in because they are so cute.

The kids are all ready for next year...Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Nelson!

And lately I have been staining this playground. I have never done anything like that before, so I was real proud of myself. It turned out great and looks new again!

More fun in the sun to follow through the summer!!!!! :)