Halloween 2012

 

We had such a fun Halloween this year.  We started out with pumpkin carving.  Didn't make it to the pumpkin patch this year, but we will try for next.  Ryan did a great job carving the pumpkins.  The kids lasted for about 10 minutes and then Ryan was all alone in the kitchen creating masterpieces. 

Will and Jules loved trick-or-treating this year.  We didn't go for very long, but man did those kids get a haul.  Luckily, they are little enough that we can still sneak some.  (Ok, a lot!)  I have to say, they were the cutest little monkey and elephant I have ever seen, but I'm not bias!  They had so much fun and for the past few nights Julia has asked, "Where's the trick-or-treat," whenever we have been out and it is dark.  I tried to explain to her that trick-or-treating only happens once a year and we will go again next year.  Really, what a fun holiday for little kids!  I love it! 

Carving pumpkins

My cute little monkey and elephant

 

They do love eachother!

 Will admiring Ryan's creation.

 The final product.  No bad, right?

I thought Ryan did great with the pumpkin carving, but then we went around to some of the other houses and he saw some of the pumpkins that were carved with stencils.  I reassured him that for a free hand design with a regular kitchen knife, he did a great job.

Will turns 4!

 We had a great time celebrating Will's 4th birthday!  Of course we had to start out the day at Jungle Jim's.  That was Will's first request.  Next, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch.  The night of his birthday was our ward trunk-or-treat.  He didn't mind one bit.  We had fun at that too.
Sunday we opened presents, had grandparents over, and had cake and ice cream.  It was a great weekend!

Jungle Jim's

 

Will's new basketball hoop

 More Jungle Jim's

 Hard to believe he was born 4 years ago!

 What a cute birthday boy!

 

 

Will is the most energetic, curious, fun 4 year old.  He is a wonderful big brother and he is a great sharer.  We have started working with him on reading and with help he can read short vowel words.  He is growing and become such a big kid.  We love him so much and are so grateful he came to our family.  We love you Will!



Julia's 2nd Birthday

Julia turned 2 yesterday.  We are actually having her party tomorrow, but we did some fun things for her birthday!  We went to the zoo with cousins and then we went to McDonald's for lunch.  Julia had a fun day.  To top it all off we went with Grandma Jan, Grandpa Richie, and cousins to dinner.  We were down at City Creek and we played in the fountains and danced to some awesome music.  It was a great day! 

 

 



 Julia riding the elephant.  Her favorite animal!

 Will on the eagle.  One of his favorites.

Happy Birthday Jules!! We love you so much and are so happy you are in our family!

California

At the beginning of May we were able to go down to Capistrano Beach, California.  Ryan's boss gives all of his employees a week at their time share down in Cali.  We took advantage and drove down there.  We left on Saturday and came home a week later on Saturday.  We spent most of the time at the beach.  It was Will and Julia's first time at the beach and Will especially loved it.  Julia loved it as long as she kept her shoes on.  She hated the sand. 
Sunday we woke up and went to church up in Laguna Beach.  It was actually a really impressive ward.  It was fast Sunday and we couldn't believe how spiritual all of the youth were.  It was awesome.  Then we went to the beach and just went for a walk.  Will got taken by the wave and ate it in the sand.  He was not excited about that.  It was actually quite hillarious!
My sister Alisha lives down in Huntington, and by Wednesday we spent most of our remaining time with her.  It was so fun to be with her.  She is such a great helper!  We went to Dana Point, Huntington Beach, and Laguna Beach.  We played at parks, ate dinner, and had icecream.  So fun!  I even got to go shopping one night with Alisha.  We had such a great time.
Friday we went to the San Diego zoo.  It was super fun and then we drove down to Cornado and walked around the Del. 

Pretty sure Will is eating sand.

 Jules always in shoes.  She hated the feeling of sand on her feet.

 Always winking that left eye.  The catract causes a lot of reflection.

 Newport Pier with Dad.

 Salt Creek Beach.  Ryan's favorite.

 Sharing icecream at Laguna beach.  I think they have more on their faces than in their mouths.

 We ate in the condo most of the time.  Julia sitting in her highchair.

 Laguna Beach park.

 Newport Pier.

Boss Lee with us at Salt Creek Beach.

 Will trying to look through the binoculars.

 San Diego zoo.  There were about 10 different gorillas.  Awesome zoo!

 Dad and Will playing in the waves.  It was too cold for me to get in.

 Will enjoying the beach.

 Dad buried Will in the sand.

 Ryan even found a motorcycle store.  Will tried on a helmet.

 We really tuckered Will out.  Too much fun!
We had such a great time.  I am surprised we didn't get more pictures fo the pool.  Will really loved the hot tub.  I wouldn't even get in the pool.  The beginning of May is still too cold for me.  I'm a wuss though.  What a fun trip.  We were so happy we could go.  Thanks to Ryan's boss for putting us up for the week!

Julia is 18 months..ok 20, I'm a little late

Julia was 18 months a couple of months ago.  Tomorrow she will be 20 months!!  I'm a few months late, but I thought better late than never.  Julia is such a little firecracker!  Here are some of the things she is doing at 10 months...
1.  She is tiny.  Not even on the charts for weight.  At 19 months she was 19 lbs 2 oz.  She is still wearing most of her 12 month clothes, but can finally wear 18 months too. 
2.  She is talking up a storm.  She says 3 syllable words like waterfall and trampoline.  She even put together a sentence yesterday, "Daddy, I love you."  Just in the last few days she has been starting to say "I love you".  It is the cutest thing ever.
3.  She loves to play and she loves to play with Willy.  The weather has been nice and she has loved going outside.  She always wants to go outside and have an otter pop.
4.  She loves candy and Grandpa Richie for giving it to her anytime she asks.  She also loves peas, zuccini, broccoli, cauliflower, and applesauce.  She is such a good little eater right now. 
5.  She goes to bed really early because she gets up so early.  The later I put her to bed the earlier she gets up.  If only I could get her to sleep until 7!
6.  She is down to one nap all the time.  For a while she was transitioning and she would do two naps sometime.  Now its just one nap all the way whether she gets up at 5:15 or 6:30.
7.  She loves to sing and can see all of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  She also loves Old McDonald, ABS, Popcorn Popping, The Itsy Bitsy Spider and anyother song I will sing to her.
8.  She loves driving.  That means the little cars that our neighbors have.  She screams when I try to get her out.
9.  Her favorite animal is an elephant.  She loves to see them and the zoo. 
10.  She loves to read books, just as long as they aren't too long.
11.  She is still wearing her glasses everyday.  Lately we have been scratching the lenses a ton.  We have had to go get new lenses almost every two weeks lately.  Ahh, such a nightmare for me.  Luckily we have a warranty at Wolcott Optical and they are the best.  They just keep putting new lenses in for free.  We patch twice a week and go back to the doc in Sept.

Julia we love you like crazy.  Our family wouldn't be complete without you.  You sure were tough to start out with, but all the work was worth it.  You are so fun and so smart!  We love you so much! 

Basketball

We are still obsessed with basketball at our house. Will either wants to watch it or play it or read about it all the time. Like I said in the last post, his new attire at home is just a pair of shorts. He thinks that this is what basketball players wear. Trying to keep this child's shirt on is like pulling teeth. Good thing he is a boy. We've had a few warm days so he has even taken to going shirtless outside. I try to get him to put his shirt back on, but that doesn't happen. I finally have to douse him in sunscreen because he is so pasty!
The other day we were at the library and he came out with a dvd called Driveway Basketball Drills. I knew it had to be great;) We checked it out and brought it home. He watched the whole thing. It was so dry, but I think he even requested to watch it again. We are currently watching SpaceJams a lot. We found it at the library and are loving that one.


Julia even gets in on the action with him. She will pick up the ball and put it in the hoop if I lift her up. It is really cute. Glad she enjoys it nearly as much as he does since we play so much of it around here. We are looking forward to the warmer weather when we can go outside to play!

Easter 2012

To kick off Easter celebrations, we watched conference and dyed Easter eggs. The kids had a great time. I always make Ryan do the dying and I get to take the pictures. Here are a few. BTW, Will is always without a shirt these days. No shirt and shorts is his basketball uniform. Apparently he is always skins. What a kid!

We took them outside later that week and hid them in the yard. Then Will had to find them. At this point, most of them were broken so we threw them away. Good times with the eggs.