A Few of My Favorite Things...

It's the most wonderful time of the year. And the season brings a few of my favorite things...

Halloween 2010

Okay, so I'm just barely getting around to posting Halloween pictures. But there are a lot of them so I've sorta been dreading it. Anyway, it was a great Halloween! A couple weeks before Halloween we visited a pumpkin patch with family. We went there last year and it's so much funner when the kids get to pick out their own. They love it!

Outside our front door we have a little bail of straw, pumpkins, a scarecrow and this cute little pumpkin trick-or-treater. It looks like a little kid. Well, Landon took a liking to the little guy and just had to give him a hug every time he went outside. So stinkin' cute....

We decorated pumpkins...





We made all kinds of Halloween treats. Mummy pizzas, caramel apples, eyeballs (made out donuts, Gummy Lifesavers and Junior Mints) and over 40 dirt cups for Emma and Mason's class Halloween parties. ( I forgot to take a picture)

Josh's parents threw a Halloween party for everyone. Here is a few of us after the Mummy game....

Mason during the donut game...

My kids had some pretty good costumes this year but I'd have to say my favorite was Emma's. She was determined to not be what Katelyn was the year before. She's getting kind of sick of that. So she went in her room and came up with one totally on her own. A nerd. And let me tell you, she certainly played the part. By the end of Halloween my kids had made out with tons of candy! Of which we are still eating. Halloween still remains one of my kids most favorite holidays!

Happy Birthday to my Riley Mae!

A few weeks ago was Riley's 4th birthday. (I know, I'm slow to getting pictures up these days). But it was a much anticipated birthday for her. You know how kids talk and talk about their upcoming birthday for weeks and weeks? Well, Riley has been talking about her's for months and months! Every commercial on TV that has some sort of girl toy, she has to pause it (yes, I'm embarrased my 3-year old knows how to work the DVR) and come and get me and show me what she wants for her birthday. Now that her birthday is over, you think that would stop, but now she needs to show me what she wants for Christmas!

Anyway, it was a great day with her cousins and family. I made her a really fun rainbow cake I saw online that I've been wanting to make for awhile. Let me tell you it was a real labor of love. But it turned out so cute and Riley loved it!

I love how every day since Riley loves to come up to me with a big hug and remind me, "Mom, did you know I'm 4 now??"

Family beach pics....

I know I already did a post with pictures from our vacation at the beach in California, but these turned out so cute, I thought they deserved a post of their own. My sister-in-law Melissa took these family shots for us and did an amazing job....








I took these ones of my kids. Not as good as quality but pretty good none-the-less...

California Vacation 2010

So we just got back from the best family vacation in California. Josh had a family reunion in Newport Beach, and we decided to make a trip of it and visit my family as well. We had such a great time. Our first day there was Emma's birthday! So we wanted to do something fun. Something we couldn't do in Idaho....so we went to the Santa Monica beach! We first walked the Pier for awhile and rode the Ferris Wheel. Which was actually a first for me! Then we just played and ate lunch at the beach. On the way home we stopped at a pizza place and had cake and presents. We had the whole place to ourselves! All in all, one of my favorite days.

The next day for dinner we went up to a campsite I went to as a kid and had foil dinners and s'mores. Two of my all-time favorite foods ever!! Then we just hung out and played hide and seek. So fun for the kids.

The next day we made our way down south to Newport Beach for Josh's family reunion. The first day we hit Disneyland. We got to use our free tickets we got from doing the "Disney Give-a-Day Give Away". We got a babysitter for Landon so we were really able to enjoy ourselves. Riley could go on every single ride, except one, so that made it really fun for everyone. She didn't really like every single ride, but still....We were there ALL day. I don't know how people do Disneyland for 3-4 days in a row! I spend all day there and I don't want to see that place for a LONG time!

Then the next couple of days were spent at the beach! There's something so relaxing about just sitting on the beach. The kids made sand castles, played in the water, collected sea shells (which we got to smell in the car the whole 14-hour drive home), and just played with their cousins. It was honestly one of the best beach trips I've ever had. They were great beaches! I seriously could have stayed another week. On the way home, Josh and I were saying that we wish we could freeze time and the kids could just stay the age they are right now. They are all so much fun-I don't want them to grow up.

I took so many pictures, I figured a slide show was probably the best way to show them. Here are just a few...

(Click on the "X" to close out the the annoying pets game that is covering up my captions on the slide show.)

Bieber Fever!

This last weekend was the much anticipated Justin Bieber concert! We went down to Salt Lake with a few of the girls' friends and their moms. There was 11 of us total. I think the concert pretty much exceeded the girl's and my expectations. I don't think any of us have been anywhere so loud in our entire lives!! There can't really be anything quite louder than thousands of tweeny boppers screaming at the top of their lungs at anything--and I mean ANYTHING! They'd scream at anyone that walked on stage, if the lights dimmed down, anytime the opening act would say Justin's name, and that's all before he even came on stage! Once he came out--forget about it! You can't even hear the person next to you. My girls may have lost their voices and I may have lost my hearing, but it was so much fun! So happy to have shared it with my girls!

We carpooled in our friend's big white van. You can't see it very well in the picture but the girls wrote all over the windows "Bieber Fever" "I love Justin Bieber" etc. We got a lot of looks, honks and some even stopped and took pictures. We sorta felt like celebrities.

We stopped for lunch at Red Robin

Swam in the hotel pool

The girls standing in line to get in

Emma and Livia

Katelyn, Kylie and Journee

Me and my girls

I think this picture pretty much sums up their excitement and just how LOUD it was!

4th of July 2010

Another fantastic 4th of July has come and gone. The morning was spent at the annual Idaho Falls parade. Love it! Look forward to it every year. Then we went to Josh's sister Melissa's new house is Rigby for lunch. So happy to have them close now. Then the day ended with a bang at the fireworks. There's something so comforting and secure about holiday traditions. And the 4th will always be a family favorite!

Yes, I'm aware that Katelyn makes this face in every picture. With or without flashing the peace sign.

Mason's traditional 4th of July 'do.

Riley and Grandpa Bradshaw

A fun festive variation of a trifle. Yum!

Landon munching on a cookie at the fireworks.

The kids sipped on rootbeer floats at the fireworks.

By the end of the night the kids were zonked out for the drive home.