Birthday, Pumpkins, and more Pumpkins

Well, Monique and I are finally old! Just kidding, we turned 28 last week. We had a great time with our family and friends playing games and partying.

 Neil, I post this picture just for you, with all my love.

 So, my parents gave us the coolest present ever; a 2-hour trapeze lesson in Seattle! Yes, you read correctly. Trapeze lessons! We're are so stoked about this, hence the looks on our faces.

 Monique and I made our party-goers play "minute to win it." It was awesome. My sisters Brittany and Shelby played Junk in the Trunk, and had to shake pink pong balls out of these kleenex boxes. Brittany shook just a wee bit better and won.

 Neil and Brian had to keep balloons in the air only using one hand.

 April rocked it at unwinding crete paper rolls!

 Jonathan and I had a show-down picking up paper bags with our teeth. I am very sad and embarassed to say that I lost. The first step to recovery is to admit it, right?

 happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us...

 This week my sister Shelby and her husband are in Washington D.C. for a wedding. We were lucky enough to watch their kiddies for a couple days so we made things fun and carved pumpkins. Dawson and Britton got to color on theirs with markers while Jonathan helped Mya and Sydney carve. Dean lost his pumpkin privilege while being naughty in WinCo, but he came out and watched us while in complete denial that he didn't have a pumpkin. He is still convinced that my pumpkin is his.

 Dawson had fun walking around and coloring on everyone else's pumpkins.

 Britton

 Uncle Jonathan helping the girls

 Finished products! Mine is the fire pumpking in front. Ya, I know you're all impressed by my mad carving skills.

 Today we took the kids to a fun pumpkin patch in Orting with my sister Brittany. They had a few animals, a small corn maze and some toys for the kids to play on. It was perfect for the kids.

 These baby sheep were born today! They were so cute trotting around, still trying to learn how to walk.

 This was kind of a funky little display, but the kids liked it. I love how Dawson is sticking his tongue out.

 Dawson loved being up on the tractor. We had to literally pull his fingers off the steering wheel.

 Dean was a little afraid how big the tractor was so he wouldn't get on it at first.

 Dawson with his little cousin Duke, well little in age but they're pretty much the same size (Dawson is 11 months older!)

 Dean finally got up on the tractor, and loved it!



Happy Birthday Deanie Boy!

Wow. I have a 4-year-old. Where in the world did the time go? He's really grown up in the last year, although as you can see in the pictures, he still has bumps and bruises all over his forehead! I don't think this kid will ever grow out of his clumsiness. This time he ran up the driveway and tripped onto the cement. He even got scratches on his nose. He had a great birthday weekend. First, my parents took him to Build-a-Bear (all the grandkids get to go there when they turn 4). He picked out a "Woody" outfit from Toy Story and named him Woody. Thank you Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Ray!

 On Sunday we had a family party after Conference.

 We were really excited for Dean to open his Vtech camera. His friend Shep had one that he used every time we went to his house, but he has since moved and Dean kept on asking for it. He loves it and has been taking pictures ever since. I haven't downloaded any of the pictures he's taken but I think they'll be pretty hilarious.

 Here come the Potato Heads! Dean's been asking for a Mr. Potato Head for a while, so I thought, what the heck, how about 3? Two of my sisters and I all got him one. He was most excited about the Buzz Lightyear one. Dawson's pretty excited about them too, but in the last few days has managed to lose (or hide) about half the pieces already!

 And last but definitely not least, the Buzz Lightyear Costume. Perfect birthday present/Halloween costume.

 And as soon as Daddy put it on him...

 He was off! He took a couple laps around the house before he came back to sit down, yelling "Buzz Lightyear, to the rescue!"

 Pure happiness

 Regular Mr. Potato Head, Buzz Lightyear, and "trick or tater" one that you can dress up as a ghost!

 Dean had a rockin' time taking pictures of his cousins

 I know that Dean does not like cake, but whenever we talked about his party he said "and birthday cake too?" So I thought, what the heck, everyone else will enjoy it. And he did like the singing and blowing out the candles.

Happy Birthday sweetheart. We love you!!

Proof that he's my son!

 When Dean was born, everyone said he looked exactly like Jonathan, which I suppose is true. But as he got a little older, I started to see myself in him and thought he looked like me as a little kid. Well here is proof! I found this picture of me when I was 5. Pay special attention to the eyes, nose and smirk.

Here is Dean with my Halloween wig on. Am I the only one that thinks it looks just like me?

This may seem not post-worthy to some of you, but in my family we don't have strong family resemblances. Most of the grandkids look like their dads, not their moms (my sisters). So it's nice to know that at least one of my children has a little bit of me in him!

Indian Summer Half Marathon

So way back in April or May, can't really remember, my sister Monique came up with this crazy idea that we train for a half-marathon. Who in the world would want to do that? Run 13.1 miles for fun? Craziness! Well, we decided to do it, and then Jonathan got in on the fun. We trained together all summer and even though training is NOT fun at all, we had fun spending the time together.

What IS fun is actually running the race. It was held in Richland, which was perfect because Monique and I have former roommates that we stayed with. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we ran along the river on a really pretty path. Here we are right before the race started. Along with Moey and Jonathan, we also ran with our friend Chris.

A little nervous, but excited

And we're off!

At about mile 2 we passed a park where the kiddies were playing and Deidre (Chris's wife) got a shot of us. By the way, a shout out to my roommate Jenny for watching our kids while we ran. You're awesome!

This is when Jonathan passed Deidre on the way back.

Coming up on mile 11 and really hurting by this time!

Wahoo!! We actually did it, and we finished under our goal of 2:30, just a tad behind Jonathan's 1:38! He's a stud, isn't he? It was awesome to finish, and I even think I could do another one someday.

Thank you Shamaine for coming to see me finish. It meant a lot to have you there!