trick-or-treat!

After our first pumpkin liquified on the kitchen table 3 days before Halloween (we didn't even have a chance to carve it!), we tried again with this one. Emily was very excited to be able to use her butter knives. The ice cream scoop is now her favorite utensil.
Our little helper!

Of course we had to stop by Great-Grandma's to trick-or-treat and show off Emily's costume. Grandma found those awesome pumpkin lanterns to help the kids see while trick-or-treating in the dark, and made a cute bag for Emily's treats!

We hung out with friends at their annual Halloween bash.

Trick-or-treating en masse is the way to go!

Noah the frog decided to take a rest, so Princess Emily plopped down next to him :) The loot!

All the kids decorated glasses for the 3-D movie being projected on a sheet in the backyard.

And a party just isn't a party without a piñata! Although hanging a witch from a tree and beating it with a stick was a little "Salem witch trials"...

The kiddos lined up (according to height) to take a whack

Emily got four good hits in

Daddy was proud and helped her gather up some goodies.

Too much fun!

Happy Halloween!

weekend getaway

Last weekend we hung out with our friends Megan and Dirk at their timeshare in Oceanside. Here's the view from their hotel room overlooking the pier. We had lots of fun playing with their kids and then stayed up really late talking and planning road trips (Jason's current obsession. He asks to go on a road trip at least twice a week).
I can't believe I didn't take a group picture, but here's some fun ones waiting for our food at Johnny Mañana's.

Emily is learning how to wink ever since Elmo did a segment about winking on Sesame Street.

She also LOVES playing hide-and-seek. Her favorite hiding place is in my closet. THE BEST QUESADILLA I'VE EVER TASTED!

This guacamole quesadilla redefined Mexican food for me. It was quite a sensory experience.

Before we headed home we took Emily for a walk down the pier.

I was so proud that she kept her hat on! Halfway through our walk we spotted two teenage girls who had jumped off the pier and were swimming to shore. Where the police were waiting.

There were tons of people fishing off the edges of the pier. Emily even tried to pick up some freshly-caught fish that were flopping around on deck.

It was the perfect weekend away!

oktoberfest!

Kay and I share the same birthday, so we went out to celebrate at our local Oktoberfest! Jason and Matt were all about the bratwurst, but Kay and I were saving room for dessert...
And who does dessert better than Claim Jumper? My favorite part of Oktoberfest was running into practically everyone we know in east county, discovering a new fabulous art gallery, and the craft booths- where I found part of Emily's Halloween costume! And of course, the fact that it was cool enough to almost need a jacket!

fancy cupcakes coming soon!

Our good friend Genine is opening a cupcake shop! We grew up together, were good friends in high school, and ended up in the same art program in college. We got married a week apart and had fun being newlyweds together. I'm loving her creative ideas and am totally impressed with her drive to create a successful business as an example to her children to follow their dreams. Follow the progress of The Cupcake Tree Bakery at her new blog!

apple-picking

It's only the third week of school and Jason has been craving another road trip. So on Labor Day we rounded up some friends and headed out to beautiful Julian to pick some fresh apples and eat apple pie! The weather took pity on us and gave us the perfect sunny with a cool breeze day. The orchard owner noticed Jason's height and pointed us toward the end with some good apples that were on the tops of the trees. Emily insisted on carrying the bag of apples

Best buds Brady and Emily. They held hands on their own!

The Empire apples were my favorite, and we also picked some Jonathans and Granny Smiths.

The goods.

The pie shop was out of plain apple pie, so Jason settled for raspberry-apple with cinnamon ice cream.

I'm not big on pie, so I tried one of their cider doughnuts- yum!

And shared a bowl of ice cream with Emily, who chose a chocolate chip cookie for her treat.

Everyone ended up with something different and we closed the pie shop when they ran out after we left!

Jon was very bitter after learning that the Julian pies were actually made in El Cajon, and that's why the shop couldn't make more. He ended up with an apple fold-over tartlet.

All in all it was the perfect way to end our adventure!

The kiddos!

road trip with melanie

Four days at Mom's wasn't long enough for me on the way home from Nebraska, so Emily and I hitched a ride with Melanie and her boys to spend another week in Utah!

If I ever get a pet that's not a plant, I'll name it Yermo. The first order of business as far as the boys were concerned was to go to Kangaroo Jump, an inflatable jumpie paradise. Emily was freaked out at first, but warmed up to it once she discovered the slide on the Shamu jumpie...

Tyler was cracking us up by leaping off the dinosaur and faceplanting against the side... over and over again!

I love Trader Joe's organic "cheetos" because it's like a treat with only half the guilt.

The perfect late-night snack- frosting on graham crackers!

The pool at the local rec center was totally decked out like a mini waterslide park. Derek and I went down over and over and over again!

Emily had a blast in the shallow pool, especially with the area that shot water out of the ground.

The kids were constantly jumping on the trampoline and coming up with hilarious tricks.

We joined Mom and Kristin's nightly Parcheesi ritual. Four players totally changes the game strategy. Ruthless. We had too much fun... someone (who shall remain nameless) "cut the cheese" while we were waiting for the camera timer to go off, and this is what we ended up with...

Melanie, Kristin, Heidi, Mom. Oh Cheryl, where are you??

I had a girls' day out with my friend Megan who took me to Gardner Village. We had lunch at Gardner Mills which was restored from the original mill, and one of Megan's ancestors was featured at a booth in the restaurant. I almost didn't finish my delicious chicken pot pie because we were having too much fun chatting and confessing our guilty pleasures :)

The Village is quaint and beautiful, with several shops that we perused.

I stocked up on Christmas ornaments, fell in love with the quilt and fabric shop, tasted the Heath bar fudge, and we laughed raucously in the Just For Girls shop over Anne Taintor's books and this *hilarious* book, title notwithstanding :)

Three years old and Tyler has his first auto collision under his belt! Well, really, who hasn't crashed into Kristin's poor car?

Emily was a natural on the trampoline, although I had a heart attack every time she bounced close to the edge.

The view from Mom's driveway. Sigh.

The kids did lots of exploring at the Children's Discovery Museum in Salt Lake. The favorite by far was the kid-sized grocery store, complete with checkout!

I love her concentrating look.

The kids brought bathing suits to run through the fountain, but were intimidated by how high it shot the water!

Grandma finally convinced Derek to run the gauntlet with her! I love this picture.

Emily was in dire need of a nap, so she just watched the fun and fell asleep on the way home.

While Melanie and the boys were off at a baptism and birthday party, Mom and I experienced the incredible food of Zuppa's (top of my Utah must-do list!) and hit some more DI thrift stores to add to my hoard of used books.

Jenn and Chad brought us to the yard where they keep their horses and we got to feed them some carrots and hay, then went for a ride!

They were *very* friendly

Emily loved feeding and petting them.

I even tried my hand at trotting, but was bouncing all over the place and ended up giggling so much I almost fell off.

Jenn taking the lead while I rode Chad's horse.

We had a great time visiting Grandma's house, and I'm proud of the kids for doing so great on the long road trip!