Well, Hello Lionel Richie

Ben decided to carve a Lionel Richie pumpkin this year. Naturally, because that's what Halloween's all about! Don't you love it?! The mustache is the best!

Dylan's is Jack Skellington, Claira's is the evil queen from Snow White & mine is a bunch 'o stars!

Lovin' her pumpkin!

and Dylan is loving the guts!

Dylan "accidentally" ripped the Evil Queen's face off (and earned a lil' time out) but I was able to save it with a couple of toothpicks...whew! Both of the kids were obsessed with poking holes all over everyone's pumpkins, that's why our friend Lionel has a few freckles;) Apparently poking pumpkins is irresistible because they would.not.stop. Nevertheless, we had fun & afterward we snuggled up on the couch & watched our favorite Halloween movies: The Nightmare Before Christmas & It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Good Halloween! Can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

We went to our church trunk or treat/chili cook off Halloween party this year! We had lots of fun seeing everyone's costumes, eating fabulous chili, visiting with some great people, and of course the best part...trunk or treating!!!

Claira dressed up as Silvermist, one of Tinkerbell's buddies (she's a water fairy...in case you didn't know) Claira says she wanted to be a different fairy, Rosetta, but Silvermist will have to do since she was the only costume available at Target:) Dylan dressed up as a lion! Lion's are his favorite animal & If he had his way he would have been "a light blue lion, because light blue is my favorite color"

Here they are trunk or treating!

Nobody really got Ben's costume...He's Antoine from the Bed Intruder song!!!!! He's got the rolled up piece of paper & everything haha! Now you can run & tell THAT...homeboy! I dressed as a witch & I bought these killer cool, super long, neon green fake eyelashes but the darned things wouldn't stay on! Oh well!

Claira met her match!

This has got to be my favorite costume ever! This little boy was Mr. Frederickson from the movie 'Up'...isn't he brilliant?! What a fantastic costume!!!

 

Isn't our trunk spoooooky? The kids enjoying their treats!

A few days later we went to the pumpkin patch & the excitement was hard to contain! What a look of pure joy Dylan has!

Sittin' pretty on a pumpkin

I think she found a winner!

Which one?!?!

What a ham! He just made this face for the picture. He kills me!

We were just cracking up at Dylan all night...he was a little ball of insanity! He was so so excited to be there!

Scroll down & pause the music to watch these funny videos!

A video of Claira describing how to pick the perfect pumpkin

A video of Dylan trying to pick up huge pumpkins...it's hilarious:)

Happy Halloween!

Another One Bites the Dust!

A tooth, that is!

Claira lost her fourth tooth & the one next to it is super loose & almost ready! She'll be singing & asking Santa for her two front teeth this year;)

Disneyland Adventures!

We live 30 minutes from Disneyland so it didn't take us long to realize we needed to seize the day & get annual passes! We were pretty hesitant because of the cost & thought about it for a solid 2 months before we went for it, but after Ben started school we needed some serious family time to escape the reality of medical school! It will be a year of magic mixed with exams! We're so grateful for the opportunity to live so close to the happiest place on earth!

Shooting lasers on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride!

Meeting some Disney Fairies! Terrance is a pixie dust fairy (so Claira tells me;)

Meeting Vidia & Silvermist! Claira is the latter for Halloween this year! Vidia was a sassypants, just like in the movie! She was mad that Dylan & Claira painted pictures for Rosetta & Silvermist haha! So much fun!

driving a car in Autopia!

Lookin' like a 16 yr old!

Daddy & Dylan enjoying the ride! This was one of Dylan's favorites:)

It's a small world after all!

Dylan missed his 1st time on it's a small world on another day:)

Woody, Bullseye, & Jessie on it's a small world!

Psychedelic hippo

Claira was braver than daddy. He screamed like a little girl...

Another one of Dylan's favorites, the carousel! He likes his rides slow & low;)

Meeting Donald Duck! He was excited...as long as Daddy held onto him:)

He held Pinocchio's hand for a while & then got freaked out.

Yay! They love Jack & Sally!

Intense laser face!

We're not even shooting our lasers...what are we doing?!

There will be many more fun times to be had & I'll be sure to take more pictures!

Chopped

My hair was getting really long so...

I got a haircut & sent my braids to Locks of Love! It feels so good!

Popeye's Chicken

We drive by a Popeye's Chicken whenever we go to Ben's school so naturally a very appropriate question has been on Claira's mind. "Why is it called Popeye's?!" She asks. Claira thinks for a minute and then comes up with her own answer. "I know why it's called Popeye's! It's because the chicken tastes soooo good that your eyes pop!"

A Popeye's customer might look a little like this guy

Ah, I love 7 year olds:)

Conference Weekend

In honor of  General Conference  Sunday morning breakfast tradition that we started a few years ago with our friends, I decided to make my famous triple berry french toast! I made it this time with homemade french bread...100x's better than store bought. Thick, hearty, meal-in-one-slice kinda bread! Mmmmm mmm! You can find the recipe on my food blog over there somewhere----->

We enjoyed our leisurely breakfast & watched the morning session of conference. We were all getting hungry right when it ended so I whipped up some Mozzarella sticks breaded with panko. Yum. The cheese oozed out but they were super tasty nonetheless.

This picture just cracks me up. Everything about it is just great. Enjoying the moment.

Crazy mozz stick lady! Watch out!

Sometimes we have fun. Lots & lots of fun:)

And we'll throw one of daddy in there to round everything out!

Food, relaxing, conference, family, pj's all day, no showers... what more could you ask for?!