The rest of the Birthday story

Lily wasn't lonely on her big day.

Blondie Has a Birthday!

But not just any birthday. It's 11-11-11 today. And in an hour it will be 11:11 am. Today is also special because she gets to share it with her cousin Boston! Happy Birthday Boston.

Now it's time to get off the computer. Lots to do, lots to plan! She has specifically requested balloons and face painting; and I just happen to know of the perfect booth in Monterey Bay that does really cool face painting!

 Happy 4th Birthday my Silly Lily!

She's Got Skills...

 This 6.75 year old is surprisingly useful in the kitchen! Much more useful than the 8 year old. I won't lie, I absolutely LOVE this about her.

 She also started to learn a basic cross-stick during the LDS general conference this October. I was impressed with how well she did. We'll have those snowman ornaments ready by Christmas!

 I'll try and ignore myself in the background here and post this sweet picture of Lauren anyway.

All Things Spooky

We had a few Halloween festivities around here, including trick-or-treating in our neighborhood where people go NUTS with their decorations. I'm talking haunted houses in their garages and yards. It was awesome! We finally had trick-or-treaters and gave away a whole cauldron full of candy. I think the kids had as much fun giving it away as they did getting it. We've never lived in a neighborhood before where people would come, but I guess that our neighborhood here attracts people from all over Salinas. I thought it was fun. We ended up giving a bunch of the kid's candy away as well; their choice, not ours.

The kids and I made a few window silhouettes. I love how they turned out! It looked great outside when our lights were on inside. This was the one the girls wanted for their window. The rest were versions of these great monsters HERE. It was super duper easy, and the kids could easily help. Plus, we just happened to have an over abundance of cardboard boxes for some reason. We finished these pumpkins out with orange tissue paper in the face holes.

We got free tickets again, this time to a great corn maze in Hollister. They had pig racing,

pumpkin launching, ( who is that sexy beast helping Ethan out? mrrrowwwe)

corn cannon blasting,

a jumping pillow, and much more that I didn't get pictures of because my camera batteries died, but it was so much fun! How is that for catching an awesome Tyler moment?!

Then we had Trunk-or-Treat. The kids have never done one of these before. I can't believe we are LDS and this is our first trunk-or-treat with the kids. Weird. Anyway, I think Ethan would have made a much cuter Harry Potter than the one that played him; handsome little dude and even as cheesy as he is he so can act better! haha  I forgot most of Lily's make up as we were in a hurry, but here she is as a half kitty. We got it right Halloween night. And Lauren was a Poodle Skirt Girl, or whatever you want to call it. The point is, we already had everything and it was cheap!
ps I have no idea why there is a foot flying through the air by Lauren's head. Also, don't you love Lauren's little "I'm gorgeous" pose? What is that all about?

Tyler was Frankenstein, or Frihoffstein, as we called him! I love his middle name(Frihoff).
Brett actually dressed up this year! Yes, the Halloween Grinch's heart melted for a few short lived hours. By Halloween night he wasn't up to it again. But man, I kind of like him dressed up as a pirate. Argg! Shiver me timbers!
The missionaries dressed up as missionaries. Go figure.

Santa Cruz

I can't believe I caught this as they came flying around the corner! They love to put their arms up and my girls are nuts! They will go on any ride they can, no matter how scary it looks. Lauren went on the Cyclone even! It's the only one that made her a little sick, even including the one where I kept flipping us over and over as fast as I could. She's awesome.

Nacho Average November Picture Post

We scored some free all day ride passes to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, which I hadn't ever heard of until the day we got the tickets. It was hot, like 85 degrees; I heard it was in the 40's in Idaho. I'm not bragging, totally not bragging at all.

It is right on this very pretty beach at the northern tip of the bay. If you've ever seen The Lost Boys, there were some scenes in it from this same amusement park. And Dangerous Minds, too. But I honestly don't remember either, I just read it on a sign on the roller coaster, which rocked!

Looking at pictures like this really makes me wish I ever took the time to edit photos, especially from my crummy little one since my lovely Nikon lens got broken in the move somehow. sniff

This is the LOG RIDE. It's one seriously serious log ride. A bit above the Lagoon standard I think.

And the day ended with a beautiful sunset. Wish you had been there.