Adventures in California...part 2

We left San Diego for my Grandma's house in Riverside. My two aunts were there also so Molly had more than enough people to spoil her. The poor kids sleep schedule was so messed up that she got to the point where she basically fell asleep every time we were in the car or every time we actually had something to do. We went to this nice outdoor shopping center and got to walk around in the sunshine. Then I got to go a movie with my Aunts. It is always nice to stay at Grandmas.

I had to take a picture of Molly sleeping in her stroller because this does NOT happen.

When she woke up and saw the train we obviously had to take a ride. She loved it and talked about it all afternoon. We got to ride on a trolley to.

We went back to San Diego for my cousin Catherine's wedding. This picture was outside the temple. Such a cool temple.

Molly found the bridesmaids getting ready for pictures and just stood in the middle staring at them and twirling. Such a girly girl. I think she just thought she was part of the group.

Molly also found a new grandpa. This is my cousin's grandpa from the other side. Molly walked up to him outside the temple and said "grandpa" he then reached out and picked her up and they were buddies the rest of the day. I think he liked it just as much as she did.

The reception and dinner were in this outside courtyard that had a fountain in the middle. We basically spent the whole night keeping Molly from falling in. She was really good and even allowed the photographer to have a mini photo shoot with just her. It was pretty pathetic. She was posing and putting her legs up and fake laughing. She never does that for me.

My grandma, Me, Molly and My mom.

Overall Molly traveled pretty well. I don't plan on doing that again for a long time. Both of our sleep schedules were so out of whack but we had a lot of fun and it was so good to see everyone.

Adventures in California...part 1

My mom took Molly and I to California for a cousin's wedding. We flew and Molly actually did pretty well. She slept on one flight each way (we had layovers) and the other she played and was kind of crazy but never really got scared. Hopefully the people in front of her seat didn't want to kill her. She would not stop kicking. Grandma bought her a new purse full of new books so most of the time she sat with the tray down eating her pretzels and reading, not quietly of course. Everyone at the airport was so nice and really helpful.

As soon as we flew in to Ontario we drove down to San Diego to see my Sister Angie. She manages a really nice hotel right on the beach. Molly thought the bathroom was the coolest. I have to say that the jet tub definitely made my list.

We had really good room service and watched the CMA awards. By watched, I mean fell asleep during. Molly refused to sleep in the porta crib so I let her fall asleep in the bed with me and then I snuck her in. She woke up around 1:30 and just bawled for around 30 minutes. I still have no idea what that was about but she ended up sleeping in bed with me the rest of the night. This is not a normal thing and I would just like to say, thank goodness. She is the most obnoxious sleeper. I can't tell you how many kicks to the gut and eventually face I got. Every time she slightly moved it came with a noise to. That was honestly one of the worst nights of sleep I have ever got.

Evidence of the wonderful night.

When we got to San Diego it was dark so Molly didn't see the water. I took her out on the balcony in the morning and she looked at the water and said, "Oh, POOL". We had some breakfast and the whole time she just talked about the pool.

The weather was nice but obviously not swim suit nice. At first she wasn't so sure of the sand and didn't want to walk on it. The longer we were playing in the tide the wilder she became. If you let go of her she would literally just start running to the water. She absolutely loved it. We were a complete mess but can't wait to do it again.

Gobble....gobble

I keep prolonging posting until I get the pictures off of my camera from Molly and I's little jaunt to California. We went to a cousin's wedding with my mom. It was a fabulous trip and we have some awesome pictures that I will post soon. But on to Turkey Day. This year it seemed harder to get the fam together, some working, some living elsewhere, you know. So we had the pleasure of some of my family actually coming up to my house.

After I suggested it I thought, "what am I thinking" but the closer I got the more excited I was. It worked out well because I have to work tonight so that way we wouldn't have to do a lot of traveling or anything. Anyway, the food was great. Kade deep fried a turkey and made homemade root beer, he took the responsibility very seriously and it really paid off. I made a couple pumpkin pies with my fresh pumpkin puree among other things. Every one chipped in and while eating on paper plates we really enjoyed ourselves.

Poor Kade had to go out to work while the majority of the family fell asleep on couches and a few of us girls snuck into our king size bed and watched some tv. Molly took a killer nap and overall it was a great day. I really appreciate my family travelling out to the frozen tundra in the middle of no where to enjoy the day with us.

Halloween

I had to work this year for Halloween so I laid out Molly's costume and hoped for the best. I made Kade promise to get some pictures and he didn't do too shabby.

They went over to Kara and Phil's while Jax and Bryn got ready and then they all headed up town to do some trick or treating.

The hat didn't last too long, obviously and the booties that went with the costume were too small so Dad went for the bright green crocs. I think it just gives it more character.

I had to show off the awesome pumpkins that my friend carved us! I guess it pays to have an awesome pumpkin carver friend without a porch!

This was the only picture that she wasn't yelling at me in. The kid hates her picture being taken. So annoying!

Pumpkin, pumpkin, and more pumpkin....October catch-up

The husband and I being overly ambitious as usual decided to plant pumpkins in the garden this year. Not just A pumpkin plant but 3 pumpkin plants assuming that not all of them would make it through the whole germinating process. Well, our garden was a bit of a mystery this year. The watermelon and cantaloupe didn't start to blossom until right before the fall frost came, tons of peas (we only had about 4 stalks make it last year), an abundance of carrots, a less tame amount of zucchini than last year(thank goodness), maybe two ears of corn, no asparagus, and miniature potatoes(i'm not exaggerating the mini-ness). Oh but the pumpkins, they were what some might call a success. I would call them a mutation. They literally took over the entire garden. I think wal-mart may have been selling pumpkin seeds on steroids. We definitely got some great pumpkins. I thought that most of ours looked better than the ones at the store. Well we ended up with about 20 pumpkins. We gave away as many as possible to family and friends, had a pumpkin carving FHE with friends, and still had about half left. So, my dear friend who is also overly ambitious came over to make a feast of fresh pumpkin puree and pumpkin seeds. About 6 hours later we walked away with about 30 cups of pumpkin puree, 7 batches of pumpkin seeds (including the ones I made the day before) and a pretty wicked cut in my right hand(it compliments the one I got on my other finger carving at FHE, probably shouldn't be allowed to carve pumpkins next year). I think my oven was on for at least 5 of those 6 hours and my food processor about 4. Honestly, we were both exhausted. I think it might be like the whole pregnancy thing. Right after you think to yourself,"I am never doing that again." But eventually you forget the nightmare you went through. I have a feeling that next year at this time I will be looking at all of my extra pumpkins thinking, "I can't let these go to waste, maybe I should make some pumpkin puree, I do love pumpkin seeds."