October

AGH!! Blogger has totally changed things on here! Forgive me for still trying to figure it out, like how to flip the pictures?  Anyway, fall is so awesome.  I love it.  Weeks and weeks ago, Kaleb helped me pull out tomatoes

 We got to can lots of salsa with the tomatoes. That's about all I canned this year and I'm okay with that.

Our garden was fun this year.  Lots of peas, beans, zucchini, tomatoes, arugula, romaine, and carrots. 

I can't claim any credit, Braydan did most of it :-)

Kaleb is so funny with all his weird projects.  This interesting contraption is a beehive.  

He was so excited for Halloween decorations.  When he saw Amber collecting twigs for a witch broom, he was on board with that project.  He spent hours decorating his broom with cobwebs, spiders, and leaves.  He hung up bats and taped rats to the window.  You have to be brave to come to our house.

A few weeks back, we went to the pumpkin patch.  Kaleb was beyond excited.  He remembered everything from last year and knew exactly what he wanted to see again.  We all picked out the biggest, coolest pumpkins, but then put them back (except one) when we saw the price.  I was happy with a smaller pumpkin after that :)

I guess this post is mostly about Kaleb :-)  He had a rough spell with Kaitlyn for a while --where they fought every time she came over--but now they get a long great!  Yay!  I wonder who compromised?  The picture will give you a clue :-) 

Last Tuesday was the Halloween carnival, but it was also Braydan's birthday so we wondered whether we should go.  We asked the kids, and . . . .well . .. that was a dumb question.  Of course we have to go! 

I told Eliza she could wear this dress (which is too big) only if she held it up and didn't walk on the bottom.  Well she kept her word.  Even with her hands full of candy, she kept that dress up off the ground, sometimes so far as to show her panties. 

Splash

Sea Turtles

These sea turtle aquariums were so amazing! We stayed in this place for a while mesmerized.

Wake-up Call

The guys thought it would be so funny if they put trail mix on my back while I was sleeping. Sure enough, the birds came to check me out.

Feeding Time

These nice people bought some fish and let the kids feed the seals. Kaleb had a fish and was going to throw it when a bird swooped in and snatched it! The people felt bad for him and gave him one more fish to try.

The Boys

The boys having some fun in Gavin and Brody's room.

Waves

California

Welcome to paradise! We had the best time on our vacation to CA. We wondered after why we didn't live here?? The house had 7 bedrooms, a pool house, two hot tubs, a pool, ping-pong tables, two kitchens (not counting the outdoor kitchen), orange, grapefruit, and macademia nut trees, a waterfall,

and most importantly: lots of room for little kids to run around!

Cute cousins. They had so much fun playing together! My sister-in-laws are so smart; they brought playdough, markers, movies, and lots of fun things for the kids to do.

After relaxing and watching conference Sunday, we headed to Legoland Monday.

It was an adventure getting there, but we made it. I couldn't get over all the stuff they built with Legos! Kaleb loved the starwars section.

Legoland wasn't my favorite, but the kids had fun.

I rode this hopper at least 4 times with them :) My favorite rollercoaster was the dragon one! Kaleb even went on it and loved it. He's brave.

Tuesday the girls went shopping at outlets and the boys went to the US Midway museum.

It's a big ship that holds 90 planes.

Cute little sailors :) Remi and Kaleb are the only kids that braved the vessel.

We swam a lot! It was so fun hopping in whenever we felt like it.

Friday we went to the beach and soaked up tons of sun.

The kids loved finding mussels, digging for weird creatures in the sand, and running from waves

Thursday was Seaworld and was my favorite.

Polar Bears

The dolphin show was AMZING!! I loved the divers, dancers, and gymnasts, although the music was a little cheesy.
I love this picture!! This is Eliza's face after watching the Pirate 4-D movie. It was a little too real for her, especially the bee and spider part. She was on my lap and I could feel her whole body tense up. We took the glasses off after that.

Shamu Show

Baby Beluga

Here's my top 10 list for the trip:

1. Playing Games (almost every day!)

2. Late night swims and long talks in the spa.

3. Remembering how awesome Braydan is. It was nice to spend time with him!

4. Yummy food, tons of food, junk food! Eating outside almost every meal

5. Playing princess games with my nieces, shooting wars and walks with my nephews

6. FHE

7. Watching Gavin swim

8. Watching Josh make oatmeal

9. Eliza potty trained through the night. Kaleb and Eliza shared a room on the trip and whenever she had to go potty in the night, he would come down and tell us. It caused some interpreted sleep, but now she can go all night! Thank you Kaleb!

10. Atlantis Ride with Braydan, best ride in Seaworld! (and the only ride we went on there :)

oh and one more

11. Shopping for certain things at Goodwill with the girls :) ha, ha

Thank you Marla and Craig! We loved it.