halloween: the festivities.

the week before the 31st, we decided to get our halloween on and hit up some of our favorite fall spots, all in the same day!

GARDENER VILLAGE

in the morning we met up with caroline + kids at gardener village, which is just the best at halloween!
our boys had a great time checking out the witches, riding the ponies and eating halloween treats.

me + mine. sometimes i still can't believe i'm a mom of two!

max picked out a sprinkle donut of course, and proceeded to eat the top part only. 

this shot cracked me up, ezra was clearly loving his cookie. 

waiting for a turn on the ponies, max maybe had a complete melt down in line. they took FOR. EVER.

look at my big boy! he loved it and was so proud of himself.

they're crazy, but they always have fun together. 

and usually drive caroline and i a little nuts in the process!

max has a complete obsession with skeletons. i wish i could explain how he says it- it's soooo cute! sounds a little like "thde-tin." and of course right as he was putting this one back, he dropped it and it broke. we went inside and said sorry to the shop owner. first lesson in honesty folks. 

more treats. little weirdo. =)

PUMPKIN PATCH

we have taken max to the same pumpkin patch ever since his first halloween! i love it so much, it's local and quaint and max loves looking at all the pumpkins and trying to carry them around. and of course we were thrilled to be able to bring lucy for her first halloween too! 

me and my sweet baby lulu. finally a good one of the two of us! sheesh.

you better believe this boy is soooo tough. he had to carry his pumpkins all by himself! he took picking out his pumpkins VERY seriously.

yea, lucy was a barrel of fun. ;) this is how she spent her trip to the patch, except for when we coerced her into being in some photos!

my loves.

the other best part of the pumkin patch? the wheelbarrows. he can't get enough weather he's riding in it or pushing it. 

max did the corn maze this year and i died over this shot of him climbing up the wall to look over yonder for the way out. where do they pick up these things anyway? he was yelling, "HEY DADDY! HOW DO I DET OUT OF HERE?!" and "HEY DUYS! DON'T WEAVE WIFOUT ME! OTAAAY?!" 

our little family! the closest thing to a fancy picture (or any picture for that matter) of the four of us. =)

lucille, 12 weeks.

oh lucy, where is the time going? it feels as though we just wrapped you up and brought you home from the hospital, and now i almost have a three month old! they say it goes much faster with your second, and sadly it is so true. but i have to say, i'm loving this transition from newborn to baby- you are cooing and smiling all the time and we love seeing more of your little personality! you love to be held, are a great sleeper (about 8 hours at a time! hallelujah!), and snort when you cry. yes, snort. it's hysterical! you weighed 9 pounds, 14 ounces at your 8 week appointment, so i'm guessing you're around 11 pounds or so now. max is still all over you, he tries to make you smile by putting his face about 2 cm from yours and mimicking mommy and daddy's baby talk. it goes a little something like "hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii woooooootheeeeeee!! hiiii baby durl!!" oh you should hear it, you'd die.

here's a few of miss L in black and white. as much as i love all this fun girly stuff, i love my babies in classic white, and sometimes i would just rather look at her sweet face than a headband, even though she looks a little androgynous. i just love everything about her... my sweet baby girl.

water baby

lucy- 2 1/2 months. lulu looooves her tub time- she's usually all smiles! but the problem with trying to take pictures of your newborn smiling is that you can't really look at them to make them smile and take the picture at the same time. =) so here's all kinds of funny lucy faces to enjoy. the best is when she kicks in the water and completely surprises herself! you'll see her wide eyed surprised face at the end of these pictures, here eyes are the size of silver dollars. =)

p.s. internet, if by chance you don't really like stories and a bajillion pictures of chubby babies named lucy, this blog is about to get reeeeal old in a hurry. sorry about that.

sunday best.

i had to take a couple shots of miss lucy on her first day to church (6 weeks old). she looked so fancy thanks to nana, who brought her this darling little outfit back from bonpoint in london before she was even born. it's one of my absolute favorites and i put this outfit on her every chance i get so she can wear it a lot before it's too small. i made the silly headband, which turned out too big, but whatever. i already lost it. these pictures crack me up, her expressions are so goofy in every single one!

these little mary janes were mine as a baby. they're suuuuper tiny and were still a little too big at 6 weeks. my babies have miniature feet. =) i love having some things of mine to hand down to her.

i know a first day at church probably isn't that big of a deal, but it was a really special day for me. of course i loved introducing her (aka shamelessly showing her off) to my friends and snuggling my baby girl in church the whole time. but i also just had a really special moment during relief society (the last hour class at our church and it's just women) and we were singing the spirit of god. i was suddenly so overwhelmed with love for this sweet girl and felt so blessed to be a mom and to have a daughter. it feels like a very different task than raising a boy and i felt that little whisper that i need to step it up and be ready to teach lucy the things she will need to know in life. i sat and thought of all the women who had done the same thing, singing the same song and rocking their own babies, many of them in more difficult situations. i thought of my mom, danny's mom, our grandmothers, and all the women before us who raised their daughters and made great sacrifices so that i could have the opportunity to know of the savior and his plan for me. it was such an amazing realization.

sorry to get so mushy gushy- but man, so much happens in this crazy life of ours, and i don't ever want to forget this... i went back and read a bunch of posts from when max was a baby, and there were so many things i had forgotten about and i was so grateful i wrote them down. i love you lucy girl, and i'm so excited that i have the privilege of being your mom!

sandpoint- labor day weekend 2010

we had so much fun on our 2nd annual labor day couples trip to sandpoint- i just never get tired of spending time there- especially with my favorite people!

the lalaladies...

me, sarah, suzie, celeste, brittany, mom.

the men folk...

mi padre, danny, joseph, matt, david.

the model host and hostess. my gorg mom and dad who are beyond gracious. if you ever have the chance to have becky rands put you up, trust me. take it. she is above and beyond.

p.s. my mom and i went to bobbi brown and i made her get a whole new schload of makeup, doesn't she look sooooo pretty!? i played make up artist for her for dinner on this night. =)

me and britt. we just don't see each other enough. it's rough. she's totally my yaya. as in divine secrets of the yaya sisterhood. only we don't usually get drunk and smoke ciggies. but we might, if we could. i really really really wish we lived close still so we could bake at the beach and let max and owen beat on each other and tear our houses apart all day every day. and every time i don't have a friend to do something with at the last minute, i get real real sad. because britt and i used to do everything together, ALWAYS at the last minute. i could go on and on, but i won't. because i'm gettting depressed thinking about it. speaking of depressed, every time i got really ridiculously emotional while i was pregnant and i would cry and list everything i was sad about to danny, it usually ended with "and i just really really wish that brittany was coming!"

lulu having a little sink soak with nana. look at all those bubbles! spoiled. =)

lulu and her godmama.

britt took some of me and lu right here too, but i look like death (aka 5 weeks postpartum), and britt looks real cute. so lets just stick with these ones. mmmkay?

my girl- i can't stand how adorable she is. honestly, her lips alone in this one are enough to put me over the edge! she's one month old here.

we had the best time on this trip eating, talking, hot tubbing and RELAXING. just the most laid back weekend ever! oh it was the best. let's do it again next year! or sooner. cards in the treehouse anyone?

the sweet life...

[lucy surprising herself in the tub! i can't even handle that expression.]

just a few highlights from my day...

- water time for this girl! she loves it. she always smiles a lot while she's in there, and then scares herself when she splashes and kicks! i will be posting more pictures... i took a bunch today.

- max playing with bennett and asher alllll day! i swear, they can't get enough of eachother.

-lucy was a model for the day- i took some shots of her sporting a newborn pettiskirt for sassy babies... oh she is adorable!

- max brought bullseye (the horse) for letter of the week at preschool.

- lucy had a cranky evening. i laid her in her crib and shortly afterward she started to cry. i went to look for "the good binkie" in the car and when i came back in, the lights were on in lucy's room and max was laying in lucy's crib with her! he was trying to make her feel better and had layed her little bla bla doll on her. when i told max he had to get out and that he was NOT supposed to climb in lucy's crib, he just said "BUT I TOLD YOU SHE WAS CRYING!!" he can't leave her alone in her room for two seconds if she's sad. =)

- lucy pooped up her back- for the third day in a row! please bless that we don't relive our problems with max- who pooped up his back every.single.day for MONTHS as a baby!

- i cried like three times watching TEEN MOM on MTV. no lie. i'm classy like that.

- max was looking at pictures on my iphone, asking where we were and what we were doing. he was quiet for a second and then announced, "Hey Mommy, I need an ipod." dead serious. i diiied laughing! and max was embarassed. but then every few minutes after that he would just shout "IPOD!" and just laugh because he thought he was funny. ha! i love that my 3 year old thinks he needs an ipod.

- we read "the snowy day" and "little oink" at bed time. max was extra sweet. nothing beats that "i love you mommy."

excursions and such.

guess where we went last week?!

ARUBA!! it was so so so pretty, and warm, and relaxing... ahh.

guess why we went?!

our dear friend brenda married torrence. we love them, and i was BEYOND honored to shoot her wedding. it was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!! can't wait to share more pictures...

and guess who came with us??!

that would be this little jet setter, our lulu. did you know that she is 2 and a half months already??! and that she is a passport holder, and that this trip was her third round trip flight?

talk about nuts. i have lots i need to share about this little lady of ours, we like her a whole bunch. i have got to get caught up on here, but seriously, what else is new?

the other first day of school...

after a couple of weeks at max's preschool, we got a call from our original first choice preschool saying that they had an opening for max- and that school started the next day! i had a lot of reservations about switching schools, but because we weren't really thrilled with his teacher at the first school and there were just SOOOO many things we loved about his second school, we decided to make the change! we're SO glad we did.

walking with daddy- i hope he will keep holding his hand for a long, long time...

max was nervous at first, but it didn't take long for him to warm up!

max loves the play dough at preschool. i just love his teachers and how they interact with my little dude! i could go on and on...

the way home...

we are LOVING our smart little preschool boy! something about watching him learn all these new things just GETS me, every little thing he brings home is so cute, and i just wanted to cry when i volunteered in his class! i get all choked up watching him, i'm seriously just so proud of him. and he is pretty proud of himself too. =)

Max, so far this year you...

- get called "Mr. Max" by your teachers!

-love playing with your friend Bennett

- are a good listener and are somewhat quiet in class, which was a bit of a surprise!

-always choose to play with play dough at the beginning of class- rather than do puzzles or read books.

- got to take care of your preschool mascot, biscuit the bunny. you were all kinds of confused over weather he was a bunny, a biscuit, or a mascot. sometimes he was a biscuit named mascot, other times a mascot named biscuit... it was hilarious.

- brought your GRASSHOPPERS to show and tell! they were a big hit. =) those two particular grasshoppers were named George and Yellow Hat. as in, CURIOUS GEORGE and THE MAN WITH THE YELLOW HAT.

- do letter of the week. but the first week, everyone got to bring something to class that started with the first letter of their first name. for letter M, you brought your MUSTACHE pillow! you also noticed the M on your dresser and asked me "is this MY LETTER?!" you call M's your letter. =)

- can spell your name! last week you came home with a piece of paper that said Max on it, and underneath was your attempt at writing your name, beginning with a very looong M with lots of points. i asked if you learned to spell your name and you replied proudly " M! A! AXE!" it was so adorable and now i love to hear you spell your name. =)

in her cribby.

yes, since having children, we have become those annoying people who ad a "Y" at the end of everything. the best is when max says he has a "runny nosey." ha!

here's my lovely lulu at about 6 weeks, just looking darling.

i just love having this girl around. sigh.

baby kenz

can you believe my little sister is a senior?! she's GORGEOUS, that's for sure! see them all over HERE.