Halloween stuffs

I'm tired and don't really have the energy to think of fun and exciting things to say, so here's my cute kids in their Halloween glory. Nothing too fancy or even super interesting this year. Connor insisted on being a clone trooper so you can't even see his face, but trust me when I say he's still good lookin'. Lily was Alice in Wonderland, which was so so cute. I kind of pushed this costume idea, mainly because I thought the color of the dress would be so pretty with her baby blues. And I was right! She was darling in every way. We carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening on Monday and because of the humidity, they were completely moldy and gross by Thursday, so next year we're carving the day before Halloween. But we all had fun and Connor and Darrin's pirate jack-o-lantern was pretty cool while it lasted. Lily and I went for a more traditional (and way way easier) smiley face. Maybe we'll be a little more ambitious next year...but I doubt it.

Lily did have her first sleepover on Halloween night. We went trick-or-treating with Sydney and then Lily slept over and watched the new Tinkerbell movie. Jon even got Lily to eat breakfast crepes the next morning, no small feat!! We're sending her over for peas next weekend. Apparently Lily was great and had a blast, but I couldn't handle the stress and found it difficult to sleep. Vanessa and I agreed that while Lily was completely ready for the world of sleepovers, I definitely WAS NOT. But maybe now that the band-aid has been pulled I'll be a little less of a freak....again, I seriously doubt it. Freak is my natural setting.

I Should Start Charging for the Awesomeness...

...that is Lily.

She just keeps me laughing and smiling all the time. I apologize, in advance, to those of you who won't understand the tidbit I'm about to share, but I just loved it too much to keep to myself.

We've been reading the Book of Mormon with the kids for part of a Scripture Treasure Hunt they're doing at church. So, we have a kiddie version of the BOM that we read to Lily every night. You know you never think the kids are really listening and you're just wasting time you could be spending playing spider solitaire, but every once in awhile they prove to you that your efforts might not be completely in vain. So I'm reading to Lily the other night about the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, you know the people Ammon converted and who swore the oath to never take up arms against their brethren. We get to the part where the wicked Lamanites come to attack them and start to kill them, and Lily puts her hand up and says to me in the most matter-of-fact voice you can imagine "What those guys need to do is go to the Tree of Life, then they'll be happy and they'll stop trying to kill everybody."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, it was so stinking cute, especially if you've ever heard Lily's "dissertation voice". She's the awesomest of all awesome 4-year olds ever.

Another favorite of late is her habit of telling Connor (usually when he's getting scolded for something or other), "We have rules for a reason Buddie."

Am I wrong...awesomest or what?

The Great Travesty

"In Game 2 of the NLDS, the Cubs were undone by two errors during the Dodgers' five-run second, as Chicago now heads to Los Angeles in a 2-0 hole in the best-of-five series. Ace Carlos Zambrano did not have the game that he was looking for, giving up seven runs over 6 1/3 frames. "

Ahhhh, who really wanted to see Zambrano go down in flames like that?...

I DID!!!

I swear, watching that second inning I was actually giddy! I laughed, I cried, it was a pretty emotional experience. With the Padres humiliatingly bad year, I can in all honesty say that this was the happiest moment of the season for me. Thanks Cubs, I owe you.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

We just wanted to wish Granpa Darrel a Happy Happy Happy Birthday! We love you and wish you could be with us, but since that's just not happening this year, the kids decided to share some birthday entertainment for ya. Enjoy!

Been awhile...sorry

I realize it's been almost two months since my last post, no big excuses or anything, just normal business. School is back on (yeah!!) so we're getting our schedules back on track. Summer is fun cause you can just go with the flow and do whatever, but I have to admit I kind of like having a more disciplined schedule. I feel like I get a lot more accomplished when I have to account for my time. Connor switched schools this year and is LOVING it. Most of his friends from church are at this school, and his teacher is totally awesome, he's just having a great time. He's already gotten sick, he had a nasty stomach virus this week and missed 3 days and school hasn't even been in for a month!! Love those elementary school germs. Lily is back at Miss Paula's preschool for another year and is the big lady on campus! A few of her friends from sunbeams also decided to attend her preschool this year so she's just having a great time. All in all, life here is pretty uneventful, except for that horrible sound our dryer is making and the fact that my car felt the need to stop working at the mall today...

Here's a few pics that Chelsea took on their last visit. She's an awesome photographer and just has a knack for catching cool moments. Enjoy.

This is probably my favorite picture ever. I want to have it blown up and framed in my room. How "california" does Connor look?
He totally wants to start learning to surf, but I can barely handle watching him boogie board, so I think we'll wait a couple years on that.

Couldn't be cuter or cooler.

Lily loves going to the beach, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the ocean. She pretty much spends the entire time completely covered in sand.

Seriously, is this not the cutest thing ever? She loves her Uncle Michael so so much and he clearly can't stand her...so sad.

Nerd-Con 2008

So, we went to Comic Con last week. It was the first time I actually attended, although I have been downtown in recent years while Comic Con was going on and seen some of the "unique individuals" wandering the streets. Let me just say that I had so so so much fun! The best thing about Comic Con is that people just embrace and own their nerdiness. It's actually quite liberating. And trust me, you never realize how big a nerd you really are until Hugh Jackman unexpectedly shows up after your panel with some "Wolverine" footage, you see some playing cards fly across the screen and you scream out like you've just won the lottery "GAAAMMMBBBIIITTT!!!". I'm pretty sure this moment cemented my status as a nerd, and I couldn't be prouder. I didn't get to see the Watchmen panel, which kind of made me pouty, but I still had great fun hangin with my peeps. Jen (Darrin's sister and fellow Twilight obsessee flew into town to join us), Vanessa, Devyn and I were a might disappointed with the Twilight panel, but were all still happy we went, it was such a crazy experience. Next year, I think I'm gonna go multiple days and make some kind of game out of how many storm troopers I can find, they were everywhere! All in all, a great day, saw lots of cool stuff and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Here's two of my highlights...

Me and Ironman, don't we make a cute couple?

Me and my people with the Twilight cut-out. Twilight is my favorite guilty pleasure, it's kind of fun having a crush on a fictional teenage vampire. Notice how I positioned myself right next to Edward, completely blotting Bella out of the picture. I'm completely out of control and I love it.

Happy 4th of July!!

Hope everybody else had as much fun as we did celebrating Independence Day! It was a pretty chill day, which in my opinion, is the best kind of day. We hung out at home during the morning/afternoon then we went over to Vanessa's parent's house for a barbecue. There was lots of delicious food, burgers, hot dogs, salad, chips...all the barbecue regulars. But, my favorite part was the homemade awesome blossom than Jon made... pretty much cementing his lead in the "Best Friend Husband" race. Then Vanessa's mom made this ice cream cake that was so yummy, it had this totally delicious oreo crust, then it was basically vanilla ice cream with strawberries and blueberries, it was divine! After dinner, we drove over to Vanessa's dad's office, which is right across the street from Legoland and watched the fireworks from the parking lot. It was nice, we were far enough away that Lily wasn't a complete spaz about the noise, but we could still see them really well. All in all, a great day with great friends! Some highlights...

Here's the girls, Lily and Sydney, chilling in Darrin's trunk waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Here's our Baby Jane, or as Lily calls her "Janie Girl", hanging out with Uncle Giant on the swing. She looked so cute on her first major holiday and was, as always, a perfect little baby!

Here's Vivi proving that patience is not a virtue when it comes to ice cream cake.

Connor, in the most patriotic outfit of all, an X-Men t-shirt. He rocks.

The girls again, hanging out on the treehouse slide play structure thing. Everyone take note of Sydney's huge hair bows. I was so proud of Lily's little blue bows that looked like fireworks. Then we got to the barbecue and saw Sydney's...needless to say Lily's bows suddenly looked pretty ghetto.

This is my favorite video, it's Sydney singing "God Bless America" while America's birthday cake is being lit. Apparently, Sydney had already spent a goodly portion of the day singing "Happy Birthday" to America, so this song was a nice change of pace for everybody.