Thanksgiving in Colorado

This year we were able to go to my parents home in Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving. It was the first year in a long time when both my brother and my sister and their families were all together. Unfortunately, we didn't get a good photo of everyone, but here are a few from a very cold hiking trip we took up at Helen Hunt Falls:



Our little family

My sister Shannon, My dad Gene, and Me

Shannon and I

Emily and her cousins: Payton, Landon and Connor


Here are a couple at a park:

Shannon (my big sister), me, and Christian (my brother)

Our kids (except for Landon who was sick)

Curtain Up! Stake Musical Production - Me

So last weekend and this weekend are the dates of the Stake Musical production. I am in 4 numbers, Supercalifragilistic, (Costume picture coming soon...) Don't Rain on My Parade, Les Mis, and Jersey Boys. Here are a couple of my costumes for the stake show:

Jersey Boys (I am a back-up singer)





Les Mis (Upper class citizen, ie. barmaid):



It has been hard and a bit stressful to learn all of the music and choreography, but it is fun to be in the show. I will...however....be glad when it is over. Show Wed night, Thursday night, Friday night and 2 on Saturday! Crazy!!!!

Trick or Treat

Finally, after the first dress rehearsal that lasted from 8:30am till almost 5pm, I came home and helped Emily get ready for Trick or Treating. She was so excited she couldn't stand it. She already had her dress on, complete with princess shoes. I did her hair and let her wear some makeup. She LOVED that.



Mom the motorcycle chick, dad, and Princess Cinderemily:


Tons of friends:


Look at all that candy!


What a night!

Preschool Halloween Parade

Emily got to wear her costume to school last week. She was soooo excited. Crazy person that I am, I decided to make her costume this year. She loves it!

Emily, Shainie, and Nate with Miss Cindy, their teacher:


The four Cinderellas:

Curtain Up! Stake Musical Production

This year Emily and I decided to try out for the Stake Musical, which is called Curtain Up! It is a collection of Broadway numbers and our first performance is coming up really quick...

Emily is in a little number with other little ones..."Singin in the Rain"
She knows it very well, until she gets on stage to practice. Then she becomes soooo distracted. Oh Well, they sure are cute anyway.




Emily staring off into space with her dysfunctional boot.

Disneyland Days

Fall is the best time to go to Disneyland! Here we are going on the teacups, one of Emily's favorite rides.

Tanaka Farms

Tanaka Farms, in Irvine, is becoming a yearly fall tradition. This year we went on a week day and met lots of friends for fall farm fun in the sun. (It was about 85 degrees...)

Here we are on a wagon ride pulled on a tractor:


Picking out pumpkins:


In front of the corn maze (where we had to run to keep up with them all):


Running through the hay maze:


All in all it was tons of fun!

Halloween Visitor

So I have been feeling like loser mom this Halloween. I do not have any Halloween decorations! I have been meaning to get some every year and then forget. This year I am going to try to hit the day-after sales. Really.

Anyway, just when I thought that we would have to wait another year for scary things to look at at our house, we got a special Halloween Visitor. Emily loves her. She named her Sleeping Beauty when she saw her sleeping. I think she is kind of cool, as long as she stays where she is.

Drumroll please...



This is her rebuilding her web after the gardeners tore it down:



Her in all her glory:



The first web she built (she is on #5 about now):



Who needs Halloween Decorations when you have the real thing???

10/23 Update:
Emily named her Sleeping Beauty
She has caught several flies and wrapped them in webbing, and we just saw her eating just now!

Favorite Napping Place

Annual Apple Picking Trip

A couple of weeks ago we made our annual apple picking trip to Yucaipa.



This year they had a big storm that blew off most of their apple blossoms, so there weren't that many apples left to pick. Emily was a little sad, but we had a great time anyway. After the great apple hunt, we went to another farm that had a petting zoo and hay stacks.



Emily got to see and pet the cutest baby bunny!



After that, we got lunch and had a fun picnic on the grass.



We love this fall tradition!

First Day of Pre-School

Shainie, Nate, Mika and Emily with Ms. Cindy, their teacher

Love all these puzzles and games!

What a blast!

Emily doesn't even look back when I drop her off for school. She is going Mon, Wed. and Fridays and love love loves it!

Last Days of Summer: Getting Ready for Pre-School

Emily loves to learn. She loves to do her workbooks and play pre-reading games on the computer. That is one reason why I was so behind on blogging... she is a computer hog!

Summer Fun: Art

Emily expressing her creative side:


Emily's idea of painting

An "apple tree" that she built out of legos

Summer Fun: Annual Overnight Trip

Starting last year, we began an annual tradition of going on a little overnight trip, aka mini-vacation with Brian's sister Sarah and her husband. They live in Portland, so when they come down, Grandma watches the kids and we get to go to a fun local(ish) place. Last year we went to Hollywood to see Wicked, and this year we went to San Diego. We spent some time at Balboa park, taking in the sights on a 4 person bike, walking around downtown in the evening, and going to Point Loma before heading home the next day. In Point Loma, we hung out on the cliffs, and went to the old lighthouse. We had a great time...until next year!

Summer Fun: Daddy's Birthday

Brian turned 34 this summer! Here is his cake complete with a whopping 34 candles!

Summer Fun: Baseball Games

Got to go to a few Angel games this summer with Brian. We went on our 9th Wedding Anniversary too! (I took one for the team...) Next year maybe Emily will get to come and root for our favorite team!

Summer Fun: Orange County Fair

Every year I forget to go to the fair, so this year I decided to make it happen. It was dollar ride day so Emily got to go on every ride she was tall enough to go on. She had a blast. She didn't want it to end...