I am thankful for...

This little girl that taught me to love more than I ever knew possible...This little boy that has shown me a gentle side of life that I never knew existed...
And this amazing man that gets me through each and every day...
I love you all. Happy Thanksgiving.

Love this couple...

Missing my best friend. And feeling proud to know a couple that gets so decked out for Halloween when it falls on a Sunday, just wish I would have been there to see it in person. :)

Love you and miss you.

My Favorites

Old Navy Slipper Boots. A must have through the winter... even for us living in So Cal.
Don't have a Trader Joe's by you? Call someone and them ship you 10 boxes. You will not regret it... or maybe you will?
This heat seat is my best friend. Reading a book, watching a movie, browsing the web... it keeps me nice and cozy, while my better half is gone. Even Clara is obsessed.
Another new best friend. And thanks to Netflix, Jackson has now been introduced to Denis the Menice, The Never Ending Story, and Hook. This is the Skin Restoring Body Wash... but I LOVE it for my face.
Puffins. Yum. I am not even sure what the nutrition info on this says. All I know is that it is delish.
These are my recent must haves. Enjoy!

Abbie's Baptism

This sweet little girl is the real reason for our trip to AZ!

Abbie was baptized!
We all went in an some gifts for Abbie on this special day. One of which was a book for her to write down the specifics of this special day. At the back of the book was a place for everyone that attended to write her a little note.
Abbie and her dad.
We are so proud of Abbie for making this choice! Jackson loved watching her get baptized, it was the first one that he was been to.
We love you Abbie.

Shutterfly...

It seems as though every person has a different website for where they upload their photos, create photo books, design their own calender, and/or a favorite place to order Christmas cards from. Each year I feel as though I get more and more confused. Where should I go? What one is best? Who has the best prices?

I recently discovered Shutterfly. I have to say, I am totally impressed. Their website is easy to use. Their prices are very reasonable, and more often then not they have a discount that you can add onto your purchase, which in my book is always a plus :)

This year I am ordering my Christmas cards through Shutterfly, it will be my first time going through a company, in the past I have always done it on my own. They have a great selection of cards that you can check out here:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

I have narrowed down to a few choices, but still have not made an official decision.

I am also thinking of designing some personal mugs. I have never done this before, but at the rate we go through hot chocolate and apple cider… I think they would get some good use. You can check out the mugs here:

http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

It might also be a great gift idea.

Head over to shutterfly and check it out!

Cause and Effect:

The Cause: More girl cousins than boy cousins.

The Effect:

Boy cousins playing with barbies.
This lasted an entire afternoon.

Schneph Farm

Riding the train. Kristen... still a kid.
Upside-down Abbie.
Clara, not quite big enough to reach the pedals.
Holding the baby goats.
Don't hate me Jaime. But seriously? Have you ever seen someone so cute and pregnant with only 2 weeks? We all wish we were you. :)
The group.
Soooo much fun. We basically had the whole park to ourselves. The kids were so dirty by the time we left... I guess that is a sure sign that they enjoyed themselves.

Grandkids

Nana Lisa with all the Grandkids... plus 2 more on the way!
Top right to left: Wes. Abbie. Nana. Gwen. Lillie.

Bottom right to left: Jack. Clara. Lucy. Davis.

Arizona

I drove to AZ with the two kids last week. I was a bit nervous to do it alone, but it ended up going much better than expected. It was only a 6 hour drive, and that included 6 stops. :)

My kids were so excited to spend the week with their cousins!
We roasted marshmallows at night... Brad spotted a scorpion in the fire pit and it totally freaked Jackson out.
The kids all had a sleepover in Lisa's bed.

Lucy. Lillie. Jack. Abbie. Davis.
Wes is the cutest little guy in the entire world... and soooo happy.

Boy Scout Tracking...

Are you a leader in Scouting OR do you have a child involved in Scouts?

Check out this website!

http://www.myroadtoeagle.com/index.php

It is a brand new website, designed to keep track of all of your scouting records. Simple, straightforward and free... "with the tools you use the most right at your fingertips".

Check it out! You can sign up and be one of the first to test out the beta version that launches THIS MONTH!!!

Disney with friends...

I told you we were going to be here every week... :)

This time was with the wives. It was a HOT day... over 90 degrees. We were all sweating like crazy and downing the water to keep cool!

We were able to get pictures with all the main characters except Goofy.

Clara is totally obsessed with Mickey and Minnie. It was so fun to her excitement.

She was a little nervous of Pluto, but managed to hold his hand.
Donald Duck.
And of course, Mickey.
Our group in California Adventure. They are starting to put up the Christmas decorations. I can't wait to see what it all looks like!!!!
And the best part about Disney Land....

It wears the kids out...
It was so much fun going with the girls. I loved taking our time, and not having to rush. Our favorite was Playhouse Disney for the kids. It was soooo much fun! If you go with your kids - make it happen. They will love it, and you will love watching them dance and sing!

Halloween

Halloween was a so much fun this year. It felt like we were going from one thing to the next...

Wednesday a bunch of the wives and kids got together for a halloween party. The kids ran around in their costumes, and us girls enjoyed some good conversation.

We borrowed this fish costume from one of our friends out here, and Clara loved it. Once she tried it on, she did not want to take it off. I was dying when I found her watching TV in her costume, and wearing Jacksons spiderman mask.

Thursday we carved pumpkins. The kids started out extra excited. But once they saw what was inside, they were not about to dig in. So it was up to Scott and I -- which I am totally OK with.
But by the time we carved the faces, they were back. And loved helping us think of the scariest things we could do.
And what would carving pumpkins be without cooking the pumpkin seeds. Yum.
Friday Jackson had his School Parade. It was really cute... and he came home with extreme amounts of candy!

Later that night we had our ward Halloween Party.

This is Clara with cute little puppy dog Peyton.
Jackson found a friend. His name was 'Iron Man'. All night they were running around calling each other Iron Man and Wolverine, when we finally realized it was because they didn't know each others first names. We had them take off their masks and introduce themselves to each other. It was funny.
The guys during the Trunk or Treat.
Us.
Of course we had a chili cook off. I found a new recipe that looked good. Made a couple changes. Put it into my pumpkin (thank you Cami for the idea), and much to my surprise.... I won first place in the cook off!!!
This was Saturday. We went over to our clubhouse for some treats and character drawings. I need to post a picture of our drawings that we had done... they turned out really cute.

Later that night we hung out with friends and had a very mellow halloween party.
Sunday we woke up a little late, exhausted from all the festivities... but I still managed to make some delicious pumpkin pancakes and cider syrup. We headed off to church. Came home and enjoyed some lounging around the house... only to pack up and head off to some friends for dinner. Thank goodness the house we went to was filled with boys for Jackson to run around with... he never noticed the mass amounts of kids on the streets trick-or-treating door to door.

Practicing...

Look what Clara found?
My lipgloss... that of course stains whatever it touches. And of course in less than 1 minute... it was on a Clara's white pants, a couch pillow, jacks white shirt, and jacks shorts. Awesome.

Family Day at Disney

We officially got our season passes to Disney Land. I am soooo excited, possibly even more than the kids?!?

Scott had a day off, we were sitting around in the morning trying to decide what to do... and in about 1 hour - we decided to do Disney, got online and bought our season passes, and were out the door. The kids had no idea where we were going... all we said was, we are going on an adventure. Of course Scott would throw in, 'we will most likely go on a boat, and a airplane, and maybe see a duck or a mouse'.

Jackson could not figure it out. He was sure we were going to an airport to ride on an airplane.

Even by Mickey in the parking structure.... he still had no clue. We finally told him as we were riding the tram into the park, he was soooo excited!

The first ride was Soaring over California. Scott took Jack. Me and Clara hung out... and looked at cars, the airplanes, and played in the bubbles.
We saw Sulley from Monsters. She was terrified of him - he was HUGE!
Jackson would hold our hand whenever he was nervous. This was on Pirates of the Carribean.
They loved playing on the toys.
We watched the parade, and they were in complete awe of all the characters.

It was such a fun afternoon. I am so excited to have our passes and seriously plan on going at least once a week until we burn out... if we burn out?