Mexican Riviera Cruise

Ryan and I went on our first cruise the day after Thanksgiving!! To say the least it was FABULOUS and I recommend everyone go on atleast one. All I know is that we are now set on cruising...it IS the way to go. We took the cruise down the "Exotic Mexican Riviera". It was 8 nights and absolutely FABULOUS! Our ports were Acapulco, Ixtapa-Zijuatanejo, and Manzanillo, Mexico.
We bravely left our kiddos and went on a vacation all by ourselves. It was hard leaving the kids, but we knew they would be just fine. It wasn't hard for them to leave us, because Hollie kept telling us it was time for us to go. (I think she was a little too excited :))
We left from Arizona and headed down to San Diego. The drive was great, but felt like forever! We got to Ryan's parents house, dropped off the car and they took us down to the port. Everything went great until I slammed my finger in the door of the car!!!! Can I tell you how bad it hurt? There are no words to describe the pain. The door was all the way shut and there was my index finger in it!!!! Aaaah just thinking about it makes it hurt. Ryan quickly came to my rescue and wanted to look at it. I didn't want to look because all I wanted to do was get down to the ship! I was in such denial that this happened and I wasn't going to let it interupt our vacation. It looked terrible, bruised pretty quickly and I still don't have feeling in my finger where it was cut. Oh well, I atleast had a fabulous trip with my wonderful husband.
Here are a few of our first day highlights:

Don't you love the ice on my finger. Don't mind the face, I had been crying, it hurt SOOOO bad and was throbbing.

Too cute! I love my wonderful husband

Pictures of the kids

So, this year I decided to try and take our own pictures for our Christmas card and was pretty impressed with how they turned out. Remind you, they are not professional, but maybe if I practice LOTS I can one day get a really nice Nikon camera.

Here are the kids. As you will see we could NOT get a good picture of Mr. E. He would not look at me and did everything he possibly could to avoid me, he was so funny. Hollie, on the other hand, was my little model and I took FULL advantage of it. She was so cute!

Halloween Day

We had a great surprise show up on Halloween day and that was PAPA!! We love papa and were so excited to have him drive out for one of his 24 hour trips to be with us on Halloween.

We played outside, carved our pumpkin and had a fun evening trick or treating. Here are a few pictures from our Halloween Day.

Ethan enjoyed helping me carve the pumpkin :)

Hollie and her papa!

This may look bad, but I promise it's not. Ethan doesn't like to just be pushed in the swing he likes it to be a rollercoaster. He loves to be pushed high. Here Ryan is laying on the ground under him and when Ethan went up Ryan took his picture. Ethan was laughing so hard and kept saying more, more. Funny Kid.

Well, so much for buying the Gabriella costume. Hollie decided that she wanted to be Belle instead. She was a beautiful Belle, who did have a little attitude. What is a princess without attitude? Ethan was a lion, but wouldn't keep the costume on, so I didn't bother taking his picture since I already had one.

Hollie loved having her Papa here. She wanted to trick or treat with just him and he was the only one allowed to go up to the door with her. It was cute watching them walk down the street and enjoy their time together...she is definetly papa's girl!

Trunk Or Treat

Our ward had our annual Trunk or Treat tonight along with a Chilli cook-off. I first was debating on wether or not to go because Ryan does Athletic Training at the Highland football games on Friday nights, so that means I would be soloing it with my 2 little ones...that wasn't very exciting to me due to the fact that they both are in bed between 6:30 and 7. But thanks to my great friend I made it and she helped me with my kids and I enjoyed myself and Hollie LOVED running around with Kruz trick or treating. Ethan was pretty good, he helped me hand out candy and entertained himself by climbing in and out of his stroller.

If I back up a bit to today when I was asking Hollie if she was going to wear her Gabriella costume she said, "No I want to be a princess tonight". I said, okay because I knew we could pull this off thanks to Janene and my dad for a chest full of dress-up clothes and all the accessories that go with them. We headed to the chest and she figured out she wanted to be Belle. I said, Perfect and she turned out to be the most beautiful Belle EVER!

Ethan the lion

Hollie our Princess Belle
I am anxious to see who she wants to be tomorrow night, Halloween night.
We had a fun evening and the kids came straight home, took a bath and were out sleeping in seconds!

Pre-school Halloween Parade

First of all I need to say that Halloween is NOT my favorite Holiday. First I do not like all the scary stuff and second of all I am NOT a fan of dressing up. Ryan and I go to our friends Halloween party every year and we always come as, Ryan and Kerri Larson. I am trying to get better at liking it for my kids sake, but that is not going to be easy...like I said I am TRYING. My house is decorated for fall, but not really Halloween and I like it that way.

Anyway, at pre-school on Thursday Hollie's class put on a little Halloween parade for all of us parents the last half hour of class. It was great seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes and excited about showing them off. When Hollie and I went looking for a Halloween costume she wasn't sure what she wanted to be until she found the most perfect costume ever and that was Gabriella from High School Musical. Once she layed eyes on that it was Love At First Sight. She came straight home, put it on and even put on the sandals just like Gabriella..So cute! She was so excited Thursday morning to put on her outfit and do all we could to make her look just like Gabriella. I was very proud of my little "Gabriella" she did a fantastic job.

All the kids in their costumes...even Mrs. Becky!

The kids were singing some of the songs that they have learned...it was so cute!

Hollie holding her pumpkin that she painted purple

Fall is finally here!!!!

Wow, I was beginning to think the weather was never going to cool down, but it did!!!! And this was a cause for celebration. We got the kids footie jammies and they both were SO excited to wear them, we ate nice warm chili for dinner and then had our scripture study right next to the fireplace. It was a beautiful cold evening and I honestly LOVED every bit of it. I hope it continues to stay cold, but it looks like we may be up in the 80's this weekend. I have enjoyed wearing long pants and long sleeve shirts and even a jacket. Gotta soak up and enjoy the cool weather while we can.

Our 2 Little Halloween kids

Our 2 munchkins ready for bed in their Halloween jammies.

Vertuccio Farms Pumpkin Patch

For our Pre-school field trip this month we went to Vertuccio Farms. (The farm located off of Power Rd. and Warner). I have to say that we all had a lot of fun! Our family has been there before to get a Christmas Tree and pumpkins, but we never did the "fun" stuff and this time we did!

It first started off we a "BIG" lecture to my little girly telling her that if she was misbehaving and not being nice to mommy that we were going to pick up and leave. She understood and we had a fantastic time...not once did she act up.

We started off with the pre-school class picture (there are a few kids missing)

Next we were off to the "Pizza Farm". This was really neat. In a circle there was everything you need to make a pizza. First the wheat for the bread, then the tomatoes for the sauce, then the seasonings you put in the sauce-oregano and a few others, then the goat for the cheese and a cow, then the pigs for the pepperoni...pretty cool. The kids were so excited and loved learning how to make a pizza.

Here Mr. Vertuccio gave us a tour of the pizza Farm.

After this we were off to learning how to milk the cow...a fake cow I must say. Each child took a turn and was able to milk (water) the cow.

Kruz

Hollie

Following that we sat down, had a snack and a drink and then off to the corn maze. Now, this was an adventure. Since Mr. E came with us, I decided it would be easier to take the stroller through.....NOT!!! It was such a work out and kinda funny at the same time. I was glad to know that I was not the only one who did this there were 2 other mom's pushing strollers too. Lets just say the our kids took off with the other adults while we pushed, pulled and used every muscle in our body to get our strollers through the corn maze. Ethan was enjoying every minute of it...he must of felt like he was "off roading".

Following the corn maze...I was exhausted...but there were still a few more things to do. The kids got to go on a cow barrell ride around the farm and I would be safe to say, that was all of their favorite part.

Kruz and Hollie on the cow barrell ride...they LOVED this.

Following that we headed out to the pumpkin patch were the kids each got to pick their own pumpkin.

Showing off their pumpkins And last but not least the kids got to jump in the bounce house for 10 minutes and then we were SO ready to head home, eat lunch and take naps.
It was a great, fun and successful field trip. We loved having Kruz (Hollie's friend) come along with us and he is more than welcome to come anytime! Thanks buddy for being SO good and having a fun time with us.

A crazy and embarassing day

Hollie has school Tues, Wed and Thurs. Those are usually the days that I will run errands because it is a little easier with one child...I thought. This particular day it was NOT easy. We started out at CVS. We got in and Ethan was good until it was time to check out. I was up at the checkout and Ethan was pulling candy off the shelves...why do they keep that stuff right at a child's level??? He was climbing out of the cart (it was one of those "kid friendly"carts). The lady behind us gave Ethan 2 balls to play with, now, why in the world would you give a boy a ball, yet alone 2?? Yes, ofcourse he threw them and I had to go pick them up and thank goodness he didn't knock anything over. We finally get out of there safely, put things in the car and head on over to fry's. Yes, can you believe I ever attempted to go to another store, well, let me just say this I regret it and so does my car. We get into fry's and I first attempt the produce section. ( I didn't have much to get but I needed a few things for dinner). Throughout the store Ethan is throwing whatever he can get his hands on out of the cart..yes, he can reach back pretty far. Again he was trying so hard to climb out. I was moving quick throughout the store, but not quick enough. He is trying to climb out, screaming and is completely uncontrollable. I get in line to check out and, ofcourse, it is VERY slow...not helping my situation. Four firemen get in line behind me they are trying to console my uncontrollable son and at the same time laughing. He is pulling at the magazines, candy and all the fun stuff they have on either side of you while in line. I get everything on the belt, check out and as the bagger is putting the groceries in the bags Ethan's hands are quicker than his and some of my produce is quickly landing on the floor. I pick it up and look back at the firemen and say, if there is anything left behind me go ahead pick it up and you can have it. I was anxious to get OUT of there. I quickly load the groceries in the car, change Ethan's soaking wet diaper, put him in his seat and sit down. I take a deep breath, laugh and start to back out. I all of a sudden hear this loud noise look behind me and I don't see anything, but know I hit something. I get out, go to the back of my car to see that I forgot to put the cart away, which was still behind my car, but now knocked over on the ground. I now have a nice scratch along the back bumper of my car!! WHAT A DORK!!!!!!!!!!! Can I say how STUPID I felt. I was SO embarassed that I quickly put the cart away, jumped in my car and drove away.
We get home, open the back of the car to find that dish soap had spilt. Luckily most of it was in the bag and not all over my car. I was putting things away and realized, somehow, that I only made it home with 1 tube of toothpaste and not the second one, which was aleady paid for. I Called CVS, it was there and we had to go back to get it.
Moral of my crazy story, having one kid DOESN'T make running errands ANY easier!

Sunday Dress

Sundays are getting easier and easier. Ethan has now sat through 2 FULL sacrament meetings...those are about and hour and 15 minutes long. We used to be able to sit through the first 10 minutes and that was about it. We have now not had to take him out not even once, the last two times. It was amazing, such a miracle. Ever since he was a little baby we have never been able to sit through all of sacrament meeting and now we are slowly improving and that is exciting for us. He has started nursery and is in the same class with Hollie. It is so cute watching the two go to class together, Hollie is such a good big sister and takes great care of Ethan. For Ethan's first day of nursery we put him in a shirt and tie and boy did he look grown up and SO handsome.

She looks like a girl from the 50's...SO CUTE!!