Trick or Treat!

The kids celebrated Halloween over the course of two days this year. Brooklyn dressed up as a princess and Beau was her knight! On Friday they had a huge party with Veronica and all of their little friends. I was so happy to see that instead of giving them lots of candy as a treat after the games they were able to pick prizes instead. When they came home they told us all about their fun day and showed us their bucket full of toys! On Saturday we went with Cody's family to the 'Trunk or Treat' at their church and headed over to Grandmas afterward. They are still getting the hang of the whole trick or treating thing but I think that after next year they will be pros!

We love Sundays!

Sundays have always been a great day for us. It gets even better when fall comes around because we are huge football fans. The days are spent lounging around watching all of the games on TV and eating yummy "football" food.

Today we started off a little different. Beau has been asking to go to church all week. I don't know what made him bring it up but he insisted that church was fun and he wanted to go. This morning when we woke up I told him it was Sunday. He asked if he had to go to Veronica's and I told him no. Then he asked if he could go to church so I said of course! Brookie not wanting to be left out joined us.

The twins did great through sacrament and decided to stay for primary. Cody and Jenie were so nice and offered to bring them home afterward. As soon as they arrived it was non stop talking about what happened and how they want to go back tomorrow!

After the kids got home from church, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Jacks for a quick visit. They made a huge platter of chicken nachos and we watched the second half of the Bronco game. I'm a huge Denver fan and Bryce will cheer for anyone who is playing against them, I'm happy to say that the Broncos won and are now 5-0.

Sundays are a GREAT day!

La Jolla - Again :)

Brookie and Beau - they are best friends!

Beau, Bryce, JP, and Brookie playing in the ocean.

Beau and Colin

Grandma Vera and Grandpa Jack

Lisa, JP, and Beau

Bryce - he got soaked!

More Utah photos

Utah Visit

We had a great trip to Utah and we were able to see lots of family/friends. Our schedule was full, as always, but we did manage to sneek in a few relaxing afternoons. The kids enjoyed spending time with their cousins and all of their new little friends in Copperton. A few highlights of our trip included:

• Celebrating 4 birthdays!! Madison (Bug) ~ Mark ~ Tim ~ Todd
• Making a trip to the farm where the kids fed cows and rode a horse.
• Having dinner with the Bailey family (and met their newest addition for the first time).
• Bryce playing golf at six different courses.
• Going to the beach at Daybreak Lake.
• Going swimming and taking several trips to the park.

We have more photos - I just need to upload them so keep checking back :)

Colin's Visit

Colin drove up from La Jolla to spend a few days with us. He and Bryce played golf the first night and went out for a second round early the next morning. Beau, Brookie and Cassius were so excited to have him here, they didn't let him out of their sight. It was a quick trip but we enjoyed having him at our house and can't wait for his next visit.

Our little fish

Beau loves to swim. He will climb out of the pool just so he can jump back in. We had originally thought that Brookie would take to swimming more but he proved us wrong. Everytime we go to Grandma Vera's he goes out to inspect the pool, even if he knows that we are not there to swim.

Bye Bye Buddy!

It's official ... Buddy is gone!

For those of you who were not fortunate enough to meet Buddy, he was a very very large stuffed dog. Beau had Buddy since he was about a year old and took him everywhere. Buddy even traveled with us when we would fly to Utah.

To our surprise, Beau told us that it was time for him to go. We explained that once he decided that he didn't want Buddy anymore he couldn't change his mind. He said, "Mom, it's a perfect time for him to go." That was all the convincing I needed. Beau was such a big boy and took Buddy outside to the trash himself.

We are so proud of you Beau!!!

Room with a view!

Bryce and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on the 5th of August. We were able to get away by ourselves for the weekend. My dad set us up with a room in San Diego on Harbor Island while Jack and Vera watched the kids for us. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at a restaurant that sits on the very end of the harbor then we took a drive down to Seaport Village. Our hotel room looked directly at downtown San Diego and we were able to see the fireworks they set off to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Coronado Bridge. The following morning we went to La Jolla and enjoyed a Kayak tour of the 7 caves. It was fun to see new things and it gave us ideas of things to do the next time we go back.

Thanks Dad, Jack, and Vera!!

1st Camping Trip

We took the kids camping (in a tent) for the very first time. We decided to go to Lake Parris. It's only an hour and a half drive from our house so if things went wrong we could just pack up and head home. We got to the campsite and set up our digs then headed down to the lake. It wasn't so great. The beach was crowded and the sand they brought in had broken seashells so it hurt to walk on. We didn't stay long, dogs were not allowed on the beach and we had Cassius with us. I was glad because it gave me an excuse to leave so quickly.

To our surprise the kids prefered hanging out in their camp chairs watching the fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. They loved the smores, Bryce cooked them just right! Brookie asked if she could help me clean up, I agreed. Not to long into the clean up I found her with the left over chocolate, it had melted all over her fingers. She said that she didn't want to put it into the fire so she was hanging on to it ... that's my girl ~ she LOVES chocolate.

For their first time they both did really good and we are excited to do it again, we just need to find a different place to go!

La Jolla

My dad, brother, niece, and nephews drove down from Utah to spend the weekend with us. They could only handle one day in the heat so we decided to go to La Jolla. It was the first time Logan, Bronson, and Tag had been to the beach. We played in the water, both ocean and hotel pool, and had fun taking in the sites. Tag and Brookie were attached at the hip from the morning they got here until it was time for them to leave. They were so cute together, she made sure he always had everything he needed. She is such a great friend and sister!!

4th of July

The 4th of July in the desert is a lot different than back home. Maybe it's because of the soaring temps or maybe because it's not a close community like Tooele was back in the day. I remember the fun block parties that we had in Overlake, closing down the street and having tables full of food the front yard. We use to sit on our front porch and watch the Desert Peak fireworks then Bryce would get called out on a fire, it never failed :)

This year we still had a lot of fun. Jack and Vera had us over for a BBQ and swimming. Polly and Sierra also spent the day with us. The Indian Wells Country Club is just around the corner and we were able to see all of their fireworks from the front yard. Brookie kept pointing out the purple and pink (actually red) ones. For the next week Beau would ask if we were going to watch fireworks at Grandmas again, it took him awhile to understand that it won't be like that for another year.

Summer Party

Every year the local twins club puts on a summer party. This year we headed out to the La Quinta resort. There is a great kiddie pool that is about a foot and a half deep throughout and they also have a few little water features spraying about. Beau and Brookie love to swim in the little pool. Beau spent most of the day under the water looking for "sharks". He can actually hold his breath for a very long time, I was impressed. Brookie took some time out and relaxed under the shade of our cabana. It was a great day and we look forward to going back again.

Beau is a little lover boy!

We better keep an eye on him.

Brookie

Thursday morning Brookie woke up looking like this. She called in sick to day-care and I took her to the office with me until we could get her in to see the ped. After a few hours of resting and putting ice on it was back to normal. We ruled out pink eye because of the swelling but have no idea what caused it.

This is Bryce, six days after Brookie woke up with her eye problems. We must have a crazy virus in the house. At least we all share well with each other!

San Diego

We headed down to the beach again this weekend. Polly had a few free days and we talked her into coming along. Saturday was a cool rainy day. We spent a few minutes with Michael before he left for New York. In the afternoon we walked around the village and took in the sights. JP and Colin then met up with us, unfortunately Colin had to work but JP took us to a sushi restaurant for dinner. Both kids did pretty good with the chop sticks. Beau went to town on the sushi, he especially liked the salmon. They are going to cost us so much money! Sunday brought beautiful weather and the entire day was spent on the sand.

Surfs Up!

Boogie Boarding

Playing in the sand with Aunt Polly

HMMMM

Brookie, JP & Beau


GRRRR

Going to see the high tide

Having lunch

Brookie enjoying the road trip

Happy Father's Day!

For father's day Bryce asked for a gun and an iPod. One day when we were out looking at the different iPods, he asked me if it meant that he wasn't getting a gun. Then he proceeded to tell me that I get everything I ask for. Ooooh it's on!!! So being the loving wife that I am, I bought him a gun - a BB gun!! I wrapped it in a way that when he opened the box he would see the gun and think it was real. It worked - hehe, watch him look at the gun then look up with is "OMG you got me a gun" ... it only last a split second but it was so worth it!

I gave him his real present on Father's Day. Usually I can't wait to give presents (I gave him the gun late Friday night) but this time I waited until 5PM. I thought by waiting that it would convince him that he was only getting the gun. I was wrong. According to Bryce, I'm a much better wife than that and he expected a real present at some point in the day.

Oysters

Brookie tried raw oysters for the first time while we were in San Francisco. She actually liked them and ate over half of Bryce's order. I don't know of another 3 year old that will even attempt to try something like this let alone go back for seconds and thirds. She is going to be an expensive date when she gets older, boys you better watch out!!!

San Francisco

From San Francisco Landscape

From San Francisco Landscape

From San Francisco Landscape

We went up to San Francisco this weekend for a Dean Family Reunion. It was such a great trip and we were able to visit with family we haven't seen in years (and met some family members for the first time)! Scott and Ron were kind enough to host the party aboard The World were they have a second home. There is no other ship in the world like it, check it out at http://www.aboardtheworld.com/.

Our hotel was located a few blocks from Pier 39 and we spent a lot of time checking out the sites at the Wharf. We also went to China Town and Ghirardelli Square. We definatley made memories for life and look forward to visiting San Francisco again!

From Collages

From Collages

From Collages