Halloween Gloom

As I mentioned previously, I am really having trouble getting the boys to smile for the camera lately. I mean what is wrong with these little trick-or-treaters? You'd think they were about to attend a funeral!

Or maybe they just got rejected from the upcoming space mission...

Happy Halloween!

We wish you all a hauntingly happy Halloween!

(more pictures to come...)

Halloween Eve

Skull-Baby

I pulled out some of our Halloween Decorations for our annual Trunk-or-Treat at church. How is it possible that a kid who is deathly afraid of Mickey Mouse at Disneyland can snuggle up to this scary ghost thing? We don't have a picture of it, but a few seconds later, he actually gave the ghost a kiss!

Pumpkins and Heat

We recently got a really nice camera that I have been itching to take out for photo shoots with the kids. Unfortunately (as you will see in my next several posts), my kids - especially Tyler - just don't enjoy photo shots and do everything possible to avoid smiling nicely for me.

It has been super hot in Los Angeles and has not felt like Autumn at all. So, last week, we went with some of our good friends to a farm that was hosting a pumpkin patch to try to get in the spirit. It ended up being one of the hottest days of the month, but we enjoyed ourselves, nonetheless. The kids got to feed goats, pick pumpkins, ride tractors (Tyler), scream at me because they were too small to ride a tractor (Dylan), and ride a train. I also got a little practice at using my new camera!

Low Productivity

Since the boys are getting older, they now have to help clean up toys. Special activities or treats are sometimes reserved only for boys who help.

On monday, the activity was Play-Doh.

This boy was a good helper:


This took nearly 3 hours to clean up:



Which is why this boy looks like this:

7 Years and Still No Itch

11 years ago, during General Conference weekend, I met Arthur at a lunch party hosted by some friends at Harvard. We were both in the Cambridge University Ward in Massachusetts. I overheard Arthur say that he was from Sacramento and I immediately had to introduce myself to him as I was also from Sacramento. Almost exactly 4 years later, we were married in the Oakland, CA Temple.

Happy 7th Anniversary, Arthur!

San Diego

Last month, we took a mini-vacation to San Diego with a few of our friends. We stayed at a fabulous beach house in Oceanside, went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Sea World, and played at the beach. Unfortunately, our camera mysteriously stopped working at the Wild Animal Park. Just imagine a safari ride complete with giraffes, rhinoceros, zebra and gazelles. I think I can check African Safari off my 30's To-Do List, now!

Here are our pictures (warning - there are a ton!):

Carousel Ride at Belmont Park:

The Amazing Beach House (thank you, Justin and Jennie)

Sea World

Shamu Show - we were sitting in the Splash Zone, but unfortunately did not get drenched:
Penguins
Dolphin Show. Again - no splash:
Bay of Play - at least we got wet here!
Scenes from the drive home:

Dinner at Ruby's on the Pier
I love these pictures that our friend, Nancy, took. They totally represent how much fun and how happy our kids were the entire weekend. Someday, I hope to be able to take such beautiful pictures!