Two little pumpkins

We enjoyed a fun morning @ the pumpkin patch with Garrett's preschool pals. This patch/farm is one of our favorites.


I love all of the yummy colors that can be found @ the patch.
I can't even begin to tell you how many of our mornings, for the last three weeks have started with Garrett asking if it is time for his field trip. So when he woke up this morning, I said "Garrett, today is your field trip(before he could even ask the question)". His eyes got huge & he asked "today is my field trip"? The smile that followed was even BIGGER!

We enjoyed a train ride & a hayride out to the patch. We actually got to pick our pumpkins off the vine-I love that. Here is the pumpkin that Garrett ended up with.

Brody had so much fun running from pumpkin to pumpkin. He had to pat each one.

He then realized that they were like a ball. He then began to pick up the smaller ones & tried to throw them. He loved the patch so much. At one point, he was flat on his tummy & began to make dirt angels...NICE! No photos, I was trying to get him off the ground.

The boys were able to feed & pet some of the baby goats.
The huge jersey cow scared Brody. Kind of funny since it is one of the animals he walks around mimicking. I think the real life "MOO" scared him. He started to cry. In Brody's defense, the cow was HUGE!

Next we watched the chicken show that Mother Goose narrated
& the pig races. According to Garrett, pig #4 won. Not sure if pig #4 really won or that he just thinks the #4 is a big deal because he is 4 years old. A few us us Moms enjoyed some lunch while the boys ran in & out of a retired train, played in the sand & went on the slides. IT was a great morning. I love to watch my little pumpkins run around & have a great time!

17 months

Brody is 17 months old today! Time is just whizzing by & our baby is growing up! Here is what is is up to @ 17 months.

-he weighs 29 lbs..
-wearing 2 T sized clothes
-still taking @ least one nap a day.
-goes to bed @ 7:45 & sleeps through the night(unless he's sick).
-loves bananas. He will shriek with excitement if he lays eyes on them @ the store. It is pretty funny. He will scale the counter to get one for himself when we are home.
-He loves to give hugs. He will put his arms up & say "HU", meaning I want to hug you...melts my heart every time.
-he loves Elmo, calls him "melmo".
-he has discovered raisins & LOVES them.
-favorite foods are: pasta, raisins, green beans, baked pot., rice, mac n cheese, yogurt, & he has discovered cookies.
-he can escape out into the backyard if the dump truck is positioned just right, he unlocks the slider & he's free-LOL!
-he can show you where is head, ears, eyes, nose, teeth, belly button, & toes are
-loves to jump on the trampoline.
-he loves to give kisses & he will even blow you one.
-he can officially go to nursery in one month-I am not counting the days or anything!
-he loves to play with sports balls. he can dribble a soccer ball & has a pretty good arm when throwing the football.
-he can say Ma-MA, Da-DA, ball, bananas, Elmo, more, bye-bye, Hi, hug, night-night,Grandpa, Grandma, moo
-loves to shake his head for yes & no.
-he loves dogs & cats.
-he needs a haircut in the worst way.
-he loves board books & anyone who will read & look @ them with him.
-he loves to look @ our photo albums & points to everyone he recognizes & loves.
-he does not sit still for very long!

We sure love this little boy. He is the source of constant entertainment & happiness.
P.S. I love that I caught his chubby little hand in the 1st picture. This is his new pose when the camera comes out...he cocks his head to the side & smiles. He happened to have the arm of the chair to lay his head on. Silly boy!

Happy Birthday (times 3)

Just wanted to wish a few special people a very Happy Birthday today!

Today is my brother, Tyson's birthday. He is the baby of the family. I still remember the day he was born. Amber & i had just returned home from school & knew something was up with our Mom. She hurried & got us ready for our ballet lessons. A friend of my Mom's picked us up & took us to & from ballet. I remember not wanting to go to ballet. I was very worried about my Mom. When we returned home from ballet, we discovered that my Mom had gone to the hospital. She had been in labor when we got home from school. Several hours later, we were please to learn that we had a new baby brother. Years later, I learned that my Mom almost lost her life while delivering baby Tyson. She had lost a ton of blood. I am so grateful that she recovered :). So grateful for both of their lives today! So today, I wish my baby brother, Tyson a very special Happy Birthday! We can't wait to see him & celebrate his BIG day next week.
{my brothers, Brandon & Tyson}

Tyson shares a birthday with my Aunt Carla.

{Aunt Carla is on the far left, then my cousin Kerstin & my Aunt Pam}
Carla is my Mom's sister. She has always been a 2nd Mom to me. I lovingly refer to her as the energizer bunny! She is constantly on the go & is always doing nice, wonderful things for other people. She ran a half marathon last week. Isn't that awesome for a 62 year old??? She really is a spring chicken. Love you Aunt Carla! Thank you for all you do for our entire family. We hope your day is great.

Last on the birthday list for Oct. 13th is Marie Osmond. I had the wonderful opportunity to work for Marie. I was the nanny for her children...back in the day when she only had 4 :). I lived with their family & traveled back & forth between Utah & LA with the kids while she worked on her sitcom, Maybe this Time. She is one amazing lady who never ceases to amaze me. She is kind, generous & just a really nice person! Happy birthday Marie!
I am not sure why this scrapbook page(from back in the day(we are talking 13 years ago) scanned in black & white instead of color-go figure)

October is a busy month with many birthdays! Please help me wish these amazing people very special Happy birthdays!

Randomness

I have just figured that the random posts are how I am going to stay caught up in the blogging world :). So much to say & not a ton of time to blog about them.
I started my morning off by hitting my local Walgreen's. Laina posted an incredible free/money maker deal for Walgreen's. It was all about the cleaning supplies today! I love cleaning supplies! I know...call me weird. When John & I got married, my Grandpa Shore gave us a 1 gallon/Costco size bottle of Windex with a card & $100.00 bill attached. Boy does he know me well :).Check out what I scored for free.

I printed the coupons from this site http://www.rightathome.com/offers/OctCoupons/Default.aspx.
If you take these coupons into Walgreen's, purchase your cleaning supplies, redeem coupons @ register, save your receipt & send away for your rebates=free products. Your local Walgreen's should have a Easy Money Saving booklet. All of the cleaning supplies are listed in that booklet & after you send away for your rebate, your supplies are FREE! I am loving these little shopping challenges. I think I am becoming obsessed! Thanks Laina. Please see Laina's site for more details & how to's.

Mr. Brody learned how to get out in the backyard all by himself. I was curling my hair this morning & realized the house was way too quiet. I went to look for him & this is what I found:

He had used his dump truck to reach the lock on the slider. He unlocked the door & headed outside. This is where I found him.


He was one happy boy jumping on the trampoline. We won't talk about the butter dish he climbed up onto the counter to get. This is just my life right now :).

Have I mentioned what wonderful friends I have? I received this piece of happy mail in last nights mail.

My dear friend Steph sent me this card in the mail. I love getting snail mail, it made my day. Thanks Steph.

Our family was BOO'ed last night. My boys were so excited. SHHHH...don't tell my neighbors but we BOO'ed them & they Boo'ed us right back-LOL! My boys love this Fall tradition.

I hesitate in even posting this...I am always afraid I will jinx myself-LOL. As of this morning, I have lost 19 pounds. I was just a few ounces shy of hitting the -20 lb. mark. I am so excited & so proud of myself. After 4 babies in an 8 year span, it is time to focus on myself again. I entered a contest, Race to a Waist 8 weeks ago. I would link you to the site but it is just for the members who registered. I have 4 more weeks to shed as much weight as I can. The grand prize is $500.00 cash. That $500.00 cash would come in handy...but most of all, I am so pleased with the 19 pounds I have lost. Cash or no cash, I will continue to work on this after the challenge is over. This challenge was just what I needed. So please cheer me on so I don't jinx myself for putting this out for the public world to see :).

We are looking forward to the weekend! Only one soccer game to attend tomorrow...woot-woot! Hope your weekend is a happy one!

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1/2 c. shortening
1 egg
1 c. applesauce
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 bag of milk chocolate chips

Mix all of the ingredients together using electric mixer. Add choc. chips last & mix by hand. Drop by the spoonful onto cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 for 10 minutes.
Enjoy!!!

I think these cookies will always remind me of my Mom & my sister, Amber. It seems like they are always making a batch of these cookies for some party, friend, or neighbor. They scream Fall to me. I don't know if it is the applesauce/cinnamon combination-who knows??? I made them for the 1st time this week. I gave the plate of cookies away to a friend before I remembered that I needed to snap a photo for the family recipe book & for the blog. Enjoy!

T-I-R-E-D

Not sure if Brody was just super tired, or just T-I-R-E-D of my cooking-HA! I was clearing off the table & when I turned around, this is what I found!




It was bummer that that was the only nap he got...it was 10 minutes. Shortly after, we had to pick Garrett up from preschool. Brody was energized & full steam ahead for the rest of the day:)!

Our week...randomness style

We have had a very relaxing weekend! So much so that I have stayed in my pj's all day long. I love when it is a General Conference weekend. These kind of weekends seem very few & far between...but I sure am LOVING it! Here is a little randomness from our week/weekend!

First off, can I just say "I LOVE FALL". This is the first weekend it finally felt cool. I wore a long sleeved zip up sweatshirt on Friday & even wore jeans(not Capri's) yesterday morning to the soccer game. I think it time to pull out the Fall decorations. This is my all time favorite season.


I was able to scrapbook on Friday night with friends @ Green Tangerines. We were able to scrapbook from 5pm to midnight. I totally meant to bring my camera but forgot. I was able to get two Christmas presents (well) underway & that feels good. I have decided that all of the Christmas crafting will be done by Dec. 1st. I really want to enjoy my holidays this year.

Soccer Saturday was fabulous! We had two 9 am games. While I did not get to watch Carter play, both games were done by 10 am-YAY! I think that contributed to the relaxing weekend. Carter's team won 4 to 0 & two of those goals were Carter's. Way to GO Carter.You can click on each photo to make them bigger, I am not sure why they are so small.




Here is the team banner that John designed. He then had a company in Long Beach make it. It turned out AWESOME!


Tanner's team had another loss, 6 to 0. The boys were so bummed. Tanner played REALLY well. He had 3 of the 4 shots on goal & they were so close to making it in the net. I was proud of him & his determination.

Brody started shrieking during the soccer game yesterday! I took him for a walk around the perimeter of the field & he was being so funny I had to snap a few photos. This is what I get when I say "smile":

or sometimes I will get this:

If you ask him where his head is, you will get this:

If you ask him about his ears, you get this. You pray he shows you his ears & not your own(he pulls pretty hard -lol).

I love this baby boy, shrieking & all.

I made $236.00 @ the Green Tangerines Trash to Treasure sale last weekend! I am so stoked. That is $236.00 worth of store credit @ the scrapbook store & $236.00 worth of "STUFF" out of my scrapbook room. Gotta love that!

I walked on my treadmill for 85 minutes last night. I was able to catch the Notebook on TV & it made my walking time go fast. The Notebook is one of my all time favorite movies.

Tanner has been bugging,I mean asking me to help him create a soccer binder. He wants a place to keep his schedules, game plans, & photos. We have made two trips to the scrapbook store to pick out paper, embellishments & an album. This is what we have worked on so far.



He picked out the photos, helped place gingham ribbon down the side & then I helped him adhere the photos to the cover of his album. He then Mod Podged the entire thing & once it dried he added epoxy soccer stickers. He is doing an awesome job. He keeps saying "lets go back to your scrapbook room to work on my book". Too funny! He is so like me...once I start something, I want to work on it until it is complete.


I can't wait to pick up the Sunday paper. We don't get the paper delivered so I have to wait till tomorrow. I can't wait for my money saving assignment this week. I will keep you posted. Okay, i think that is enough randomness for one post. Are you still reading @ this point-lol? If so, what did you do this weekend? Have a great week!