Carving Pumpkins

Fall Band Concert

Eliah showing off his great drumming skills.

Ana at the Pumpkin Patch

The Kindergartners had a fun field trip to the Pumpkin Patch, and I went along. Ana had a wonderful time with her classmates. They tried to get lost in the cornmaze. Then they played for an hour on the cute playground. You can see it was a beautiful day.

Birthday Cards

Can you believe we were in Disneyland on Daryl's birthday?! Cruel family. The girls tried to make it up to him the day we got back with these cute posters. Ana's says: "Love dad. . . hot pop. . . bump (don't get that!) . . . Go Dad. . . you're the best." Cute, huh?!

Destination: Disneyland

We had an opportunity to take a trip with Stephen & Debbie and Katie & Dave. Natalie & Abbie met up with us too! There's nothing like being at Disneyland with your family. And I mean that in a good way!

Benton Paul + Special Guest

Meili and Jessica attended a concert at the Murray Theater with 2008 American Idol finalists Brooke White and Michael Johns. The opening act was the entire reason for attending: Benton Paul, who opened for David Archuleta back in the spring. After BP performed, the girls spent the majority of the concert camped out in the lobby hoping for a David Archuleta sighting. They were rewarded a couple times. (Meili has the whole story if you'd like to hear it.) He joined all the artists on stage for a finale. Meili's becoming a champion celebrity stalker.

Soccer Star

I finally relented (stopped being lazy) and signed Ana up for soccer. She loves it and, of course, laughs every time she kicks the ball. Turns out the assigned coach quit last minute, so now the parents are taking weekly turns with the coaching. It's been my turn this week, and I'll be glad when I can just sit along the sidelines again and cheer, as I'm supposed to do.

Kindergarten . . . Finally!

A week after the big kids started their respective schools, Ana attended her first day of Kindergarten. She has Mr. Kay, and he is the coolest! Ana is an extremely enthusiastic student. She should have a great year.

Katie's HD Antenna

We were all creative for Katie's birthday. Here's what Eliah built. Some contraption, huh!?

Finishing My Project

Meili helped me so much with Katie's birthday present--a replica of my circa 1985 cheesecloth Halloween ghost. This was also an excuse to blog Meili's beautiful hair color!

Puppy Love

Ana attended Scout's Puppy-themed birthday party last Saturday. The highlight: a visit with the neighbor's golden retriever puppies. This one was Ana's favorite. No, she did not get to bring it home.
 

Rockin' Water Fun

Great shots from some serious slip 'n' slide action the other day.

Sexy Fruit Pizza

Meili and I made a yummy fruit pizza for my book club last night. It was so good I made another one today. It's not as pretty as Meili's was, that's for sure. Anyway, Eliah can't get enough of it and he's the one who came up with this post title.

Pioneer Girl

Ana was sooo excited to participate in the Pioneer Day parade. Here she is on our ward's float, cute custom t-shirt and all.

Goodbye, Camille

Camille left this sweet momento for Ana when she left. About halfway through the day, Ana came to me in genuine sorrow, pitifully crying, "I miss Camille." We had a little cryfest together. It's hard to be so far away from our wonderful family in California.

Round and Round

An afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese. I couldn't resist getting shots of the kids on this hysterical ride.

Girls on the Move

Melissa brought the kids out for a week and we had the most relaxing time while reconnecting. This is the only picture I got of Camille and Ana. (They never held still for very long.) Camille was the most fun cousin ever, and Ana simply adores her. Actually, we all adore Camille!

Patriotic Partying

Random pictures from the Fourth of July. (I didn't take very many.) Here's my wayward son recently returned from three weeks in California with Dave's family.














Ana atop Daryl's shoulders at the Stadium of Fire.


















Eliah and Adam rockin' out to the Jonas Brothers at Stadium of Fire. You can tell they're huge fans.