I love October....

We've had a fun couple of weeks...just busy!! I feel like don't have a spare moment for anything. I actually started using a calendar...which I never have done before. I think the older your kids get, the more scheduling you need to do. Anyways, I messed up and posted the pictures backwards...newest to oldest. You'll get the idea. The weather finally cooled of a little this week, so it feels like autumn(for as much as it does in Southern California). This past weekend was General Conference, and we spent all day Sunday with both sets of grandparents, lunch at my parents, dinner with Micah's, so it was fun to see everyone in one day.

Sydney is walking! She started about 3 weeks ago, and hasn't crawled since. She's so fast, I can turn away for one second, and she's gone! I have a little energizer bunny on my hands with her...just like with Rory. She does the funniest stuff, like shake her booty when she dances, pucker her lips really big for kisses, and when you say "night night" she'll lay down wherever she's at and start snoring. She's got a great sense of humor, and the cutest, most infectious laugh. I have definitely been blessed with two kids that have smiles that light up their whole faces. She's saying a new word almost every day it seems. She turned 14 months old yesterday, and says more words that I can remember. Her newest is truck, although she says "cuck" which is just funny. And the funniest to hear her say is Popsicle...I'll have to get a recording of her saying that one!
Rory has been keeping busy playing with friends, running everywhere he goes, and has been especially lucky as I've been watching one of my friends two kids, so he gets to have two of his best friends here on a regular basis. He is very curious about everything, and is always asking questions...I mean ALWAYS. He has always been an early riser, and we had a day last week he decided to get up at 3:30 am. Well, Micah and I weren't very happy about that, but I just chalk it up to his personality. He loves life so much, he doesn't want to waste it on sleeping. There's too much to do in one day, and not enough time! Not sure if I'll be able to remember that the next time he decided to wake up so early, but, it's true.

Okay, so Rory started ice skating lessons yesterday. He decided that out of all the Community classes that were available, that was the one. He wants to learn how to play hockey, but let's start with the basics!! Here he is on the ice. He did really really good for his first time. He got up immediately, and even skated a bit without help. He did fall alot too, though. The first thing he said to me after the class was "Mom, the ice is really hard!!!"

Skating! And he was the youngest by a few years in his class, but the teacher said it was really good to start so young, as they learn alot faster.

Sydney hanging out while we watched.

First time standing on skates.Look how cute those little skates are!

Waiting for the class to start, he was so excited.

Rory with his buds Lance and Mia.

What kid doesn't like licking the beaters clean after Mom made cookies?

At the airplane museum again, this time with lots of friends.

At cousin Kaydence's first birthday party. Mema, Kaydence and Rory.

I liked this picture of Sydney with her balloon.

Cupcake time.

And we went to the Natural History Museum recently, and Rory LOVED this!! He has a new thing for dinosaurs.

First shiner...

Cuddling...until he tried to push her off the couch. Waiting for the parade to begin with some of his pals...

Syd's black eye...

Well, we had a record weekend last week...within 12 hours, Sydney had a black eye(hit her eye on the side of the tub), and Rory had a huge bruise covering his forehead(the next morning, he fell off of the kitchen chair, face first onto the floor). But bruises fade, thank goodness, and now it makes for something funny to remember.

Last weekend Poway had it's annual Poway Days parade, so we made it out to that, and yesterday was Rendezvous in the park, where they had an Old West camp set up, gold panning, mock gun fights, and train robberies...we did get to experience the train robbery, and Rory decided it wasn't something he liked, and proceeded to scream and cry, which led Sydney to scream and cry. It was all very comical...even if a little distracting to the other train riders. Wish I had gotten some photos of that train robbery, but I was too busy consoling the two kids on my lap.

Anyways, we have a full and busy week ahead of us, so I'm sure my next posting will be a little more exciting.

What do yout think of this? AND poor man's panini...

So I went and got my hair trimmed last night, and have been playing with the idea of coloring it for a LONG time now, so decided to go for it, so off to Wal-mart for some semi-permanent color. I knew I wanted darker, but not drastic, so I went with a golden medium brown, which really isn't that far off from the roots of my hair, BUT after rinsing it and drying it to see the actual outcome, it came out a little more red than I wanted. But it's slowly growing on me. Just glad I didn't go permanent. I asked Rory this morning if he noticed anything different about my hair, and his immediate response was"you look like me!!!" I kinda thought the same thing...now my hair is a dark auburn like his. What do you think? I want HONEST opinions, don't be afraid to tell me if you hate it!! And I had to give this tip out...last year I was watching one of the home shopping networks, and Wolfgang Puck was on selling his panini grill. I've always wanted one, because I LOVE all sandwiches, and what could be better than a sandwich maker? Plus, paninis are to die for. So I was thinking about how expensive panini grills are, and what could I use instead that I already owned? Well, out came my dusty waffle maker. The one we received for a wedding gift more than 8 years ago. I think I could count on one hand how many time I had used it for waffles. (Isn't that what frozen waffles are for?) And really...why in the world did we register for a waffle maker? Oh the things newlyweds "think" they need. Well, mine has been put to good use since I had the idea to use it as a panini grill instead. I make sandwiches in it on a weekly basis. Micah keeps saying the hinges are going to break because I stuff such large delectable sandwiches inside. Anyways, here's my favorite sandwich to make:

Sorry, I'm not a professional food photographer, but this was my yummy lunch today. Sourdough, a little mayo, honey mustard, Havarti cheese, turkey, tomato and spinach. YUMMY. So maybe now you can pull out one of your unused/unloved appliances that is collecting dust and think of a new way to USE IT!!

MORE Family Pictures...

Hey everyone...here's some more photos...they took forever to download, so had to wait until I had some time. We had a wonderful photographer named Kate Williams, and she was awesome! Check out her website... it was hard to pick just a few to post on my blog, she literally took HUNDREDS of photos, and they were all so cute. Although how could they not be when you see the subjects? :) Enjoy!

Family Photos

September begins...

Finished my pillows! Here's the backside of them: And the front: I mastered the buttons and buttonholes...I think they came out pretty cute.

So Sydney has got to be one of the messiest children I hae ever come across...here's two pics from the past few days to demonstrate what I mean:

This one didn't really capture her messiness as well as I would have liked...maybe I should have waited til we left...we spent Labor Day evening at a park with a few families from our ward, and had a great time, but Miss Sydney spent the couple of hours crawling/walking/sliding through the dirt. She ate it, licked it, mashed it, crunched it, and just plain got dirty. Thanks to my friends daughter for holding her up for the picture, I didn't even want to touch her!!

Obviously the first thing we did last night after we got home was dump them both in the tub. The water was pretty murky after they got in, but needless to say, after a good scrubbing with soap,they were my clean sweet babies once again.

Todat we visited the Leatherheads Aviation Museum on Miramar Road on the base. If you haven't been before, then get moving! It's a fun way to spend an hour or so. Rory LOVED waling through the outside area where he could check out more than 30 Military jets/helicoptors. They even have open cockpit days throughout the year so you can sit in most of them. unfortunately we missed the last one of this year by only two days. But we will be heading to the Miramar Air show next month, so he will have the opportunity once again to see more jets. I couldn't leave without buying Rory something from the gift shop, so he picked out a nice little Blue Angel Jet. He's taking a nap with it as we speak.