Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Dean...

Curt and I were brave and took Dean and 6 of his friends to the Mini Gran Prix to celebrate his birthday.  The kids had a blast and we did too!  Happy Birthday Deano!!!

Happy Halloween

The night couldn't come soon enough to go trick-or-treating.  My kids were so EXCITED!  Kara was so cute.  She wanted to be right there with all the other kids.   She walked door to door with her little pumpkin holding it out for candy.  All she cared about were the suckers.   Fun night!

Soccer

You know fall is here when you're sending your kids off to school and spending your Saturday afternoons at soccer games.   There's no where else I'd rather be!   

His favorite position is goalie, because he likes to dive for the ball. 

I'll try to catch an action shot of that!
Dean during his warm up before his game.

1st Day of Pre-school

Jill had her first day of pre-school today.  She did GREAT!

Ready to go!

Playing with play dough while waiting for the kids in her class to arrive
Jill with her teacher
Jill with her friend Jenna

San Clemente

 We spent Labor Day weekend in San Clemente with our good friends the Weston's. 

We had to squeeze one last trip in before school started.   

Great way to end the summer!  

Jill spent most of her time either swinging on the swings or sitting in the sand waiting for the next wave to roll in and cover her up.

Dean took up boogie boarding this summer
Jill and Kara couldn't get enough of the swings
Me with my girls having fun running in the sand trying to not let the water get us as it comes in
Dean and Issac working on their sand castle

Dean's First Day!

I had mixed emotions sending Dean off to school.   I started off exicted and looking forward to this day until we walked into the school.  As we were walking down the hall to his class my eyes started to fill up with tears.  I was thinking to myself.  I can't believe I'm sending my boy off to school.   This day has really come!  I fought off my tears as we walked into his class.  He was excited to find friends from our ward in his class and to meet his teacher again.  He found his seat, and made friends with the kids sitting next to him.  He is just so ready for this.  I took a few pictures and stood back and watched him color and interact with his friends.  Again my tears started to cloud my eyes as it hit me again that my baby boy is growing up.   

Dean was very excited for his first day of Kindergarten!

Dean with his teacher Dean excited to find his name and seat
Dean was most excited to ride the bus
Kara trying on Dean's backpack for size.  

San Francisco

Curt and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary in San Francisco, Monterey, and Carmel.  It has been a few years since the two of us have taken a vacation alone together.  We had an absolute blast together.  Didn't argue once, yes not ONCE!   We slept in and enjoyed the freedom away from our children. Love them, but needed a break!  

The first night we stayed in Montery at the Hyatt.  We drove to Carmel ate dinner and walked along the beach.  

Okay, so I had to put this picture in because it makes me laugh.  I probably tried 6 times to get this picture with both of our heads in the picture.   Awww.... 
We went to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon.  I was expecting to pull up to a big house and say Wow that's cool.  I was wrong!  You pull into a parking lot and then take a bus up to the top of this hill and take a 2 hour tour.  It was really neat.  This is a picture of the guest home.  Man, I would have liked to be a guest at this place.

Behind us is the guest pool.

Here is another pool.

To get to the Hearst Castle from Montery is about a 2 hour drive along the coast.  We stopped to take this picture.  Again, me holding the camera out trying to get our faces in the picture.
Loved the jelly fish at the Montery Aquarium 
Went to the see the Dodgers and Giants play in San Francisco.  Fun game!  Curt almost caught a home run ball.  We saw ourselves on ESPN that night on one of the  highlights.  

We took a boat ride under the Golden Gate Bridge.  

Passed this shop walking in Carmel. Kinda like the name of the store.  They just need to drop one t and it would be perfect!
Another cute shop with Kara's cupcakes.  Yum!