All of October

October!

I really haven't been motivated to blog this month! Here is a whole month of activity in one awesome post!

Painting: Dano rented scaffolding and finished that painting project that has been hanging over our heads. It was a little scary to watch him climb up so high. I am SO glad he finished w/o injury or incident. The house looks great, and I REALLY appreciate all of his hard work!Naked Bum: Noah loves taking off his clothes and diaper. He has left a few surprises behind chairs and in corners of rooms. He is showing a lot of interest in bodily functions, and if it weren't for my inability to bend over, I would start potty training him. I'm thinking maybe around January, after his 2nd birthday, we'll make it happen!

Birthdays: I celebrated my 29th birthday. Olivia's birthday is the day after mine, so we got to share a birthday dinner and cake. It was nice having a Sunday birthday, and having Dano home all day to spoil me. Also, very fun to have the Daytons in town.

Splash Pad: The kids are loving the awesome fall weather. Most days it is still warm enough to use our community splashpad. They had a really fun time showing it to their Papa when he came to visit.



Pumpkin Carving: We fit this tradition in by the skin of our teeth. It was a really busy week. Isaak was super excited to make Jack-o-lanterns. He drew the face on his, and I cut it out. Noah had fun scribbling on a pumpkin- and Dano's turned out the spookiest!




Trick or Treat! Finding Noah a costume this year was more complicated than I expected. After a few costumes that didn't work out, we settled on Buzz Lightyear. I think he is the cutest Buzz ever! Isaak wanted to be the same thing as last year, Thomas the Train- sure made my job easy! We left his train hat at the church the night before, so he didn't have it for trick-or-treating. I was lucky enough to sit on the couch and pass out candy, while the rest of the family took the kids out. Noah was an AWESOME trick-or-treator- both kids came home with full buckets.

Landscaping

It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it! It is so nice to have the yard put in, especially with the weather cooling down. The boys have spent a lot of time outside already playing on the grass and patio.

Before:

After:

Labor Day at Utah Lake

One of the funnest things we did on our vacation to Utah was spend Labor Day out at Utah Lake. It was just so relaxing to sit on the beach and watch the kids play in the sand and water. We went with most of Dano's family and the Carr family. Dano's uncle, Louis Carr has an awesome ski boat. Being out on the water is one of my favorite things to do, but no wakeboarding for this prego girl! The kids were so low-maintenance- they would just sit and dig and splash for hours, and the weather was absolutely perfect. We even had a yummy picnic lunch on the beach.

Our beach camp:

Daniel & DanoCute baby Jack- just turned 1 year old!

Noah- he loved throwing and shoveling rocks into the water.

I asked Sam to say cheese, this is what I got- sillyhead!

Adam & Katie- (Sam & Jack's parents)

Dano & Noah on the tube

Seems like he likes it??

Katie, Jack & Catalina in the boat

Dano & Noah

I feel bad I didn't get any pictures of Isaak that day. When we went on the boat, he had just gotten off from watching a group go wakeboarding. He said he was tired and didn't want to go again. He and Noah had such a great time playing on the beach with their cousins. We just don't get to do stuff like this in Arizona, Dano usually works holidays like Labor Day- so it was much appreciated!

Family Reunion

We spent about 8 days in Utah at the beginning of September. It was such a great vacation! One of the reasons we came to town was for a Sorensen family reunion to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday. My dad comes from a large family of nine children. I have about 40 cousins, most of whom have children of their own now. When we were kids we would go to my grandparents house at least a few times a year for family gatherings. Since my grandmother passed away and the families have grown up, we really don't get to see each other much. I was so happy for the opportunity to see everyone. I was surprised that almost everyone showed up, many from out of state like us. First we gathered at my Uncle Scott's house for swimming.

Amy, Paul & Aubrey

Papa and Isaak

Amy & Dano

My uncle Wayne lives just a couple of miles away. The big party was at his home. They had a catered dinner and lots of yard activities. The kids had a blast running around their property.
Grandpa & Aubrey

My dad & his dad- can't you see where I get the big round face & dimples??

NorCal

For my sister Aubrey's 30th Bday, we took a vacation to the Bay area. We were originally planning a cruise, but with some babies on the way, it didn't work out...sorry Aubs! We spent the first couple of days in San Fransisco. My sister used to live and work in the area, so it was kind of like going home for her. The entire vacation seemed to revolve around food- maybe because I'm prego and can't do much else but eat, or maybe we are just a family that likes to celebrate with food! First stop of the day was some yummy clam chowder in a sourdough breadbowl and Boudin's Bakery.
We walked around and looked at some art galleries, then realized our desperate need for chocolate. Time for some icecream sundaes at Ghirdelli's!
The group wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, since we were having dinner in Sausalito. Uncle Bruce shuttled us up to the starting point, and picked us up on the other side. I was pretty proud of myself to make it 1 1/2 miles at 6 months pregnant. I have to say, with all the other walking of the day, about half way through I was ready to bail-out, and my hip and hamstring were not too happy! It was all worth it when I got to eat the most amazing italian food for Aub's bday dinner. Like I said...all about the food.

The day was actually quite sunny until we got to the bridge in the late afternoon.

Liz, Amy, Aubrey, Kent & Jed

Proof of my walking skills- it was windy!

After dinner we took the ferry back to SF- there were some awesome views of Sausalito, the city lights, oh and fog!

Aubrey, Liz & I stayed at the Hilton in the city the first night. We checked out of our hotel around 10:30 am, and this prego girl was starving! Aubrey furiously drove to our breakfast destination, only to find a line out the door and down the street. She did some quick thinking and took us to Specialty's, a place by her old work. I ordered a turkey sandwich I will never forget....man I wish I could have another one right now!! We did some shopping in the Haight Ashbury district, which included a questionable bathroom stop in a a very small and grafitti covered bathroom- but that is the life of a pregnant woman- give me food and a place to pee, it will be all good! That afternoon we drove to my uncle's home in the Santa Cruz mountains. The next morning we drove about an hour south to Carmel- cute little beach town with fun shopping, and of course more food!

The birthday girl!

Maybe I was just really hungry on this trip, but this restaurant had the best Japanese food I have ever had, IN MY LIFE! If you are in Carmel, you have to go to Hanagasa- small, friendly, and SO SO tasty!

This was my dad's plate. I got tempura and beef terriyaki. Aubs and Liz were the more adventurous ones, ordering sushi and sashimi.

It was a very warm day by Carmel's standards, so it was great to get down on the beach and feel those ocean breezes. The water was SUPER cold, and I usually don't mind cold water. We enjoyed sitting on the sand, and occasionally getting my pinky toe wet...that was enough.

My cute mom and dad :)

Liz & Aubs- no she is not naked ;)

On the way home we stopped at an awesome farmer's stand and bought artichokes- 7 for $1, can you believe it! We made dinner that night, bruschetta, fish, and artichokes of course. The trip was so much fun! It was the perfect amount of time to get away. My awesome in-laws came from Utah to stay with my boys. Dano had to work, and I missed him a lot, but it was also fun to spend some much needed time with my sisters. I was so excited to get out of the heat of AZ, but it was still over 100 most of the time- oh well! Good times! :)

Photos at the park

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a park in Mesa to have some pictures done by Susan Carr. She is an awesome photographer, and also Dano's cousin's wife. It seemed to be a great day for pictures, with lots of cloud cover, but it was also super humid and much hotter than it looked. Poor boys had sweaty little heads. I love how these pictures turned out and it was so fun to capture them at this fun stage of life. Thanks again Susan! You can check out more of Susan's work at susancarrphotographyblog.blogspot.com

Left and Right

I had a little conversation with Isaak on the way home from preschool...made me laugh:

Isaak: "Mom, is this my left hand?" (holding up left hand)

Me: "yes"

Isaak: "And is this my right hand?" (holding up right hand)

Me: "yes, that's right! Did you learn that at preschool today?"

Isaak: "No, I just realized it."

Ha ha...funny thing is, I have never mentioned anything about left and right in any context to him. And funny that he realized that right after school....guess he was just born smart ;)