The list

I feel like the kids and I spend a lot of time in the car during the week which I guess isn't really true. It might be because sometimes my kids are literally pulling each other's hair out while I'm driving. I'm surprised we are all still alive because my arms aren't very long and I constantly have to reach back and stop the madness. Anyway, I do have to give these two some credit because sometimes they are just so polite to each other and have some cute conversations while we drive. I wanted to document this one because I found it to be pretty hilarious.

Isaac: Abby what do you want for Christmas?

Abby: I'm not sure yet Isaac. I think I want lots of princess things!

Isaac: Well I want (cue LONG list of toys...) Hey Abby I know what we can get! You should ask for one of those BIG iPhones!!! (translation: an iPad :)

There are two things that made me crack up here. One of which is the fact that Isaac is smart enough to try and manipulate his sister's Christmas list. The other, that my 5 year old son thinks there is a chance that they will get a $500 present....HAHAHA. These kids are something else! What happened to the days of asking for Barbies and Hot Wheels?!?

The Neverending Halloween

Did anyone else feel like Halloween dragged on this year?! Well I did.

The kids had a blast having so many different parties to go to. I was glad once Halloween was finally over and I could rummage through all the loot they collected :)

The pumpkin patch

The actual pumpkin patch was pretty weak, but everything else on the farm made up for it :)

Another wedding!

My cousin, Mario, got married last Thursday at the Salt Lake City temple. Mario was Richie's roomate in Provo. If it hadn't been for him, I would not have met my husband. So of course, when Mario called us 4 weeks ago to tell us he was getting married, we had to buy plane tickets!

The whole weekend was amazing. Being there for the beautiful sealing and being able to attend conference were definitely some of the highlights of our trip. I was also able to see my grandpa and my aunt, who I hadn't seen in 6 years or so. Memories were made and fun was had!

A HUGE thank you to my wonderful MIL, or "gramma kimmy," for flying out here to watch our kiddos. I know my kids also made some wonderful memories this past weekend and I am so grateful for that. They don't get to see their grandma very much because of the whole "living across the country" issue so I think they got to know each other quite well after 5 days together (2 of which were rainy).

On our last night in SLC, my cousin somehow convinced his new bride to play games at our hotel (she is a trooper!) We have this tradition of having game nights whenever we get together so I don't know if he missed that or if he felt like he needed to hang out with us because we flew across the country for them. Either way, it was a fun night! And I learned that Cassie is just as competitive as the rest of our family, which is great! Welcome to the family Cassie!!!

Apple Pickin'

We went apple picking a couple of weeks ago. This is the second time we have done this while living here (yes I grew up here but had never even heard of such a thing, so sad). It was kind of bittersweet because last year we went with a big group, including Lexie and her family, but then they had to go and move away :( We convinced my mom and little sister to come with us, and we also had my little cousin, Gabriel, who is 7, spend the night and make the drive to upstate NY with us. It was absolutely beautiful, the weather and the scenery. We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful place (and YES, NJ is beautiful!!!!)

No, I didn't get any pictures of apple trees. But I have been eating apple pie every night for the past few days, mmmmm. And this year, I actually helped make it :)

the perfect summer

I love autumn and I thought I was ready for it. Last week Isaac had football practice on a chilly evening. I pictured myself on Tuesday and Thursday evenings with my cup of hot chocolate in hand and I was starting to get excited for cooler weather. And then Richie brought me one of our camping chairs that we had in our car so I could sit down for a while. And when I opened up the chair..................

A bunch of sand trickled to the ground, reminding me of our trip to Myrtle Beach a few weeks back.....

So I realized maybe I wasn't ready for autumn just yet, but oh well. This summer was amazing. I kept tellling Richie that I don't remember a summer when I have been in the sun and enjoyed the outdoors more than this summer. Summer was definitely good to us this year. And we ended it with a bang by taking a trip to Myrtle Beach with some great friends from our Provo days.

There were 16 of us in a rental house that we stayed at for 5 days. We. had. a. blast. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to 90 degree weather, swimsuits and tan lines (which I may add are fading rather quickly...)

So here is 5 days in pictures in no particular order (because I still haven't figured out blogger...) Thank you to Amy and Diana for taking MOST of these pictures...I am so bad about getting my camera out to "capture the moments!"

I sure hope this trip becomes a yearly tradition. We already miss you friends!

And now that I've blogged about this trip, bring on autumn!