Pumpkins and Candy Galore

We carved pumpkins on Hailey's B-Day for FHE.  It was a lot of work, and the pumpkins this year did not turn out as expected.  I did however get some great shots of my kiddos "coloring" their pumpkin faces.
 Next stop Halloween!  My kids were pretty darn cute I have to admit, and the twins' costumes were a HUGE success with the kids in the neighborhood; especially my little Avery as a Bumble Bee:)   She looked so darn adorable!  Josh came in a close 2nd with his Luigi.  His mustache was a hit with the "ladies" come to find out!  We had a blast walking through the neighborhoods and getting 4 boat loads of candy!  Mommy and Daddy are going to have fun picking through it all and getting some good chocolate! The pictures will show you all the fun we have been having!  Enjoy:)

Since Hailey had a lot of homework on her Birthday; I took a picture of her as being her 1st one being 12.

Halloween fun:)

 

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Hailey turns 12

My Hailey had a FAB.U.LOUS birthday weekend with a school dance on Friday night, a Birthday party on Saturday, and a friend stay the night.  She was exhausted when all was said and done, but I know she had such a good time. I can't believe my one and only pumpkin is 12!  She gets to be in Young Women's now at church, be involved in more activities at school and church, and most of all be a PRE-TEEN!  Eeeek!  I feel O.L.D.  Here are some pictures from one exciting time.

These first three are from the school dance...

They met up with Maggie, Shea, and Grace as well.. (you will see them in the next photos from
 the B-Day party)

 (From left to right) Maggie, Hailey, Shea, and Jessica...

And Grace (in the green)  We started playing the Murder Mystery....

They couldn't wait to get outside and just P.L.A.Y....

Girls being girls.....

My Football Hero

Josh started football this season for the first time; and here on post they do something different I guess where if they are under the age of 8, they are on a parent/child team.  They learn the fundamentals of the game, and scrimmage against each other, etc.  Josh was very excited to be doing it with Daddy.  Since he started the season though, Daddy had surgery on his shoulder so Mommy had to step in for the last two practices.  This was one we both went to (David and I) so I could get pictures of my little man in action;)  He likes throwing the ball, but I honestly think he is better at spiking/kicking the ball.  His favorite part is the scrimmaging against one another (surprised?) I am glad he is getting the hang of it, so next year in California, he will be able to play Pop Warner.  GO JOSH!!!

 

Bahamas Cruise Adventure

David surprised me for our 10 year anniversary, he planned a 5 day 4 night cruise to the Bahamas.  His mom came out to stay with the kiddos, and we headed to Miami for our cruise on the Majesty of the Seas through the Royal Caribbean cruise line.  It was sooo much fun to say the least!  We probably ate 3 times what you would normally eat.  Due largely to the fact, that I did not have to cook or clean up anything!  Our first stop was Nassau, Bahamas.  It reminded me alot of some of the bordering cities of Mexico to California.  Dirty, small streets, and people begging you to take a taxi to see the city, or to take a ferry over to Atlantis, etc.  We even had someone grab our hands and put bracelets on and then asking for donations. They had alot of beautiful jewelry at a fraction of the cost due to the large availability of diamonds and other stones apparently.
Our next stop was their own private island called "CocoCay".  It automatically reminded me of living in Hawaii.  Beautiful palm trees, the ocean was gorgeous, and the soft sandy beaches. This was my favorite day because I found the perfect spot to lay down and nap/read my kindle pretty much all afternoon.  David went snorkeling and saw a plane crash site in the coral reef  where he was swimming around.
Finally we went to Key West and we took a trolley tour all over the 4 mile wide little spot on Florida.  It was really cool to learn all the history behind that small little city. It being the southern most point of the U.S.; causes a lot of attraction and tourists there.  Not to mention it is only 90 miles from Cuba!
We met some great people that we ate with and watch the shows with every night.  The food was very good including lamb, roasted duck, prime rib, a lot of seafood and shrimp dishes as well.  It definitely exceeded all my expectations, and I would seriously recommend it to anyone!  David is already planning our next trip/cruise:)  Here are just a sample of pictures from our wonderful experience.
This first one is of me in our hotel getting ready to head to Miami. (We flew into and stayed in Fort Lauderdale, Fl first).

 This picture is from the "center" of the ship where all the shopping, picture taking, guest relations, booking excursions takes place.

 These next two are of Miami, right before we took off from port.

These next couple of pictures are of different activites you could do on the ship..

We could not dock in CocoCay; so we anchored about 5 minutes away and took little ferry boats back and forth between the island.

This last one is of us and our waiter "Dave".  We had so much fun, everyone was very sincere and very personable:)