Uncle Kurt and Leanne!

Back in December, before we left Ohio, we had the chance to visit with my older brother, Kurt, and his girlfriend of almost 6 years now, Leanne. It was great to get together with them, I love them both a lot. They are working hard on their PC Repair business, KBA4 PC Repair (my brother is Kurt B. Arnold IV... isn't that COOL?), and some other ventures as well.

I really hope we can see them again soon!

Some Hiking Pics

Snuggle Time

I love my baby...

Bath Time!

Hamster Attack

Rule #413: If a toy has wheels, it shouldn't be run on the Mommy head.

Flagrent violation of this rule may lead to imposed hair accessories that strongly resemble said toy, severe fits of laughter on the part of otherwise kind onlookers, and premature balding.

Play at your own risk.

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

From about age 14 until I had kids, I didn't really care much for Halloween. It's kind of a weird holiday, with excessive amounts of candy and a strange focus on death and black magic. Plus, it's always so cold on the actual night for Trick-or-Treating that your carefully planned costume is pretty much ruined by the long johns, coat, hat, and gloves you needed to survive the harrowing journey around the neighborhood.

But this year my attitude changed, mostly because it was fun to watch Felix get the hang of Trick-or-Treat! Our Ward held a Halloween Carnival and Trunk-or-Treat, which were great. Plus, on the actual night of candy collecting, the temperatures were in the upper 50s. Wowza!

And you know, there's something days-gone-by fun about walking up to strangers' homes and asking for candy. It seems like a relic of a safer time. It's rare to even chat with neighbors anymore, so it's kind of a unique experience to walk around with the whole neighborhood on a common quest for sugary goodies. (To which, I must confess, Brian and I applied a 98% tax when we got home. Ouch!)

Felix the Monkey with Grandma!

And Ezra the Dragon!

Oh my goodness. Someone's maxing out the cuteness factor.

SCORE! They're both looking at ME and looking PLEASANT!

This is proof for my dear friend Laurel that I don't completely deprive my son of all that is chocolatey and delicious in life.

The next morning he promptly returned to his regular daily diet of grape-nuts, tofu, pasta, cheese, homemade graham crackers aka hardtack, and more fruit and vegetables than normal human beings care to eat in a week.

Pumpkin Patch

Today's trip to the Pumpkin Patch was brought to you by my lovely mother.

With a generous contribution of 2 uber-cute pumpkin hats from our friend Vicki

First stop, the barn.

Then, snack time. Fresh apples and apple cider!

Ezra will have the milk. Organic please.

Then onto the HAYRIDE! Felix was in paradise. I think he hopes we'll trade in our Celica for a tractor and trailer. (Hmmm... we could fit a lot more kids in that way...)

Ezra samples the local fare.

Felix decides that not a bad idea.

My babes!

EzBabe!!!

Then Felix and I went in search of the perfect pumpkins. Found them! Med for Felix, smallish for Ezra.

Over to the lake for some pictures to capture brotherly love

Agrotourism at its best!

Thanks, Mom!