Cornbelly's

 We wanted to get some fun fall activities in before Josh headed to DC for work and headed over to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. It is super fun there with a ton of activities that are great for Lyla's age. The Onofrios went and also my parents came along to watch Lyla run around

 Lyla was super fast and got on this jumping pillow before all the other kids had a chance to get their shoes off. Can you find her?!

We had a great time and enjoyed playing for several hours. Josh and I went on a date that night and went back and took advantage of our all day admission. We rode the hay ride, went down the big slide again and got a caramel apple. Love this place!

Wedding/Spokane

Last weekend we rented a van for convenience and drove off to Walla Walla, WA for Samantha's wedding. She got married in the tri cities and then the reception was in Walla Walla at the fancy hotel downtown. I didn't take any pictures at the reception, but it was beautiful and simple.

Stayed in a hotel, it was the first time staying with 2 kids in a hotel and went surprisingly well. It was a BUSY 2 days so I think they were too exhausted to fight all going to sleep in the same room.

After the wedding madness we headed up to Spokane to visit the Barney's and the Harris' drove up from Portland and we all stayed together. The kids instantly were back to best friends and had a blast. The adults remembered how good it was to be together and talked nonstop.

This is how happy Lyla was to be there. hahaha. Summer actually caught this silly grin on camera!

Reading together. Another Summer picture

Playing at church together. Mac always wanted to grab Pippy's face, and apparently is picking her nose here and laughing about it while Pip is just wondering what the heck he is doing

 

Got in some good squeezes from the girls. Sure missed these cuties!

Sunday afternoon we went on a walk together down by the lake and threw some leaves. It was the most perfect fall weather.

 That night I made waffles with our new waffle maker and we ate them for dessert at about 10:30pm and boy were they good! 

They are huge and filling but I don't think that stopped anyone from having 2

 Brittney was awesome and volunteered to give me and Heather foot massages. She took a class on it and she was amazing at it. I'm thinking next time we were together I may request one every night...

We stayed up late which made for a long drive the next day but it was totally worth it. We didn't get home until about 10:30pm but the kids didn't get too cranky and we were counting our blessings on that one.

What a great trip. Seeing each other makes us miss them even more, and can't wait til we can get together again.

Josh Turns 31

We celebrated Josh's birthday over the weekend and it was a weekend of a few successes, and fails.

Success: Drove up to my parents, dropped off the kids and peacefully and quietly drove up the mountain, saw the fall trees and walked around a lake/pond. It was beautiful

Fail: I could hardly stay awake during that said relaxing drive because I stayed up until 2am the night before...talking with Davis who came to visit

 Isn't he handsome?! Man I love him

 This is not edited at all, it was this clear and beautiful

 Success: We made it to dinner at PF Chang's in Provo

Fail: I got a migraine, left halfway through dinner and went home to rest instead of continuing our date night...

On Sunday we watched conference, I was feeling much better, and Bridget and Garrett were in town and came over for dinner. 

Success: Josh got a cheesecake for his birthday which I could have made..but dad did

Fail: Forgot the candles...dangit. We sang anyway

 Success: Cindy gave him a waffle maker. Sounds like a silly present, but seriously Cindy has THE best waffle recipe you have ever had in your life. They are crack waffles. I can't wait to make them.

 Look at that beauty!! And it makes two at a time. Ahh....pure deliciousness coming our way.

 Sunday ended well, and his real birthday on Monday I tried to make up for the fails of the weekend.

Success: Had chili cheese dogs for dinner, one of his favorite foods. We were supposed to have them sunday at my mom's but didn't work out due to scheduling issues of an early dinner because of the cousins coming over.

Fail: Tried to surprise him for another date to make up for the shortened one on saturday, but the kids woke up with snotty noses and coughs, so not wanting to get Cindy sick (the babysitter who was willing to save me and do last minute kid watching) we decided to bring them with us.

Success: Even with the kids we had a great time on our "date" and went bowling together. 

Lyla loved it

 Success: I made up for no candles on the cheesecake by getting some for his true birthday and got some of his favorite cake from nothing bundt cakes

 Success: Apple gift card to go towards his Mac computer that he is saving up for

Overall it all turned out even though its not how I had originally hoped

Happy Birthday to the best husband and dad a woman could ask for

First Haircut

 First haircut was last night. I love little boys with spiked hair and his was getting too long so we decided to trim it up a little. It hardly even looks long until you run your fingers through it. It is still so thin and mostly blonde so its hard to tell how much he has. And it was growing over his ears which was adorable, but needed to go.

He was fine at first but then was a little unsure about what we were doing and started freaking out, so we finished up with the scissors instead of the electric cutter

Trip to See Jenn

 Got to go to CO this past weekend to visit Jenn. IT.WAS.AWESOME! We crafted, ate, ate some more, talked for hours, crafted again, and then talked some more. It was a great little vacation and was long enough to miss the kids, but not too short either.

The first day we went to Hobby Lobby and cruised the store going down every aisle, just for fun, and picked up a few crafty items. 

Day 2: Our favorite place to eat together, Red Robin. Both got our all time fav: clucks and fries with a hawaiian heartthrob to top it off. 

 Day 3: Went to see the house. It made me teary, I miss my home. Although they have made a few improvements like taking out all the shrubbery in the front yard and put rocks and cute lights instead. We stood and stared for awhile, then went and looked over the back fence, but didn't see much.

 Later that day we finished up our crafting. We made some mosaic frames which was relaxing and easy to do while chit-chatting away

 We couldn't help ourselves. As best friends we have always done silly pranks and gotten into mischief together. We couldn't pass up the opportunity that came upon us. Someone had dropped off fake flowers at her house who thought she might want them. They were hideous. So we put them to good use and put them in a car that is a guy friend of hers. They filled the car and looked ridiculous, and we had a good laugh about the outcome. But most of all, we felt like we were 16 again, and it was awesome. 

I think in the 3 days that I was there we stopped talking only to use the bathroom or sleep, which not a lot of that happened either. The first night we stayed up until 5am talking and even then forced ourselves to stop talking and get some rest. It was such a great trip and we both loved spending so much time together since we haven't got to do that in a long time.

Jenn has a rare disease called EDS. It is extremely painful for her to do every day activities and she is hurting all the time. Sometimes it hurts bad, and sometimes hurts really bad, but those are about the two levels, it never goes away. I am so amazed at her ability to still put on a smile and be positive all the time. It is far and few in between that she complains about her situation or how she is feeling, and it truly is incredible. I'm just can't even start to imagine what it feels like to have your whole body aching and shots of pain all day long. I know it was a huge sacrifice on her part to get out of bed and pretend like she is feeling fine and make the best of the days we had together. She is truly my best friend and I love her so much and admire her strength. Thank you for such a great weekend Jenn!!