An Unexpected Find

Ben's parents came to visit us for a weekend in December. We were so excited to take them to one of our favorite places, Schnepf Farms. We go there every October for their Pumpkin Festival, and since they were open for the holiday season for outdoor ice skating, we decided to go check it out. While we opted out of ice skating, we still had a lot of fun wandering the farm.

The kids had fun posing, and Payton loved having Grandpa's help!

They also loved playing on the playground and this wooden train.

Baylee and Grandpa posed on a tractor. We also enjoyed wandering the store and going on a train ride. After we left, we saw a sign for a place we've been wanting to go to, so we made an impromptu trip across the street.

We had no idea that The Olive Mill was just right across the street from Schenpf Farms! We were so excited to find it right there.

We opted to go on The Olive Tour.

Ben snapped a picture of the kids and I while we were waiting for the tour.

The kids also had fun posing with Grandma!

During the tour, we were taken into a room where they told us all about olives, olive oil, they machines, etc. I love that they were prepared for kids with coloring pages. They also had an olive bar for samples. I personally didn't like any of the olives the first time, but I actually am starting to like them.

We got to learn all about olive oil and see the machines they use. Did you know The Olive Mill has been on The Best Thing I Ever Ate and Dirty Jobs? And, the food is awesome! Ben and I have been back so many times since this trip. We are hooked. They also have an olive oil bar to sample. The Strawberry Balsamic is amazing! If you are in the area, make sure to stop by. If they have the Strawberry Balsamic gelato, get it- you won't be disappointed.

We loved having Ben's parents here. Kathy and I got a good amount of Christmas shopping done too, which was great. Can't wait to have them again soon!

A Trip To See Santa Gone Bad And Other Christmas Festivities

I always love the fall and winter holiday seasons because there are always so many fun things going on. This year was no different for us. I didn't get a ton of pictures of all the fun things we were up to in December, but here's a little on what we did.

We kicked off December by digging through all of our boxes to find our Christmas stuff so we could decorate a little (we have only unpacked necessities and toys until we move back into our house). The kids had so much fun seeing their ornaments from previous years and putting them on the tree.

We met up with our friends, The Vans, at Bass Pro Shop one night (our first time in that store). They had a part of their store made into a winter wonderland, complete with Santa, a snowball fight area, a carousel, shooting practice area, and a place to write letters to Santa with a mailbox. Payton was not too excited about sitting on Santa's lap.

At least Payton got over sitting on Santa's lap once he got his candy cane.

When Heather and I went to take the kids on the super cute carousel (it had deer, bears, etc. for the animals), Payton was not having it. He's the only kid I know that doesn't like carousels. So, while we did the carousel and snowball fight area.....

...Ben took Payton around to sit on 4 wheelers and camping chairs, play in tents, see the fish, etc.

We all eventually ended upstairs. The kids innocently sitting on this.....

...ended in this. When Baylee was getting off, she slipped and hit her head on the rock wall. She complained about it hurting, but she sat on my lap and just kinda whimpered for a minute. We didn't think much of it until a few minuted later when I noticed blood on my hand and cream colored sweater. We went to go find the bathroom, and Baylee was leaving a trail of blood drips. Eventually some workers came to help, although we couldn't ever find anyone to clean up the trail. It was quite the night, but Baylee was awesome and brave and didn't complain once during the whole ordeal. When we got home and washed all the blood out and examined her head, it ended up being a teeny little cut. Amazing how much blood comes out of such a tiny head wound. (This was just a week or two after her cheek incident at school, and she was also wearing a brand new shirt. So happy for stain spray!)

We also were able to go to a light parade with the Vans (the rain made it another memorable experience with them), and Ben and I took the kids to see a boat parade where the boats were all decorated with lights. On another night with the Vans, the kids were able to have a less eventful visit with Santa after dinner before we headed to see the Mesa Temple lights.

Baylee and the rest of the kindergartners at her school did a holiday performance that family could come to school to see before winter break started. She is in the front row in a pink shirt (she ditched the white cardigan she was supposed to have on with it), and to the right of her teacher's back. Ben had just bought me a brand new iphone the day before that I had gotten a couple of better pictures on, but after Baylee's concert I accidentally dropped it in water and ruined it before I got a chance to download the pictures. I was so upset. I also didn't get to stay and watch the concert since Payton wasn't cooperating, but at least I had gotten to see her class practice the day before after their class party. It was so cute, and I'm glad Ben was able to see it.

The kids had so much fun decorating a gingerbread village. I love the concentration on their faces. There were five or six little houses/stores, and Baylee made sure we finished them all. I didn't get a picture of the finished village, but they had a lot of fun.

We went with my aunt, uncle, and cousin to go see Zoo Lights. We were hoping to miss the crowds by going two days after Christmas, but I guess a lot of people had the same idea. I didn't get any other pictures (here we are watching the trees that have lights that flash to music), but the kids loved all the lights, and were happy Uncle Doug kept sharing his Kettle Corn!

We had a lot of fun this holiday season and can't wait to do it again next year! Just without the blood :)

Family Pictures

Back in November, my aunt was nice enough to take our family pictures for us. She did a wonderful job, especially with our not so cooperative kids. We had fun though, and really appreciated my uncle distracting the kids and making them laugh. Here's a few of our favorites, although it was pretty hard to narrow it down to just a few:

Yes, I know my kids had some goofy smiles and faces, but it just shows their personality. We were overdue for family pictures, and I love the ones we got. Thanks again, Melissa!

Fun November (When We Weren't Busy Being Sick)

We had a fun little November, but we spent a good amount of it being sick. Baylee caught the stomach flu three times in 2 1/2 weeks. For some reason I decided I wanted to have it over Thanksgiving weekend, then Payton felt left out, Baylee had it her final time, and finally Ben decided he hadn't been sick in a while and got it the next week. It seemed to take a good amount of time to get that all cleared out of our house, even after a full can of Lysol. Here's a little more of how we spent our November when we weren't busy being sick.

I got a call from the school nurse one day. She had left a message to let me know that Baylee had been playing chase with some boys and had tripped on a picnic table and hit her cheek. She said she didn't cry, but had a quarter size bruise on her cheek. She just had an ice pack on it for about 10-15 minutes and then went back to class. It took a little while for it to heal up, but I'm proud of how tough she was about it.

We went to a Western thing with our friends, The Vans. The kids were so excited to watch the gun fight, and some of the actors had a fun time getting into our picture when the kids wanted to pose with the little "town". As a side note, Baylee had to wear these boots, even though they were about 3 sizes too big. We put them aside afterwards for when they fit a little better.

Baylee finished up her soccer season in November. She loved playing soccer with some of her friends from church and the neighborhood. Someone from church organized it like a league, and it was fun to have Ben be Baylee's coach this time. She had a lot of fun, and we were sad that it didn't work for her to play again this season.

I got to go watch Baylee's class perform some cute songs dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians. Afterwards I got to sit with Baylee while she ate her lunch, and then she got to come home early with me! It was so cute to watch her perform (she loves performing).

Baylee played model for me before we went to my aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving. We ate some yummy food.

After Thanksgiving dinner, we played games. It was so funny to watch my brother and Ben play Just Dance. I just wish my camera phone pictures weren't all blurry. They had some great moves. We enjoyed dinner with family. Thanks to my aunt and uncle for having us!

Before the stomach flu hit our house hard (as in hours before- apologies to anyone who may have caught our bug, we didn't know!), we took the kids to see Puss In Boots at the movie theater. Payton had fun posing for Ben by the Star Wars display. The best part was Payton actually sitting through the whole movie!

We were a little glad to see November go, but we were glad for the good times we had too. I promise to get our family pictures that we took in November up too!

A Busy October

I am so behind on our little blog. I don't think anyone even reads this anymore, but to get our memories jotted down a little quicker, I'm just going to put all of October into one post. It's not the way I want to do it, but it's just going to have to wrk or else I will never get up to date. October was quite a busy and fast month for us:

Pumpkin Festival:

We went to Schnepf Farm for our favorite yearly Pumpkin Festival with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. We always have so much fun. This year must have been the best because I didn't seem to take any pictures. We went nice and early this year before things got too crazy.

Disneyland:

We finally took Payton to Disneyland for the first time! It was on the crowded side, but we still had a lot of fun. Payton especially loved seeing Lightening McQueen and Mater, and we can't wait for the new Cars area to open!

Visiting Ben's Parents:

Disneyland was a quick stop on the way to Ben's parents to visit, get the rest of our stuff, and for Ben to attend a conference (we only got to see Ben's mom one day). The kids were so excited to go to Super Frank's one day. They spent a lot of time playing on these plasma cars.

The kids and I also got to go to see cousin Owen's football game. Payton had a fun time playing football with his uncle Ryan and cousin Garrett.

Grandma Hall was so nice to help Payton put on these princess clothes. Daddy was so thrilled to see the pictures.

Trunk Or Treat:

We went to a trunk or treat at church. We got some great photo booth pictures that I'll have to post sometime.

Dance:

Baylee was so excited to be able to take dance from her favorite teacher again. It was fun to watch her performance, and even better that Ben was here to watch this time!

Another Pumpkin Patch:

The kids and I went to another pumpkin patch with our friends, The Vans. We had fun riding the cow train and playing on all the fun things they had. (Don't you love Baylee's rainbow face paint from her Kindergarten Fall Festival?)

Most of all, we were excited to find all six markers and make it out of the corn maze this time! Last time we went together, we had to make our own way out.

Neighborhood Fall Festival:

The highlight of our neighborhood fall festival was Baylee's free pony ride! She was in heaven.

Pumpkin Carving:

We had fun carving pumpkins at my aunt and uncle's house. This year Baylee and I carved Ariel (I think this was the third or fourth year she's made an appearance) and Ben and Payton carved Mike from Monsters Inc.

We also had a fun time playing Just Dance.

Halloween:

This year I made this lovely pumpkin and guacamole to take to my aunt and uncle's for Halloween.

Ben made pizza intestines.

Baylee was excited to be Pocahontas for Halloween.

Baylee wanted to pose with all of the pumpkins.

Payton did not want to wear his Lightening McQueen costume. Once we got it on him and he got the concept of trick or treating down, he didn't want to stop.

We had a great October! I'm excited to do it again next time!