Kate's Shower

This lovely lady is my sister-in-law and we threw a baby shower for her this weekend. It was lots of fun. Doesn't she look so cute?

We had a surprise visitor fly in.....Malinda! She also brought her beautiful daughter Madison (who I didn't get a picture of unfortunately!!!)
I got excited about decorating my house for the event. I learned how to make these flowers out of paper bags on Marth Stuart's site. I decided to spray them pink, orange, and yellow (the shower colors). I hung them on the fan and in the big window.
Cassie helped me out big time with the party favors. We spent the afternoon before making all sorts of chocolate-dipped pretzels. I got the younger girls little rings that I displayed by hanging them on branches in a vase I spray painted pink.

My amazing mother-in-law and sister-in-law took care of all the food and it was fabulous. Look at these fun cupcakes she brought. YUM!!!

I found flowers the right colors and carried on the paper bag decoration idea here, too.

We had a bottle-chugging contest. Wow, that was harder to do than you'd think.

Some REALLY got into it.

Here's Kate with her mom and mother-in-law.

Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who helped. We had a lot of fun. Now we just have to wait for the gorgeous little girl to arrive. I can't wait!

A Tale of Two Tuffys

This is Tuffy. Tuffy has been Jeff's stuffed animal since he was a baby. He's been loved a LOT. When I was first introduced to Tuffy I was a little surprised. Jeff didn't seem like the sentimental-stuffed-animal-type-man. I once joked that I was going to get rid of him. Jeff didn't find this to be the slightest bit funny. Tuffy has been residing in Jeff's nightstand since we got married. He is protected and safe there.

Now, may I introduce you to Rex's Tuffy. Grandma got this for him while she was watching him when we were out of town a while back. Rex loves him. However, Rex recently discovered that his daddy has a Tuffy, too. He calls him "Tiny Tuffy." Rex thinks it's really cool to have both Tuffys in bed with him. He thinks they belong together.

Here's the dilemna. Jeff adores Rex and loves to spoil him. However, Tuffy is not something he wants to share. It's really funny to see Jeff so torn. He concedes and lets Rex take Tiny Tuffy to bed, but promptly removes Tiny Tuffy when we check on Rex right before we go to bed. Rex notices and asks for Tuffy the next night. Jeff gives in and retrieves him from the new spot where he has hidden him.
Here's Rex, happy as can be. He's won the battle. Jeff has finally given up. The Tuffys are inseparable and Rex loves them both.
Rex doesn't have as much of a problem sharing the Tuffy love, though. We came downstairs to this the other day. Rex thought Baden needed a little Tuffy time, too.
It almost makes me wish I still had my childhood stuffed animal. (Jodi, are you still holding my "Scotty-bear" hostage?)

Fall and friends

Yesterday after church we drove up the canyon and walked around a little bit. Most of the leaves have already fallen off at the top of the mountain. The bottom and the valley are still beautiful. Rex just loves being outside. I love how you can see the excitement in his eyes in this picture. He's balancing on a rock and very proud of himself.

Here's the crew - my three men.
Rex's little friend Sophie was over today. She always looks adorable and the sky was perfectly overcast, so I had to whip out my camera. Isn't she gorgeous?
She and Rex like rocking on the porch chairs.

They are so cute together.

Bottoms Up

Jeff loves Henry Weinhart's rootbeer and cream soda. It's one if his special treats. I think we found someone who likes it just as much.

Oh yeah.
Good to the last drop.

Another Year

Another year has already come and gone. Last year Rex rocked this costume and I must say, I set the Halloween bar pretty darn high. This year will be no exception. Just you wait. I'm kind of excited about my boys' costumes. Stay posted. I'm giddy excited.

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we carved our pumpkins.

Rex thought the messy pumpkin guts were pretty cool.
We let him fish out all the seeds and get slimey.

He went to bed before this one was finished.

We did the potato-head-style decorating for the little pumpkins.

Rex was happy to see the finished product this morning. He kept asking is we could "check on the pumpkins" all morning so he could go out and see them.

I still have my pumkin left to do. We didn't quite have enough energy to finish ALL of them last night. I've got a few ideas up my sleeve.

A Backyard Hike

We live pretty tight up against the mountains and there is a great hiking trail from our subdivision up to this reservoir. We took a family hike early this morning to see the autumn colors in the mountains. It was beautiful. I love getting a view like this.

This little guy was quite the hiker today. Usually we have to carry him most of the way, but he did almost all of it on his own this time. Yay Rex!
Baden loved getting daddy-snuggles the whole way.

This is the main reason Rex likes the hike. There was one pair of ducks that hadn't flown south yet. We brought our bread.

Rex was also all about getting a treat at the top of the mountain.

The pictures don't do it justice. I LOVE autumn.

I ran into this totally hot hiker up there.

Wow. I'm really lucky.