Halloween Fun 2013!

I met my good friend Annie in grad school.  We worked on a project together at the start of that school year and since that time we have been amazing friends!  I'm so thankful for her!  We were nervous the first time we got our husbands together because we were hoping they would hit it off and they did!  It is such a blessing to have a great couple friend in them.  We have gone through grad school together, worked together, had our first kids 5 months apart and had our 2nd babies 10 days apart!  We have helped each other move, babysat for each other, helped each other train for a half marathon and been there through the good and not so good parts of life for each other! 

Fall always makes me value their friendship because there are a ton of memories!  Annie loves Halloween and for that reason I have done many things from haunted houses to corn mazes with her! One of my favorite traditions we do is carve pumpkins together!  I think we started carving pumpkins together in 2008 and missed one year after our boys were first born...that's a long time pumpkin carving tradition!

This was 2009 (the first year I started my blog)!

Pumpkin carving was much simpler then without all the kids running around, but it is so fun to keep the tradition going with our crazy herd!

Last year we added another couple to the mix!  

Kristin and Matt have become really good friends over the last year and we love getting together with them also!

This year we had 5 kids running around, with one on the way!

We had so much fun!

We laughed, ate, talked, broke up toddler fights and carved pumpkins until almost 10:00 at night...that's late for the kiddos!

All in all the year was a success!

Pumpkins this year included a design I'm not sure of, a smiley shark (Landon's), a happy face (Jared's), Mickey Mouse, a pirate, a monster, a toothy grin and a silly face!

Unfortunately Jared was the picture taker, so he didn't make the group pic!

What a fun tradition we can't wait to continue for years and years!

On Halloween Landon had a party at his preschool.  It was fun to see everyone dressed up, play games, do crafts, eat food, and watch Landon have the best time!





On Halloween we went trick or treating with good friends and then ended the night at our church's Harvest Party!



It was a great day and a great night.  Landon was really excited about the activities and both boys did so great!  No meltdowns, no fussing, no whining...just a great time as a family!

My nephew was a lion last year for Halloween so my sister in law passed on the costume for Blake this year.  I am all about coordinating costumes as long as the boys will let me, so I started thinking about what would go with a lion.  I thought of another jungle animal, zoo keeper and finally of a lion tamer!  I wasn't sure if I could find a costume but I found a DIY lion tamer costume on line.  I shopped thrift stores for about 3 weeks before Halloween finding all the bits and pieces I needed and then my mother in law helped me make the jacket and cummerbund.  I was able to put together the rest of the costume and I LOVED it!



The boys were so cute together and their costumes made me smile every time I saw them!







Thankfully, I dressed the boys up on the Tuesday before Halloween and took pictures of them that afternoon.  I got some super cute pics of them and then on Halloween I wasn't worried about taking pictures of them and we could all enjoy the night!







We got home and there were still some trick-or-treaters coming to our house but I didn't really buy much candy this year.  Thankfully Landon was more than willing to give up his candy and we ended up with very little (which these robbers helped themselves too :)!



What a great way to wrap up this season and move into Thanksgiving! 

Pumpkin Patch 2013

I love going to the pumpkin patch!  It is definitely a favorite Fall activity.  This year was especially fun because both boys were old enough to enjoy it!

Sadly...this was the BEST of the family photos we tried to get!!

  

The day was gorgeous and the farm wasn't too crowded.

  

We got to have fun on the hayride,

 

picking pumpkins, 

petting animals

(Blake was OBSESSED with the animals!  I stayed in the animal bin with him while Landon did everything else and he was still upset when we had to get out!  It was so cute to watch him get so excited to be so close to the animals.  He would sit and pet them, look at them, giggle at them and touch them so gently.  From sheep to goats to pigs to chickens to bunnies...he loved them all!  We definitely might have a true animal lover on our hands!)

riding ponies, mini tractors and swings,

  

playing in the corn box and jumping in bounce houses!

Blake thought he was big enough to push the pumpkins around!

Such a big boy!

I always have visions of amazing pumpkin patch pictures with the boys holding pumpkins and standing in corn fields...unfortunately that NEVER happens!  

We couldn't get both boys to look at the same time or even one boy to look half the time!

 

 

Looking at all the pics make me smile though because it fully represents who our boys are and the time of life we are in of craziness, fun, love and joy (definitely not perfection)!

The day was amazing and such a great memory!  I love my family so much and am beyond grateful for them and the fun we can have together!

I also got to go with Landon back to the pumpkin patch on a field trip with his school. 

 

The morning was gorgeous and we had so much fun!  

Although we went to the same farm we got to do totally different things: corn maze, hay bale maze, giant slide rides and of course a hayride and pumpkin picking!

  

I always love to see Landon with his friends.  It is total love and fun (with a little bit of awkwardness mixed in)!

What a great couple of days!

I Did It!!!

I actually did it!  I completed a half marathon!  

About 11 weeks ago (almost exactly), I was at a bachelorette party for a girl at work.  While we were at dinner the other girls I work with started talking about a half marathon they were going to do in October.  It has always been in the back of my mind to try and complete a half marathon, but I am not a distance runner.  I ran track in high school, but the farthest I ran was about 3-4 miles.  Somehow I was talked into doing it that night and training began.  It was fun because there were 8 of us that ended up running it!

Prior to starting training I honestly couldn't run 1 mile without stopping (no exaggeration).  My first 2 miles took me over 25 minutes to complete and I think I walked 2-3 times.  I committed to running 3 times a week which was really tricky to fit in.  I knew that I couldn't take the kids and run very well so I had to wake up and run before Jared left for work.  I typically ran on Tuesdays, Thursdays and a long run on Saturdays.  Thankfully most long runs were completed with one of my good friends.  It made it so much nicer to run and talk then to be alone.

The last month of training I was only able to run a couple of times a week due to schedules getting busier.  It probably would have been beneficial if I had been able to run more toward the end!

I was pretty nervous before the race!  And it was cold out!  I think it was around 40 degrees when the race started.  My friend Annie and I decided to run together as long as we could and I was hoping to finish in around 2 1/2 hours.  I felt really good for the first 8 miles and then I started hurting pretty bad in my legs.  I made it to 10 miles and had to walk for about 1 minute (but that's all I walked!)  The last 3 miles were TOUGH.  I was sore, my knees were killing me, my thighs were burning, my calves were on fire and my hips were achy.  I kept telling myself I needed to make it a half mile more.  I didn't get another bout of energy for most of the last 3 miles.  

It felt sooo good to finish though!  And Jared was there with the boys which was so great!  I got a little emotional when I saw them because I was proud of finishing the race and I was hurting so bad!  I think every muscle in my legs seized up when I stopped!  I finished in 2:34ish.  The bummer part is that I had to stop and go to the bathroom at mile 4 which I know took at least 4-5 minutes (if not longer).  It think I could have made the 2 1/2 hour run otherwise!

Overall, I'm really proud of myself!  I went from not being able to run 2 miles straight (11 weeks ago) to being able to run 10 miles without stopping and finishing 13.1 miles!  I battled through soreness, tiredness, runners knee and only lost 1 toenail throughout the whole training (which is a bummer because it ended up just being due to my shoes being too tight).

I prayed a lot during the race and it was nice to have that time with The Lord and to reflect on some things.  I'm not ready to say I will do another one someday but it isn't entirely out of the question!  Seeing as how I can't walk very well at this point, it will be awhile before the next one happens!  

My goal is to not let my running go.  I hope to continue to run 2-3 miles a couple of times a week to stay in shape and have a little quiet time in mornings!

Throwing Rocks

This weekend we got to go up to a cabin in McCall with some friends.  We had a great time and only busted the camera out when we walked down to a river to throw rocks.  Unfortunately it wasn't the greatest of photo ops with the boys.  

Landon was upset about not winning a race...not his usual joyful self!  This picture does make me giggle though because he has the best scowl when upset!  Thankfully, he got over being upset quickly once we got down to the river, but we couldn't get him to hold still long enough for cute pics!

I persevered though with Blake once he started throwing rocks and got a really cute series of pictures.

He's a tricky one to get to smile for the camera...usually he just stares blankly, but I was able to capture him in his element and really highlight his personality.

He loved throwing rocks in the water and could have stayed there for much much longer if we had let him!

Choosing the perfect rock!

Examining it to make sure it's just the right one!

Getting ready to throw!

Watching it splash!

Every time he threw the rock he would look over at me and say "wow"

Super cute!!!

Finally proof that this little guy is joyful and has a super cute grin!

Overall, the weekend was great and very relaxing.  

Walks in town, rock throwing x2, yummy food, good company, lots and lots of wrestling (amongst Landon and one of his friends), Scrabble until midnight (we know how to live it up!), an ice cream run at 10:00 at night, great conversation, wonderful friends and lots of laughter!