HALLOWEEN

This was the first year I've ever decorated our house for Halloween.  Apartments just don't have much extra room to allow for decorating, so I really enjoyed making a few decorations and having them out this year!

 I loved making these "BOO" letters, and thought the pumpkins were the perfect touch, with Halloween ribbons tied around them...

I also loved making this Halloween banner...

We had such a fun and busy Halloween week!  I think we had the cutest puppy and flower out there!

We went to the ward Halloween party on Tuesday... it was fun to be able to wear our costumes more than once!  We are loving our new ward.

We also got to celebrate Bailey's first birthday!

And go trick-or -treating with the Appels.  I love that Bailey was a kitty and Cooper was a puppy... so cute!

 Yes, Sydney has two suckers in her mouth at the same time...

She always says, "I'm 2, so I get 2" of anything she wants more than one of.  I respond with, "I'm 26 and I don't get 26..."  The whole, "eat 2 more bites, because you're 2" at dinnertime backfired...

 And of course we had fun eating some taco soup, with friends and family!

I can't believe the Holidays are just around the corner.  Utah has definitely decided that fall would be short this year.  Luckily the daddy's took the kids trick-or-treating, because it rained all night.  This was our first Halloween that we stayed at home and had trick-or-treaters and it was fun to see all the cute costumes.  I have to say that Halloween is much more fun with kids..We had a fantastic October and here's to finishing up a great 2010 in the next couple months!

Cooper's Favorite Part of Moving and a Recipe

Cooper's favorite part of moving was finding new places to play and new things to play on...

He discovered this drawer for the first time when I was packing up its contents.  He and Sydney played in it for the next few days...

This ladder was absolutely his FAVORITE THING EVER...

starting to climb...

 getting higher...

At the top... 

He really climbed to the top of that ladder all by himself... I was standing next to him the entire time, don't worry.  We had to hide the ladder in the garage.  I really was shocked that he could climb that high with no help.  He even wanted to get on the very top, but I didn't allow that one :)

And, for my favorite thing about Halloween... visit my mom's blog

This could be the only recipe I contributed to the "college roommate collection of recipes"

So easy and delicious!  I'm excited to make it, and eat it on Saturday. 

Pumpkin Patch

A few days ago we went to the pumpkin patch.  It really is one of my favorite family things to do out of the whole year.  We tried a new location this year and really liked it.  They had a fun little corn maze, tractors everywhere, corn stalks, an old truck, and of course tons of pumpkins!  We had a lot more fun this year, because the weather was beautiful and Cooper was much bigger to enjoy it.  Last year was cold, and it was hard with an infant.  I'm glad we made it before the weather turned cold this year... I am dreading the upcoming forecast with the "s" word in it! (snow) Anyway, we had a lot of fun.  I love these pictures.  They are so rustic and a perfect representation of fall!

Sydney's Hair

I feel like Sydney's hair just never gets longer.  I look at all these 2 and 3 year olds with long cute ponytails and thick bobs and wonder if Sydney's hair will EVER grow...  Then I was looking through some pictures and looked at her hair from last year.  It really has grown a lot.  I've come to the conclusion that because it's so curly, it just never really looks longer.  It seems like the longer it gets, the curlier it gets, which makes it seem like it's not getting longer.  Regardless, those curls are still pretty darn cute!

Her hair last year- long on the top, but next to nothing on the sides or back

It really has gotten longer... I have been able to do some fun things with it!

About a month ago Sydney got her first hair cut- just to straighten out the bottom.  I took some cute pictures that we somehow lost, but luckily I took these two (high quality ones) on my phone.  Michele straightened Sydney's hair for me.  It was darling!  All day when I would turn around and look at her it was like I didn't recognize her.  I really kept thinking "Where's Sydney?"  It's not often you go in for a hair cut, and come out with longer looking hair!

Back to those cute, messy curls... with a cute messy face!

Breast Cancer Walk

Last week Weight Watchers participated in the Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk.  I designed the back of these t-shirts for my mom's members to buy and wear to the walk.  Allie, Sydney, Cooper, and I decided to join my mom and her members on the walk.  We walked in my Grandma Holmes' honor, who survived breast cancer.  We really enjoyed ourselves and really hope big strides are being made to cure  breast cancer!

Walking in Honor of Marian Holmes

Family Pictures

Life is just crazy, crazy, busy right now.  I feel like we have SO MANY THINGS going on!  I am still desparately trying to get this house clean!  Since it was a forclosure, it was very, very dirty... like layers and layers of dirt and grime on walls, blinds, baseboards, doors, windows, etc.  The other day it took me the ENTIRE Yankees game to clean the blinds on 3 windows, because they were so dirty.  (Which, by the way, I am LOVING this postseason... GO YANKEES...28!) I am hoping to have everything done, at least on the inside of the house, this week.  The garage and flowerbeds need some serious TLC as well.  When I'm all done, I think I'll post some pictures of our new house that we are just in love with!  A few weeks ago we got our family pictures taken... I really need to figure out which ones I am going to order!  I put a link to the pictures in a widget on the right column of this blog.  Feel free to let me  know which ones you like!  They turned out really great, a big THANK YOU to Amy Bennion our photographer!

Conference Weekend

When I was little I really did not like that my birthday was always on/by General Conference.  It made it really hard to have birthday parties, and really, what little kid loves watching 8 hours of "church."  Now, I actually kind of like having my birthday be around conference.  It's nice to be able to relax, listen to the prophet, be with family, get rejuvenated, and make new goals.  I love conference and am always sad when it comes to an end and the last prayer is said.  I have made some new and renewed goals, and am trying to be a better mom, and a happier, healthier person, both physically and spiritually.  It is always nice to be able to refocus.  

With Cooper's birthday being so close to mine, I actually kind of forgot that it was my birthday.  It was pretty low key, as I'm sure birthdays are when you are an adult, but fun.  Matt gave me my present the night before my birthday, basically because he just couldn't wait.  He got me a new outfit for fall/winter that will be great to have!  Thanks Matt for being so thoughtful.  On my actual birthday I stayed at home with my kids and watched conference while Matt worked.  Then while all the guys went to Priesthood Session, I went to Deseret Book "Ladies Night" with my mom, sister, grandma, aunt, and cousin.  After "Ladies Night"  we went to dinner at Zupas.  My dad, brothers, and uncle met us there when they were done.  Then I opened a present from them- a cute shirt that I've already worn twice!  And they treated me to a very yummy dessert.  When we were done with dinner I headed over to Matt's grandparents' house to meet up with him.  It was the first time I'd seen him that day and was 9:00 at night.  We had fun visiting with Matt's extended family, and had cake and ice cream.  I am lucky enough to share a birthday with Papa, so we always have fun celebrating together!  On Sunday, my mom had us over for a birthday dinner.  We had turkey dinner, my favorite, and Holmes Cake and ice cream!  It was fun and perfect!  It's hard to believe that I'm 26.  I feel like that sounds so old, and I don't feel that old.  It's crazy to think that I've known Matt for about 10 years now... THAT'S A LONG TIME!  It makes me feel old to be able to say that, which I know those of you who are older than me will think is crazy.  It's just funny how you don't feel like you are getting older mentally, but you really are.  I am sure that 26 will be a great year for me!  So far I am loving it!

Birthday Boy!

We had a little birthday party for Cooper on Tuesday night.  It was so fun to celebrate the first year of his life!  We love you Cooper!

I loved decorating this kitchen!!!

The clown birthday cake I made

Cooper has been waiting for the day he could eat cake like this for a long time... he absolutely loved it!

Thanks to all who sent birthday messages, presents, and came to our party!  It made Cooper's big day even more special!

Cooper's 12 Month Stats:

Weight: 20.2 lbs- about 15%

Height: 28 inches- about 8%

Head Circumference: 18 inches- about 25%

Weight-for-height: about 70%