Happy Halloween

Presenting...
Hannah a.k.a "Geisha Girl"

Jake a.k.a. "Jake Sparrow" (Jack's dead brother)

Alex a.k.a. "Red Fire Dragon"

Owen a.k.a. "The Not-So-Cowardly Lion"

Uncle James a.k.a. "White T"

We have some costumes that have gotten some great mileage over the years!! See if you see some repeats...

2008 (Alex in red dragon, Owen in dog)

2006 (Jake in red dragon, Alex in dog)

2003 (Twins as Hansel and Gretel)

2003 (Twins as lady bug and bumble bee)

2001 (Twins as lion and lamb)

Hope you all have a festive and happy Halloween!
(More of all the festivities to come!)

Uncle Jon's in the House!

My brother was in town on Monday for business and so he got to stay a night with us.

It's always a par-tay with Jon around...


He's quite big and the kids immediately want to climb him and jump on him and jump over him and punch him and hug him and basically become Uncle Jon Disciples for a day. (What is it about big uncles??)



(Jake had soccer practice)


(He loves this angle.)
Come back. Our late night couch-chatting and everything-analyzing was just what the doctor ordered. I like having you around.

Geisha Girl

Hannah got to get dressed up for her Brownie troop "Halloween Bingo Night" and so I had to take some pics. Cute girl...




Some of her troop and her awesome leader who looked hot in her go-g0 boots!...


She had so much fun but I guess they had a pretty abysmal table! In the last 10 minutes Hannah WON and she was so excited! She won a Target Gift card and a bag of goodies!

When the rain comes down...

Someone's gotta get the mail!

He was the only one of the house that wasn't sick and was happy to oblige!




Way to go Aggie!

Britney Comes to Town!!

We did a little bit of this...

Rachel, Britney, Me, Lisa, Rebecca

And a little bit of that...

Perfection.

Please come back and visit again soon. Staying in S.F. with the late-night chatting, peanut butter cookie eating, shopping, spa-ing, splurging, "sister"ing was just what I needed!

Any. time.

Conversations...

Overheard in the family room today...
Owen (the 2 year old) in a very whiny voice: "It's my turn. I wanna watch Diego!!"
Alex (the 6 year old): It is Diego. I promise. See? Diego is dressed up like Tom and Jerry for Halloween. Isn't that funny?"

He's sly, that kid.

Visit to Washington

To see my nephews Liam and Logan.

My brother Steve has two boys who are living in Washington with their grandmother. Steve and his estranged wife are not quite fit to raise them and are trying to get their life in order. The boys live in a beautiful home with their grandparents Bill and Rita and an Uncle Jared who is 14 and wise and kind beyond his years.


It was so great to see the boys and to see that they are so well taken care of. They were so full of hugs and love and kisses and affection and I couldn't get enough of it. They were not in a good place with my brother and his wife and their volatile relationship but they have come so far with the love, stability and structure that Bill and Rita have provided.
We went to lunch at the Oyster House on the Puget Sound....

Me and Liam

Grandpa and Liam

Grandma and Logan

Rita and Liam



Bill and Jared with us

The Sound

After lunch we walked along the pier and toured a little original boat called "The Sandman"...

Cute Logan and Liam...



After that we went to my cousin's house for dinner and to stay the night. It was fun to see family that I hadn't seen in years...

My second cousin and his beautiful wife and daughter

My second cousins--one just got home from a mission and the other is just leaving!

My first cousins Ruth Ann (who has raised 6 handsome boys who have all served missions! I tried to get some pointers) Kathryn, and Mark

"Uncle Terry" (my dad) and his neices
In front of their house they have these huge holly trees and they were gorgeous! She sells the holly to tree lots and vendors at Christmastime...


It was a wonderful trip and so good to see family.