Secret Agent Man

I love that my boys are best friends, and come up with the darnedest games to play, like this...

Buddies

Last week we had some good friends over to play. My friend Chelsea has 2 girls and a boy, we have 2 boys and a girl, and I realized as they were playing that they are all just within 6 months in age of their respective "playmate". So of course, I had to take some pictures. Plus, they all 6 are just such stinkin' cute kids!

Jacob (6) and Ashleigh (5+). Ashleigh was Jake's first kiss, on the way home from a temple trip no less.
Hailey (3+) and Austin (3). Have you ever seen a cuter pair of smiles?

Kai (1) and Leah (8 mos).

Chelsea and I have joked that these two are "intended" for each other and call them boyfriend and girlfriend. This was their first real playdate, however, and they hated each other! Ok, hated may be a strong word for such cute little bugs, but there was a lot of glaring and toy stealing and bottle slapping going on. I guess we will need to give it a few years.

Thanks Rivas' for such a fun afternoon!

Before and After

When we first bought our house almost 3 years ago, we were excited at the prospect of having hardwood floors throughout the living and bedroom areas. Unfortunately, when we actually got into the house and started moving in, we realized that the floors had never been treated or sealed and were disgustingly dirty. With no time or money left to carpet before moving in, we bought a piece off the roll at Home Depot and threw it down, never realizing it would be there as long as it was.

So, this fall we finally decided that enough was enough. The carpet had gotten stained and flattened from having no pad under, it and was an embarrassment and an eyesore. With the arrival of Leah, we really wanted to get something better down for her to start crawling on.

Luckily our neighbor and friend Joel installs carpet for a living, and worked us out a sweet deal to do the install and provide the pad. He was also willing to give up the better part of a Saturday with his family to do it - thank you Joel! We got a great deal as well on the carpet, so today was the day! The pictures below show our before and after. I only wish I could capture on film how wonderful it feels to have pad under your carpet and to feel like you are walking on silk. I think I am in love!

BEFORE

AFTER

Halloween 2009

Austin the Rhino-Man

All the little cousins trunk-or-treated together this year:

Leah, Isaiah, Austin, Jake, Skaidy, Caden, Jojo, Syd, Hannah, Tyler, and Sadie (in front)

Jojo, Caden and Isaiah

Jake the vampire


Professor Trelawney aka Hannah
(I hope I spelled this right...apparently I am not hip enough to the Harry Potter stuff to know who she was without being told)

Princess Skaidy

Jake and his first victim - Syd the fairy

Sadie ladybug

Sleeping Beauty and her Pudgy Pumpkin