Enjoying Fall

Now that Jason is home and the holidays are upon us, we are staying busy.  Next week is my last week of working 3 days a week.  I will miss it a little, but I am excited to be home with my boys again, I have missed them.  We are looking forward to the holidays and spending time with family and friends.  

After Halloween last year, I bought some outside decorations.  Jason and I are both not very good at decorating, but we gave it our best effort.  Our neighbors across the street have AWESOME decorations, maybe we can learn from them.

A couple of weeks ago I hosted the Relief Society dinner group at my house.  It was really fun.  I made Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables.  Everything was really good and it was a lot of fun.  This is a centerpiece I made to go with my fall tablecloth.  It is a white pumpkin filled with flowers.

We went to the local Auburn pumpkin patch, Poppy Lane, with Ollie's preschool.  It was a lot of fun.  There were bounce houses, pony rides and a hay ride.  

That same evening we went to Cal Expo with Jan and Michelle to check out the Auto Show.  We have gone to a lot of auto shows together.  They are a lot of fun. Almost every kind of car is there and you can get in them and push all the buttons :) The first time I realized that I liked Jason we were at an auto show together.  I remember him crawling under a jeep to get a better look at something and thinking, "he is so cute".  I have a picture of that date and I love when I come across it and remember those feelings.

I rushed out of the auto show so I could make it to my brothers graduation.  He is now a paralegal.  I am so proud of him.  He has been working full time at a bankruptcy firm and going to school at night, so it has not been easy.  Way to go Jack!

The next day we went to Lincoln to celebrate the opening of Lincoln Boulevard.  When I lived in Lincoln, Highway 65 was a two lane road that went right through the middle of town.  As Lincoln has grown, Hwy 65 has become a pretty big highway and so they recently opened a bypass.  Now the old highway 65 is Lincoln Blvd.  I miss my little town :(  The celebration was a lot of fun though and reminded me of what a cool little community Lincoln is.  There was a parade, booths, bands etc.  We had a great time.  The family ate at Old Town Pizza for lunch to celebrate my brothers graduation.

That evening Jason and I attended the Placer County Farm Bureau Hoedown (that is really what it was called) in Lincoln.  It was pretty fun.  The tri-tip was amazing, and we met some really nice people that will be good contacts for Jason to have in the future.  

Jason's sister Michelle came to town for about 10 days.  I hardly took any pictures :( but we got to spend a lot of time with her and her adorable baby Taylor.  The boys LOVED Taylor and they were so sweet with her.  Jenny and Ezra came into town the following week, so we had a ton of fun with them as well.  We spent a day at Apple Hill, which is located in the foothills and has over 50 different farms and ranches.  Each farm has different things to offer.  We stopped at one and bought some apples and pears, ate apple cider donuts and drank the freshly squeezed apple juice. 

Ez, Ollie and Max.  These three are going to cause a lot of trouble together I think, but they are SO cute :)

 We went to another farm that had a little train for us to ride.   It was fun and the boys totally loved it.  We stopped at one more farm and bought an apple pie and carmel apples.  It was a really fun day.  That evening Jason's family came over to our house for dinner and games.

We went to Jason's parents for dinner on Sunday night.  Aunt Shelley read the boys this potty book probably about 15 times.  Our boys are so lucky to have such fun aunts!  Jenny and Michelle were both so fun with them.  

That evening we carved our pumpkins so we were ready for trunk or treat the next day.  I didn't take any pictures at that, but they had chili and cornbread and tons of trunk or treating.  We have a really great ward.

Monday we went and hung out with everyone one more time before they had to leave.  Here is Ollie and Taylor.  Taylor is one loved baby.  All her cousins doted over her the whole time.  I think she feared for her life at the beginning, but by the end she found them pretty entertaining.

For Halloween this year the kids (actually Ollie made the decision) wanted to be Batman and Robin again. I bought a few costumes on clearance after last halloween, but they weren't interested.  Fine with me.  Ollie dressed up for preschool on Wednesday which means Max wore his costume all day as well.  Max pretty much just wants to do everything is big brother does, it is really cute. Ollie's costume still fit him pretty good, but Max's was a little on the small side.  I guess that rules these costumes out for next year :)  Maggie took them trick or treating in Downtown Auburn Wednesday afternoon.   She said they got a lot of attention, and I must admit they were pretty dang cute.  Our neighborhood gets around 300 trick or treaters.  We put a "be back soon" sign on our door and headed out.  They both really loved it this year (last year Ollie wouldn't even say trick or treat).  Max pretty much just said "treat" and "thank you".  Having kids makes holidays so much fun!

Jason was a beekeeper, what a stretch, I know.  He said it was better than nothing and most people don't know that he actually IS a beekeeper.

"Trick or Treat".