Apple picking with the Halls and Scottsdale

We had so much fun apple picking with some of Brian's friends from high school!  Doug and Brian ran track together and they were in the same class.  Before we converted, Brian contacted him and asked if he should be afraid that I wanted to become Mormon (given that Doug is Mormon).  Anyhow, we love seeing them and their 2 adorable little boys.  Here are our boys all together - Ben, Hunter, Landon and William.  I love that my boys are doing the exact same thing, making the same goofy face and being silly and the Halls are just looking around like "who are these kids?!"

Landon is QUITE the climber and loves to give me a heart attack.

 Once Landon found an apple he completely lost interest in apple picking.

See? Haha.

Daddy and his boys picking apples

The family!

Hunter and Landon in the pumpkin patch.

All 4 boys!

Me and Hunter in the patch.

Landon did decide he wanted a pumpkin and then became obsessed with them.  He wanted to pick it up so badly.

 SUCCESS!!

 The Daddies and their boys.

 And all 6 boys.  Tamara and I didn't know what to do with our hands free of kids!

 My boys in a tree.

 A mommy and her boys.  How cute are they?

 Tamara and her boys. So cute.

 We went to Scottsdale.  I flew with the boys and Brian drove so the car would be there.  Flying with the boys was an experience in and of itself.  They were pretty good - even for the extra 30 minutes we sat on the runway waiting for "maintenance", but they lost it about 10 minutes before we landed.  I had Landon in my lap and Hunter had his own seat.  Oh wait, did I say lap? I meant the small space between my belly and my knees.  Anyhow, we got there safely and spent the whole week by the pool.  We did almost nothing else.

 Tired boy at lunchtime.

 These 2 boys are obsessed with one another.  They spend every minute with one another.  Landon wants to do whatever Hunter is doing and vice versa.  I have honestly never seen such good buddies and it makes me beyond happy to watch them play together.  They are finally getting to that age where they play together.

 S'mores! Hunter loved making marshmallows with his new friend named Brock.

 Uh oh! Mom had to save the marshmallow!

 Cheese!

 Landon wanted to light his on fire....I mean "roast" a marshmallow as well.

 On October 12 my mom would have been 53.  We celebrate her birthday every year by talking about her and having ice cream in her memory.  This place that we had ice cream was AMAZING.  I've never seen Hunter act quite this way about ice cream.  He LOVED it.  Maybe Gramma was there with us, enjoying her very own sundae.

 The family.

 Look at my snuggle bug.  Isn't he so cute?!

 I love my 2 boys and they love my belly.  Look at them loving their little sister.

 This is Hunter's favorite way to ride - piggyback!

 Hunter and Landon made friends with Brock and Kale, some buddies in Seattle.  The 4 of them together were pretty funny.  These 3 of these boys went to check out the bug on the ground.  Too funny.

 When we got home from our amazing week in Scottsdale, we made a homemade apple pie with our apples from apple-picking.  The boys loved helping me!  Aren't they the cutest helpers?

 And, finally, we made some Halloween cookies at the Hunt's house and decorated them.  You would be shocked to know that Hunter and Landon got ridiculously dirty - whereas Brandon and Ryan were perfectly clean and happy.  So funny that my wild boys have so much spunk.  I love that about them.

We've had a good couple of weeks.  We're home now.  We're getting ready for the baby.  I thought I was going to have her on Saturday night when my contractions were 3 minutes apart for 90 minutes!  The doctor says it made a fair amount of progress :-) We'll see what happens.  I'm hoping for a 11/1/11 baby!

In other news, the very final revisions are due on my dissertation on Saturday.  I'll talk to my committee and have them sign off on Wednesday.  Then I will be really, truly, 100% done with USC.

Music class, T-ball and Aspen's baby shower!

These last few weeks have been so much fun.  The summer is over and we're getting into a routine again, although we're out of town next week so that routine will be interrupted.  I enjoy the routine of knowing what we'll do all week long.  Landon is thriving with being alone with me in the mornings and I am sad for him (and for me) that this will be coming to an end soon.  Luckily, newborn babies sleep most of the time, so hopefully I will still be able to play with him.  He is really good at entertaining himself though, unlike Hunter who wants me to play with him every minute. 

 Tami does a church music class every Monday morning and the kids love it.  You can see my 2 goof balls fell down - Hunter with his legs in the air (in all blue) and Landon with his pillow.  My silly cute boys.

 Landon is becoming so good at being part of the group.

 Coach Mike!  Soccer is officially over (for the next 5 weeks) and we have moved onto Teeball.  Hunter is copying Coach Mike's position and is ready to go!

 Learning how to hit

 Getting some good coaching!

 Landon has to try too!

 And HIT!  Hunter actually hit it so hard it went out of the park and across the street.  I'd call it a homerun.

 The 3 loves of my life.  Is there anything better than these 3 faces? I'm going to say "no."

 Last night was my baby shower.  I am so thankful to my church girlfriends for doing this for me.  They thought out every detail and it was ADORABLE.  I had a blast and got SO many PINK clothes for Aspen!  Jessica made the decorations and the cupcakes and petit fors - which were amazing.  Some other friends brought salads and candies and Sally was so gracious to have it at her house.  I felt amazingly loved - with maybe 40 people coming to the shower!  How lucky am I to be in such a great ward? And how lucky is Aspen to have a big family waiting for her when she gets here?!

 Me and Sally

 Steph is due 2 days after me and is carrying her baby, um, differently.  Her bump is about half the size of mine!  She's adorable and also having her third, a boy, after 2 girls.

 Bumptastic

 Me and Jess and Coco - they did SO much work on this shower!

 The booty

 Megan made this sign for me.  I just love it.  We are going to hang it in her room over the crib.

 Me at the shower (before gifts).

 Such cute stuff!

 Bows!

 And a diaper cake.  I've never gotten one of these before so it was really fun to look at all the cute stuff in it.

 Of course, this morning Landon had to "help" me organize everything and get it ready for the wash.  Not so helpful, but extremely cute.

I feel so blessed and loved to be a part of this church and to have such an amazing Ward.  My friends are all amazing and I am so thankful for them.  I'm also just SUPER excited to meet Aspen!!