Quick update

This last month has been so fun. My sis and her family came to visit the end of October, and Kyle's brother Ryan and his family came and stayed last week. We had been looking forward to their visits all year and are both bummed that they're gone, but are excited to see them again in MI for Thanksgiving and UT for Christmas. I LOVE this time of year, and I'm finding it is easy to get into the holiday spirit as it is getting chilly here in the evenings. I started listening to Christmas music the day after Halloween and Kyle's a good sport-he had it playing on Pandora the other night for me. Kyle's last day of student teaching is tomorrow! He has enjoyed it but is also ready to be done. I'm so happy for him, and glad for both of us that he won't be so busy! I have been keeping busy working on several different crafting projects. Work has picked up a little this week-fingers crossed that it stays that way!

I am going to post pictures of the Prosser's and Haskell's trips soon, just haven't had time on the computer yet to go through them all.

Ralph's

My new favorite store. I always see it on my coupon website but I didn't know it existed in California until this week. And what a great week for this discovery because they are doubling coupons up to two dollars, meaning $1 coupons=$2 coupons. My friend Lindsey and I took advantage and bought everything we could for $2 that we had coupons for and got them FREE! I bought $230 dollars worth of groceries for...............drum roll..............$23! And that was because they made a mistake, it should have been $15. But I'm definitely not complaining. The first picture is everything and the second is everything that was free. I don't know why people feel the need to smoke to get high when they can just go shopping with coupons!!

How cute is my hubby?

I fall more in love with my husband for the little things he does all the time, such as doing the dishes, or making sure we read scriptures together. This one wasn't so "little"....

We're flying to Michigan on my birthday so he wanted to celebrate early. He escaped to our garage for a while tonight with the excuse that he was going through some old things. When I came down to get something out of my car, he came back inside through the other door. I returned to find 25 presents in our living room. He told me I could open them all tonight or open a few each day until we leave. They were so cute I couldn't stop. Each one had a note attached. They ranged from practical things that I've needed/wanted, such as new measuring cups and spoons, to funny things like a High School Musical key chain, to fun things like the Toy Story Midway Mania game similar to our favorite Disneyland ride. (It's like a video game you plug into your TV-so cool!) A few of my other favorites are things he picked out for me: a scarf, nail polish, lotions from Victoria Secret, and shoes (the note said Because girls just gotta have new shoes!). Also, new slippers with a note that says "Because I love you from head to footsie!" and hair ties that say "Because I love finding these all over our house" (hmm...sarcastic?) and the one that made me cry: a tiny baby dress with a note that said "You're going to be the best mom". As I was still drying my tears, I opened a package of adult diapers that said, "Because I will love to change your diapers someday". That even made me cry. He's so thoughtful and always keeps me laughing. Love him!

The Prosser's visit...finally!

My sis and her family came to visit the end of October and we had so much fun. One of our best and mutual friends, Lindsey, and her family planned their family vacation so we could all be here together. They stayed at a condo in Anaheim and invited us to crash with them a few days while we got our Disneyland on. We went for two days and it was the first time for all of the kids. I'm not sure if it was possible for them to be as excited as I was, but they definitely had a blast. We arrived 30 min early the first day so we could be one of the first in line to see the princesses. Skyler's three favorites just happened to be there and this picture of her waiting her turn to meet Sleeping Beauty says it all.

Some of the characters were dressed up for Halloween

Blake is a huge Toy Story fan

Nash and Gracie

Kyle met up with us after work

We were all wiped out by the end of each day. The first night Skyler went straight to the barstools when we got home. The second night we watched the World of Color show and Skyler was passed out in her stroller before it even started.

I managed to get lots of cuddling time with Gracie in even at Disneyland. That baby is so sweet!! Despite our exhaustion, the adults stayed up and played games a little every night. We've really missed all hanging out together. We need more vacations like this.

We stayed in Yucaipa the rest of their visit and it was nice to just sit around our apartment and visit. Mitch left early to go back to work. Steph and I took the girls to Sea World one day and had a blast there. I'll post pictures of that in another post because I'm having issues with this one Skyler claims Sea World as her favorite part of the trip and we loved it too. The Sea lion, dolphin, and especially the Shamu show never ceases to amaze me. It was fun to hear Skyler giggle at the funny things they do. She's growing up so much! It was fun to spend so much time with her. She had a hard time leaving-she even asked if she could live at Kiki's house. I managed to control myself at the airport, but I cried for a couple days after. Apparently Skyler did too. :(

The last night they were here, we went to our ward Halloween party. Steph and I convinced Kyle to dress as black eyed peas with us. Most people didn't get it, we had to explain what we were. One lady just nodded sympathetically and said "Ohhhh last minute idea?" Skyler wore her Cinderella dress she wore to Disneyland and my friend Lindsey's little girl Macy was wearing the same thing! Skyler and Macy adored each other. And Lindsey's baby, Carsyn, was Gus Gus! She was so stinkin' cute. I'm also stealing a picture from my sister's blog of Skyler and Gracie's real Halloween costume because they are adorable as well.