Christmas

This year we actually got lights up. Blake loves the Christmas lights and makes sure we turn them on every night.


His first present: slotted pig from Toy Story.


He also got CARS, a leap frog alphabet thing, a toolbox with tools and a little engine. He had a blast playing with his toys all day.


Adam's Christmas present: Armour-sized footed pajamas with a drop seat. He was very happy.

bookcase

After months of debate, we finally agreed on what and how many bookcases we should get. Before thanksgiving and a trip to IKEA later, we have some new bookcases. Our lone bookcase was crammed packed with books and we had more in boxes and in other places. Plus I had knick knack stuff that I didn't have a place for. Now I have a place for some of the cats Adam's mom gave us and my favorite ceramic pumpkin and pear and blue bird.



I have 4 boxes of knick knacks wrapped in paper. Both Blake and Vegas had a blast playing in the paper and boxes. Look close, do you see a boy popping out of a box?


Of course we made a fort with the boxes.



Just some cute pictures of Blake "crashing" into the pillows.

thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we headed over to the McCombs and had dinner. There was WAY too much food. We had appetizers, treats, turkey and ham, all the usual sides and multiple pies for dessert. It was great.
We brought our turkey fryer. It takes 3 minutes per pound, so our 16lb turkey was done in 45 minutes! And the oven wasn't tied up. I love it. It's Adam's job so that's one less thing I have to worry about.

I made these tasty treats: peanut buddy truffles.


Adam and Beau (Laura's step dad) supervising the turkey fryer.

Adam checking the bird to make sure it's done.

Blake spent the day out side, either jumping on the trampoline holding onto someone...


or playing in the leaves. It broke his heart to come inside.

The kitchen was a busy place.

William and Stacey Smith came over with their 4 kids as well. They lived across the street from the McCombs in North Carolina and will be moving up here eventually.

Carla (Laura's mom) over seeing the dinner table.

around hawaii

This was my first time visiting Hawaii. To be honest before I went, I could have done without going. But once there, it really is beautiful. It wasn't as humid as I thought it would be. Adam went for business and I tagged along. We had to buy my plane ticket, but the hotel and rental car was paid for already. It was a short trip. Adam had the whole day on Monday off so we drove up the north-east side of the island from Kaneohe Bay to Laie to the North Shore and then to Wiamea.

We stopped at the Temple and learned that it had been closed for 2 years while it was being renovated. They were now having an open house, so Adam and I got to walk through. It was so beautiful. They are re-dedicating the Temple on November 22, I think.

The North Shore. This is one of my favorite pictures. The waves are awesome, but really strong!

They have these trees all over, they get HUGE and just fan out.

I don't know if you can tell, but there are plants growing on the tree.

I took these pictures while driving. The pictures don't really do justice.

byodo in temple

Byodo In Temple is in The Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. It's basically a large cemetery that has different sections/areas, like catholic and Japanese, etc... It was built to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.

Feeding the birds. I put my hand down and they all started coming right onto my hand, it was pretty cool.

The pictures of the fish don't do them justice, some of them were huge!

The Japanese section of the cemetery.

a box and a bed

An empty diaper box is so much fun! He puts it over his head and runs circles around the house, running into Adam and I. It's pretty funny to watch.


It was getting about time for Blake to move out of his crib and into a big boy bed, especially since he could climb out of it. He was pretty excited about his "race car" bed.

This is his first night, and so far so good. Fingers crossed.

Who knew those beds were so much money? Good thing for Craig's list.

foiled again

What a beautiful Saturday. We decided to take Blake and the McComb's kids with us to DC and go to the Museum of Natural History. We all got up early and found a free parking spot right on the water. We walked around the mall, seeing some of the sights.

This is starting off, when everyone was happy. They didn't stay that way after walking about 4.5 miles.

So we finally make it to the museum and it's closed because of the scene below. The street was covered in water.

Blake was trying to make the sad face. So I guess we will have to try to get there another day.

too cute!

Blake really likes to help us out, I call him my big helper. He feeds Vegas every night, helps me take out the recyclables, unpack the grocery bags.
After grocery shopping today, I made him some ravioli for lunch. While we were eating he said: "Mmmm, these are nummy-licious".
He is just too cute!

corns!

This summer when the corn started growing, Adam would point it out to Blake as they were driving. Blake ended up getting attached to the "corns" and was sad when it was cut down.
This year we took him to Bowles Farm, where they have a very big corn maze, wagon ride, barrel train, pumpkin patch and other fun things. Blake had a blast, especially since he could just RUN!

He saw the barrel train and wanted to go on it, so we put him in. As the train started to pull away and he realized he was leaving us behind, he said in this super sad voice "bye daddy" with a little bit of a pouty lip, but he didn't cry. It was the cutest thing ever. Adam and I couldn't help but to laugh. He went on it a second time and said "see you later, have fun"! We just love this kid!

They had several corn boxes. We came home with corns in our shoes and clothes and I even found a couple kernels in the wash.

flying

Blake's been wanting to fly lately.
It's pretty funny, he says "to infinity and beyond!"

national zoo

We finally got a free day to take a trip up to the zoo. We told Blake that we were going on a train ride to see some animals. He was pretty excited on the train. We packed him a lunch and he ate his cheese sammich on the way. He did so well switching trains and walking the many blocks to the zoo. I didn't take a whole bunch of pictures, but we did get to see zebras, a cheetah, turtles, gazelles, horses, the small animal and reptile houses.

a month's worth

Trying on mommy and daddy's shoes.

I think he was getting tired of me taking pictures of him.

"Shh, daddy sleeping mommy"

A kiss for Daddy.

Butterfly hunting.

We found a yellow butterfly that decided to take a nap in our flower bed. Blake had a blast just watching it "sleeping".

The end of August Grandma and Uncle Aaron came for a visit. The way Blake says Aaron sounds like "onion", so we just call him Uncle Onion. They spent a couple days with us and then headed off to DC to see Glenn Beck.

This is the best picture I could get, he wouldn't cooperate, but he looks just like Adam.