Halloween fun

Halloween crafts with Jack. Erica brought over these cute little pumpkins that came with paint and decorations. The kids enjoyed dressing up their own pumpkin. I caught Jack in a deep moment. :)

I love these kids. And I love that Jack and Ty are close enough in age to really enjoy each other. But it's funny, when we get these three together, it's usually Tatum and Jack that play more. Tatum loves to make Jack laugh, so cute.

The day before Halloween, we had some more holiday fun by carving our pumpkin. The kids helped Daddy make the face, and I got to scoop out the seeds and carve, my favorite part! I love the smell and the feel of the seeds. All the rest of them wouldn't get near it, so strange.

We also used the apples we picked from the orchard and made caramel apples, so fun!

Lots of sugar though. I don't think we really ate much of our sticky apples, a few bites that night and then they were forgotten. :)

Halloween! We headed to our wonderful neighbors holiday party up the street. Our beautiful mermaid and our scary pirate!

Lots of dressed up kids! Last year we couldn't get Ty and Colin (far right) to get in the picture without crying but this year was much better.

The Halloween parade!

Ty LOVES our neighbor Matt and he'll do anything for him. So here he is giving Matt a big cheesy grin for the camera. So cute.

And Veronika introduces each child as they walk down the run way. So here's Ty the pirate!

And Tatum the mermaid!

Since the Cardinals won the world series, we felt it necessary to dress appropriately. :)

After the party, we all headed up and down the streets for some trick or treating. Ty loved it!

When he'd get up there, he'd yell, "Trick treat!", and totally got the whole concept.

Of course, they all enjoyed stopping for a candy snack half way through. :)

We only got half way around the neighborhood when Tatum saw our house and wanted to go home to pass out candy. That was her favorite part. Seeing neighbor friends and admiring all the different costumes that came to the house. Lots of fun for both kids and such a wonderful neighborhood we live in. Happy Halloween!

Family vacation to Sedona, AZ

Garrett's step family live out in Phoenix, so before we headed on to Sedona, we stopped to stay the night with Brian and Thithi and their three children, Vanessa, Ian and Emma. Here are the girls along with a neighborhood friend.

Garrett's step sister Ann and husband John along with their two sons Creed and Collin were there as well. Both Tatum and Ty were in heaven! All the kids had a great time together and Ty loved being one of the boys. :) We also got to visit with Grandma Dini and Papa Jerry since they flew into Phoenix that morning. What a fun family reunion!

The next day, we drove up and checked into our time share. We stayed at the Arroyo Robble and it was perfect. A two story condo with kitchen, washer dryer, 2 rooms, 2 1/2 baths, everything you could want. And the resort is located in the center of town, just below all the shops. After getting settled, we headed up the street for some lunch and a beer overlooking the beautiful red rocks of Sedona.

The next day we headed to The Chapel of the Holy Cross, a church built into the side of the red rocks. Absolutely breathtaking.

The children weren't too impressed by the church, but more interested with the flower pots. I love the sign here.

The colors are so rich and the mountains and just amazing, everywhere you look.

Then we headed to Montezuma's Castle, a 20 room cliff dwelling left by the Sinagua Indians 600 years ago. They populated this area for 400 years and then disappeared without a trace. Being up close to the structure, it's just amazing that it's still here.

The kids enjoyed walking the trail to the structure and all the nature in between.

Then we stopped for a picnic lunch and just gazed at the dwelling, as we imagined sitting in the very spot that Sinagua children would play while their parents would gather food or make pots 400 years ago. Such amazing history.

That evening, we walked up the street to Oaxaca, a delicious Mexican restaurant with beautiful views.

Our table sat out on the patio over looking these mountains, beautiful. The mountains behind our house at home definitely don't look like this. :)

Nadine and Jerry came up the next day and Garrett and I joined them for a jeep ride. We took the Extreme Diamond Back ride and wow, it was extreme!

Our trail guide, Kelley, was very educated and stopped to give us lots of history and interesting facts. Beautiful trees and plants, we even caught sight of a road runner!

We drove through some pretty crazy terrain. At some points I wasn't sure we would make it up the trail!

Kelley, our awesome tour guide.

We had a rainy day where we spent most of it indoors. But the next day was beautiful so we headed to Red Rock State Park where we hiked a few trails and found some beautiful wildlife and scenery. These bridges over the red river were beautiful.

Ty and Tatum both loved the hike, look at his face. We'll have to make time for some hikes back at home.

No wonder our son is so into guns, he learns from his father. :)

After our hike and picnic lunch, we headed to a few local wineries. This one had a play table with toys, Ty loved it.

Then we headed back to our resort where they had an indoor pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. Wonderful after a busy day of hiking.

The kids loved hiking so much that they requested we go on another hike on our last day. So we walked out back behind our resort and followed a stream. Beautiful scenery everywhere.

We dared to brave the water but wow, was it cold! Tatum and I only lasted seconds, long enough for this picture...

but Ty and Daddy stuck it out and enjoyed a stop on a rock. I love this photo, the way Ty is gripping on to Garrett for dear life. He looks like a little baby monkey, so sweet.

On our hike, we ran into this beautiful resort with a restaurant right out on the stream. Mom and I came back for one last glass of wine to toast a wonderful trip. This time share business is pretty great, maybe we'll have to look into it. We'll be enjoying another week in Tahoe next February so we'll see if we enjoying it after that trip as well.