I heart fall in Oregon... and this little guy.

Carving

In my recurring and life-long effort to make easy things infinitely more difficult, I decided to carve my pumpkin with a Dremel tool this year. I quickly figured out that this means a microscopic mist of pumpkin would shower me and everything within 6 feet of me. I geared up in a poncho, safety goggles and hat (see the lovely pic below). In hindsight, this might not have been the best use of my time (3 whole hours) on an already jam-packed halloween day, but hey live and learn, right?

My pumpkin...

Family of pumpkins (Jackson and I shared one this year).

Pumpkin carving...

I

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

Harry Potter

Shark

Monarch Butterfly

Pumpkin Patch

We hit the pumpkin patch on a weekday afternoon and had the place all to ourselves! The kids loved the corn maze and Jackson couldn't believe his luck at being plopped down in a huge field full of "balls." Here are a couple of pics of our fun day.

Read to me...

I just love this picture. Jackson loves for me to read the first two pages of a book. He then grabs the book and throws it across the room... But what this little guy wants...he gets.

Flag Football!

Isaac played flag football this fall with a bunch of friends from Sherwood. It was awesome and he had a fantastic time.

Isaac and his buddies.

Run LaIsaac!

Recharging Our Batteries

Alex and I took a vacation with our friends Scott and Kim to Kaanapali Beach on the gorgeous west side of Maui. We stayed at a wonderful, quiet resort - The Royal Lahaina. It was peaceful and relaxing and fun and gave us a chance to reconnect and refocus on each other. The power of a grown-ups only vacation is underestimated. It was so awesome to wake up in the morning and focus on spending an entire day just the two of us! No diapers, no homework, no carpool... Don't get me wrong, my children are the air I breathe and I treasure every moment I have with them. But without Alex, there is no us, and a little reminder of this in the form of bright sunshine, gorgeous blue ocean, white sand and a few days of quiet time together makes all the difference in the world. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we are eternally grateful to our moms and dads for taking excellent care of our three kiddos and keeping up our hectic home schedule while we were gone. When we got back home, we jumped right back into our crazy days, but with a recharged battery and a reminder of the importance of our marriage right in the middle of this crazy life. Below are a couple of pictures of what we got to look at everyday for six wonderful days!