Hiking, Trick-or-Treating and a Wedding!

Since this is currently my only form of journaling, scrapbooking and baby-booking, I NEED to be more consistent. But, can we be real for moment. Boys are EXHAUSTING! I feel like if I am able to sit without being asked join a game of cars or asked "How come?" to some of life's most complex inquiries, or to play peek-a-book with the most enthusiastic peek-a-booer you've ever met for more than 25 minutes, I can conquer anything. Not to mention, both boys are super into being crazy, wrestling, tickling, screaming, hysterically laughing playtime. I need to live closer to their cousins. I sure do love them, though.

First, let's tackle the biggest news of the past few months. Our landlords sold our house to their sister and nephew, who told us they wanted to keep it as a rental. HOWEVER, we were informed at the beginning of November that they plan on moving in at the beginning of December. Super awesome, right?

Seeing as we have started the search for our own home to buy because we are, quite frankly, over dealing with being cheated and swindled by stingy landlords, we are put in this weird limbo (I'm not bitter about this at all...). We are beyond blessed that we live closer to the Greens who have welcomed us to move in with them for a few months while we find a house. I know they know what they signed up for, so I'm grateful they still welcomed us! Luke is over the moon that he gets to live with grandpa (get ready Erb; I'll be sending him in to wake you up at 5am...), I'm excited to have land to let both boys exhaust themselves on everyday and ultimately, to buy a place of our own, even though that part still terrifies me a little. Okay. A lot.

Next biggest news, at the beginning of September, we got to officially welcome one of the most amazing people into our family. Danny and Lauren finally got married and we could not be happier. We got to spend a whole week in our favorite place ever, SLO, as well as celebrate at one of the most beautiful weddings. Obviously, I thought that because there are a TON of pictures...

Helping make the bridesmaid bouquets

Chatting after the rehearsal

Such a gorgeous venue

Loving the San Luis sunshine

Where we spent the rehearsal dinner

Broke the rules and took this precious side shot!

Lukey-boy got to be ring bearer along with his cousin, Rooney. Roo did such a great job keeping Luke in line by sneakily putting skittles into his ring box. Despite Roo's amazing efforts, Luke still did a mighty fine job of picking his wedgie while walking down the aisle, making some awesome grass angels during the ceremony, as well as feeling the need to excitedly tell grandma Green all about trains. Good thing he's cute.

Katie, Roo and Hayley - the brave souls that let us stay with them ALL week! Sure do love them.

On a mission to eat those skittles in his box...

Handsome boys

Once Roo put on his suspenders and bowtie, Luke insisted he have his on, too. They are now one of his favorite things to wear

Half of the wedding party

Lucky Haley with two escorts

Sweet ring bearers and flower girls with lovely Lauren close behind!

When it rides up, you gotta pick it. The bridesmaids giggling in the back are my favorite!

Notice the skittle being handed...

Eating his skittles and Danny's face in awe of Lauren coming!

There she is!

How Caleb stayed entertained during the ceremony

The infamous grass angel

More candy...

The Greens. EVERYONE is smiling! Except Caleb...

Oh Luke. I'm pretty sure he sincerely thinks he is Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes

Dallin with the groom

Isn't she gorgeous!

Dancing Time

Love this man of mine

Saying goodbye to uncle Danny and aunt Lauren

I just loved this picture of Katie and her kiddos

Jared, Lucy, Jason and Caleb after the ceremony

Pretty much how the reception went...

Aunt Erin taking selfies with the tornado

He did not stay clean for long at the wedding

Too much excitement for Caleb

Luke was pretty passed out when we finally got home. He usually always wakes up when we turn the car off. Not this day

We ALMOST didn't come back to Utah. It was VERY tempting.  Especially when we couldn't find our keys for 2 hours. I finally had the thought to call the community's lost and found and sure enough, they were there. They had fallen out of Dallin's pocket on a park trip the night before. If we had lost them, we would have just had to stay forever. Bummer!

Always, ALWAYS have to go to my heaven on earth; good ol' Montana de Oro

I think it's almost time to sign this kid up for rock climbing classes

I'll build house right here, thank you.

Naps were not really scheduled in so this kid would snag a snooze in between activities

Watching Harry Potter, waiting to go to the wedding

Took a quick day trip to Avila to visit Avila Valley Barn and Port San Luis

Happy hearts

Can't get enough of this place

Caleb was in heaven with all the rocks

Uncle Loel

Luke was a huge fan!

All my loves in one picture

 When we went to Avila Valley Barn and Port San Luis, the boys got incredibly sandy and dirty, as they should have. However, there was a little fire on the road that gets us back to where we were staying so we were little nomads for a few hours. Luckily, Danny and Lauren let us come over to bathe the boys with fresh clothes picked up from the clearance rack at Target.

Port San Luis

Both boys were so SO dirty!

Bug inside the candy shop downtown. He's not tired, at all

Enjoying a peach at the best Farmer's Market around

Wave watching

 Have we mentioned how much we love this place? Now that all but one of Dallin's siblings live back in SLO County, it is even harder to leave each time.

Bubblegum alley

How we all felt with the news we had to leave

To ease the pain of not being in SLO, we filled a lot of our fall with hikes to enjoy the beauty around us. I do love fall in Utah. Especially the vibrant red trees!

This pile of leaves has provided entertainment for weeks!

Caleb absolutely LOVED the leaf pile. Good sensory for him

Heaven

Dual Creek Trail

We got Dallin to play hookie from work one afternoon and hike Rocky Mouth Trail with us. Luke loved climbing all those boulders

I mean, for reals

More Rocky Mouth

At the end of Rocky Mouth, there is a perfect sized waterfall. Luke is always looking for waterfalls on our hikes so he was pretty excited we finally found one that he could climb

One day, we went with our friends the Sniders on a hike up Dual Creek trail. The boys loved throwing rocks into the stream and watching them be wisped away. However, on the way out, poor Luke had an encounter with a wasp. The wasp won. Guys, this was his second wasp sting this summer. I don't know how he does it. He was such a trooper though and said he wiped the stinger away and "It feels fine, now!" Even though it swelled quite large, he never complained.

Day 1 of the sting. Poor guy.

Day 2

We were determined to make Dual Creek a good experience, so the next week we went back with Dallin. We made it to the end of the trail without any injuries. Luke now says the "Hike where I got stung by a wasp" is his favorite hike...

Probably one of the best pictures I have gotten of these two

Peek-a-boo Caleb!

Eskimos followed by "Blop" kisses, which is him basically spitting on my face

This view welcomed us at the end of the trail

This fall weather was so, so gorgeous! Can you believe we went hiking in November in short sleeves and shorts?! We took our little buddies the Evans on the Davis Creek trail with us and made it the end of the trail! The boys were so brave.

Little buddies. Oh how we will miss this family when we move.

I am going to miss this lady greatly. We keep each other sane with our morning hikes/runs and visits. 

Halloween was a blast this year. It was the first year that Luke really GOT what the holiday was all about. He loved all the spookiness and would go around saying there was a goblin here or a vampire there and then say, "Oooh, spooky!" He was beyond excited for trick-or-treating and changed what he wanted to dress up as about 20 times. We went from Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes (which I really wanted him to be), to a crane to Buzz back to a crane then Mater to Lightening to a Monster Truck Mater and finally back to Buzz Lightyear. Caleb was still Hobbes because he looked so darn cute in his tiger costume and would laugh hysterically every time we put it on him. A few days before Halloween, we went to our city's Rec Center Spooktacular. It was a blast! They had floating pumpkins in the pool as well as canoe rides and different carnival games in the pools (don't you worry, Luke totally fell in). They also had little spook alleys and a spider's nest which Luke climbed through on his own, fearlessly, and a Zombie run where zombies chased you through an obstacle course. I waited at the end with Caleb for Luke and Dallin and was getting a little nervous when kiddos around Luke's age were coming out crying or completely fear-stricken. However, when Luke came through the last obstacle of balls with zombies popping out, he fearlessly and joyfully laughed his way through, true to Buzz Lightyear fashion.

We went trick-or-treating at Dallin's work followed by around the neighborhood that night. Luke loved every single second and Caleb loved being a tiger.

Petersen Family Farms Pumpkin Patch

The best pumpkin patch picture we could muster out of them

Sipping hot cocoa on a pumpkin walk with the Evans

Fearlessly going through the zombie run

We told him to watch out that the skeleton didn't get him

Caleb enjoyed the guts

The pumpkin eating the other pumpkin was 100% Luke's idea

Dallin and I were parents from the 90's

We also helped put on the annual Lehmitz family Halloween Party. We were in charge of decorations for the Harry Potter themed festivity. We had fun recreating the main hall and Dallin awed all with his impressive artist skills on the house banners.

Floating candles and house banner made by Mr. Dallin himself!

Luke was so stoked to get to turn on the goblets of fire

This makes me smile

It's Harry!!

When we put Dallin's potter scar on his face, Luke decided he needed face art, as well.

We went to Paradise, Utah to meet a family who has started a blog about their life with their little guy who happens to have Down Syndrome, as well their 5 other children. http://thatdadblog.com/ is the blog and their slogan is "Wil Can Fly." When we found out about Caleb, a neighbor brought over a newspaper article that featured them and that is basically how we were introduced into the community; love, excitement and happiness.  Needless to say, getting to meet them was such a treat. They are amazing and so full of love.

Caleb and Wil

After our visit, we went to an apple orchard just up the road from them and got to pick some apples. Always a fun tradition! Caleb was stoked since apples are probably in his top 3 foods. Luke was more interested in the apple cider press.

These cute boys

He probably ate his weight in apples

He also loved climbing the trees

The rest of fall was filled with family visits, making apple cider donuts (We crave them every year ever since we had them in New York with my sister and her family), playing and loving the warmer fall!

Grandpa Green laid some concrete and the boys were lucky enough to be there to get their names forever imprinted on the driveway. I'm a little obsessed with Caleb's little, stubby fingers

 

Didn't come close to New York's, but still delicious!

They are each other's favorite

My little potter baby!

We made fried chicken for a family dinner and Caleb LOVED it!

Literally sucked the bone dry

Sure do love this boy. He is such a smart, silly, mischievous little bug. Has to keep up with his big brother

There is a street in our neighborhood appropriately referred to as "The Tree Street." We walked down it almost every day for 2 weeks while the leaves were changing. 

Morning store run with mom; "Dem bones" jammies, cowboy boots and John Deeere. Ridin' with steez

A regular occurrence. Mom's are human couches/pillows/trampolines/slides/jungle gyms, etc. don'cha know

Caleb is learning to climb and this is one of his favorite places to climb. The couch is by far his most favorite

We're so happy when daddy comes home!

Climbing and getting stuck. The usual.

We LOVE bath time!

Go ahead and make yourself comfy in our bed, stinker

Our lone sunflower that survived

We'll keep everyone posted on our move! Keep us in your prayers that we find a place and don't drive the Green's completely insane with our wildness. Love you all.

We got to be models for an emerging photographer/co-worker