portland

Scott and the kids came to pick me up in Portland last week and Scott surprised me by getting a hotel. Now I say "surprised" because when my penny saving husband normally gets a hotel....it is the cheap of the cheap save your money kind of hotel. But this was the nicest hotel our little family had EVER stayed in together. The kids thought they had died and gone to heaven when they saw the indoor- outdoor pool and we must have ridden up and down in the glass elevators 30 times.

That's us way up there!

They also had to play in the revolving doors because they are apparently "so awesome, mom!"

Before we left Portland we stopped at the Portland Temple.

It was more beautiful than I remembered.

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The last time I was there I was probably with Scott.... but I also had braces, bangs curled and hair sprayed up about 3 inches and (because we were 14 and 15) were totally oblivious of each other.

no one likes a frowny face

i love this boy

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even his grumpy face

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i'll even love it when he is all grown up

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Time Out for Mommy

This past weekend I got to have a fabulous girls weekend in Portland and was able to attend Time Out for Women. Scott took all the kids up to Eugene to go to the Ducks game and Sawyer and I had a much needed getaway.

The first night we got to stay with a friend who use to live in our hometown. It was so fun catching up. I literally took my camera, and had full intentions on using it.... and ended up with maybe 3 horrible shots of the entire weekend. Friday we did some AMAZING shopping in some of my favorite stores (that I never get to be close enough to shop in) and got to eat some yummy food. My friend and I even stopped off at a Gelato shop where it took us about 10 minutes to decide which flavor to get. Decisions, decisions!

Friday night 6 of us (plus the wee babe) checked into the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in! I felt like Madeline or like Fancy Nancy...... or J-Lo! It was right downtown so we ate at the restaurant under the hotel (also uber-fancy) and then hoped onto the MAXX that took us to the convention center. That night, Michael McClean put on a concert and we had 2 other speakers. Not my favorite night of speakers but I got some great books that I can not wait to dive into. After the concert we headed back to the hotel and ordered room service in our jammies! Go figure this was the only event I took pictures of.

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(We all ordered a desert and then spilt them)

The Saturday session was much better and full of great speakers. I think for me the best part of the trip was all of the gabbing I got to do with such awesome women. Gathering advice and swapping stories. Thanks girls, I really had a fun trip!

bad pic.'s- beautiful boys

Auntie Laur Laur got to come to town a few weeks ago and surprise Grandpa and Grandma. We got to play with Oaklen and love him like crazy!

. For some reason these are the only pictures I took while they were here and my camera was on the wrong setting so they are fuzzy and washed out but these boys are so cute I thought I'd post them anyway.
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Look at Oak's eyelashes!! To.Die.For!

We miss you and love your stinkin' guts.

Happy Halloween from the ooooooOOOOlsens!

The girls in their Halloween outfits.

. (I took advantage of Halloween being on a Sunday this year)

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Carving Punkin's

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Our Spooky dinner and our Hunchback waiter.

Happy Halloween!!!

Fall festivities

Its Fall (and snowing) so we have been busy with fun Autumn/Halloween activities. We've tried to cram them all in before Winter sneaks up on us.

We, ...well I should say "I", had grandiose plans for Halloween costumes this year and I failed miserably. Extra time to do projects seems a distant memory to me.

So our "go to" costumes it is! We had a family of pirates to take down to Scarecrow Row this year. It was a little chilly with the wind but we stayed warm with hot cocoa.

We walked in the parade and got to be right in front of these guys:

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Connor was a little scared of that group for the whole parade....but finally got brave enough to give knuckles to a Trooper. The Chewbacka was very impressive I might add.

As soon as October 1st hits the calendar I go Halloween crazy. It is my second favorite Holiday.We put up our decorations and the kids helped make a delish' carrot cake and got to slather it with 2 different kinds of frosting and spooky sprinkles.

Then on Monday, my amazing friend Sara invited several families over to her backyard for a mini harvest carnival.

Her and her hubby set up different stations in their huge yard for kids to rotate through and play fun games.

They had a big bon fire, hot cocoa, treats and hey rides for kids. So much fun.

We had to tear Ellie away from the cricket races and Connor from the doughnuts when it was time to go.

We still have 2 class parties this week and a school carnival next week. Lots of fun and LOTS of candy= lots of teeth brushing!

I like to eat,eat,eat....

Sawyer's favorite foods list:

#1- First and always his favorite is MILK, this boy is a guzzler.

#2-Rice cereal. He finally figured out how to keep some in his mouth.

#3-Sweet potatoes. He smiles after every bite.

#4-Apparently paper gum wrappers. Found one in his diaper last week and for the life of me can not figure out when or how that happened.

And nothing is better than being fed by a big sister.

(wow, slight nudity alert)

pumpkin patch

I got to go with Connor on a Field Trip to a local Pumpkin Patch. It was so fun!! It was my first time going with one of my kids on this field trip because I was preggo and puking last year when Ellie got to go.

I wasn't sure how Connor would act with me there. I thought he might want to be with his friends instead, but the minute we got on the bus he put his hands out on the seat so that nobody could sit next to him but me. And he held my hand the whole way there. Yep....teared up a bit.

What a fun farm they had. You would have thought they had never seen a pumpkin in their lives. The bus doors opened and the kids flew out.

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Connor was careful in his choosing and picked a white one, my favorite kind.

After they picked their pumpkin they played in the corn field and then sat on a hey bail maze to listen to Mrs. C tell all about her farm and how the pumpkins were planted and grown.

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They were all given a treat and then it was time to head back. I'll tell ya, after spending 2 hours with 30 five year old's I felt like I had wrangled chickens ALL day. But we had fun and I am one proud mama!