October Birthdays

Our birthdays this year were a lot of fun. Caden requested an ocean party. I thought he meant an ocean-themed party, so Aunt Calee made an awesome shark cake, and Grammy and Aunt Talicee put up fish decorations and planned fun ocean-themed games (my favorite was "Get the Tail Off the Seahorse"). As we were driving to Grammy's house, Caden started crying, because he thought we were having a party at the ocean- not about the ocean. Fortunately, he still had a great time!

Vance wanted to celebrate his birthday with his best friend, Jacob, at Pretend City, which is a big children's museum in Irvine. Those two boys had so much fun riding around in the pedal cars!
Calee did a fantastic job on Caden's cake! He (and I) appreciated it so much!

Vance and his new tool set.


.I thought Grammy was going to pull Caden's arms out of their sockets. I don't think that they ever popped that balloon.

Halloween

I made the boys' costumes this year. Caden wanted to be Obi-Wan Kenobi and Vance wanted to be a pirate. The fabric store didn't have a pattern for any Star Wars costumes, so I had to figure it out on my own. Vance wanted a fancy pirate jacket. Thankfully, I was able to get all of the fabric from the remnants bin or the sale rack. It cost the same as it would of if I were to buy it, but I had more fun. Also, for their boots, I just covered their rainboots with the appropriate fabric- cheap and easy!

We actually carved the pumpkins this year! Last year, we got so busy that they remained uncarved. Caden designed his own.

Archery

At Mom's birthday, Caden had his first archery lesson from my brother Billy and Tevye. He hit the center of the target on his first try!

Our Soccer Star

Caden made the first goal at his first game. We later found out that he had no idea that he had scored a goal. He was just happy to have a chance to kick the ball. Doesn't he look cute in his uniform?

Caden in the First Grade

First day of school.

He is still enjoying it.

Un Templo en Concepcion!!!!

I was so excited to hear President Monson announce that a temple will be built in Concepcion, Chile! This is great news! Right now, there is only one temple in Chile (Santiago), and the members from our mission area had to travel very far to get there. I know that they are grateful for this blessing.

Eventful August

August turned out to be very busy for us- two weddings and two weeks of vacation. Tev's sister, Michaela, was married on the 8th, and his brother, Micah, got married on the 22nd. Sandwiched in between those two events was a trip to the American River in Sacramento, one and a half weeks in Utah, and a drive up to Idaho. Tevye was only able to join us for the first week (of course, he wouldn't miss the river rafting) and the two weddings. My mom-in-law and sis-in-law (Talicee) stayed with Caden, Vance, and I for the entire vacation. We went to Education Week at BYU, did some sight-seeing in Salt Lake, and got to visit with some good friends. I loved that the boys did so well on the trip- Caden was such a trooper and so helpful! Vance tested my patience, but he was a good boy. I really enjoyed the pioneer town at the "This Is the Place" monument. The boys got to ride a train, dip candles, and make clay marbles. I got to test out our new camera. Education Week was also fun. Thanks to Kree and Talicee for sacraficing class time to watch the boys so I could go to some classes!!!!