trick or treat or stickers.
this is what bentley says instead of trick or treat!

On Friday night we had our ward Halloween party. We had a lot of fun running around with our friends and our weapons in the cultural hall at church. I organized a friendly donut on a string eating competition with some friends and was able to defend my title as champion again. I am still trying to figure out if that is cool or not, but at least it was a whole lot of fun! Thanks Kimber, Natalie, Lauren, and Jen for the good times.




These are the winners of the costume contest. The Floods won 1st place with their homemade Viking costumes from How to Train your Dragon. Stoic the Vast was awesome and Astrid, Hiccup and Viking Mama weren't too shabby either. The boys and I won 2nd place and the Alden's placed 3rd.

Yesterday my parents came up to take us to lunch, carve pumpkins and trunk or treat with us. The boys loved running around the parking lot with their friends filling their bags with sweet sweet goodness. Once we visited every car in the parking lot they copped a squat on the curb and started delving into their treats. I think Gaige favors chocolate. Happy Halloween!
Austin and Alex completed our Halloween theme as Tinkerbell and Smee. And if you can't tell I was Wendy since Bentley was so concerned about who was going to be Wendy.

october.

This is what we've been up to...

On October 1st I busted out the Halloween decorations, hopeful that I wouldn't get sick of looking at them for 30 more days. The boys decorated our front door with paper spiders and a skull, their bedroom door with spiderwebs and spiders, and I did the rest. Bentley loved telling people that it is Halloween time (he kept asking, why are decorating?). And I am not sick of my decorations. Halloween is one of my favorite times of year.

For a preschool field trip we went to Underwood Family Farms. It is a bit of a drive and I said I wouldn't go again after chasing the boys around in a large mass of people last year. This time my mom came and spent the day with us. So she chased one and I chased the other. The boys loved the wagon ride, riding ponies, and feeding the animals with our besties Jenna and Clare.
Bentley, Jaime, Gaige, Jenna, Clare

Grams and Gaige


What? We are all looking at the same time? A small miracle!


Bentley and Gaige decided what they want to be for Halloween. And they have truly committed to their decision. Bentley will be Peter Pan and Gaige will be Captain Hook (I promise I did not influence their decision at all!) I was going to make their costumes this year, but I went to the Disney website to get some ideas for Captain Hook and saw the cutest costume I have ever seen in my entire life! So I bought Gaige's costume. And a few days later I bought Bentley's too because I just don't have the time and energy to make costumes this year. Plus they were way cuter than anything I could have ever made. So here is Gaige modeling his Captain Hook costume. Bentley has his now too and they love to fight each other. Bentley says, "You better say your prayers!" to Gaige just like Peter Pan. Their friend Alexea is going to be Tinkerbell, and her little brother Austin is going to be a pirate (he looks like a tiny little Smee), but Bentley keeps asking who is going to be Wendy. I guess I better find a blue dress!

Tonight we had a little Halloween party in our neighborhood. Bentley and Gaige painted this little pumpkin and Matt carved it for them. They think it is awesome! Thanks for the fun Halloween festivities, Lauren.

P.S. Did you notice that the boys are sunburned? It's true. We went to the beach today. It was beautiful, sunny and 75 degrees which is nicer than it was all summer!

finding faith in los angeles.

My best friend Faith came to visit from Salt Lake for a week while Matt was in Oregon at a conference. The boys were so excited to have her come and even helped her with her luggage.
The first place we went was the Santa Monica Pier. Who knew we would have so much fun! We met this awesome street performer with hula hoops and lots of other great stuff. He taught us how to hula hoop and gave the boys multiple balloons, they kept popping them.. He also sang a song that goes: Who's that baby's mama? You that baby's mama... that Gaige sings to me. We grabbed some corn dogs from Hot Dog on a Stick and had fun walking up and down the pier. Then on our way home in traffic Gaige had to go pee so we were forced to pull over and have ice cream cones at McDonalds!


We also checked out the new visitors' center at the Los Angeles Temple. We got to see some of the cute sister missionaries that used to serve in our ward and check out the fun stuff for the kids to do. The boys loved seeing the statue of the Savior. Then we walked around the temple grounds.



I also took Faith to my favorite beach spot in Santa Monica - Ocean Park : Tower 26. It was warmer than it had been all summer and the boys actually went in the water for the first time this summer. Oh ya! It's not summer anymore!


Our friend Rick was a gem and let us leave the boys with him so we could go to the Relief Society General Broadcast. When we got back Rick and the kids were about to start their 3rd movie viewing (Ice Age 1, 2 and 3) so we got in our jammies and joined them before calling it a night.




We also took Faith to our other favorite place...Disneyland! It was the hottest day of the year at a whopping 115 degrees in Anaheim. It was hot, but we managed to stay about 4 1/2 hours and enjoyed every minute, especially the minutes we spent in air conditioning! The ride home was a different story with 2 hot, sweaty and cranky boys.



When Matt came back home we took off and had some girl time down at 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. We shopped a little and saw the movie "You Again" which was a cute and funny chick flick. Then I conned Faith into eating at Norms. It's like a Denny's and there are a few around L.A. For some reason I have always wanted to eat there, but never have. Boy was I missing out! Granted, I have been on a diet off and on forever, but the California Cheeseburger and onion rings were amazing! Faith also thoroughly enjoyed her giant salad. I can't believe I waited so long to go to Norms. I highly recommend it! Thanks Faith for making my dreams come true!

The boys and I had so much fun with Aunt Faith. They still ask where she is and want to play with her because she is full of fun! We love you, Faith!


P. S. For those of you reading this, Faith is beautiful, amazing and single so if you know any handsome, faithful men in Salt Lake let me know so we can set them up!

summer ends.

Matt turned 30 on September 1st. In celebration he and I went to a spa to have a couples massage, Matt's first real massage ever, and we had a super hero birthday for him. Our massages were excellent and much needed at the old age of 3o. So why a superman birthday party? One of Matt's favorite movies when he was growing up was Superman so I decided to go with a super hero theme. For the party I made a crazy Superman cake. It only took me about 8 hours to make it, but it turned out pretty dang great. If you want to know how I did it you can view it here. I also covered our door with 29 pictures of Matt, one from each year of his life. I ordered some super hero posters (Superman, Spiderman, and Batman) that the boys are excited to have in their room now. And the best part is that our friends were required to come dressed as their favorite super heroes. Clark Kent, Lara Croft, Professor Xavier, Jean Gray, and even the entire Super family were in attendance. My cheetah leggings from the 80's party a few weeks ago came in handy yet again for my cat woman costume. We had a great time and I hope Matt felt special on his 30th birthday!

Here is some Matt Trivia for you:

How old was Matt when he...

1. got his driver's license? 18

2. graduated from high school? 17

3. started dating Jaime? 17

4. started college? 21

5. graduated from BYU? 26

6. got married? 22

7. became a daddy? 26

8. became an uncle? 4

9. started playing football? 13

10. bought his first car? 19

My niece Blake turned 2 on September 4th so we celebrated with my brother's family by going to Disneyland with them. The boys had so much fun with their cousins. Bentley especially loved being carried around by Chance. Happy Birthday, Blake!


Another gift I gave Matt for his birthday was a trip to Pismo Beach to ride his dirt bike. Our friends the Gundersons joined us for some fun in the sand. In order to prepare Matt had to make sure his bike still worked after not having ridden it in 3 or more years. The boys loved watching him work on his bike. They also loved scooping up all of the sand in the back of his truck (from the busted sand bags making his suspension not so bumpy).



Our trip to Pismo was awesome. It was short, but just right. We left Saturday morning and came back Sunday afternoon. We ate great food, had s'mores, sat around the campfire, and hung out with our fabulous friends. The boys had their own tent and did ok for the most part. Bentley woke up a few times, the first time because Gaige pushed him off the air mattress (he was using Bentley's tummy as a pillow), and the second time he got scared and said he wanted to go home. So we ended up playing musical tents in the middle of the night. He slept with me and Matt went and slept with Gaige. Now we definitely know camping with the boys is doable and fun.



The boys started preschool on Tuesday and I got to be their teacher (it's a co-op). They are in the same class since they are so close in age. Bentley did the same class last year so he is the oldest in the class, but loves going to school so much I couldn't deprive him of it. Their friends Ethan, Nicholas, Clare and Sloane are in their class so it will be lots of fun for them.
I can't believe it is already fall. With the weather around here not being warm all summer, I feel like it shouldn't be fall yet. And I am not ready for Matt's vacation to be over yet.