October's Phone Pics!

 Here's what we were up to in October!
Life according to our phones:

Conference cinnamon rolls:

 Hammer lost a tooth but couldn't leave it under his pillow.  You wrote the tooth fairy an explanation:

She got the memo and left money:

 Picking pumpkins with cousin:

 I finished Gramma's mural:

 Picnic in the warm Fall sun:

 Kiddos and Mamas at the park while the daddies hunt:

 Visiting Grammie, and Hammer found a kitten to love:

 Watermelon Jack o Lantern with our last yummy melon:

 Our scholastic book order came!:

 Fire station open house:

 Pluto loves the little frisbee the boys got from the fire station. He had a hard time figuring out how to pick it up off the floor:

 Looking for Halloween costumes at the DI. Lulu didn't love the Raggedy Ann wig:

 Hammer had 2 teeth pulled, so you got prizes from the dentist and money from the tooth fairy. You didn't like the way the laughing gas made you feel. It made you sick to your stomach and that was really sad. Now we know not to use that!:

 Turning in our artwork for a contest at the doctor's office:

 A cool sunset:

 I helped at Fish's Halloween school party:

Fish keeps putting on Pluto's collar and taking him on walks throughout the house. Pluto gets excited at first because he thinks he's going outside, then just has to follow Fish around the house:

 Ward trunk or treat!:

 Fish gets to play with a friend whenever I help out with TJ's class store:

 TJ wanted a family picture with all of his gorillas:

 Last day at Lagoon!:

 TJ was so brave and finally tried the Puff roller coaster, and loved it. Of course:

Hammer goes fishing with Dad:

 and then TJ wanted to eat the fish that they caught and brought home:

Lastly, all the baby stuff we gathered for refugee baby bundles ready to go:

 October was awesome! Let's make November awesome too.
Love you all,
Mom

Halloween 2017

Kiddos,

Fall Break 2017, Days 3 and 4

Day 3 started out with a drive along highway 1. We went South until we reached a city called Santa Cruz. It was a little unfortunate that there was smoke along the highway so the views were not as cool as they could have been, but you guys loved watching the waves crash and seeing all the pumpkin patches along the way. Hammer, you kept asking why we didn't just stop and get in the ocean here. The reason we didn't stop there was because we were driving to Natural Bridges State Beach to find 9,000 monarch butterflies who "winter" in the park! We made it to the park and went on a butterfly tour.
It was hard to spot the ones that weren't flying around, they were hanging from the branches in groups and looked like dried leaves! Here's one close up that was by the boardwalk:

Then one brushed my face and landed on Hammer's shirt. It was cool!:

Here's a little video of all the butterflies that were flying around:

There was also this pond that was so full of algae the ducks were walking on top of it:

After a picnic lunch the moment you had all been waiting for finally arrived. We went down to the beach!:

You guys got in even though it was pretty cold outside! Baby, you didn't love it when a huge wave pushed you and Ky under. You pretty much stayed up by me after.
Here's a shot Dad got of TJ, Ky, Hammer, and Lulu getting pummeled by a wave:

These seagulls were cracking me up. They walk around looking for food in everyone's things. They knew that Kayleen's sealed bag had food in it and pecked it open:

Hammer, after you had dried off, you made this long trench from where I was sitting down to the water. You were disappointed after all that work that we didn't have a bucket to dump into the trench and watch it flow down. That would have been really cool. Next time we go to a beach let's remember the buckets!:

So sandy. We had to wash you guys off in a potable water spigot and you were all pretty angry about it. It was cold! You warmed up quickly after you dried off and got dressed again though:

After the beach we went into the town of Santa Cruz and you guys checked out a free Marine Exploration Center. It was pretty cute:

Then we decided to check out another redwood park called Henry Cowel State Park.
There was a lot more sun shining through the trees here and the trees seemed a little bigger, but the amazing smell was the same!:

It's hard to see, but there's a deer right there to the right of the log. There were 4 deer just wandering around close to the path, not scared of people at all:

Big trees!:

This one you can go inside.  The space is just big enough to fit a bed in, although it's empty now. Apparently this tree has been used as a honeymoon suite a long time ago:

I could see a train and train track next to the park so we had to go check it out. There was a cute western village and some old trains:

We went out for Mexican food on our way back to the condo. TJ, your favorite part was sucking the limes:

Sunday morning we headed over to church at the ward that's next to the temple. It was their primary program week, so that was fun to watch.
After church we walked around the pretty temple:

and explored the Visitor Center a little:

We went home for lunch and to start packing, then went to a little park. I was hoping the trails and canyon would be cool, they looked cool when I researched it. The park was kinda dumpy and the canyon area was dry:

We sure got a good taste of San Francisco driving around finding these places though!
Next up we met our cousins at the 16th avenue steps. They were so cool!:

A close up of the tile in one section:

We then tried to find parking at Gold Gate Park, but Sunday afternoon is when everyone else is at the park too, so we just moved on to find the Painted Ladies. We were lucky to find a spot to park around the park that's across the street from the Ladies and they had some fun toys for you guys:

There are the pretty houses back there!:

I like how you can see the city behind the houses too:

We went home for dinner and to finish packing. You three boys were thoroughly entertained for a few hours with a car and spoon game that Hammer made up:

Next morning we drove across the Bay Bridge as the sun was rising to get to the airport. It was actually really pretty and there wasn't much traffic going that direction! That was nice because all the other times we drove in the city were pretty stressful with so much traffic.
The flights there and home were short and you guys were so good on them:

We got off the plane, met Great Grandpa with our van, dropped him off at home, picked up a pizza, picked up your backpacks, and got you 3 kids to school! You only had 2 hours until school ended, so it was a nice short day.
We had a really great time. I love traveling with you guys. It's so fun to watch you get excited and see new things.
Love you all!
Mom