Happy birthday Dad!

I wanted to heartily agree with this post! I'm so lucky to have been given a Dad (& Buddy to my kids) like you and doubly lucky that I was able to be around for your birthday! I hope this new year treats you especially well and is full of all the things and people you love most! You certainly deserve it!

Happy birthday A. Mishy Mish!

Cheers and best wishes for a great new year ahead, one chock full with tons of happiness for you! Hope you are able to relax, kick back and enjoy your special day over this weekend. And I hope this coming year is better than ever.

Love you!

Happy birthday Duane!

Happy birthday to a great guy who's not only an awesome brother-in-law, uncle and father, but also gives a lot to serve and protect our country!

Hope you were able to enjoy a bit on your birthday and that you have an awesome weekend of celebrating with your family. All the best in this new year!

Michael, Amy and the boys!

May you rest in peace, Steve Jobs!

My heart goes out to Steve Jobs' family at this time and they are in my prayers. I think there's something to said and greatly admired about a man who made such a remarkable difference on the world in so many different ways. He created, innovated, dreamed, touched, shaped, inspired, encouraged, motivated, set the bar and achieved from his heart and through his passion in life and what he did. I hope and pray that legacy lives on a little bit in each of us.

I for one know that I want to live my life that much fuller, dream that much bigger and believe that it can happen and hope to teach instill that desire in my children.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. His family is in my prayers.

Some all-time great quotes from Steve Jobs (but there are so many more):

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle."

"Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

"If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."

And my all time favorite. Just never gets old, no matter how many times you watch it (and is probably getting trillions of hits tonight).:

Rainy day fun!

So we had a rainy day (Yes! My fall weather has come!), which was quite different as it hasn't rained in a long time here. (Hmmm, seems odd to say that living in the bay area...) So I pulled out my save-it-for-a-rainy-day projects, one of which was also an autumn decoration. Two in one, yes! It was a pretty easy and fun one, saw it at Michael's and thought I could manage and we did. Conner had lots of fun doing it since it was a project made of foam which you had to piece together and then the rest is stickers which you place on the foam...for lack of a better description...

Visiting a Pumpkin Patch Farm

I just love the fall season (thus my blog theme change), it seems to come at just the right time when you feel done with the summer sun and heat and ready for a little cooler, weather...at least here in Cal (I know everyone's not so lucky). And my very favorite thing about it is that it means we're almost at Cmas, which is my very favorite holiday!! Hurrah!

So to kick off the season, we went to our first little pumpkin patch. It was a smaller one, but still tons of fun and just perfect for our little kids. So, here are some pix.

First up was the Cow train ride. We thought it was pretty unique. It went through a corn field and each little car was a cow and instead of a whistle for a train it would "moooo". The boys just LOVED that.

Conner and I in one of the cows. 

Trev trying to pick up a pumpkin.

Getting Daddy's help.

Trevor, "Mr. Independent".

He put all these pumpkins in the wagon himself and carted it around.

A hay maze.

The playground there.

Conner said this one was "way better". ha!

A corn box.

Happy Anniversary to us!

(A couple days ago)...

We made it through three years of marriage and two years of raising two darling, energetic boys (which sounds easier than it is.) I know the fun is just beginning and I wouldn't want to be with anyone else in this adventure. Thank you for your care, love, understanding, patience and so much more.

Here's to us and many more great years together!