Pumpkin Patch

We had to experience Halloween at a pumpkin patch. Ellie loved the petting zoo. Well, I think she was entertained by the animals but not really into touching them. Mark Hypnotized a chicken with Paul, his brother, as a witness.



Pumpkin Patch fun!




She is a pumpkin hugger not a tree hugger.



Teaching our daughter the country ways.

Family pictures

Our friend Lani took these pictures of us. Ellie was not the most cooperative but Lani still managed to catch a bunch of great pictures. I haven't included all of them because some are going to be Christmas present surprises. So just enjoy these few! Thanks Lani.




Ellie's arms held out for a long time. She might be a gymnast or a circus performer.



If I need Ellie to survive for a little bit longer, I know she loves to ride shotgun on my shoulders. She steers me using my hair like a Jockey uses reins.







One of my favorites. Ellie is such a daddy's girl. She knows when he is around that she gets to play and laugh.

Matching

We have had way to much fun trying to coordinate our outfits for church. It usually revolves around Ellie's dress and then Mark goes on the hunt for a tie that matches. He is normally successful because he has a hundred million ties that are crazy yet wonderful. They are his prize collection.



This is for my parents because they brought this dress back from a trip. Grandma was inspired to get the bigger size and good thing she did because it fits great. She will be our surfer girl!

Carving pumpkins

To start off our Halloween day we went to carve some pumpkins with some friends. It was a first time for Ellie and many of our friends from Asia who were incredibly excited to cut into a pumpkin. In the end, the main event was the kids who painted all the pumpkin lids and themselves. They even kept the pavement clean although I can't say the same thing about their clothes.



This is our darling friend Brooklyn. She wishes she could be Ellie's big sister. Ellie smiles and claps when she sees her!



Rachael just kept telling Brooklyn,"More paint". These two had a great time.





These are our friends who moved here from Japan. Saiko, Sota and Wataru carved their first pumpkin and it was a success.



This is our pumpkin that ellie is posing so nicely in front of. If you look closely you can see the effects of the San Diego weather around the moldy eyes. It was a great Halloween.



Once again, Ellie is happy with her keys.

The Wild Things

This Halloween we decide on a family theme. In honor of the movie and book Where the Wild Things Are, Ellie was Maxine (normally MAx), and Mark and I were here guardian Wild Things. She was in shock at the ward trunk or treat because she just stared at everything. Her favorite part was sucking on the keys. This is always her favorite past time. We didn't eat a lot of candy but we did eat a huge pumpkin pie that was delicious.

Down and dirty while camping

October was filled with fires, hikes, marshmallows and dirt. We went on two overnight campouts. The first was with the ward and the second was with Mark's lab. Ellie enjoyed the dirt, fire, trees and hikes. She didn't like sleeping in mom's sleeping bag and it was mutual. We didn't sleep very well. But who really expects to get a great night of sleep camping. We are planning to camp during the Thanksgiving weekend so we must have enjoyed it.



We also went on a hike along a creek surrounded by the trees full of beautiful fall leaves. I have included a pictures of the wall/cliff that we scaled to get down to the water. Mark climbed this with Ellie on his back. I was amazed and really grateful that he was far enough in front of me that I didn't know what he was doing until he was down. I would have turned around and climbed straight back up the hill if she was on my back. He is much more sturdy and confident in his rock climbing/baby carrying abilities.



This was our final destination

No rhyme or reason to our update order

Um...
First off I am sorry that the last update was in July. This was before Ellie could crawl, Jenn was still 25 and Mark could surf for hours with out his feet going numb. Hopefully you will take the time to read a few posts, because there have been a few picture requests and a lot of fun activities between then and now. Here we go...

This is going to be out of order because the other pictures are on mark's laptop on Ellie's room and she is sleeping. I am on a roll and don' want to wait until she wakes up. So we will start in Oct/Nov and post the other months later.

This is Ellie's new find. She loves to help us brush our teeth and then use it herself. There are 2 benefits: Since she loves to brush hopefully she won't have cavities galore like her mom and for exactly 2 minutes she is completely enthralled.