Never Forget

In honor of the anniversary of 9-11. I thought I'd post this great video message about how 9-11 changed one man's life for the better. It's well worth the few minutes it takes to watch :)

Almost 35

Last week was Mark's 34th birthday. He had a couple helpers to assist him in the opening of his one gift...

Yep...he got a picture of a camera! But only because the real one is being shipped and couldn't get here in time. This is the camera that he has been pining over for months. It's the CANON EOS 50D....and it's not cheap to say the least. So, I will admit that I had some selfish motives here. I was really wanting a nice new camera for my own use as well so I told him he can give the "picture" back to me for my birthday in two weeks...and it may be our Christmas present too :)

say "cheese" I have to preface my cake with the fact that I only had like 2 colors to decorate with so judge accordingly. Mark always gives me a hard time because I'm a year older than him (Actually it's 11 months and 2 weeks if you want to get technical). 35 sounds so much older than 34. When you're 35 you are well on your way to 40. Ughhh!! At 34 you're still closer to 30....so I figured I'd emphasize the 35 part :) Some more help since there were so many candles... Happy Birthday Mark (and no Mark did not ask for the Thomas the Train plates...they were left over from Luke's birthday:) )

A new pair of shoes

First day of school means another new pair of shoes. Don't you just love the first day? They're all dressed up (in the clothes you pick out...lucky me, Dylan still lets me dress him :)) with their shiny new shoes that stay that way for about a day. Here's a little collage of Kindergarten through 3rd grade for Dylan....

And a little THEN and NOW...can't believe how much he's grown!

Doesn't want much to do with Mom these days...dreading the day that he wont kiss me on the cheek when he says goodbye. After that it's "Can you drop me off on the corner mom?" Another little THEN and NOW. Carson is Dylan's friend since before Kindergarten. They are only a few days apart, go to church and school together and now live just down the street from eachother. "Time for you to leave now Mom"

A few more years for these guys....

So ready for Fall

With school starting for us this last Monday, I am soooo ready for summer to be over and fall to begin! I have just been craving lots of fallish things like:

• wearing jeans and sweaters
• burning yummy smelling candles
• baking bread and pies
• a crackling fire in my fireplace
• rotating my wardrobe for church
• dressing my kids in pants and long sleeve shirts
• not using my air conditioner and seeing my gas and electric bill go way down!
• snuggling on my couch with a blanket and socks
• the smell of new school supplies
• season premiers of good TV shows (so excited for Grey's Anatomy!!)
• going for a morning run when it's gray, cold, and foggy. Mmmmm....
• sleeping under my covers instead of on top
• seeing Christmas stuff in the stores and hearing the infamous carols over the loud speakers
• thunder and lightening

Go away hot sticky weather!!!!

....Although I will miss my tan :(

Surfing 101

Dylan had a little Surfing 101 this summer from Mark and Uncle Scotty. I was a little nervous that he would get frustrated and not like it because he tends to be a bit of a perfectionist .....wonder where he gets that from? :). But..... he seemed to have a lot of fun learning and I'm sure he'll be at it again next summer. Here's a few pics from those lessons

Half way up.....

Uncle Scotty spent some time as teacher too.

And after enough of these...

He was ready to get back to digging for sand crabs and building sand castles.

There's something about little boy surfers that I just love...so cute. I'm looking forward to the day that I get to relax on the beach while Mark takes all of them out to catch some waves :)