I'm SO behind!!

It's that time of year again, or it has been that time of year again.  As usual, I am running behind on all things.  One item I usually attempt to cross off of my to do list is Christmas cards.  I love to send pictures of the family out.  I just finished choosing the pictures I am going to use and luckily I can choose from hundreds of cards at Shutterfly.com. To be honest, this will be the first time for me ordering from them.  But so far I am very pleased with the selection of cards they have to offer.  You can look for yourself here http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards and here http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards.  Below are a few examples that I liked.

Not only can you order your Christmas cards through Shutterfly, you can also create many different projects and gifts.  One project I like to do for my husband is create a photo calendar for him to take to work, http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars .  Once again there is a great selection.  You can choose from 20 different designs for wall calendars, which is what we usually do.  There are also desk calendars and poster calendars.

Finally, as most of you know, we will soon be needing birth announcements.  Any guesses as to where we will be ordering from?  That's right, Shutterfly.  For girls alone they have 185 to choose from!  Take a look 

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birth-announcements

The best part of all is the great prices and promotions Shutterfly runs.  Simply for posting this, I will be receiving 50 free Christmas cards!  Plus, in a prenatal package from Motherhood Maternity, I received a $20 gift card!  Check them out, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Halloween 2010

The boys had a great time trick or treating at all of the fams houses.  At this point we just hit Farmor and Gramps, The Gibsons (next door to F/G) Nans, Grammie and Papas and The Armstrongs.  The boys love it and that way everyone gets to see them.  This year Cody and I felt very protected by all of our super heros!  Jacob was Iron Man, Ronan was Batman and Aidan was Bumblebee the transformer.  The last photo is the cutest Yoda ever - Rylan, my nephew.  He enjoyed his first Halloween as well. 

Pumpkin Carving

We had a full house this year carving pumpkins.  Many of the cousins came over to join in on the fun.  We had Riss and Rylan and the Smalley clan.  It was so great to have so many people there.

Desert Botanical Gardens Pumpkin Patch

I love this time of year . . . the weather is cooler, the boys can play outside any time of the day, football is on TV, and the holidays are just around the corner.  This year is even more special to me because we will be able to enjoy it with more family.  The Smalley's have moved back to Arizona!!!  We are all super excited to be able to spend time with all of them!!  Our first tradition of the year was to go to the pumpkin patch at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  It's a great little festival and the boys each got to pick out a pumpkin and play games.  They had a blast.  Plus, their cousins were able to go.  (Except for the newest cousin - Rylan.  Hopefully next year!!!)

Jacob

Ronan and Jacob searching for the perfect pumpkin

Caleb found his!

Teresa had to roll hers!

Ronan found his!

Micah dragging his . . .

Calen and the pony in the petting zoo

Caleb caught a chicken!

I think the pig was a little unsure

Until Ronan offered food.

Micah, Teresa, Caleb, Aidan, Jacob and Ronan

That's right . . .

It's that time again . . . .

Have mud, will play!!!!

Pretty self explanatory . . .

Raspberry Picking!!

Apparently we DO have wild raspberries growing in AZ!!  I was SO excited to find that out.  Also surprised that my mom, queen of the mountains, didn't know about them.  We headed up last Friday in search of the berries.  It was an awesome day of hiking with the boys and Grammie and Papa.  Our first stop brought up zero.  However, after lunch we hit the rim and found a ton of plants.  They were loaded with berries, but majority of them were not ripe.  That's OK.  We had a blast and picked enough.   Too many pics to label, but I think they are pretty self explanatory.  Enjoy!