Finally Halloween

I feel like Halloween has been a long time coming because James has already gotten so much use out of this monkey costume. But I like that we are getting our money's worth ($5 from DI). I just hope I can get it put away without him noticing or missing it!

James figured out this holiday pretty fast (getting dressed in a cool outfit and getting candy!) and he realized he really liked this holiday.

I made this pretty creepy jack-o-lantern! How cool is that? It's only cool because I am like the most uncrafty and uncreative person there is so it's pretty amazing for me! I did it free-hand too! No cheats!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! 

The Fall

I love fall time because the weather is perfect now! I can break out my sweaters, scarves, jackets and boots.  In the fall I think of beautiful upstate New York - where I grew up. The colors in the east coast are amazing this time of year and I miss that living in the desert of Nevada. I also think of my grandparents' upstate farm and their fall pumpkin patch. 

Photo by Jeff Grandon

 I wish I could go visit and take James this season. I went home to New York in the fall when James was just three months old. Now that he is two he is at an age where he would love everything about it! The hayride, pumpkins, huge tree house, farm animals, corn maze, and apple cider doughnuts. Maybe next year we will have a trip back east!

And don't mind this old picture back when James and I were both a little chunkier! 

In the fall I also think of men (and boys) watching lots of football. Go Cougars! James actually sat and watched a big portion of the BYU v Notre Dame game last week - I got so bored and starting cleaning. Long hours of football watching must be a boy thing!

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall in their parts of the world. 

Dad in Training

 While we were organizing closets in the house James found the BabyBjörn. (Do you like my umlaut? I only know what it's called because of Dwight Shrute (and because Wikipedia confirmed it.)) He insisted on wearing it, so I added the moose so he would know what it was for because he thought it was just a backpack. 

He loved to wear it! So sweet that he's a daddy in the making! Ironically James hated being in the Björn when he was a baby. Hope we have better luck with our future babies because my arms were always tired from holding James!

Closet Tours

We've been in our house for over a year and I finally got around to organizing our closets. I finished mine and James' and Brian's is still in transition. Before, Brian and I were sharing the closet in our room and for part of my birthday present he volunteered to move his things to the smaller guest room closet and give me my own! I hadn't even thought of having my own, but I like the idea now! What a great hubby! 

Disclaimer: So if you don't like seeing home decor things you might hate this blog post, but I like seeing how other people organize their homes. So you can use this as a reference or just for fun (or close the window if you hate it).

I started in James' room. Before (sorry no ugly before picture - just imagine) James's clothes and things were just shoved in the closet and I would shut the doors and not worry about it. But it finally got to me! Here is the organized closet:

Pants and nicer shirts are hung with matching white hangers. Folded on the shelf are nice sweaters so they don't stretch. Lounge wear and tees are also folded on the shelf. I also store some shoes, books, diapers and wipes, decorations, and a few other things on the rest of the shelving. The shelving was already installed when moved in, but we have adjusted some and taken some out and moved some of the shelving around for our needs. 

My closet (Thanks for moving out Brian!):

We have the same white shelving system in here. I store most of my wardrobe in here - tops, bottoms, skirts, dresses, jackets, winter coats, shoes, scarves, and the gun. Yes, gun! Brian wants to put a wall safe in here. But that sounds like an Indian Giver to me... (Remember that Seinfeld episode when Jerry keeps making Native American references, just a funny, random thought! Funny episode though.) We also have the clothes hamper in here and out of the way. I'm not crazy about the shape of the closet - it's L shaped, but I tried to  make the most of the space. 

We also have these two dressers in our master bedroom. The one on the top stores delicates, socks, tanks, and sweaters that I don't want hung up so they keep their shape. And all my jewelry and perfumes are on top. The other dresser (which desperately needs some decorating on top) has my workout clothes, lounge wear, maternity clothes, and the clothes I sell. For those of you that don't know I sell clothes on eBay. Some of the things are clothes of mine that no longer fit (from weight gain and weight loss) and things I just don't wear anymore. I also sell things that I find at thrift stores. Here in Vegas I have had tons of success finding nice, high-end clothes at thrift stores that I have been able to flip and some I keep for myself! Don't be too embarrassed to try out thrift shopping! If my clothes weren't bought at Target or Wal-Mart, I probably got it secondhand! You'll be surprised what things people give away! Just last week I found this St. John leather jacket for $14. Hard to beat that price!

Happy organizing and thrift shopping!

Pre-Halloween Monkey Suit

James has been sporting this monkey suit for the majority of the day. He won't take it off! I managed to get him in some normal clothes for some errands this morning and then he was back into his monkey costume. I got this out over the weekend to see if it would still fit him for this Halloween (he wore it last year) and he certainly will be wearing it again for this Halloween because he won't take it off and maybe even for Thanksgiving and Christmas! 

He must get hot in it because he always wants to take off his clothes underneath when he's wearing it. And in case you were wondering what that is around his neck it's a cell phone charger cord---I don't know why. 

He's a goofball. 

My Two Boys

With the exception of the lipstick incident, James seems to do everything that Brian does and loves to be just like daddy! 

He plays with tools.

Yes, he's shooting at me like it's a gun.

Sporting an apron.

He loves Brian's work ID lanyard and shoes.

 My boys are so cute!

Pretty in Pink

James got into my purse and this happened.

I had to hide that I was laughing and pretend to be mad so he thought he was in trouble. Or otherwise he would ruin more lipstick tubes! Fortunately all my lipsticks are drugstore and not like YSL. (Wait that isn't fortunate...) But I would have been mad if he had ruined a YSL lipstick (that I unfortunately don't own...).

Sunday Afternoon

This weekend we had an opportunity to listen to the leaders of our church, including the prophet Thomas S. Monson. It was great to hear their comforting words and guidance for our lives. It was also great to spend the weekend with family and friends. This is a link if you want to know more about what we believe. Afterwards, we went an a short drive to the Las Vegas Mormon Temple to walk the grounds. It is always so beautiful and peaceful to go to the temple and I especially love to go as a family. 

Grandma came to visit for the weekend!

On the top of the spire is a gold angel with a trumpet that James loved to point at. (My iPod's lens isn't big enough to get the whole picture with James and the Angel Moroni so it's in two parts.)

Brian was helping James get a drink from the water fountain and it reminded me of a picture I had seen of Brian and his Dad. I love these father/son moments!

James loved the fountains and tried to jump in a few times and I was worried about having to go in after him because I was wearing suede boots! (And of course because I didn't want him to fall in!)

I found this amazing photo showing the spires of the Las Vegas Temple with a backdrop of the Las Vegas Strip. It is a pretty jarring juxtaposition.

Photo by Ivan Makarov 

Peaches & Beginning of Fall

A friend of mine gave me these gorgeous peaches, so I decided to make a peach pie. It was so yummy! It was a perfect 

end-of-summer-beginning-of-fall kind of pie. 

 After I made this pie I made the same crust but used strawberries instead of peaches. Just as good! And I also have been making the best banana muffins lately. It must be the cooling-off weather that is getting me to bake and be excited about the fall. (Or I'm hoping for cooler weather, because it's still in the 90s here in Vegas! But I am still starting to wear my boots even though it is still technically hot because I am so sick of summer fashion and all I want to wear are coats and boots!)

Visit from Kara

We had some fun in Sin City (But of course there is no fun in sinning.)

Brian hating my PDA

My gorgeous friend Kara and her boyfriend came to visit for the weekend. I met Kara my freshman year of college at BYU. We happened to sit next to each other in a huge lecture hall for our GE physical science class. She turned to me and asked if I liked to party! Funny right!? I thought so and I never thought I seemed like the partying type, but I replied in the affirmative nonetheless. (I figured I am a pretty wild board game player and I sometimes stay up past midnight so that makes me a moderate partier, okay mild partier.) And we have been dear friends ever since. I hadn't seen her in over a year and a half because she was serving as a missionary in Canada for the church we are members of, the Mormon church. She just finished and returned back to the States for school. So she came to visit us and we had so much fun hanging out, eating, going to the Strip and playing lots of games. We "partied" pretty hard! We hope she comes to visit again soon!

We bribed James with food and a sippy cup of milk to behave and sit happily in his stroller. He thinks he is too much of a big boy to be in stroller now, but unfortunately he tries to run away. So obviously he was in the stroller most of the time. 

  

This was the first time James had fun going to the Strip. He LOVED the Bellagio water show. It really is amazing every time I see it! James was screaming and cheering. He would scream with delight when the water shot up really high and then turn to me and see if I saw it too. As a mom it was a pretty awesome moment to see my son get so excited about something. I have never seen him in such amazement and amusement. It was a fun moment we will have to capture again. 

James also loved the aquarium fish at Caesar's Forum shops. (Sorry the fish didn't show because of the flash.) He would squeal with delight and point to each fish that swam by. He is at such a fun stage of learning and exploring (and naughtiness) but I hope to never forget how much fun he is at this age.

I also went in to the Burberry store when we were at the shops because I saw the most amazing trench coat. I tried it on and I fell in love! It was so gorgeous and classic. The size was too big and I felt badly asking the employee to get me another size and then make her have to put both away when I knew I wasn't going to be able to drop $1,300 on this coat, at least for now! But I know what I want for Christmas in about ten years!