Halloween

Allison had fun putting together a group costume with Macy, Dana and Maddie for Halloween.

 They were the "Average Joes" from the movie Dodgeball.  They all got ready together at Macy's and 

then went trick-or-treating with a large group in Redhawk.  Taylor stayed home and helped us pass out candy, although it was a pretty quiet night for our neighborhood.  I think having Halloween on a Monday may have impacted the amount of trick-or-treaters.

Peltzer Farms

I think this may be our last family trip to Peltzer Farms, but the girls were excited to go and pick up pumpkins.  Not much to do for the "big kids",

but they got their pumpkins and we enjoyed walking around the new winery.  Such cute decor!  I'm sad these traditions are coming to an end as Taylor will be away at college at this time next year.  Hard to believe!!

IACP Award

Matt has been with the HT Task Force for a year now and has made quite an impact in SD County.  Tonight, his hard work was acknowledged with the Multi- Agency Human and Civil Rights Award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

 We were excited that family was invited to attend 

 and Gigi was thrilled to coincidentally be here for a visit!

 The event was at the Marriott Marquis in downtown SD.  Some of the top officials in local law enforcement and agencies around the world were represented.  Matt shares this award with Chris and Danny...the directors of the other 2 agencies that help run the task force.

 Each agency was given a plaque.

 Matt and his lieutenant

 DOJ representatives

 We are so proud of the work Matt does each day to rescue so many victims of HT and prosecute the offenders.

Gigi treated us to a wonderful dinner at Chianti in the Gaslamp and we celebrated "Matt's Day".  He made sure to remind us of that several times...:)

Weekend Visit from Kansas

After 56 days apart (but who was counting!), these 2 were reunited for a long weekend.  Taylor surprised Andrew at the airport with his parents and they had a nice weekend of hanging out...the beach, time with family, dinner dates and lunch with friends.  They are handling this long distance thing pretty well, but sure enjoyed the time to reconnect.  Only a few more weeks until Taylor and I make our trip to Kansas so the goodbye wasn't as emotional as the last time...

1st Annual Mom's Disney Day

What better way to celebrate October birthdays than a day at Disneyland?  Is it bad we didn't take the kids?  Nope!  We all played cookie from work and had a fantastic "mom's day"!

 The best part was sending selfies to our kids all day while they were at school!  Mean, I know!

 It was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday, but we covered lots of ground!  Haunted mansion...

 Thunder Mountain Railroad

 Got my Mickey Ears ice cream bar

 Utopia

 Matterhorn

 Buzz Lightyear

 More treats!

 It's a Small World

 We took advantage of the Disney App for line times and did our share of FastPasses.

 Indiana Jones was closed for quite a while, but we managed to use our FastPass before the day was done.

 It was so fun having a day to just play and act like kids with these great ladies.  

 I think we will make this a yearly tradition!

One last treat on Main Street before calling it a night.  I think we walked around 23,000 steps so it was ok!!

42

It seems by birthday wouldn't be complete without donuts!  It has become tradition!  Matt and I went out for a nice walk and trip to Starbucks this morning and came home to this lovely surprise.  Leslie stood in line at Wongz Donutz for me!  I have been dying to try this place, but they sell out everyday and I just haven't been able to get there in time.  They were delicious!  I loved the S'mores and Nutella, but all were pretty tasty!

Before the kids left for their homecoming festivities, I opened cards and gifts from my sweet family.  I loved the cards and necklace from the girls and Matt got me some cute workout clothes and Disney gift cards for my Disneyland day next week!  After finishing up with the homecoming pictures, we went to Old Town for dinner at Palumbo's.  It's one of the last places we had yet to try in Old Town and it was delicious!  I loved the gnocchi and Matt loved the Chicken Parmesan.

Then we stopped by Crush and Brew for a drink at the bar.  When we were just about done, the bartender came up to us and said that a customer wanted to buy us another round to thank Matt for his service.  We scanned the restaurant and spotted our friend Doug sitting across the room. We visited for a while and he ended up picking up our entire tab.  What a sweet friend!

My other birthday favorite is Baskin Robbins ice cream cake!  Although too full to eat it tonight, we will share it as a family tomorrow.  It was a great birthday!  I got lots of lovely calls, Facebook messages, cards in the mail and Wendy left a sweet gift on the front porch.  I feel blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that made turning 42 not so bad!!

Homecoming 2016

Although these two beauties had different venues for pictures and dinner, we did a few pics at home before they went their separate ways.

Leslie did Allison's hair and she looked so pretty all dolled up!  She was so excited for her first high school dance and a fun day with friends.

 Taylor looked so classy in her dress and was ready for a fun night at her last homecoming dance.

Matt and I sure got lucky with these girls and are so happy they get to spend this year together!

 I had gone over earlier in the day to help the moms set up for Allison's event. The Walker's hosted pictures and dinner at their beautiful home in the wine country.

We decorated in the theme of the dance...The Great Gatsby.

Once all of the kids arrived, we did pictures first.  Allison has made a wonderful group of friends since school started and she is so happy!

Macy, Maddy, Jake, Adam, Dayna, Maddy, and Carson

Dayna's dad let the kids use his truck for some fun photos!

After pictures, they went inside to have Chipotle bowls.  They had a great time as a group and then headed off to the dance.  Allison came home raving about the night.  Her smile said it all!

Taylor's group of 47 attempted pictures at Galway Downs, but there was a wedding going on so they had to head over to Claire's for pictures and dinner.  I captured this cute one with Jacob and Vanessa before I had to rush over to Allison's group.

Parker and Nathan are two of Andrew's best friends and wanted to take this picture with Taylor to send to him...so sweet!

 Jacob and Jenner

 Taylor and Drew have been friends since they were toddlers!

 Taylor and her date, Devan :)