It’s been such an action packed couple of months! I unfortunately had my Facebook account hacked and then disabled, and because my Instagram account was linked to my Facebook, that got disabled as well. I still haven’t regained access but I’m hopeful I will get everything back! All that to say, I haven’t been able to share with all of my friends and family everything we’ve been up to lately. Between photographing weddings, family photo shoots, and all the fall family fun we’ve had, it definitely has not been boring over here. So in more or less this order, here’s what we’ve been up to!

In October, my mom, dad and I participated in a 19 mile skate, bike, roll along the CA Coast with our rollerskating club, Coast Skate Club. We were the first place team for fundraising bringing in $8400 for an organization called B4BC that funds Breast cancer awareness and survivorship programs. We had such a great time and look forward to doing it every year! 

Daniel and I loved taking the kids to a couple different pumpkin patches this year. Everly and Oliver loved feeding the farm animals, going on a tractor ride, playing games, jumping on the bounce house, and enjoying all of the pumpkins and hay everywhere. We always love it when Nana, Papa, and Papa Carlson can join in on the fun as well! So many fun memories were made. We got to squeeze in a couple of beach days before the weather got cooler too. It’s so fun taking my kids to the same beach that I grew up going to as a kid. It’s one of their favorite places to be. 

We booked our first Disneyland trip and we get to enjoy that with our whole family soon! So we got the kids new pjs and mouse ears to celebrate. They loved getting to dress up and go trick or treating together. At the pumpkin patch they dressed up as Mickey and Minnie, but for trick or treating, Everly wanted to be Rapunzel. She is definitely most happiest wearing her princess dresses. You can find her wearing them 90% of the time here at home. It’s hard to believe how grown up she is now. She is constantly blowing us away with how smart and mature she is now. Sometimes it’s hard to realize that she’s only 3. I’ve been doing some at-home preschool with her and she loves it! She is the best big sister to Ollie and so sweet with him. They of course have their moments but overall they have such a great relationship. They truly are becoming the best of friends. 

We visited Papa Carlson’s house, had cousin Brian over here at our house, and of course, the kids had numerous visits to Nana and Papa’s house while Daniel and I were out on photo shoots. Our pup Rusty Roo turned 10 years old! He’s been in our lives for the last 8 years and we have so many great memories with him. The kids love him so much and I love that they get to grow up and make more special memories with him. We celebrated my first niece Kaylyn’s 9th birthday with the family, we went to a car show, and Oliver had his first hair cut! I loved getting to do it for him. He’s such a little sweetheart. His personality is the cutest. Lately, I’ve been getting so many kisses from him and he’s been talking so much! I started writing down what he says just so I can remember. Here are some of the words: wow, uh oh, car, cookie (cuh cuh), book (buh), Dada, Mama, Elsa, Papa, Nana, Hi, bread, eat, no, hooray, I did it (di di), sun, poo poo, dinosaur (so-ah-so), banana (nana), and play. He also is starting to recognize and say certain letters of the alphabet. His Auntie Breezie also taught him sign language for “more, eat, and please” so he’s been communicating that way too. He’s been such a joy and delight and I’m so thankful for all the giggles and fun. He just recently turned 18 months old, so we took him out for a little photo shoot. It was so fun capturing his cuteness. He’s constantly on the move and climbing on everything so capturing him standing still wasn’t the easiest, but we’re super happy with how they turned out. Ollie loves reading books and doing puzzles. He’s constantly coming up to me to crawl up in my lap with a book. He likes brushing his teeth and gets really excited and smiley whenever that time of day comes. He’s been sleeping so well lately! He’ll go a full 12 hours + through the night on most nights and we’re soooo grateful for that.

As I’m reading back these words I’m writing, I’m just reminded of the miracle these little ones are in my life and how much God has blessed me. This life is beautiful and I’m so filled with gratitude.