Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween! I always have! As my family will tell you, I'm a sucker for tradition, and this Halloween was no different. We went over to our friends Chris and Amy's house for the third year. (Has it been THREE years already?) We have the same dinner of Amy's homemade Chili, chat with friends, take A TON of pictures and then go Trick or Treating every year. The first year, 2006, there were 4 children... Natalie, Ethan, Ryan and Jenna. Last year there were 5, with the addition of Rachel. It was also the year that Jorge and I told everyone that Lori was coming! This year there were 7 thanks to Lori and Sophia.

Here is a picture of the three newest additions to our Halloween extravaganza

(note Lori's expression... she apparently was indifferent to taking this picture.)

This picture might be my favorite of the night! I love seeing Jorge with Lori! This is the first picture we've taken of Jorge, his friends and their daughters. I didn't realize it until now just how neat it is and how it really shows me how much our lives have changed and how far we've come.

Chris and Sophia , Jorge and Lori, Ben and Rachel


Ryan and his future bride
(unless Lori has something to say about it...)



Ryan (in true Ryan form) and Rachel Kuykendall

Sydney Hammon (Ladybug) and Ethan Mann (Jr. Fireman)

Usually we go over to the Ferguson's house after dinner and hang out there until the kiddos need to go to bed, but this year Houston Christian High School (the school their daughter goes to) was having there Homecoming game. They stopped by to see the kids all dressed up. Doug and Lori hung out for a bit. For the record, Doug doesn't do diapers.









Ladybug and Kitty Cat (NOT a leopard) swinging...

Rachel the Bumble Bee and Katelyn Erickson

Chris and Brian having fun!

Amy's aforementioned chili and Ben and I enjoying said Chili

And FINALLY, here is a picture of our family on Halloween...

"Queen Kong" climbing the Transamerica Building and the Sears Tower

We actually didn't go Trick or Treating this Halloween. We ended up leaving a little early and heading over to our friends Dave and Jennifer's house to hang out and watch a movie (The Life of David Gale... it was Meh... not bad but just Meh.) Lori was so tired she went to bed at there house with no problem. All in all it was a really fun night!

Here's a few more pictures of our sweet little monkey, she definitely enjoyed the attention she got from being dressed up. She likes it when people smile at her!!

Gold Medal Party!

In honor of the Olympics our Sunday School class "Built to Last" decided to get together and have ourselves a little party to watch the Opening Ceremony. We dined on Chinese food, ("to make us feel like we were there") and all dressed in our USA best! (Red, White and Blue)

Our Awesome Teachers Jay and Amy Robinson (shown above) were nice enough to open there home for the party!

Lori was the belle of the ball (If I do say so myself) She wore jeans to match Mommy and Daddy, a shirt with the Olympic rings and to "top" it all off... an Olympic sized red bow! She looked adorable!

Lori wearing a HAND STITCHED shirt...

It was mostly just an excuse to get together, but seeing as I LOVE the theme party, I felt the need to add a little extra flair to the whole event. Which is why I gathered one candy in each color of the Olympic Rings and put them in glass bowls on the table in the shape of the rings.

Dorky, yes. But oh so festive!

Not everybody from class was able to come but we did have a good turn out.

Grace and Duncan Vise has no problem "taking Lori off our hands" Until both Lori AND Duncan both got sleepy and Grace had to take Duncan home and put him to bed. :)

Our good friends Mandy and Trey Barrow helped us dream up this party! (and many more to come!)













The class "Newlyweds" Rob and Kristy Hughes. We were all really excited that they came, and have really enjoyed getting to know them over that past few months.

Jen Catano and me


Dave Catano and Jorge. The class' token Latin men.

Jen and Dave Catano are always up for most of our class events. It's always great to know we can count on them to be game for what ever we (usually Mandy and me) dream up.