Trick or Treat?

Happy Halloween everyone!

It is amazing to me how much fun I have had this year with Halloween. More specifically Gabe and Halloween. It is incredible how much more meaningful and fun EVERYTHING seems to be when you have a little one to enjoy it all with. Until this year I could honestly say that I HATED Halloween. But...not this year!

Every year the company that Brad works for invites children of the employees to come and trick or treat at the company offices the day before Halloween. The aim is to provide a safe place for the kids to trick or treat, so as to keep them off the streets and away from the crazies. Given that this was our first year with our own little trick or treater, we were really excited to take Gabe and show off his cute little costume. He wasn't too sure about the whole trick or treating thing but he had fun nonetheless. He walked around carrying his little bag and when someone would put something in it, he would just look at them like "Why did you do that?". It was however, so much fun to watch Gabe walk around holding Daddy's hand. Daddy was so proud of his little penguin. Oh o...gonna cry! Anyways I had accidently left my camera at work so we captured a few cute moments on Daddy's phone.

The CUTEST Penguin ever!

This was the container full of candy that Daddy had at his desk for the little trick or treaters. Gabe seemed quite fascinated by it. Suprisingly he didn't want any, but just kept trying to give it to us and would then say "Ta" (that's Aussie for thank you). He loved watching the other kids come by and take candy out of the bucket. He would just stare at them. "For you Daddy".

Monday night "Pumpkin Pallooza"

Last night at the Botanical Gardens in Kaysville just down the road from our house, they had a "Pumpkin Pallooza" family night. There was face painting, card making, seed tasting, story telling, pumpkin carving, a pumpkin walk and a band. Each family could also pick and take home a pumpkin from a little pumpkin patch. Brad and I took Gabe and we met Aunty Liz and cousin Andrew there too. The boys were excited to see each other and had fun rocking out to the band. They are both such groovers! After spending some time at the "Pumpkin Pallooza" we headed to Just Desserts for a Monday night 25 cent soft serve sepcial. I always jump at any chance to get the boys together. They are so cute with each other and such good friends. We had a blast. Thanks for coming Aunty Liz and cousin Andrew! We love you guys.

I took this picture just as Andrew and Gabe saw each other. They were both so excited. I love Andrew's face in this picture and the fact that he was reaching out for his Cuz.


"Hey Man"


Giving each other "Loves".

Andrew was actually dancing when I took this. He is so cute!
Gabe dancing. When you can't move anything else, you rock the head.



Winding down from a fun day home with mum. Reading some story books.

Model in training

On Saturday evening we went out to dinner at Costa Vida with Uncle Brian and Aunty Shanna and then headed to the mall to look around. While at one of the stores, Gabe thought he'd start working the window. People walking by loved our little window model.

I sure hope the window was clean!

Halloween Oreo Cookies

On Sunday evening our cute neighbor brought over the most divine fall smelling candle to help us kick off the season. Wanting to give her something in return, I headed to the kitchen and whipped up a batch of my homemade Oreo cookies. To make them a little more festive I made the filling orange. Excuse the presentation, they were on their way out the door.

Gabe thought that they were pretty good!

So maybe Fall isn't so bad after all!

So anyone who knows me knows that I am constantly cold. It is not uncommon for me to wear my winter coat indoors and be covered in a blanket whilst at work and then wrapped in a blanket sitting in front of the heater at home almost year round. In the summer, I can be found sitting in the full sun trying to "defrost" on my lunch breaks and I love any excuse to be outside in the warm weather if and when there is some. That being said I HATE cold weather. However, this year I have really loved the change in seasons and the beautiful colors that come with fall. Our neighborhood streets are lined with the coolest old trees and right now the streets are just a gorgeous array of fall colors. On Sunday after an afternoon walk, we went into our backyard and had fun playing in the leaves.

I guess this leaf looked good enough to eat!



Such a boy. Gabe LOVES sticks.

"Boo at the Zoo"

This past Saturday along with my friend Holly, her two boys Aidan and Cole, Uncle Blake, Aunty Liz, Cousin Andrew and Aunty Shanna we took Gabe to "Boo at the Zoo". The zoo was CRAZY busy, but it was so much fun to dress Gabe in his little penguin costume and take him to see the animals. The zoo had trick or treating tables, halloween decorations and characters dressed up in Halloween costumes. It was also lots of fun to see other kids in their costumes, some people are so creative. The weather was absolutely perfect for the zoo and the boys had a blast. Holly and her family have season passes to the zoo so she was an awesome guide (Thanks Holly!). Gabe's favorite animal is the Giraffe and Holly took us into a place I didn't even know existed where you can see the Giraffes close up. Gabe loved it. Thanks to the warmer weather the animals were pretty active. We loved watching the penguins move around and swim and especially enjoyed the primates. Since we visited the zoo last April they also have a new attraction. They have a really neat hand painted carousel that the kids can ride on. It is really quite beautiful to look at.

Holly and her little Giraffe Cole

Our little Penguin

Giving Daddy some loves
Playing with Daddy

Tuckered out in the car after the zoo.

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Our big walking boy!

Gabe has been walking alone for a couple of months now, but it was just this past week that he pretty much stopped crawling and started walking everywhere. Everyday he would walk around the house a little more. He would get so excited and was so proud of himself everytime he walked a significant distance. It was so cute to watch him walk from room to room. Trying to take advantage of the nice weather while it lasts, on Friday night Daddy decided to talk him for a walk outside and he walked almost half a block. Some of the way he walked alone and then the rest he pushed his little Mater walker.

Gabe loves to stop and feel the bushes and shrubs.