happy halloween!

In honor of the day, we had a little photoshoot in Ryder's new shirt.

The we headed off to "trunk or treat" in downtown Fullerton...

It was a very special day to be together as a family.

For those who are wondering, my costume is the reef and Ryder is the shark... Kit was holding a fish net, because he wanted to fit in with the family theme...

Pumpkin Patches...

After Kit arrived home from North Carolina, (we are so glad to have him home...) we headed off to a local pumpkin patch. We had hoped to go before he left, but we have had some rain recently so that made it a little tricky.

So we got a few shots that we wanted to share with you.

Have a wonderful weekend!

some tasty little shark bait...

So this is what Ryder will be for his first halloween...

We love our little man's face!

I found this hat on my my favorite website ETSY...

little pumpkins!

We got together with our friends the Pavones and had dinner the other night and took some pictures of our little guys. They are 5 weeks apart and we took the opportunity for a photo shoot...

Alex and Kit got some amazing shots. The best part would have been if a video camera would have been on Angelina and I as we tried to get our babies to look in the right direction.

Oh my goodness, can you say stage parents?!

We love you Pavones!

I am so glad that our boys will grow up together...

You can see Alex's website here.

North Carolina

Kit left to speak at a conference in North Carolina this morning.

I miss him already.

Ina, you are amazing...

We have been watching the series Mad Men which inspired the dinner I made tonight. Kit is leaving for North Carolina and so it's fun to cook for him before he goes since I know it will be a few days before he eats a home cooked meal.

(Who am I kidding though, eating out is really fun...)

I was inspired to make a meat loaf which I have never made before and honestly can't really remember even eating before. I used this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. It was easy and Kit loved it. Two of my goals in a new recipe.

Note: It was really moist, but the picture looks dry.

I paired it with a wedge salad, sticking with the theme, but I think that you could easily make any type of green salad and it would be tasty.

The Barefoot Contessa has done it again...

some family time...

Yesterday we got together with my cousin Heather, who was visiting from Idaho and it was the first time that she was able to meet Ryder and I was able to meet her little girl Casey that was born in July of this year. It was so fun to be together...

The girls...

My Aunt Franny is the best for any child that she comes in contact with, so of course Ryder was in heaven being with her.

It wouldn't be a family event if our little niece didn't get a photo with Ryder. They love each other so much already...

I love you all and we love every chance we get to be together!

for our niece...

for the girl with the best hair I know...

Some recipes from our trip...

When ever my family is together, we always have so much fun eating together...

Here are two recipes that we had while on our family vacation and they were amazing. I just had to share this one by martha stewart for mac and cheese, and then this one for spinach gratin by the Barefoot Contessa.

I hope that you get a chance to try them out. They were a huge hit with our family...

ps: Who had time to take pictures of the food? We were way too busy chowing down...

we're back!

We had an incredible time with my family over the past week. It is nice to be home but I already miss the day to day of all being together....

Here are some of our favorite shots from the trip.

Spending lots of time at the beach.

Going out on a boat for an afternoon.

(note the life jacket that Ryder is sporting...)

Ryder experiencing the beach and sand for the first time.

All the cousins.

My parents just get him laughing, and love on him so well,

it is so fun to see how much he loves them...

Ryder getting some love by his auntie.

Me with my little man.

We look forward to MANY more family vacations together.

We love you all and are so thankful for the moments that we can spend together...

Almost vacation time...

Today, we are heading on a vacation with my family and I am so excited to have a full week of being together! I am looking forward to the early morning conversations over coffee, long walks and bike rides, making meals together, playing Yahtzee and watching movies and all the fun that we always have as a family...

I look forward to taking lots of pictures and making lots of memories...