HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween! We are excited to go trick or treating tonight, but it is raining so we probably won't stay out too long. I don't have much to say, so here are some more pictures:)

Kimmie's first Halloween 2007

Halloween 2008

Trunk or Treat

We just returned from our wards Trunk or Treat. In case anyone reading doesn't know what that is it is a Halloween activity our church puts on. It starts with games and goodies at the church and then everyone goes to the parking lot and the kids go from trunk to trunk "trunk or treating". It is such a fun activity. Last year after Halloween I bought a Lady costume from the Disney store for $3! It was such a steal & I was so excited for Kimmie to wear it. When we tried putting it on her she screamed like crazy! (her molars are coming in so she is very moody) We were able to get most of the costume on her, but not the gloves or the hat. When we arrived the gym was packed with people. Kimmie was super nervous around all the people & it was really warm so we spent time outside. Then, it was time to trunk or treat! We walked to the car and decided to try putting Kimmie's hat on. To our amazement she didn't make a sound! It didn't even bother her! Seth stayed at the car to pass out candy while I took Kimmie around. She loved it! She carried her little pumpkin bucket (which I got at goodwill for $1) and walked from trunk to trunk. She was so good & looked so cute! We quickly ran out of candy, all 6 bags, and it was getting close to bed time so we headed home. We gave Kimmie her snack and then let her have one piece of candy. She ate that chocolate so fast! 20 minutes later she was in bed for the night! It was so fun. We will take her out again on Friday, but we will probably only do a few houses.
Monday night for FHE we carved a pumpkin. I love carving pumpkins but this year our cheap carving knives broke, BOTH of them, so we had to finish with our kitchen knife! We just carved a goofy face so it wasn't anything too artistic. Let's see....what else has been going on. Sometimes while we are on walks with Kimmie we find caterpillars along the trails. Last Sunday on our walk we stopped and Seth picked one up for Kimmie to pet. At first she was scared, but after some coaxing from Seth she touched it and really liked it. She is so funny. She acts so afraid but always ends up liking things. Her newest thing she likes to do is go outside and sit on the porch. She will sit there all day if we let her! It is so cute. Sometimes she sits on the ground & puts her arms up on the porch, so cute! Here are some pictures, enjoy! Wait, one more thing. Be sure to get out and vote! You're vote matters!!!

trunk or treat

carving our pumpkincaterpillar, hanging with some friends & chillin on the porch

The zoo & videos! A must see:)

Seth has school every Tuesday & Thursday in downtown Portland. Sometimes he drives himself, other times I drive him so I can have the car. Today, we decided I would drive him & take Kimmie to the zoo since it is only a few minutes from his school. It has been really nice outside so we figured we better go before it starts raining all the time. So, we dropped Seth off & headed to the zoo! Since it was early in the morning, it was kind of chilly. I am so glad I brought Kimmie's blanket. At first she was nervous around the animals. When I took her out of her stroller she clung to my pants & didn't want to get too close to the fence. All that changed when we got to the Sea Lions! She was still careful not to get too close to the glass, so instead she stood in front of me and just watched....and watched....and watched until I eventually pulled her away (at which point she started to scream) Luckily kids forget fast and by the time we reached the next exhibit she forgot why she was crying. We walked around & saw all the fun animals. We also went in to see the birds. They fly all around you & sometimes land on you. Kimmie loves birds, CAW was one of the first animal sounds she made. She really enjoyed being in with the birds & would have stayed there all day but I was afraid of being pooped on so we only stayed a few minutes:) Here are some more pictures from our day at the zoo (and one of Kimmie trying to drink my water).......

I have mentioned before the animal sounds Kimmie says & things Seth has taught her. It is very hard to get it on video because she always stops when she sees the camera. But, today we were able to capture some on film! She says 8 different animal sounds right now (dog, cat, cow, bear, bird, sheep, owl & thumper she wiggles her nose). We are working on monkey now, it is so funny when she tries to do it! We have a lot of videos, but it takes too long to upload so I narrowed them down to two. Enjoy!


kitty cat, dog, cow & bear

What does Mommy say & stinky Cyndy

Mickey Mouse Candy Dish

This is the latest candy dish I made & the hardest so far. I had to completely come up with the design on my own & I am so happy with how it turned out!! The hardest parts were the feet & ears. But, with a little help from Seth & a table saw we figured it out:) It was a gift for Kathy (Seth's mom). Her birthday was over the weekend, but I just finished it yesterday. Now I am trying to think up some more fun ideas! Any requests???
I know I always post pictures of Kimmie, but it is my blog & I reserve the right too:) The other day Seth went in to check on Kimmie & this is how he found her. It was so cute we had to risk taking a picture (it was completely dark in her room, so we were worried the flash would wake her, but she didn't flinch). I have mentioned before how much Kimmie LOVES Baby Einstein. She will walk into the playroom, turn the TV on and walk to the couch. We have to limit how much she watches because it puts her in a trance! She will not move while watching it! Sometimes Seth wraps her up like a little burrito in a blanket & she doesn't move an inch. It is so cute but worries me a little, she is already hooked on movies! Luckily, she also LOVES books. She walks into her bedroom or Oma's library & will grab as many books as her little hands will hold. Then she walks over & hands them to you to read to her. It is so funny. She always has a book in her hands, even when she is watching Baby Einstein!

Going private & going to Utah

We have been getting spam comments on our blog, so I decided I was going to make our blog private. Some of you may have received my email & I appreciate you writing back. I have decided to hold off on going private for now. I have changed it so if you leave a comment you will need to do word verification & all comments need to be approved first. Hopefully this will solve our problem, but if not we will end up going private.
I also wanted to let everyone know we are going to Utah in November! We will be there from Nov. 8-12 & would love to see everyone. I know it is only for a few days, but hopefully we can squeeze in visits with everyone!

Fun pictures

Not too much has been going on lately. Kimmie is walking everywhere & is still as cute as ever! She has also started praying. When she is hungry she will walk around with her arms folded & sometimes she sits in her chair & says a little prayer. You can also show her a picture of Jesus & ask "who is that?" and she will say "Jesus!" Or you can ask "where's Jesus?" and she will look around for his picture & point to it. It touches my heart every time! She has such an amazing little spirit! Here are some fun pictures taken recently. Just a warning, there are a lot, it's hard to choose which ones to post! Also, I have recently been informed not everyone shares my love of country (Rossii) so I am now taking requests for our playlist:)

Here are some fun candy dishes I made. The big one was for our friend Ross & the little one is a gift for someone else. I love making these, they are so simple. I am working on a couple others right now so I will post pictures when I finish them.

Crabbing

Last Wednesday our friends dad, Fred, took Seth, Scott & Cyndy out crabbing. They left our house at 5:30 am and headed up to Hammond. Fred had his boat waiting at the dock on the Columbia River. They headed out and once they were out far enough they started baiting the crab pots with tuna heads, which were left over from when Cyndy canned tuna. (By the way, if you have never had fresh tuna you are missing out. It is really good!) Then they threw the crab pots into the water, spacing them so they could catch more crab. Then they waited.......and waited......and waited some more. Because of the fog they had a hard time relocating their buoys but after a while they were able to find them all. Luckily, Fred had an electric pulley which made pulling them back into the boat much easier. You have to pull the crab out by their back legs otherwise they would pinch you. Then Scott would measure them & as long as they were big enough and males they kept them. The limit is 12 crab per person, so they caught all they could and headed back to shore.
Once back on shore they drove to Fred's house in Astoria. Then the fun began: killing, cleaning and cooking the crab. Scott's job was to chop them in half while they were screaming for their lives:) After they were cut in half Seth would pull their shells off and then Cyndy would clean them. Next they put them in four big cookers and boiled them. Once they were done cooking you have to put them in a sink full of cold water and once they cooled they were put into coolers to take home. They made it home around 6 and we had fresh crab, baked potato's & corn on the cob for dinner. I have never had crab that fresh before, it was so good! Because they caught 36 crab, we didn't want the rest to go bad so today they pulled all the meat from the left over crabs and put it in the freezer. They had a lot of fun & hopefully next time I will get to go too! Here are some more pictures.......

the aftermath of our crab dinner

fighting crabs

getting the last of the crab meatand our blog wouldn't be complete without a cute picture of Kimmie