No place like home

...which is exactly where Jane spent Halloween!  She didn't go Trick-or-Treating, seeing as how neither Michael nor I wanted to go knock on someone's door, hold up the baby and say, "Now give me candy."
Instead Jane helped me hand out candy (aka grabbed at it while I tried to juggle her, the bowl, and give children fistfuls of candy).

But what's Halloween without a costume?

So... cute!  Must... try... to resist... pinching cheeks.
By the way - I honestly didn't like to play dress-up with dolls when I was little. I thought it was a pain to try to stuff little cloth or plastic arms into tiny outfits (I was a pragmatic child at times). But, I absolutely LOVE dressing Janie up, as you can probably tell.

Would you like to see several more photos?  Okay!

Toto!

I took more, of course. Because I can't take one picture of anything (I must take a million!). You can see the album here.

If you're wondering, I purchased the dress and the shoes (separately) on Etsy.  I was really impressed with the dress... the white peasant shirt was actually sewn in and it all had one zipper going down the back - so easy to put on her.  Plus, the seller also sent me matching blue gingham pantaloons (okay, it was a diaper cover, but that just sounds less cute), blue socks, the headband, and Toto.

Sneak Peek

More pictures to come =)

Guess who

Guess who Jane is going to be for Halloween!

Labor Day

I haven't had a chance until now to post about our first backyard party in this house.  Last year my sister suggested we have a Labor Day party here, but it was a little too soon after we had just moved in.  So this year early September was the goal to have things ready for a party.  But now she says that I am booked for Labor Day every year!  I didn't see that coming!

It was cool to see some of the nice features of my backyard actually get used.  Our swing set was nicely broken in:

Jack is a monkey!

And our backyard stream got lots of attention:

We put some tables outside and had an awesome dinner (potluck ftw!):

 

Jane's cousins, being the amazing explorers that they are, found all sorts of edible things in my yard that I didn't know were there.  I have trees with some fruit that everyone disagrees on: some people say it's plums, kumquats, or some kind of nectarine.  All I know is that it tastes like an orange otter-pop.  We also found lots of grapes, and the biggest surprise of all: onions!

And our backyard fire pit got used for the first time!

 

Of course, Jane had lots of fun, too!

 

She especially loved riding on Uncle Adam's shoulders!

All in all, it was pretty fun!

Family Fun

In August Michael's brother and sister in law, Chris and Camille, came to visit family in Utah. They brought their two kids, Ian & Abby, and it was the first time we'd ever met Abby and the first time they had ever met Jane!

We all had breakfast in American Fork canyon, joined by Michael's aunt, Shara and her daughter Melise.

Shara cooking up some yummy breakfast.

Chris and Abby

Grandpa lugging Jane!

We went to Cascade Springs after breakfast.  Pretty!

Melise was awesome and loved holding Jane!

Ian and Abby on Chris and Michael's shoulders.

Jane had a hard time keeping up with everyone!

 The day after we went to Salt Lake and had fun seeing the town.  I don't have very many pictures of that day, but I liked this one of Jane and Melise.

Jane's New Shirt

I saw this a few years ago and picked it up, crossing my fingers that I'd have a girl to put it on. Lucky Jane!

Nerdy Shirts: Item 3

This one is really for the gamers out there, specifically World of Warcraft.  My brother and I used to play a lot, so this shirt really cracks me up.  When you start a new character in the game, you start with some basic statistics: strength, intelligence, wisdom, etc.  Looks like Jane's charisma rating is higher than normal, though!  Of course!

Nerdy Shirts: Item 2

Our second installment in the nerdy shirts series: the star trek shirt. (Remember Item 1?)



I suggested when my brother bought this that he go with a more Lt. Uhura kind of color (since Jane is a girl and all), but his opinion is that you can't really beat the Captain's shirt. Go big or go home, right?



Nothing against you, William Shatner, but I am totally thinking of Chris Pine whenever I see this shirt.

... and sometimes even when I don't see this shirt. Woo!

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who helped us out with our survey! We got all of the responses that we needed just in time. As a thank-you, here's a little "library humor" (you might have to click on it to read the text).

Help!

Michael needs to do a survey for his sociology class. Would you mind answering these questions for him? He needs 30 people to fill it out, so grab your kids and spouse or anyone who happens to be standing near you. I know this doesn't seem like a "guy" kind of quiz, but if you are a guy we'd still appreciate your responding anyway.

(I just checked and if you're viewing this in a reader, the poll below is invisible. You'll have to visit my blog to answer the survey. Also, if you can't read the questions due to width problems, I've added them in the comments below).