Carving Pumpkins

We carved our Halloween pumpkins last night. Even though Kiley didnt get to do much with the "carving" part, she still had a ton of fun.

Shawn's pumkin is on the left, mine is in the middle. It's hard to see, but my pumpkin says "one love" We didn't carve Kiley's small pumpkin.

Kiley's 3rd Birthday

Kiley had her 3rd Birthday on October 11. We celebrated with dinner over at Mom and Dads. We had Kiley's favorite, Spaghetti! She wanted cupcakes instead of cake. She ate 2 cupcakes (well, she ate the frosting off 2 cupcakes)



Dinner Guests: Mom, Dad, Me, Shawn, Kiley, Grandma Ford, Stephanie, Vic and Troy



Kiley got a whole bunch of gifts: V-tech reader, clothes, dress-up clothes and shoes, bath toys, movies, a homemade princess blanket (from Teri) and even a gift from Uncle Ryan...an alien from Toy Story. She also got a princess castle for her room.



I love this picture of Kiley kissing Grandma Ford to thank her for the Barnes and Noble gift card.

Thank you everyone for all the gifts and for celebrating with Kiley on her birthday.

Bates Nut Farm

We had such a good time last year at Bates Nut Farm that we decided to go again. We had Shawn's parents, Stephanie and Vic, and his brother Troy in town. It was pretty fun, but it got kinda hot.



Kiley searched and searched and finally found a pumpkin she could carry.



We went on a hayride and Kiley road a pony named "Cowboy" The whole ride she kept saying "you-ha" (supposed to be yee-ha). Kiley also painted a ceramic pumpkin.



I realized I haven't seen a picture of just Stephanie and her two sons. I suggested taking a picture of the 3 of them and the boys thought they were some sort of comedians...so I made them take a nice picture also.

Disneyland

Sorry this post is so late, I'm just trying to get caught up on blogging.
When Melissa, Mark and Ashton were in town, we went to Disneyland. Kiley and Ashton had a blast.

We went on a Wednesday and Thursday and basically walked on every ride. Practically no lines! It was a whole new experience taking kids to Disneyland. I'm used to going with adults/teenagers so I wasn't expecting to have to wait in line to meet all the characters, but Kiley and Ashton loved it.



We met Mickey Mouse!



Dad took Kiley and Ashton on Dumbo. not too sure Ashton enjoyed it, but Kiley loved it.



We got to meet Tinkerbell! We had to wait in line for 30 minutes, but Kiley was so happy. This was the only time she was comfortable enough with a character to get out of her stroller. She made me hold her, but at least she got out of the stroller.





Kiley's favorite thing to do was ride the carousel. She rode it 3 times while we were there.
She also got her face painted...just a little something to cheer her up when she found out she was 1/4 inch too short to ride the Matterhorn.
Thanks to Melissa and Mark for letting us crash your Disneyland adventure.

Bombs Away

Some people may not find this funny, and those people are probably calling CPS right now, but seriously, this IS funny. This is a game invented by my dad called "Bombs Away" Ashton hates the game, but for some reason, Kiley likes to play it.

I'm posting this video due to popular demand.

Kiley Jumping Rope....sort of

This is Kiley and her new jump rope. This is so funny it makes me laugh.

Photoshoot

Since Ashton's in town, we decided to do a photoshoot of Kiley and Ashton. The pictures turned out great. Here's some of my favorites. I don't have any singles of Ashton on my computer here, but there's some super cute ones of him too.

In case you're wondering, the talented photographer is my dad!

Funny Stuff

Family Day

Shawn had today off work...the 1st Saturday in a LONG time. So, we had a family day. We woke up around 8:30am (all of us in the same bed because Kiley joined us around 5:30am...fun.)

We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was our first time going and I think I would really enjoy this place more if we went on a week day instead of a Saturday. It was just crowded and I'm not good with crowds. Kiley had a good time. Any time we saw an orange fish, she called it Nemo. In the picture below with Kiley and Shawn petting the shark, it took Kiley a LONG time before she felt safe enough to pet this shark. She really thought the shark was going to get her.

When we got home, we did some chalk art. She's such a super artist.



Then, we had a water fight. Kiley lost...big time.




It was SO nice to have this much needed family time.

Happy Birthday Grandma Neener

Wish we could be with you to celebrate. Love you.

Yesterday, I got a dozen long stem white roses (my favorite) delivered to my office from Shawn. Getting flowers for no reason is quite possibly the best thing ever.

I took them home and put them on the counter, but all night Kiley insisted the flowers were hers. She wanted to hold them on the couch ??? Weird child, I know.

Thanks Shawn, I LOVE YOU!

My sister recommended I write a book blog...mostly because I read a lot, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. After thinking about the whole book blog idea, I decided I don't have time to write one. BUT, for anyone interested, I have an account on GoodReads.com. (my name on the website is Mickolus) OR you can search for me with my email address: mmsundquist@yahoo.com
On GoodReads.com, I list all the books I read, and a short book review.
If anyone has any book recommendations, let me know. I like reading just about anything, mostly fiction books. I especially like reading books in a series. Not a fan of religious or motivational/self-help books.
My favorite books are: The Host by Stephenie Meyer, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, and Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris.

Thanks Grandma Neener

Thanks Grandma Neener! Kiley Loves the package you sent.

My 26th Birthday!

Yesterday was my 26th Birthday. Thanks everyone for all the birthday calls/texts/emails/facebook shout-outs and especially thanks for all the birthday GIFTS!

I hate getting older, but I love presents.

I had a really great day yesterday. I went out to lunch with Michelle Milne (from work), Catherine Lara (from work), Aunt Sue, Aunt Teri, Brittney (cousin), Aunt Nancy, & Uncle Robert. We had Chipotle...YUM.

After work I went out for dinner with Shawn, Kiley, Mom, Dad and G-ma Ford. We went to the Claim Jumper because I love the salad bar there. After dinner, we headed over to Mom and Dad's for cake and present opening!

I was SO SPOILED this year. Shawn and Kiley got me a new Zune (its a touch screen), Love it. They also got me a case for it and a car charger (much needed). It seems like my battery always dies when I'm going to be in the car for a long time. They also got me the movies "Couple's Retreat" and "Pirate Radio". Mom and Dad got me a few shirts/sweaters, some victoria's secret lotions/lip glosses/ and body mist. They also got me a hotel night stay and 1 night babysitting. LOVE IT! Melissa, Mark and Ashton got me 3 shirts (one of which I'm wearing today!) I also got LOTS and LOTS of gift cards from people. I have money now to go to Barnes and Noble, Jamba Juice, Chilis, Pac Sun, and more! I also got some cash from my parents-in-law. I'm going to be using that money to get myself some skins for my kindle and my flip video camera.

SERIOUSLY, I got spoiled. I love my birthday, but not the aging process. Thanks everyone for making my birthday so Special!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

I had such a great Mother's Day. Shawn always spoils me and mother's day was no exception. We had breakfast at Mom and Dad's and were able to talk to Joe in France. :)

We opened gifts over there too. Shawn got me a Flip Video Camera. I LOVE IT. I have been thinking about getting one for a long time and now, I have one! He also got me a DC Sweatshirt.

Later that night, we had a Mother's Day celebration at Mom and Dads. I decided to take some video of the night just because it's fun to look back 10 years later and see how much everyone has changed.

Annie was taking a picture of G-ma, Dad and Uncle Jim. I decided it was best if I got this on video, and I was right. G-ma's face is priceless.

Love this little girl!

Happy Easter

For the past 2 weeks, I've been teaching Kiley about the Easter Bunny so that she might understand why there were Easter eggs hidden all over the house. I think she understands pretty well.

Last night, Shawn and I hid all the eggs in the house and we figured we should hide them in plain sight because she's only 2 years old and not the most observant child. Boy were we wrong. When she got up, she started collecting the eggs so fast. She had no problem at all finding all the eggs in a matter of minutes. She clearly needed more of a challenge!

She loved getting candy and we actually think she acts like the Lord of the Rings character "Golem" with her candy. She takes such good care of it and doesn't let it out of her sight.

Troy came over in the morning for a while and then we headed to Aunt Nancy and Uncle Robert's house for dinner. It's nice living so close to family.


(yes, this is a very scary face)

She was supposed to be napping, but had a little too much fun instead. When I went in to check on her, she said "Morning Mama".

Circus Vargas

Me, Shawn, Kiley and my mom went to Circus Vargas tonight. (Dad wouldn't go because there were no animals in the show). It was in the promenade mall parking lot. I got the cheapest tickets they sold ($20.00 each) but I'm glad I was cheap because our seats were amazing. There really were no bad seats.

Kiley's been so excited about going to the circus since we bought our tickets on Thursday. She seemed to enjoy it, but mostly enjoyed running up and down the aisle while the show was going on.

I thought it was a pretty fun show. Hot inside the tent, but a fun show to watch.




Kiley and Grandma playing with their matching glow sticks.

It's been a while since I've posted any pictures of Kiley. She's already 2 1/2 years old!