What happened to fall??

Better get these fall pictures up before Christmas! Most of these pictures were pulled off of Seb's phone. I'm still trying to retrieve more of them, but his Samsung doesn't interact well with our Mac. Boo Apple! Hopefully, my SUMMER pictures will be up here before Christmas too! Ha ha!

I can't believe fall's already passed us by! We've been living in our home now for almost four years. That's definitely the longest we've ever lived somewhere as a married couple, and I am beginning to experience major deja vu - especially around the holidays. This fall was full of our usual favorites - balloon fiesta, trips to the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, dressing up for parades, parties, and trick-or-treating.

• First Grader: Our little Hudson boy turned six in August and started first grade! His teacher, Mrs. Senn, is wonderful and he has a few friends from last year in his class. Afternoons are spent doing his homework packet (reading, spelling, math, writing), doing chores (taking out the trash and recycling, putting liners in the trash cans, putting away laundry), and practicing piano (we just started him on an awesome and FREE learn-at-home program called the Hoffman Academy). He really drags his feet on all of these activities, though, and would MUCH rather be playing angry birds on the iPad, drawing or doing Legos with his brother, or watching cartoons. I don't blame the poor kid! School days are SO long!
• New Job: Well, huge news (which probably deserves much more than a measly bullet point) ... Sebastian changed course and started a new job in October! He misses his old friends and colleagues, but the new job (as an attorney for Traveller's Insurance) has better pay and more flexible hours. We've really enjoyed him coming home at least an hour earlier every day :)
• Beehive Counselor: I've enjoyed serving as the Beehive Counselor in the YW presidency. I'm in charge of planning mutual, and so far we've done a bonfire, made marshmallow pops, decorated sugar cookies, had a zumba class, and more!

Hudson went to Cool Springz trampoline park and Red Robin for his 6th birthday! (8/6/2016)

Lovin' the table apps at Red Robin!

Only one of Hudson's friends could make it to his party, but they had a great time!

Cake time!

We had a power outage on Hudson's birthday, so he did his new lego set by candle light (8/7/2016)

First day of of first grade! (8/11/2016)

Little sweethearts napping together aka Mommy's favorite time of the day! (Fall 2016)

Beau joined his brother at the Jog-a-Thon for the second year (9/16/16)

On your marks, get set, GO!

Both of the other kids in this picture are LDS - his school has a pretty big LDS population. It's awesome!

Good job, kiddo!

These kids worked so hard!

Yeah - so we had about 10 of these nasty suckers inside and outside of our house this year! Kill me now!

Art and popsicles make for a messy afternoon! (Fall 2016)

Cute monkey

Loving Hannah's purple beard

Every fall, the city has a day where hot air balloons take off from each elementary school at the same time. (9/30/2016)

Fun early morning at Chamiza

Great hair, my boy!

We ventured to the balloon park this year (10/1/2016)

These kids were having a blast singing as we strolled along!

Hudson and Daddy Bones

Cute men

Waiting for the Lisa Frank butterfly balloon to go up

Such a fun day!

Daddy met up with Noah for a brother's weekend in Carlsbad when the rest of us took a road trip to California to visit Jared and Jenny (10/7/2016)

Big boy Beau enjoying the Galloping Grace corn pit (10/11/16)

Hannah and Beau enjoying their playgroup field trip

Little monkey doesn't know what to think about the corn pit

Another visit to the pumpkin patch - this time with Hudson and Daddy! (Fall 2016)

"Monster Touch-and-Feel" game for our annual spooky dinner (11/22/16)

We had the Scarberry and Litchford families over - this is the only other picture I took!

Halloween playgroup party - we went on a parade, ate spooky snacks, and made haunted house "H's" (10/25/16)

Love the wig!

Poor Hannah got bit over her eye and on her nose!

Had some friends over for a pumpkin carving party and hot dog roast (10/29/16)

Ready to trick-or-treat down the street! (10/31/16)

Fire dog "Marshall" from Paw Patrol

Crazy for candy lion

This girl was eating her candy wrappers and all!

Dark Knight Hudson

• Visit from Gramps: Papa Dunlap came to town early November to so graciously put up tile in our kitchen ... and boy does it look good! We chose a classic white subway tile and Papa Dunlap tiled up the entire wall. Thank you so much!

Papa Dunlap made our drab kitchen fab with his amazing tile laying skills! (11/5/16) 

Hannah was so tired she fell asleep during dinner! Having Grandpa in town wore her out!

Wow! How beautiful! So glad we went for the Subway tile :)

• TEN Year Anniversary: Seb and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in November! My mom and dad watched all three of our kids so Seb and I could enjoy a weekend to ourselves. We stayed at the Embassy Suites (where we stayed on our wedding night) and had a weekend of fun. We were able to go to the temple, have dinner at Tucanos, go swimming/hot tubbing, take a pottery wheel class, have pizza at Giovanni's, walk the Black Light 5K (where we ran into Sam and Kiley!), watch Hacksaw Ridge, and go to church and choir by ourselves! My poor parents, though - all three kids ended up getting a stomach bug and spent the entire weekend spewing out of both ends! Aye yay yay! Thank you for taking care of our little sickies! 
• Hatch Wedding: Toward the end of November, we drove out to Mesa, Arizona to attend my cousin's wedding. It was wonderful to be in the temple together with the Hatch family. We stayed in the same hotel as the Hatches, my parents, and Sam's family and spent time bonding in the pool and over breakfast. 
• Cavities: Poor little Hudson boy had EIGHT cavities and had to get a crown on one of his molars! Ugh! Flossing really is important, guys! Do it! It was funny to be in the room when he started breathing the laughing gas. He got SO loud and loopy. 
• Thanksgiving: My mom cooked the entire dinner this year, so we had the morning free and participated in a service project at P. F. Chang's putting Thanksgiving meals together for the homeless. Then, we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family. We went around the table and shared what we are most grateful for. It was touching to hear everyone's heartfelt responses. 

Making our 10-year anniversary bowls - that a boy, Seb, you're doing great! (11/12/16)

What a fun date idea - thanks, Sweetie!

10 years, baby!

All decked out for our black light run!

And the mega date just keeps going on!

We went straight from the run to the movies (and got lots of funny stares!)

Agh!

Who's been eating all my Cheetos??

This stuff's getting to her brain! She's going nuts!

We didn't stick around too long because the dance music was pretty lame!

She's never looked better

Family trip to Explora (Fall 2016)

She is just rocking those pink tennis shoes!

Hudson's a wonderful big brother!

The leaves fell really late this year - it's been a relatively warm winter (11/28/16)

Love her little pony tail!

This is Hannah's picture smile - it just kills me!

• Blue Eye DIY: I've been helping one of my graphic design clients with the launch of her business, Blue Eye DIY. She plans to teach people how to use power tools in a fun, social environment. Seb and I were able to take part in her first class where we learned how to create a cool peg board using a drill. It was really fun seeing my signs, posters, and logos up in her warehouse/classroom. 

Super fun date night! (12/3/16)

We made a peg board for our entry way

What a woman!

My hand man!

Time to rake the leaves (12/10/16)

Love the scrunchy nose and tongue!

Raking leaves proved to be a very hard task for these guys!

We've been trying to use the piano more

Okay, so here on out is Hannah overload - her cuteness just kills me!

Excuse the blurriness - our lens is still broken! (12/11/16)

Cute kids after church

Winter princess

This is Beau's picture smile

Hey cute lady!

She didn't want me to take her picture, so she ran around the house trying to hide!

Just wish these precious ones weren't blurry! Darn it!

Having a daughter has been a joy beyond words

Silly woman!

Snuggles from brother

• Christmas Fun: We've been doing Christmas activities here and there. A friend invited Beau and Hannah and I to attend a Irish Christmas musical performance at Popejoy. We made gingerbread houses with some friends and went caroling with some other friends. Beau's playgroup did an end of the year visit to the temple nativity, then spent the afternoon playing in the sunny but cold park. It was a wonderful day. We gathered coats and other warm clothing items for refugees as part of our ward Christmas party. Hudson had a couple parties in school and is finally out for the year! Hurray! No more early mornings and homework! We're looking forward to spending Christmas with my family this year, and we have lots of fun on the agenda.