Soooo, continuing on from the last post... the weekend after Arizona, we flew down to California. My uncle had passed away from cancer. Hate it. That is one nasty disease and is way too prevalent. It would be nice if someone could figure out a way to kick it's butt once and for all. It takes too many people way too early in life... and the treatment is no picnic either. But, as sad and awful as it is, the funeral was beautiful and a wonderful tribute to his life.

Funeral on saturday, and disneyland on sunday. (that doesn't sound too good does it?) Our kids LOVED it. Crew is obsessed with "mow" (that would be Mickey Mouse in case you were wondering) and apparently our older two boys are adrenaline junkies. Jake rode California Screamin' 5 times in a row. They didn't want to do the 'baby' rides, only the big fast ones. I think this is one trip to Disneyland that Jeff enjoyed more because he doesn't like the 'baby' rides either. Poor boy.

Yes, they have problems on so many levels. (Jeff and my brother Tyler)

Fluffy and Crewsers (again, don't ask about the nickname... I have no idea where this one came from)

What good would a post be if we did not have at least one picture of Crew covered in some sort of food???

Cole is still obsessed with meeting the characters. Jake skipped this stage. Crew just yelled "pooh" wherever we went or "mow" for all of them. Whatever works.

Du-du-du-DUMBO!!!

One of Crew's favorite rides. He thinks he is so big.

If you can't see over the steering wheel, do you think it is safe to drive yet?

I must say, it was probably one of the funnest trips to Disneyland I have ever been to. The weather was great, we are able to take advantage of our immuno-compromised child and not have to wait in lines, and very minimal whining and crying. Perfect days!

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of our next weekend birthday trip to Palm Springs. My wonderful hubby spoils me. I think I read four different books and just sat for five days. It was perfect. And apparently I needed to rest up for the next week because two of my children then tested positive for the swine flu, one of them being Jake. We have just realized if there is something you can catch, Jake is bound to bring it home. No surprises with him any more. He came home from school on Monday sobbing saying that he has a fever and he broke his arm at school. There was definitely something wrong with the arm and within an hour he had a fever spiking up to 103. We were one of the lucky first people to visit the new ER at Riverton Hospital. They did a very good job if you were wondering. We were able to stay there until 12:30 in the morning and had a bazillion tests run and lots of x-rays taken. They could not see a break in his arm... it was too swollen, but I think he is fine considering he is now moving it all over the place. CBC was good... counts were too high again ANC is at 3,000, and positive for the H1N1. Two days later Crew was sick and we were quarantined to our house for the week. And that my friends, was our fun month of October.

October October October

Where to begin? Let's back up a month and start with Jake's birthday... who turned SEVEN this year. (Which in fact makes me feel older rather than the fact that I turned 30. Ugh.)

He started out wanting a Star Wars party, and then decided to have a superhero party, (yes, again) where everyone dressed up. Obviously, he had to be superhero, Obi Wan Kanobi.

We only had a family party this year and kept it really simple, but everyone came dressed as their favorite super hero.

Aunt Brinly, Aunt Rylie, (don't ask... we are just one of those 21st century typical families) Jake and Cole

cake and ice cream and presents and a little bit of brotherly love... (don't knock my cake by the way. It was awesome! I am a professional cake decorator if you can't tell. Actually, I think I may need a little bit of help in that department.)

(And one of Superman saving the day by spinning around as fast as he can on the tire swing)

There are so many things that we love about this kid... it is hard to pick my favorites...

~He is the smartest thing you have ever seen and does not forget anything. (sometimes I do think we might be able to do without the remembering thing. It can get a little much sometimes considering he remembers things from birth.)

~He is very loving and will tell you he loves you all the time. He is on this kick about saying how cute Crew is and will drop anything to help that "baby brother".

~His favorite place to go is to clinic. (Sorry. Have to put that in there considering that last year it was my worst nightmare come true every week to walk into that place)

~I love his laugh. When he giggles it makes you want to giggle too.

Just LOVE LOVE LOVE him!! Happy birthday Jakers!

Fast forward a couple days and we are off to the pumpkin patch where Cole and Crew were fantastic and our newly turned 7-year old was kind of a nightmare and decided it would be a fun game to kick in all of the pumpkins. Seriously. Where do they get these ideas from?

And on to the weekend.

I am off to ARIZONA on a heavenly and relaxing with no kids and no husband trip. (Did I mention no kids?!) It was a much needed break and tons of fun....

We went to Time Out For Women and were spiritually uplifted by singing sensation Kenneth Cope. (Hey Hill... how do you feel about that guy again? I forget.) Just kidding. It was really very good. The speakers were amazing and it was nice to just sit and actually be able to listen for a change.

Of course because it is an all girls trip we did some major shopping damage. My new favorite store Last Chance had some great deals.

Shopping and EATING. What more could a girl want out of a vacation?

Okay. Enough for now. Crew is having a meltdown.