SaN fRaNcIsCo

Alan had a business trip in San Francisco last week for NASS (North American Spine Society) ... I kept teasing Alan about the name... wouldn't it be funny if it was just the

American Spine Society??? (I'm a nerd)

Anyway, I met up with him on Friday Morning and we had SO much fun! It felt like I was gone for EVER, but it was only two nights.

I really love that city.

Golden Gate Park. Dutch Windmill

'The Renzo' from Mastrelli's at the Ferry Building.

It had fresh Prosciutto, Coppa, fresh Mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, & olive oil - all on Rosemary bread... I was in HEAVEN! I also bought a salami to bring home!

'The Meatball' from Mastrelli's. The bread was toasted and the Mozzarella was melting all over the meatballs! Alan was in Heaven!

We rented Bikes and rode from Fishermans Warf, over the golden gate bridge, down into Sausalito and back (it was about 16 miles). This is on the way back... I was pooped!

Sausalito was so cute!

I think there is no better way to really see a place then on bikes!

On the other side of the bridge looking into San Francisco.

Alan was taking photo's WHILE riding his bike! It was totally safe!

Golden Gate Bridge

Our only picture together...

I was in shopping heaven! I found the best Ross in the world and spoiled myself! It was friends & family at Gap and Old Navy so I HAD to tak advantage of that! ;) All these stores were HUGE! I mean like 3 - 4 stories huge! I got to see stores I'd never seen before too like H&M, Crate & Barrell, Juicy Coutoure...etc... it was SO fun!

We ate at Sears' in Union Square. It is a breakfast hot spot and is famous for little pancakes. People line up outside and wait for quite a long time to get in. It is so cute inside too...

Alan got the little pancakes.

These Sea Lions live on Pier 39. There are hundreds of them and they are SO stinky and loud.

Yes, it's true... we saw WICKED!! And it was Friday the 13th too! I am SO glad we did it... Alan even loved it! What an amazing show... I can't wait to see it again ;)

Bad picture of me. Great picture of the Orpheum Theater.

Alan's SHOCK after purchasing the Wicked tickets.

My shock after buying the tickets!

Oreo Milkshake from Lori's diner (cute little 50's diner).

It was a great weekend... and SO needed! I love being with my man!

hAlLoWeEn

My ObieOne Kanobe

Look at those moves!

My darling BYU cheerleader!

Hallie cracks me up... I did NOT ask her to pose like that. All I did was say I was taking her picture and this is what she did! lol GO COUGARS!!!

Isaac is a cute little giraffe! And I have to tell you... Hallie apparently told Dewayne that he COULD NOT be a pirate, because his face was black! I guess there are no black pirates on Pirates of the Carribean... because that is all Hallie knows about pirates :) You are such a good sport Dewayne!

Summer, McKenna, and McKell

They try to be tough... but they are much too sweet!

Tyson was a Dragon with brown arm and cream legs... what can I say?... I threw his outfit on at the last second! Poor Ty... but he didn't really care! Go figure...

The two little Pals Trick-or-Treating together!

Alan and Dewayne took the kids around while I stayed back with the Fam. We have this tradition that every year my parents come over to my house and we make soup and polenta (it's Italian... kind of like grits, but made out of corn meal and you serve it cheesy with spaghetti sauce on top... YUM YUM!) Then all my brothers and sister stop over to get some good food and see Abu & Papa. It is really fun for the kids.

But this year we missed Andres and Sandee... and it was NOT the same without them! I hope they can make it next year!

And a big thank you to my good friend Lara who gave me the idea about the "Great Pumpkin". My kids put out ALL their Halloween candy on the porch last night and this morning the Great Pumpkin had traded their goodies for a toy! Isn't that a WONDERFUL idea?? I really needed to get that candy out of my house... I couldn't stop eating it!

Now, what to do with all that candy I have hiding in my car.... I can't just throw it away!

Little Inspiration

There is a darling little boy in Tyson's nursery class. His name is Mitchell and he is the bishops son. I love this little boys voice. He is two years old going on 19. And what I mean by "going on 19" is... this boy is ready to serve a mission!

Let me explain...The teacher was talking about following the prophet and spoke about a few prophets. SHe handed out little pictures and Mitchell got one with Ammon on it. So he starts telling us ALL about the movie where Ammon fights with the sword and keeps the kings sheep safe. Well then, this darling little boy, tells us that Ammon is not a prophet... he is a missionary! (and I'm thinking- he's right...right?)

Then the teacher starts talking about the Prophet Noah who built a ship and Mitchell says... "King Noah was wicked, he wasn't a prophet" (obviously we were talking about a different Noah, but the fact that this 2 year old even knew about wicked King Noah astounded me!)
Over the next half hour I kept asking little Mitchell some questions and I learned a whole lot about prophets and missionaries (he told me that Alma and Mosiah were both missionaries too).

But the most important thing that this little 2 year old taught me today was that I REALLY need to step it up a notch! My 2 year old can barely talk! He knew more than I do about The Book of Mormon!
I even asked him if he would come to my house and teach us about prophets... but he wasn't too excited about that!
So thank you Mitchell for being a good example to me! You taught me that no matter how little you are you can learn the important stuff! And even though I felt like a total dummy (because you know more than me), you have inspired me to better understand the scriptures!
And thank you Mitchell's Mom for raising such wonderful boys! Thank you for being a good example to me of what a mother should be :)

So, from all of this I have decided that I need to start untilizing more of those church DVD's we have. Why not make them watch those a few times a week?... and maybe I should sit and watch with them too ;)

Fall Family Pics

My little sista Elli took our Arthur Family photos this year and I think they turned out really good...

Elli took this while we were swinging the little kids ( I didn't mean to leav out Jaxon - he was off playing soccer or something)

I love my hubby :)

Aren't my boys SO handsome?

I love these beautiful girls!

The Arthur clan

My adorable little nieces Taelie & Sophie

I love these little girls!