Fear the Tree

Stanford Cardinals 65--Washington Huskies 21

It was an awesome game. We won by about a million points. I got to see Andrew Luck play in person after drooling over his amazingness on TV for months. We got to share the experience with my parents. Talmage had more sugar than any child should be allowed to eat--but it kept him entertained for the WHOLE game. Ev was a saint of a baby. The cotton candy at Cardinal Stadium was the best I've ever eaten in my life...no joke. I can't wait to do this again soon.

Pre-game awesomeness:

Game-time awesomeness:

Funny story about this picture. In the middle of the 4th quarter the place really emptied out and Talmage was able to roam around our section. He informed me that he needed a new seat, and that I was not to follow him. Next thing I knew Mr. Independent was sitting behind this man, tapping him on the shoulder and saying, "Uh, this is my new seat." I rescued the man and brought Talmage back to our area, but two seconds later he left again, this time sitting right next to the man and watching the game with him. This man thought the whole thing was hilarious, luckily!

Our family with the tree...the REAL tree. Evie is going to be the tree for halloween (and T's going to be a Stanford football player) so we thought it'd be fun to get a picture with the real deal. Luckily Everett looked so cute in his outfit they let us go all the way down to the field! What a fun way to end an awesome game.

Pumpkin Patch

My parents came down for a short weekend visit and as always, it was dreamy to see them. Saturday morning we drove to Half Moon Bay to visit a few different pumpkin patches. We left our house fairly early and we are super glad we did because we beat the warm weather and we beat the large crowd (by the time we left the pumpkin patch the place was swarming with people and the line of cars went all the way back to the freeway). It was SUCH a fun place--new family tradition for sure!

Me. My Mom. Evie Ev.

The ONLY picture we got of T smiling the whole trip.

Despite the lack of smiles, I think he did have fun. Pepa bought him pink popcorn, Mommy let him ride the train, he got to ride in Mema's van...what an awesome adventure! He also got to go in the bounce house, down a huge bounce-slide and on a fake pony ride.

Ev hated sitting with these pumpkins and uncharacteristically frowned the whole time. Poor kid. I still think he's the cutest pumpkin in the patch, frown and all.

My cute, cute, CUTE parents.

Such a cute place. Already can't wait to go back next year!

T and Ty

This last weekend we had our friends Ivan and Katie (and their cutie-pie Tyson) visit us from Sac-town. It was so much fun to see them and let our boys go crazy together. We toured campus, played in the courtyard and went to our favorite Palo Alto duck pond. We also went to the top of the Hoover tower, which just re-opened after months of construction. The view was amazing from the top, but Talmage just might have had a break-down when I wouldn't let him climb through the bars and jump off the tower. I'm such a mean mom, aren't I.

Katie is super talented and cute and I loved getting to know her better. Three quickies about her: she makes pregnancy look ridiculously adorable, she makes darn good pumpkin chocolate chip bread & she should start her own purse-making business. Seriously, she had the cutest purse I think I've ever seen and she made it. She's just awesome.

Tyson and Talmage both loved the duck pond in their own way. Tyson thought the whole thing was hilarious and would laugh hysterically each time a duck would eat the bread he threw. Possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen! It never got old and he couldn't stop laughing. He had us all smiling. Talmage, on the other hand, decided to have intellectual conversations with the ducks. "Hi ducks," he said. "How are you doing today? Do you like to eat bread ducks?" He is so cute and it was so funny.

Speaking of cute and funny...We interrupt this post with a random picture of Ev that I think is, well, cute and funny. Now back to the Tidwell's visit!

After visiting the duck pond we went out to the bay and visited our very own Stonehenge! At least it looked kind of like it...kind of. We also saw people wind-surfing, Talmage learned how to spit off the dock and Tyson picked up multiple pieces of duck poop thinking they were rocks. It was eventful for sure!

This photo-chain could have easily been titled, "Taking a decent picture of two two-year-olds is nearly impossible." I really wanted a picture with them together, and this is as good as it got! Talmage loved playing with Tyson, and I think Tyson liked it too...until they were playing football and Ivan taught Talmage how to tackle. It was all over from there!

Thanks for the visit you guys. Come back soon!

Slow down

It seems like this little fella thinks it's ok to grow up. Did I give him permission to do that? I mean, I am his mom and everything--it seems like I should have some kind of a say in this matter. But alas, he thinks otherwise. He keeps growing. I can no longer call him my newborn without getting those looks, as if people are saying, "newborn? really?" I call him my 3-month-old, but I fear that next week I will not be able to say that anymore either. I don't remember it going this fast the first time. I want to stop time for a second and just cuddle the guts out of this sweet baby. Gosh, I love him. And Evie, for my sake, please slow down just a little. I am enjoying every second of you, my second son. You are a precious spirit.

The Red Barn

The boys and I visited the Red Barn, which is the student equestrian center on Stanford's campus. It is a huge stable where both students, and residents around the community, can board their horses (I'm not hip on my horsey language, hopefully that's the right way to say it!) We had heard it was an awesome place to visit, and it definitely didn't disappoint!
T is starting to REALLY cheese it up during pictures! At least he's not ignoring me like he's done for the last 2 1/2 years of his life when I try to take his picture. ;)

That is only one of the barns. I can't remember how many there were in all, but it was big and there were lots. There were also arenas where people were riding their horses, and jumping them. It was so cool to watch.

The people were SO nice. This man scooped T up in his arms and let him pet his horse. He actually took him into the horses stable (uh...horse cubby!) Talmage was 1/2 scared out of his mind, 1/2 super excited to touch him. I'm afraid he inherited his love/hate relationship with animals from me.

This super nice woman also let T get up close and personal with her horse. She said he was a magical horse, and although I don't think Talmage quite understood what that meant, he was still pretty excited. Until she asked if he wanted to pet the horse--at that point he ran away screaming, "I do NOT want to pet it." Oh dear.

This horse was the only one he felt totally comfortable with! And just in case it isn't clear in the picture, it's a statue! We loved visiting the Red Barn, and T's only complaint was that there were no cows, chickens and pigs. He kept saying, "Uh...And on his farm there was a COW. Not just horses!" So now I'm on the hunt for a farm with cows, and chickens and pigs!

Sprinklers in October

The sprinklers came on in our courtyard the other day and Talmage wanted to run around.

Yes, it's mid-October, but it was also in the mid-80s.

I love California. I love California. I love California.

Lately, I have to say a lot of no's. More on that later, but T and I have been in semi-war almost nonstop. It's been exhausting, and it's hurt my feelings.

BUT...

when he asked to run in the sprinklers, I got to say YES. And it felt so good.

He had fun running, I had fun watching, and by the smile on Evie's face I think he enjoyed himself as well.

It was a moment. And I loved it.

Two more reasons why I love Stanford:

1. Mr. HorsefeatherStanford put on a magic show for all of the student families and it was so hilarious. Mr. Horsefeather entertained the audience of young children for nearly an hour, and Talmage was laughing out loud he was loving it so much. His favorite parts were when Mr. Horsefeather fell (purposely, repeatedly, hilariously) and when he made balloons come out of his mouth and then made them animals. It was great.

2. The Stanford Wives Club

The madness of it all! All of the women in our ward with husbands at Stanford got together for the first party of the "Stanford Wives Club." It was supposed to be a gorgeous day so an outdoor brunch in the courtyard was planned. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs and we ended up squishing into a small apartment. It was hilarious and I think it's safe to say that poor Nicole's carpets will never be the same again. I can't wait to get to know these girls better and play again soon!