Baby Balland's Baby Shower

In December, our friends Peter and Danika are expecting their first baby. They don't know if it is a boy or a girl so we look forward to their surprise. Here are some pictures. I was lucky to be appointed "Games Coordinator" along with my friend Skyla. Here are some pics:

The happy couple opening cute gifts:

Danika is enjoying the "Poopy Candybar Diaper" game and is smelling one of the numbered diapers trying to guess which kind of candy bar is in it:

What is a shower without a pinata? Here is Peter taking his best jab at the dino:

Danika gets in there not wanting to hurt or maim anything to do with her soon to be child:

I had enough of the "gentle" play and had to step in and blow the thing to smithereens:

Each party-goer then got a chance to guess how big Danika's belly was with a chosen length of string (Peter's guess fit twice around her...ugg, men):

The only baby at the party was Skyla and Casey's adorable son Aiden. He slept through some of the festivities:

I got to love Aiden up once he was awake (sorry for the scary face):

Skyla loving her baby:

I got to make the cookies to give away as shower goodies. They were fun to make and decorate:

Bring on Baby Balland!!!

Happy October 1st

It is Pumpkin Day!

We hit our favorite, local fruit stand for their mini pumpkin patch today. Andrew got a huge pumpkin, I got a weird, flat one, and Teenie and LuLu got pumpkins resembling their body types.

Here are some pics.

I had to tell Andrew to stop lifting the girl scarecrow's skirts up.

State Fair

Shannon and I went to the state fair this past weekend with Tom, and we met her sister Amy and her boyfriend there, as well as a couple other friends.

It was our first time to a demolition derby, and it was AWESOME! I'm almost embarrased to admit how fun it was.

I've put a few photos below, but for the full album check out: http://picasaweb.google.com/hurstdog/StateFair

One of the cars caught on fire:

We're going to buy this station wagon when we have kids:

One of the rides to make you puke:

And of course the ferris wheel:

Yummy things!

Here are some yummy things:

My new Kitchenaid Ice Cream attachment:

The 4th of July cake I made:

Jake (our 5 year old neighbor) wanted a Cars the movie cake:

Gracie (Jake's sister) got a birthday cake too, but it wasn't that pretty and I felt really bad for giving her such a lame birthday cake. There is always next year:

Andrew and I found a great cake decorating store in Stockton. The couple has been baking cakes professionally for 12 years now. She was very helpful and I wish I could take her classes, but she has 80 people on the waiting list.

Kyle Turned 1

I realized I haven't posted any pictures from Kyle's 1st birthday party. He is such a great guy and has such a personality now. The tattoos on his arm are from the public library. Both Aden and Kyle read 50 books this summer so they got their name up on the board at the library and got free tattoos.

Kyle in his new fishing pool:

Kyle receiving a birthday kiss from his friend Devon:

Big brother Aden and Devon's big sister Ainsley having fun in the whale pool:

Kyle getting ready for his first birthday cake:

Kids being kids:

Kyle trying his birthday cake:

Kyle upset at everyone cheering for him:

Opening gifts:

All the Dads wearing funny hats:

I can't believe Kyle is 1 already. He isn't walking yet, but when he does...Look Out!

Quilt #2

I finally finished the "Earth" quilt for my friends Carolyn and Dave who brought a beautiful baby into the world. Welcome Elaine June Llewellyn!

Here are pictures of the quilt. The pictures never show what it truly looks like flat. Carolyn called to say they cherish the quilt and Elaine June loves it. That is all that matters.

Heat, Heat, Heat

Well the heat here is going to kill me I think! So far the heat (or maybe my lack of watering every night) has only killed three plants. My bareroot hibiscus is making up for it! I bought this thing bareroot and it didn't do anything for 6 months. At the end of the rains it grew to almost four feet with humongous blooms. She's a keeper. The blooms are 9 inches in diameter.

We dropped the price on our house again! Now it is down to $480K, but the good news is we had two people come by today to look at it. For some reason I think things are rolling in the right direction and I hope we get an offer soon.