Aquarium of the Pacific

Talia and Tucker had Veteran's Day and the Friday after off from school. Trent took that Friday off and we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was a fun day and the Aquarium was great. There was lots to see and learn and they had 3 touch tanks. Talia and Tucker loved being able to touch the Bat Sting Rays. The Sting Rays would get excited and come up out of the water so that they could pet them. It was amazing. Tucker enjoyed the Diamond Sting Ray and Tiger Shark touch tank as well but Talia was a little a nervous about touching the sharks and larger Sting Rays. We were able to watch several of the marine animals being fed and watched the Sea Lions doing tricks. We fed some Lorakeets and Trent got pooped on twice. The birds liked him a lot! It was a very fun day and I am so glad we were able to spend it together.

Candy Cane Shop

We went to Logan's Candy Shop tonight to watch candy canes being made by hand. It was a very interesting and amazing process to watch and Talia and Tucker got to shape their own warm candy cane. I tried a piece and eating a candy cane from the store will never be the same. The warm fresh candy canes were DELICIOUS! It was a fun evening to spend together. A lady in our ward planned the evening and made all the reservations. I guess the candy cane shop is booked until Christmas and that is why we had to go so far in advance. There were several families from our ward there and it was a lot of fun. They have the largest handmade candy cane hanging in their shop. It is 13 years old. Hopefully we can do it again next year. It would be a fun early Christmas tradition to have.

Happy Haunted Halloween!

This year for Halloween we had a very full weekend. We went trick or treating twice and had one party to go to. By the end of the weekend we were partied out. This year Talia and Tucker wanted to have scary costumes. Out with the cute and in with the scary. Talia was a vampire and Tucker was a zombie with minimal face make up. He doesn't like to wear or have his face painted. I told him I would never buy another costume with mask again. Whoever reads is my witness and needs to remind me next year at Halloween. Talia and Tucker ended up with WAY too much candy. They got to pick a small handful for their sugar day next month and sold the rest to us for money to go and buy a toy. The funny thing is that they could hardly wait to sell us their candy. Trent took the candy to work on Monday and it was out of the house. Yeahhh! It was a fun weekend and I always love to see the Halloween fun had by my kids. Warning the pictures are scary!

Annual Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins for the Family Home Evening before Halloween and had a great time. Talia and Tucker picked a really tall and skinny pumpkin for their dad. Tucker loves carving the pumpkin but gets really grossed out by the pumpkin guts. I cleaned out his pumpkin for him and helped him with the harder cuts. He had a scary jack-oo-lantern. Talia cleaned and carved her own pumpkin with a little bit of help. Her jack-o-lantern was cute. Here is a picture of the 3 jack-o-lanterns. I didn't carve one because Tucker's was a joint effort.

Week With Mom and Grandma

This post is long overdue. My mom was able to come and visit for the last week of September and it was so fun to have her here. The week went by too fast. We spent the time shopping, walking, watching Talia and Tucker swimming at practice and Talia at her meet, playing Wii with the kids, sewing, making flowers for a pins or hairbow, going to the movie, talking, more talking and going to the beach. It wasn't the warmest day when we went to the beach and grandma was a trooper and went boogie boarding with Talia and Tucker anyway. I am so lucky to have such an awesome mom whom I love dearly and admire so much. Thanks for coming to visit mom. Thanks to my dad for sharing her with us for a week. Thanks to Trent who donated his miles to fly my mom here. It was a wonderful week. Unfortunately I never was able to take any pictures while she was here. I tried to take pictures and even brought my camera to beach but forgot to put the SD card in the camera.