november, all squished into one post!

we started off november with a trip to arizona. matt's mom, and three of his sisters, were in phoenix for a conference (and my parents live there!) so we figured it was a pretty great excuse to get away for a weekend. it was fun, and busy, and it went by super fast. but we are so glad we could make it out there - we hadn't seen matt's sisters since we left calgary 2 summers ago! and we got to check out my parent's new house.

we hiked camelback mountain, ate cafe rio, got some shaved ice at bahama bucks, went to freestone park and rode the dinky little rides, and went out for a kid-free dinner on a patio with matt's side on the family. the boys loved riding my parent's golf cart and swimming in their pool. and matt and i loved having extra hands to help with the kids, and sneaking away on a couple dates.

the boys had been begging to have a fire in our backyard all summer, but it had just been way too hot to sit around a fire. we finally had a nice cool weekend to have a fire, and the boys were thrilled. (we eventually had to strap tad in, so he didn't face plant in the fire!)

mustaches that aunt jenny sent the boys.

the boys have fallen in love with art hub. it has these youtube videos that teach kids how to draw, step by step. they have seriously made more art then i know what to do with! but heck, they are having fun, and i am loving seeing their masterpieces.

every few months, nothing bundt cakes sends out a coupon for a free bundtlet (a tiny bundt cake) and our boys are always so thrilled when it shows up. i love sending them up to the employee to order their free cake. they feel so grown up. this is them having a bundt cake picnic in our living room!

chet loves to read, and he is one of the best in his class. holden loves to sit with chet and listen to him read. holden will be reading just as well in no time. he is learning so much every day. we are so proud of these boys!

our boys have made the cutest friends. (this is a terrible picture, but i tried!)

my parents and my sister came to visit for thanksgiving. it was so nice to have visitors for the holidays. it was another quick visit, but still lots of fun. we had a delicious roast beef dinner (because we are rebels, and like to break from the norm!). it was one of the hottest thanksgiving weeks on record, so we also enjoyed swimming in my parent's hotel pool!

we took our boys to the southern california children's museum, here in pasadena. i am not sure how they get away with calling it a museum. it is basically a glorified play space. buuut it was still cool to check out.

we hiked the temesal canyon trail. we have gotten soft, and were all shivering in the low 70's weather! haha but we survived, don't worry. 

we went to the americana and it had the biggest real christmas tree we have ever seen. it is just over 100ft tall - it is amazing! and, while we were there, they had fake snow falling. chet and holden thought it was pretty magical, but tad was terrified of the snow.. which i thought was pretty great! haha

tad's favorite stuffy is called steve. steve goes just about everywhere with us these days. when we were at nordstrom the other night, we spotted a whole bunch of steves and tad's mind was blown!

family photos!

we skipped family photos last year for whatever reason, so we were definitely due for some this fall. the last time we got photos professionally taken, was when tad was brand new. lots has changed since then!

up until now, we have always used the same photographer but, since she lives up in calgary, we had to find someone new this time. i found a photographer on instagram that i liked, basically just by searching #pasadenaphotographer. i scrolled until i saw the style we like, and then contacted the photographer. i was nervous to go with someone we didn't know, but it turned out to be perfect. she did a mini session with us, which meant it was just 20 minutes of photo taking. easy peasy. she captured just we were hoping for, and i can't wait to hang them up in our home! (the only pictures we will never print off are the posey ones of us throwing tad in the air and laughing at him! haha but i will put them on here anyways..)

for reals, how stinkin' cute are all my boys?!

chase and mitch came to visit!

matt's brother, mitch, and his son, chase, came to visit us for a few days. it is always such a treat to have family come visit, and our boys were extra thrilled to have a cousin come see them! it was a quick trip, but we managed to fit in lots of fun things:

1. spent a night playing at lacy park.

2. the dad's took the boys (minus tad) for a 1 night campout at a campground on the beach in san clemente.

3. the dad's also took the boys (minus tad) to a haunted house... where they ended up in tears and needing to be carried.

4. we spent an afternoon at a beach called 'little corona del mar'.

we get to see some people from both sides of our family this weekend, in phoenix, and we are super excited!

camping..

matt says that whenever he takes our boys camping, all they want to do it go to bed because they love sleeping in tents so much!

view from the campground.

matt said that they thought this was an old abandoned train track, so they had the boys lay down on it for a picture. but literally minutes after they took it, a super fast commuter train sped by and they were like, 'uhh...'. that story gives me nightmares! i can just picture it as a news story..

'two dads, and their 3 sons, are dead after getting hit by a high speed train while taking a picture..'

last day. at the beach.