Halloween

Getting ready to go

3 little pumpkins . . .

Class picture

Dane and Alice--could they be any cuter???

This year Halloween was different--it was the first time we had trick-or-treaters! Everywhere we've lived before had maybe one or two kids in the neighborhood. This time we were out of candy in an hour, it was great.

On Thursday, Alice had a fall party at her school. On Friday, we went trick-or-treating with friends. She was Cinderella-of course! She loves Cinderella and wears her dress almost every day. We had lots of fun this year and are glad that she shared all her goodies so willingly.

mmmm Reeses

One of the videos is of her singing the song from the movie"A dream is a wish your heart makes" Well, it melts my heart, so sweet. But I have no idea where she gets her theatrics . . . .

The second picture is of all the kids--such great costumes!

Home from Italy

On our drive home from Georgia, we checked Luke's (Dustin's brothers) fire station where he works. We are very proud of him and his hard work. It's hard to believe that only 4 years ago he lived with us and attended Logan High--our baby's all grown up!

When we arrived to our home in Arkansas, we had some new tenants in the house. I just would like to say how much I despise these wolf spiders--soooo disgusting. They're fast too, they don't spin webs they just run to hunt down their prey. gag.

Rome, Pompeii, and Positano

Here's the slides of our last leg of the trip. Sorry it took me so long to post!

Rome was an absolute must see, but I don't know if I would go back. Very dirty and crowded--but you have to see it at least once. One thing we didn't know was that most of St. Peter's marble came from the Colosseum. We really enjoyed the Roman ruins, it was our favorite part of Rome.

Pompeii was huge--I can't believe how much they've excavated. It's amazing to see graffiti on the walls and art on the walls of the homes. We only spent a couple hours, but easily could've explored for a few days.

Positano was the highlight of the trip for me. The Almafi coast was to die for---so beautiful. I would definitely go back and spend a whole trip there. Loved it, loved it, LOVED it!

The best part of the trip was talking to Dustin without toddler interruption for 10 whole days--we missed Alice terribly, but really enjoyed our time together. It was so worth it.

Firenze! (Florence)

Even though Florence was crowded (like most touristy spots) it was beautiful. They would clean the cobble stone streets each night and there was a gelatto stand everywhere you went. What more could you want? We went to the famous Ufizzi art gallery and saw priceless works by Michelangelo and other renaissance painters. We also saw the statue of David, but were not allowed to take pictures.

Do view the slide show--I've got a picture of a guy in skinny pants (everyone wore them there) it's hilarious. Our favorite part was climbing to the top of the Duomo. It had gorgeous views of the city--definitely worth the years of waiting I had to do to get there!

I have one video of us on top of the Duomo when the bells were ringing in the Campanile---you can tell from my videos that I loved to hear the bells always ringing, it was just like a fairy tale. And yes, I still turned the camera not thinking the image would go upside down. Sorry!

*Note: you can speed up or slow the slide show. If you stop your mouse on a pic, a caption will appear.

Ahhh, Venice!

Good evening! We've had a BUSY couple of weeks and I'm finally able to sit and post a little. Dustin and I were able to go to Italy and really had a great time. For anyone who has known me a long time--Italy has been a dream of mine for at least a decade. Alice stayed with her Nana in Georgia and did surprisingly well.

For the first couple days of the trip we spent it with our good friends the Giffords. They too were once Vilonia-ites, but moved to Italy in June. It was great to catch up with them and have a personalized tour of Venice which is what I have in the first slide show. I also have a video of us entering "Palazzo San Marco." The timing was perfect--sun streaming in and bells pealing. Oscar and Misty, you really know how to give a tour! Too bad the person taking the video, that would be me, keeps turning the camera upside down. . . . *Note* You can speed up or slow the slide show. Also, if you pass your mouse on one of the pictures, a caption will appear.

It's a girl!

That's right folks, "100% girl" they said. Although we had told everyone we wanted a boy next (only because we already had a girl) We are thrilled that she is healthy and doing well. Alice and her will no doubt be best friends and now Dustin doesn't have to permanently give up his study because they can share a room! I also told him, that when he gets older, there's nothing better than having a bunch of women dote on him--which is the truth.

I love this picture of her legs crossed. It won't be long before she can't stretch out like this! The second picture is of her profile.

I have had several requests for belly pics so I took some today to post below.

Utah Trip, Dustin and Corey's Birthday Party

Good Evening everyone! We've had a busy couple weeks, and they're going to get busier! Alice and I were able to visit Utah (we hadn't been home in a year and a half) It was great to see my grandparents who haven't seen Alice since she was five weeks old. Now that she's getting a little older, she really enjoys to travel and visit family--we don't have to worry so much about her being in 'her element' and 'on schedule'.

Playing with a Cinderella doll and dress on the Airplane (that thing was a life saver!)

Grandma and Grandpa's newly landscaped backyard. Her favorite part was the rock waterfall. Saturday morning, we had pancakes and hot chocolate on the new deck with the cousins.

Kora is Alice's cousin that's only 12 days older than her. We call them the twins. They especially loved picking apples from grandma's trees and chatting on the 'table rock.'

Cousin James and Alice getting rides on ponies at Gardner Village.

Aunt Ginny and Vilolet at Gardner Village--what a cutie!

James and Alice trying on bracelets. Sooo cute.

We had dinner with her great-grandma Harding. Alice was in chocolate chip cookie delirium.

The 'twins' enjoying a slumber party and gelatto :)

Grandma took us to a corn maize and we actually made it all the way through!

Man I miss these mountains! If I wasn't preggo I would have done some serious hiking.

We went to Logan to visit my two younger sisters, Aunt Jess and Aunt Cass. We had lunch at Angie's restaurant, a Logan original.

hmmmm. Jess, do you feel like Betos?

Little Alice on our Logan River Trail hike. Auntie Cass showing off her cat-like reflexes.

Alice wasn't so cat-like. She fell and skinned her knee-which resulted in much drama and my sisters and I carrying her for about a mile and a half.

She was finally soothed with a granola bar.

We were anxious to get home and see Dustin again. When he picked us up from the airport she didn't stop hugging him for 10 minutes straight. awwww.

As promised, here's some pics of the deck we, ahem, Dustin built. His buddy, Andy came over and helped him a lot while I was in Utah.

Here it is 95% done. It's very nice to have all this outdoor space, I'm very proud of my handyman!

On Saturday, Melissa and I had a joint party for our hubby's whose birthdays are only 3 days apart. She got them these hilarious shirts and Corey did his famous crab and shrimp boil. Oh, Dustin turns 31, so give him lots of grief if you can!

What a handsome man!