Dustin's First Book

Look what we got in the mail!!!

Dustin's first book!

He had all the illustrations done for this book for a while but putting it together and printing it took some time, but we were very excited to get it in the mail early last week!

I thought it turned out great, and when we read it to Thomas he really liked it, so that was the true test!

Anyway, I'm really proud of Dustin for accomplishing this.

Also next month there is a caricature convention in San Antonio that Dustin really wanted to go to because he really had a great time and learned a lot and made some great connections last year in the one in Florida that he went to, and this year it's in Texas. I asked him if that was the reason we moved to Texas, because the last 2 times we have been conveniently close to where they are holding them, but he said no it's just worked out that way. Ha ha sure!

Anyway, he decided not to go because of asking almost a week off of work and also it's costs money to  go and stay a hotel would be another expense. I felt really bad because I know he really wanted to go, so I made a deal with him, if I some how came up with the money to pay for the convention he would go. Anyway to make a long story short, he decided to go only for 2 days,  and we found out that Dustin's grandparents have a really nice time share a mile away, and I got enough art/photography jobs the last 2 weeks to pay for the two days, I think I win the greatest wife of the year award!  Just kidding.

Anyway, I'm really excited because Thomas and I are coming down with him, while last year I didn't go. I will probably go to some of the convention, but not all of it because let's face it I'm far from being a caricature artist. But to stay at a nice resort, heck yeah, and also I've been wanting to go to the River Walk and see if I can go see the Alamo, which are some of the places I've wanted to see here in Texas. They do have a SeaWorld down there, that I would love to go (I have really missed SeaWorld in Orlando) but my pass doesn't work there. But I'm planning on doing a lot of sight seeing while Dustin can hang out with his caricature buddies.

Anyway so I'm super excited to do that in a couple weeks!

Halloween Weekend

This weekend Thomas and I got to do some fun things for Halloween. Poor Dustin had to work a lot this weekend so he missed out, but he has Halloween off so he will be able to go trick or treating with us!

On Friday, the local library had a little Halloween party, that turned out to be a lot bigger than I anticipated, there were a lot of kids there. Thomas loved it! He was really excited about his costume and figured out pretty quick because he was dressed up he was getting candy. 

The library is in the town hall building (I think that's what it's called) but it has the police station, and other local offices so we went around trick or treating, and they were passing out some good stuff, like stickers, home-made cookies, glow-sticks, and candy. It was awesome!

What was funny, was Thomas didn't understand the concept of putting the candy in his basket, and was trying to hold everything he got, but he finally got that figured out. Also he first thought he had to put the candy in the bowls that people were passing out candy with like he needed to trade one treat for another, so I had to teach him that he gets to keep all the candy, and he thought that was awesome. So once he finally figured the trick treating he was all about it, it was pretty funny.

Than Saturday we went Dustin's aunt and uncle's farm because they had a Harvest Fest. They had chili, truck or treating, and hay rides. Thomas LOVED the hayride that we went twice in a roll. The second time I almost lost my wedding ring! O my gosh, that scared me so bad. It got really cold that night and I guess my fingers shrunk and the ring just slipped right off my finger and went through a crack between the wood planks and fell on the ground in the farm and we were moving, I yelled "STOP!!! I lost my wedding ring!" Luckily uncle Scott saw me waving my arms and stopped the hay ride, and every one got  out and looked for my ring, luckily it was found pretty quick but that was not a fun 5 minutes for me.

Anyway, besides almost losing my ring it was a really fun night and Thomas was really sad when we left. I'm excited to take him trick of treating this week and I'm excited that Dustin can join us this time. 

Here some of the pictures of the weekend (The Harvest Fest are the first set of pictures than the last few are of the Library) 

So I'm dress up as a scare crow, which is hard to tell in these pictures, but it explains the make up on my face. This year I wasn't so creative with our costumes like last Halloween, but being pregnant it was hard to come up with a theme as a family so we kind of did our own thing this year. 

Thomas with his 2nd cousin, Cole.

Pictures from the library trick or treating.

The spiderman is Logan,  he's probably Thomas' first real friend, It's really cute, they both get really excited to see each other and they play really well together. 

Enjoying all their candy, not going to lie, I had my fair share of the goods too.

Pumpkin Patch at the Arboretum and Pumpkin Carving

Yesterday we got the chance to hang out with my brother, Michael and his family all day! It was a lot of fun! Again, I can't express how awesome it is to have family close by! 

We went to the pumpkin patch at the Arboretum in Dallas, which is where they took me when I visit them last May, and there were some awesome sculptures if you remember.

We've been meaning to go almost every weekend this month, but something always came up, that I was determined to go this weekend, so I set an alarm for the next morning, making sure we left in time. Well.... Thomas decided to wake up around 2 and wouldn't go back to sleep till 5:30, so we slept through our alarm because all of us were tired, and I end up waking up at 8:10, I jumped right out of bed, freaking out because we should have left way before than, so we got ready as fast as we could, so much for looking nice like I had hoped for for pictures, O well. 

We arrived at Michaels house about an hour late, and we get in their car when the battery was dead, I kept saying this trip was cursed. Anyway we finally got there and the kids had a blast!

The pumpkin patch was AWESOME! 

They had some amazing pumpkin houses and they had a Cinderella carriage that was pretty cool too. The kids loved playing in the straw, so did the husbands... maybe if I wasn't pregnant I would have jumped in too. Thomas had fun carry and rearranging all the little pumpkins. 

Than after the Arboretum we headed to Michael's house and hung out for a little bit, had some dinner and some amazing Pumpkin empanadas like the ones at Taco Time and carved some pumpkins. Thomas had fun watching Dustin clean out the pumpkin and kept pointing at the pumpkin guts and saying "ew". But once we got into the carving he could care less.  

Dustin and I said we were going to go simple this year with our design and just do a face, but no, we decided to draw one out, and again chop off some of our design on accident, it's starting to become our tradition every year. 

Here are all the pumpkins.

The first one was by Michael, and it is a baby in the womb (Trixie's pregnant so they took a picture with her carrying it in front of her belly) but some people said it looked like the Batman sign, so he was good with whatever. 

The second, is mine and Dustin's, they are monsters if you can't tell, the middle one is missing a hand, oops...

Than the 3 pumpkins was Trixie's sister's and her husband's, they did a good job.

Than the jack o-latern was the little boys, and Trixie helped them, that one is my favorite.

Than a Dragon one by Michael as well.

It was a way fun day, and Thomas loves playing with his cousins, and we were exhausted when we got  home, so that should tell you how much fun we had!

Excited for Halloween

I might be bias, but I think he's the cutest little monster.

I really like Halloween!

It's up there with Christmas for me. I love the fall colors, I love the pumpkins(especially this year I keep buying pumpkins), the candy, dressing up, yummy food, the halloween decor. I just love all of it!

And it's more exciting having a Thomas around. This year he's getting the idea of Halloween better, he loves the decorations we have put up, he loves pumpkins, he loves when I put on his shirt on that has a pumpkin on it (I need to get a picture with him in it), he really likes the movie, Nightmare Before Christmas, he must be my son. 

I'm very excited to take him trick or treating this year, I think he will really like it. 

This year, I have mentioned before that we are making our decorations, well we only have done one thing, ha ha BUT we are in a middle of another! We made a banner out of card stock paper(picture below), and it was fun and I actually really liked how it turned out, I got the idea on Pinterest, obviously, it can be a fun craft for kids and it turns out cute if your looking for something to do. But hopefully Dustin and I will get some of the other projects done because they would be cool if we do them! Many reasons why I love being married to an artist, I love when we come up with creative ideas!

Also I had Thomas try on his costume, and I was planning on doing a photo shoot but we were getting attacked by bees so I  just got a few! I'm hoping I can do a "real" photo shoot but who knows if that's going to happen. But I thought he looked adorable and he thought it was pretty cool, till half hour later he was done wearing it, so we will see how Halloween goes. 

I'm a little nervous because when I first got it, it fit him awesome, but when I put it on him for the pictures it look like it was getting too small, so I think he's grown a lot in the last few weeks- he should be the way he has been sleeping and eating, it was like a teenager, anyway so I PRAY it will still fit him on Halloween. 

Anyway we still have some fun plans coming up in the next two weeks, so some more pictures are on their way!

What's in a Name...

So I tend to break my own personal rules...

One rule I have is that I won't name my child until I see them, because I always want to see if they "look" like that name. 

Well, like many things I say I will NEVER do and end up doing, so here I am already naming our second boy,

 Oliver

I can't get that name out of my head, and every other name just doesn't seem to fit, and I keep wanting to call him Oliver whenever I'm talking about him. There was one other name that was a close 2nd but when I said the name to people they would give me a funny look. I still love it and I might use it later, it came from one of my favorite books, Wuthering Heights - don't worry it's not Heathcliff, and I have never heard anyone use it. So maybe I will use it in the future. 

So where did Oliver come from???

Right after I found out I was pregnant I was at one of the theme parks with Thomas in Orlando when I heard a British family called out their son Oliver, and right away I thought "That's it! If I have a boy." I have never thought of that name, and kind of brushed it off because I didn't think Dustin would like it, well, it has turned out to be Dustin's favorite name I have picked out, and I know he really wants it, but since he picked Thomas he's letting me have the final say. 

Also I like the sound of Thomas and Oliver... I can't help and think how cute those names sound together. 

We haven't decided a middle name but we are thinking:

Oliver Joseph Clark

 after my dad. 

Anyway, who knows maybe we will change the name, but I really think it's Oliver at least that's what I'm going to be calling him now.

So here's to breaking another rule of mine. 

BIG 29!

To clear something up before people start freaking out and think they missed Dustin's birthday, his birthday isn't till Wednesday, the 10th, but since he has to work and he wanted to celebrate his birthday with friends and family so we did it on Sunday, so no one panic (mainly family) you didn't miss it and you can call him on Wednesday to wish him happy Birthday. 

Anyway, so Dustin turned 29!!!! (or is going to be 29) I'm so excited for next year when he turns the big 30, I'm going to make it big, with a lot of black balloons and everything else, but I need to be somewhat nice because he can do the same to me when I turn 30, but I'm still very excited! Muahhhaaahaaa

Back to today, we had a great time today and I tried to make him feel special. We watched conference and after the 2nd session we had the Pratt's come over for dinner and we had chili dogs, home-made mac n cheese, fruit and cake and ice cream!

I think chili dogs are gross, but Dustin loves them! He asks for that every year for his birthday, I should be grateful since it's the easiest meal possible to make, but I always apologize when we have people over because the meal isn't the best, but by everyone's reaction, I must be the only one who doesn't like chili dogs. 

Anyway, we had a good chat and eat till we were all full. The chocolate cake was really good but it wasn't the prettiest looking cake because the frosting was so soft and creamy (which tastes awesome) but not the best frosting to decorate a cake with because it is so soft and has it's own mind, it would be great with cupcakes though. 

Thomas thought the candles were awesome and thought they were for him and right away was trying to blow them out (not for another month buddy!) and was very excited about the whole deal. 

After cake we opened presents, I got Dustin an Iron Man action figure that he was very excited about, an awesome Norman Rockwell book, and the movie RocketMan. He loved all the presents, so that's good. 

Happy Birthday Dustin! 

We love you! You are great husband and father and your such a blessing in our lives!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the pumpkin patch as a family. We also met up with Dustin's old high school friend, Weston, and his cute little family. It was a lot of fun.

The Pumpkin Patch was in Flowermound, Texas where Dustin went to high school so it's fun to see the town he used to live in.

Thomas had fun, he loved being pulled around with the wagon, he also liked the tractor, the bounce houses, and the petting zoo. 

Than afterwards we played some disc golf, well the guys did, while us girls, walked the kids around the  park.

It's been fun having so many friends here in Texas, we have been doing a lot of stuff with my brother and his family, and one of my good friends from working at Porter's, and the Pratt's like today. We've also been making friends from our ward, so we have been pretty busy being social, I've just been really bad at taking pictures because I never have the camera around. 

But enjoy these pictures! I couldn't help taking pictures of the pumpkins because I love the fall and I'm finally feeling like I'm getting a fall after a year and half of summer!

And a little update with us, since I haven't blogged for a while! We are doing good, like I mentioned before we have been hanging out with a lot of couples and getting to know people.  

We also just got called to be Nursery leaders, so that should be interesting....

Just when I got out of primary, Dustin was very excited, me, not as much as him, but after our first day he was like "That was a lot harder than I thought it would be." I just started laughing because it's was just day 1 and we had the old leaders there helping so it's only going to get better ha ha. I think now he understands why I wasn't jumping up and down with joy, but I do think it will be fun, I just need to have a better attitude! It's just hard not to favor Thomas over the other kids, and a kid kept picking on him and it was hard to see that as his parent. 

Also this Halloween we have been making "home made" decorations since we don't have any here in Texas (all back in Idaho, one day we will get all our stuff) and some of it has turned out cute, but we haven't quite finish but I will post it when we are done.

Anyway we are having fun here in Texas, I will admit, I have been having a hard time not having SeaWorld so close, that it's been more of a challenge to entertain Thomas some days. 

Also, I finally updated my art blog! WOW! It's a miracle and I have more to update so check that out more!