Irvine Park Railroad

The day after his birthday, John took Friday off at work and we played all day. I had planned most of the day and left John in the dark. We first went to the Mission Viejo Mall and had breakfast at Ruby's Diner, a new favorite local breakfast place of ours. It has a great family atmosphere. Brody's favorite part is the toy train that runs through the restaurant.

After breakfast we walked the mall and took a look at the new Microsoft store that just opened the day before. It wasn't too busy, which was nice. The store looked great and they had some really cool things there. John walked around while the kids and I played on the Surface. It is a coffee table touch screen computer. They had a bunch of fun kid games and activities to do. Brody and Piper loved it all.

After the mall, we drove up to the Irvine Park Railroad. It is a fun place to go in the fall with the spirit of Halloween everywhere. They have hay rides, a haunted house, hay maze, horse rides, bounce houses, and the best little train ride around. This was Brody's and my 3rd year going and John's and Piper's first. Our favorite is the train ride that takes you through Irvine Regional Park. It was pretty crowded this day, though, being the day before Halloween.Piper and I waiting in line for the train.

Brody looking excited.

Almost time to go!

Piper loved it all.Brody was pretty quite for most of it, but seemed to have a lot of fun. Posing in front of the train.Brody loved all the pumpkins, but refused to look at the camera for a great picture most of the day.Having fun in the hay maze.Going in the haunted mansion with daddy. We thought for sure he would have been scared, since he is with the littlest things.But he ran out to me excited to tell me all about it. We ended up going through about a dozen times after that.Mommy and the kids.Piper riding the hay horsey like a little lady.Ride 'em horsey!Our little scarecrows!The only decent pictures of the kids that we could get.
The perfect ending to a fun day with daddy.

John's Birthday Celebration

John's birthday is the end of October and, since it fell on a Thursday this year, it turned into a 4-day weekend celebration. On Thursday, John worked all day and I needed to help with a Pack Meeting, so it wasn't that fun of a day. I did make a great dinner that night of Chicken Cordon bleu, twiced baked potatoes, and broccoli. All of John's favorites. He has wanted me to make cordon bleu for while, but I hate swiss cheese, so it never sounded good to me. Selfish, I know. Actually, it turned out really good and the whole family loved it. Who knew I liked melted swiss cheese?

Because of the busy day, I didn't end up making a cake and decided to do it the next day instead. It was so easy to do since John prefers no frosting. Not my choice, but definitely more low cal which is nice.

Brody loved helping blow out the candles. These pictures were actually taken on Saturday (Halloween). The kids never got to sing happy birthday and have cake the night before, hence the partially eaten cake.

Love my family. Happy 32nd Birthday John!

BYU vs SDSU

My parents came down a few days before the San Diego State game to stay with us. We hung out at the beach on Friday and, on Saturday, traveled down to San Diego for the game. We met the rest of my family there and had so much fun visiting with everyone. The game started out a bit rough, but we pulled through and won it 38-28. Dennis played great, which made it fun to watch. This game is always fun for us because we usually see a ton a people we know that come down from our area. San Diego is a great place to visit too, so a lot of BYU fans traveled down.

Our family was pretty split up for most of it. Our original seats were right in the sun the entire time and, since we had the kids with us, we opted for more comfortable and cooler areas to sit. The stadium was huge so it wasn't hard to find seats, but since everyone wanted the shade no one was sitting in their real seats. We had to move a few times because we kept getting kicked out.

Brody and Brooklyn had so much fun playing together though. They loved swinging on the railings.

Towards the end, we moved right down close to the field to meet up with my cousin Jen and her family. This was the view from their seats.

Brody having a fun time. He was so good the whole game. It was really nice.

We ran into a few friends down there too. One of which were our friends, Karin and Bryan. Here is Brody and their boys playing. They had so much fun running around the empty seats together. This is courtesy of Karin's blog because I forgot my camera to take pictures. Thanks Karin!After the game, we waited for my brother to come out. He was the very last player come out of the locker room. He is known for that. Here are the kiddos playing while waiting for uncle Denny.

And John, Piper, and Brandon.
After visiting for a bit, we went our separate ways and my sister Lindsey and her family and my parents and us went to dinner at Islands close by and then headed home.

Pumpkin City

We took our 2nd annual trip to Pumpkin City in early October. It is a fun little pumpkin farm with lots of animals and places to take pictures. That is all the free stuff anyway, which is what we only do. All the other fun things are pretty pricey. We met up with a few friends, went on a few rides, braved through a downpour, had a few meltdowns, and took lots of pictures. Very fun day!

The Great Pumpkin! Brody's favorite show right now.

"Chickens!"

"Ducks mom!"Hiding out in the teepee.Taking a tractor ride.Trying to feed the pigs. Be careful, they bite! We learned that last year.Madame BrodyThe "kids" on the merry-go-round. Brody loves to refer children as kids. It is funny when you hear him say it.Brody sulking. He is a HUGE sulker! If he doesn't get his way, he will fold his arms, bow his head and stomp his feet to his room, all with a frown on his face. He was mad this time when their were not enough horses for him to ride on with everyone, so he took himself into the tent to sulk. His place of choice at home is his bed. It saves me from having to say, "Go to your room!".One happy kid once someone let him take a turn.Brody's friends (Tyler, Brinley, Braden, Brody, Taylor, Kaden, and Piper). Only one unhappy kid this time. Poor Taylor! One happy girl!And one very unhappy girl. I have no idea why she did not like that horse. She burst into tears when I put her on it.Vroom, vroom!

Stats

At the end of Sept, I finally was able to get the kids in for their well-doctor visits, Brody's 3 years and Piper's 9 month. Earlier in the month, I made the embarrassing mistake of showing up at the wrong office for their appointments and had to reschedule because I was too far away from the office at which it was booked. In my defense, I would have never made an appointment so far away. I guess next time I need pay attention more when I am booking it. Here are the kids stats.

Brody

Height: 41 inches (97%)

Weight: 41 lbs (97%)

Yes, he is our 4x4 big boy and is just as strong as he is thick. Maybe he will have a great NFL career ahead of him!

Piper

Height: 29 inches (73%)
Weight: 20 lbs 1 oz (51%)
Head Circumference: 47 cm (97%)

Still our tall skinny minny with hopes of growing into her head! She probably doesn't have a chance if you've ever seen our huge heads :)

Pitta Family Picture

While we were in Utah, my mom planned for us to all take a family picture in BYU gear. Lindsey's sister in law Tamara is a photographer and took our picture in front of my parents house. Brody has had a hard year with taking pictures. I think it has to do with his ability to resist all things he is MADE to do. (hum. . . I wonder where he got that from ;) ) Even with the lure of treats, he still would not smile. Oh well, at least he didn't throw a fit and breakdown crying like other times. The picture did come out great. Thanks Tamara!

Brody's New Bed

At my parents house I had a few projects that I had fun doing. My mom found this great Pottery Barn bed at her neighborhood garage sale in good condition and for only $50!! It was originally red, but I painted it black while I was there. I think it came out great and he is in love with his new bed. We took it back with us on our way home. We got home that Saturday in the early afternoon and went out later that day to get a new mattress and box springs. It was delivered in the early evening and by that night he was sleeping in it. Talk about being efficient!

With tons of help from my mom I made the comforter on his bed too. I tied it while my mom ended up doing the rest. It turned out great too. Thanks so much mom!!!

Family and the Bean Museum

Our last day in Utah, we went down to Provo to visit my brother Dennis at his apartment and to take the kids to the Bean Life Science Museum. My Grandpa, Poppy, and aunt Jane and uncle Joe flew into town the day before, so along with my sister, her kids, and my dad, we all went down to visit Dennis. We were glad we were able to spend a little time with him before he had to check in with the team before game time the next day.

The kids loved playing on their rocker.

Piper was showing off her crawling skills.

And loved all the attention she was getting as long as I was within arms length of her.

Taking a break from all the playing and eating some bread with Papa.

Soon after, we all headed out to grab some lunch at Jason's Deli where we met up with my sister-in-law Mataya. Thanks again Jane for lunch!! Very delicious!! After lunch, we all split up and some went back home to wait for and pick up my uncle David and aunt Patti from the airport. Lindsey, John and the kids and I killed time by spending the afternoon at the Bean museum at BYU. It was a great place for the kids and it was FREE! Love that! The kids loved seeing all the animals and I even learned a few things about the Utah wildlife. It was quite interesting.

Brody posing with a bear.

Brooklyn and Brody checking things out.Piper as happy as ever.

Grandma and the kids at the end of the dayPapa trying to get in on the action.Piper crashed from the long fun day.It was really fun to see all the Pitta side of the family and for them to finally meet Piper. I was so glad that she finally allowed a few of them to hold her without throwing a fit. So sad though that I didn't take pictures of everyone! :) We were too busy visiting and getting packed for the early trip home.