Halloween Festivities

Gavin loved Halloween this year and all the parties and fun that came with it. He did great in his preschool program. He LOVES to sing and he was definitely the loudest.

We had our annual pumpkin carving at my parents. There were no Utah pumpkins this year but we had to pay tribute to the Raiders.

And then of course, there was Halloween night. Our mermaid and pirate had so much fun trick-or-treating!

The results of trick-or-treating:

San Francisco

We headed to the Bay Area for of course, the Utah game. The game was definitely the low point of the weekend; luckily we had lots of other fun things to keep us busy. (We missed having our little man with us but he stayed home and had awesome sleepovers at his grandma's houses.)

Elise's face sums up the feelings of the football game.

Such a lovely view of the Bay Bridge. I just love how the 'Occupy' protesters are claiming they are fighting for more jobs and a better economy. The only thing these people were doing were getting high on their super nice crack pipes (they told us they had nice crack pipes).

This man was my favorite. If you've ever been to San Francisco you know there are a lot of crazy people walking around, but I think this man takes the cake. Here he is feeding the seagulls in his lovely red Speedo. He then proceeded to undress from his Speedo; and yes, he was completely naked on the beach. Luckily we did not take a photo of that part. :)

Luckily we were still able to enjoy our night even after the free peep show.

Autism Walk

We ended up raising about $860 for the Autism Walk this year which completely surpassed my expectations. Thank you so much to those of you who donated; it means so much to me and my family. I think this will become a Russon family tradition and hopefully we will just continue to increase our total.

The Big 3-0

Jesse's 30th birthday was last week and we had a great time celebrating. His good friend, Andrew, also turned 30 a couple weeks ago so we decided to have a combined party. We surprised the boys at Laird Park and were so glad all of their friends came to celebrate.

Gavin trying to sneak a taste.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubby!

Autism Walk

This year we are participating in the Autism Walk as a family.  It's something I have always wanted to do and decided this would be the year. 

When my brother was diagnosed with autism it was not a very well-known disease.  There is a lot more information out there now but sadly that is because it affects so many children. The purpose of the Autism Walk is to raise money so more research can be done.  Hopefully someday we will know what causes autism and will be able to prevent it.

I would very much appreciate any donation you can give. You can donate by clicking on the link below or by clicking on the puzzle piece at the top of the page.  Thank you so much for your support!

http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=450549&supid=334259477

Firsts

We've been having a lot of 'firsts' in our family.  Last week Gavin started preschool and he is loving it. He was nervous for about two seconds and as soon as he saw all the toys he was fine. I love coming home and having him tell me everything he learned especially because he does it in his excited voice.

Zoe is growing everyday and she is definitely showing us her personality.  She is a little spit-fire and I think Jesse already has heart palpitations when he thinks of her as a teenager.

She has started sitting up in the Bumbo and she loves it.  She is also rolling everywhere and loves being on her stomach.



Happy Rivalry Week

Does this sweatshirt look familiar?



Our trip to So-Cal

We had a fabulous time in Southern California last week. Traveling with kids is a huge undertaking but it is so worth it.  We loved being with family and getting to enjoy the beach, the happiest place on earth and of course, our Utes!

Our first ride of the day at Disneyland was Dumbo.  Gavin loved it and was actually very brave; he loved making it fly as high as it would go.

Sadly after Dumbo Gavin had a traumatic experience with 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' and he refused to do any dark rides after that. We slowed things down with 'Small World' and the 'Jungle Cruise' later in the day.  He also loved meeting the characters and sadly I wish we had seen more.

We headed to 'California Adventure' in the afternoon and absolutely fell in love with the 'World of Color' show.  It made me feel like a kid again but I was also so incredibly happy to be sharing it with my children. It was such a wonderful way to end the day.

We soaked in the beach as much as we could.  We also got to see the 'Tall Ships Festival' at Dana Point. Gavin loved seeing all the "pirate ships."

And then of course, there was the game.  Even though the outcome was not exactly what we wanted it was so much fun.  The stadium was amazing, our seats were perfect and we loved being there to support our Utes.

9/11

As I watched all of the 9/11 programming and tributes yesterday I had so many thoughts. It's amazing ten years have gone by but I still feel the same sorrow I did on the actual day; and in fact, I think I feel it more now that I am older.  I began to realize this event has shaped my entire adult life. I was an 18-year old freshman at the University of Utah when the terrorist attacks occurred.  Since then we have been at war and have seen incredible amounts of violence and death.  I have grown-up in the '9/11' era and I don't even remember how things were before the attacks.

We flew home from California yesterday and needless to say it was an unsettling feeling getting on an airplane on the anniversary. I couldn't help but put myself in the shoes of the passengers on the hijacked planes and I can't even imagine how terrified you would be.  I'm sure there were children and families aboard those planes and that breaks my heart.

I watched a few different programs over the last couple weeks but the one I found very interesting was '102 minutes' on the History Channel.  It was all home footage of people who were experiencing the attacks in New York.  People just grabbed their camera's and you could hear their reactions to everything. The day just kept getting worse and worse and there was so much sorrow.

In this program you saw the bravery of all the firefighters and police officers. They ran into those buildings without even hesitating.  Even after the first tower fell the firefighters were preparing to go into the second building.  This hit really close to home now that I have a loved one serving as a firefighter. I pray he will never be in that type of situation.

My heart goes out to everyone who was personally affected by that day. I know someday I will have to explain what happened to my kids and I wish that wasn't the case.  Sadly, re-living all the events yesterday made me feel vulnerable and a little frightened this could happen again. But it also made me feel so proud to be living in this country and made me incredibly grateful for my family and for the wonderful people who surround me in my life.

GO UTES!

Sadly I have become complacent and didn't even take photos of the first game this year. The only ones I have were taken on my phone because I had to show off my cute kids in their Utah gear.

Luckily I did take photos of our adventures at Fan Fest. Gavin absolutely loved going down on the football field and they had lots of fun games for him to play.

I promise to take lots of photos next week, which leads me to my next topic: DISNEYLAND!

I need advice from all you moms and Disneyland experts.  We are headed to Southern California and will be going to Disneyland for a day.  Sadly the only day we can go the park is closing at 6 p.m. We decided to do park hopper passes so we can go to California Adventure also, which is open until 8 p.m. I have been reading online about "how to do Disneyland in one day" but I want to hear from you.  If you have any advice please let me know.  This will be Gavin's first time and I want to make it special.

And as always, GO UTES!!!