Projects

My mom let me borrow her sewing machine a few months ago and I got busy with a few little projects for my baby girl. I had a ton of fun working on my sewing skills and making cute girly stuff! This little dress is tiny and darling and super easy:I found the pattern here
if anyone is interested in making one-there is a pattern there for bigger babies, too! It seriously took less than an hour to put together! I think I will be making many more!

I also made a carseat canopy:

I love these things! I wish I would have had one for Jackson-he was always kicking the blanket off of his carseat and onto the ground!

I made a couple of "Hooter Hiders":

And flannel blankies:

I have also been working on my hairbow-making skills, but I will wait to post pics of those when there is a sweet, new, little baby to model them!

Halloween

The Stoker Family has never been big "Halloween-ers", in fact we realized this weekend that Seth and I have NEVER once carved pumpkins in 5 Halloweens together! We had no plans to make this year any different until one morning Jackson says to me "Mom, I want to make 3 Jack-O-Lanterns. I want a mad one, a sad one, and a happy one." How could we say no to that? Ultimately, Jackson decided he ONLY wanted a happy Jack-O-Lantern. And we had a great time carving our first pumpkin together as a family:

Jackson was a monkey again this year (since his costume still fit)!

Mommy was a spooky witch

And daddy was "Big Daddy Dollas" according to the tag on his Goodwill costume!

visitors

We have been so lucky the past 3 weeks to have tons of visitors at our house! It has been so nice to have some company and we have been able to do some really fun things! Jackson loved seeing his Grammas and Grampas and getting spoiled with tons of attention! It is always so nice to spend time with family and friends AND it has made the month of October FLY BY! Now we are on the count down to BABY-just a few short weeks to prepare to welcome a little sister to our house!

I wasn't a great photographer during our visits, but basically here's what we did:

We were so happy to have my good friend Bethany, her husband Tyson, and sweet little baby Tate come stay with us! We all enjoyed having a tiny baby around the house-Jackson sure was obsessed with everything Tate would do! So cute! And Tate even let me borrow his mama for a few hours for some much needed girl time! I am so glad this cute little family could come keep us company for a few days! It is always so great to see friends!

The following weekend, Seth's parents and little bro Jake came over from Texas to spend the weekend with us. Of course Jackson was so thrilled to have Uncle Jake around and lucky for us, Jake is nice enough to let Jackson boss him around! It was such a relaxing weekend~I didn't take many pics~ this is mostly what we did:

~A lot of lounging around~ and it was WONDERFUL!

A few days later, my parents arrived for a quick visit! We took Jackson to the Albuquerque BioPark for the day and tons of fun was had by all! We had visited the aquarium before, but this time we rode the train and visited the Botanic garden. It was a gorgeous day, with perfect weather, and a cute little boy obsessing about trains!

Waiting for our train ride:

Mommy and Jackson on the train:

Gramma and Jackson on the train:

Botanic garden:

Halloween at the Botanic garden:

Mini Trains at the Botanic garden:

Jackson being cute after church.....

Thanks to all our visitors for keeping us company out here in our new home! I hope to see some of you again REAL SOON when a certain someone decides she is ready to join the fam!

McCall's Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we went out to McCall's Pumpkin Patch for some fall fun! It was a great little Saturday activity and we were all around impressed with the place out in the middle of no where. Jackson riding the cow train

A giant bull

Feeding the goats

Bouncing on the giant pumpkin

Sliding down the giant slide

Pedal Car racing

Hayride!

Dinner Group at the Park

Last weekend we had our first Dinner Group meeting and the Stoker family was in charge of planning! We are meeting once a month with 3 other families in the ward for dinner/activity whatever you want! We planned to BBQ at the park and let the kids play. Unfortunately we ran into a couple of stumbling blocks, but I think it turned out alright. The first grill we brought to the park fell over in the truck-and then wouldn't cook our food-which resulted in having to pick up a second grill. We didn't end up eating until after dark-and for some reason the lights at the park didn't come on, so we were eating in the dark! I think everyone had a great time despite the set backs!

BYU vs Air Force

Seth got to take a trip up to Colorado Springs with his dad and brothers for the BYU vs Air Force football game! From what I hear, a great time was had by all-with football, golf, and good food it was the perfect boys trip! Jackson and I sure missed Seth while he was gone and we were so sad to miss out on all the Cougar fun!