Happy Halloween!

Everyone have a FUN and SAFE Halloween! Can't wait to see all of your pictures!!!

When Melia Attacks...

The Victim: A brand spankin new bottle of $25 Dior mascara...not even used, which fell into the hands of a sinister young child with nothing else to do but raise havoc in the Holmes' household.


The Culprit:2'9" tall, 27lbs., hazel eyes, mischievous grin









The Crime: At approx. 7:15 pm on October 26, 2008, the child as noted ransacked her mother's purse and found the victim and decided to intentionally "get pretty". We spoke to the child and all she had to say of the matter was "Uh-Oh"...


The Punishment: The culprit will be scrubbed clean,tickled and loved and will then spend the night behind her crib bars after bedtime at approx. 8:30 pm until 7:00 am. The victim at this time seeks no prosecution.

Spicy Pumpkin Pancakes

So I made these pancakes yesterday morning and they were so yummy! If you are a pumpkin fan you'll definitly love them. I did make a few tweaks as noted. They are also very kid friendly, Melia scarfed them down and wanted more. It made about 6 servings (two pancakes each) which is too much for us so I just froze the rest to eat later.

Maple-Pecan Syrup
1	cup maple-flavored syrup
1	tablespoon butter or margarine
1/4	cup chopped pecans ((I didnt have pecans and they tasted fine without))
Pancakes
2 1/3	cups pancake or baking mix (Krusteaz or Bisquick)
2/3	cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 1/4	cups milk
1/4	cup vegetable oil
3	tablespoons sugar
2	teaspoon pumpkin pie spice ((didnt have this either but put in equal parts of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger))
2	eggs

Mix all of the pancake ingredients together and pour about 1/4 c. for each pancake on the pan.
Cook until edges get dry, then flip. Melt butter and syrup together and then add pecans, (optional). Pour on top of pancakes. Enjoy!

Weekend in Camarillo

Arrrrggg!


Must have been real pirates in a past life


The only time you'll ever catch me in a bikini!!!lol


Bryce and Jacob....hmm this is making me a little jealous...lol


Melia and Kalob


Looking at the boats in the harbor


My gorgeously cute family


Being silly


More fun


Melia and Bryce


Aww...hugs!


Best buds!



Eating icecream


Yum!


Kisses for baby Brenden

This weekend we drove up to Camarillo for a baby blessing for one of Bryce' s mission companions. We went out to Oxnard beach yesterday and ate at a really good fish and chips place called Andreas. Then we went to get icecream and had fun on the boardwalk. Melia was best friends with Kalob who is a year older. They played every second they were together.
It was a fun little weekend get away.
Akkk! I need phone #s for people in my ward! So sorry I forgot to get a sub for my sunbeams!
(Again...I know I am so bad at this!)

7 things...

OK so I was tagged twice in a row... so here it goes. These are just 7 random facts about me but I am not going to tag 7 people because I just tagged 8 people below and honestly I really don't have that many friends!!! lol

1. I bought Celine Dion tickets the minute they came out last November...only to wait a year and see her next month! Its going to be so fun I just love her. Which is kinda weird because she is not in my typical music genre.

2. I am hopelessly internet addicted. I can't explain why but after 4 1/2 years of not having it in our house I believe I'm allowed! Blogging, Myspace, Facebook...looking up recipes...etc. I could be on here until I go blind.

3. I can read recipe books like regular books and love to try new things constantly (we hardly eat the same thing twice even if its good bc there are always new recipes i am finding)

4. I wake up at 4:40 am to go to the gym while Bryce and Melia are sleeping just to get some ME time.

5. I am a licensed cosmetologist, skincare specialist and certified makeup artist which I have held positions in before Melia. I also chose to get married instead of moving out to LA to study makeup as a profession. My parents gave me an ultimatum to either pay for school or pay for a wedding.

6. I love to say totally...I don't know why either but it puts alot of emphasis on whats being said. Not in a blond dumb head sort of way.

7. I HATE to clean. I am just about to get a job just so we can afford a maid. OK not actually but I swear I will get one sometime in this life. Good thing my husband is some what of a neat freak and doesn't mind cleaning up.

8. Oh heck I know that there is supposed to be 7 - but one more random fact is that tomorrow (17th) is my 24th birthday! Woooo! I still get really excited for my birthdays even though I'm probably staying home by myself!!lol

8 things...

8 Things...

8 Shows I watch:
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. America's next Top Model
3. The Colbert Report
4. The Daily show with John Stewart
5. Iron Chef
6. THE OFFICE!!
7. The Girls Next Door (I know playboy mansion...but sooo fun!)
8. Dexter


8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Olive Garden
2. Red Robin (so kid friendly!)
3. Ono Hawaiian BBQ
4. Qdoba (best burritos)
5. Papa Johns Pizza
6. Cheesecake factory (Love that cheesecake!! Wooo!)
7. PF Changs
8. Buco De Pepe's (Upland...best Italian ever!)


8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. went to the gym for a 5 am class
2. went back to bed lol
3. Cut Grandmas hair
4. Waxed and colored grandmas eyebrows
5. watched Bryce, Shane and Uncle Brian clear all that cursed concrete out of the backyard
6. ran around in the backyard with Melia for the first time in months
7. made a really good spin off of beef stroganoff from my head...actually I think Ill post it, if I can remember what the heck I threw in there!
8. went to bed after watching Americas Next top Model


8 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Tomorrow...my birthday!! yay!
2. For the holidays to be over...I have way to many things to stress out over! Such as...
3. Throwing a Bday party for Melia's 2nd...
4. Bryce's Bday...
5. Our 5th anniversary...
6. my sister getting married...
7. Christmas...all in the same month (so broke by New Years!)
8. being incredibly sore from over exerting myself at the gym (ok not necessarily looking forward but hey Its going to happen whether I want it to or not =) )


8 Things I Love about Fall:
1. Cool weather
2. Wearing cute sweaters once again
3. Wearing tall boots with those sweaters (still trying to find that perfect pair...)
4. Rain
5. Loving that I live in So Cal where it doesn't snow
6. Going to Oak Glen
7. Going shopping the day after Thanksgiving (yes I am one of those crazy's)
8. Loving that So Cal has only 2 seasons, hot and cold - but no extreme weather


8 Things on my wish list:
1. Dark skinny jeans
2. Cute vests
3. To have a maid
4. To have a reliable second car
5. To have more funds to replace our unreliable 2nd car
6. Go back to school
7. Go back to Hawaii
8. Travel to Scotland this next year

Now comes the task of tagging 8 people:
1. Angela McInroe
2. Monica Jacklin
3. Rachel Kirk
4. Miranda Wilcox
5. Tami Horspool
6. Kristen Anderson
7. Candice Isakson
8. Gulia Rogers

PS: you dont have to do this...just an idea if you are really bored...like me!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

I had the awesome experience of putting on a sweater for the first time in about the last 6 months today! (even though I technically should have worn one the morning of conference where it was pouring buckets while we were walking a mile to get to the conference center...but that is beside the point!) This fall weather is so welcoming to me...until I read the temperature gauge in my car that said 55 degrees! What?! Where is my perfect 75 degree weather that I am always coveting for??!! \
Anyways, so I feel as if I have been baking non-stop this week and I blame it on this dang COLD weather. Yes 55 degrees is fa-fa-fa-freakin cold! So, if I get fat this season Ill just blame it on my thermometer.
So getting back to how wonderful fall is... Melia and I went with our playgroup to the Live Oak Pumpkin Patch yesterday. It was fun and all the kids had a blast. Mrs. Melia just thought she was waaaay too cool for this type of activity as you can see all of her scowling pictures! lol I could not get her to smile once that day! Stinker! Although she did look super cute in her new Halloween shirt.

Whoa! Flashback!
This was last year at the pumpkin patch
Sniff...sniff...my girl is growing up!!

Melia's first pumpkin

Hangin' with her buddy Hayden

Would not want to be on the receiving end of this scowl

Lost in the pumpkin patch

Melias only smiley picture of the day! ;)

So many pumpkins!

Melia wouldn't pose right here so I found someone who would!

Ready for Halloween!

Why I DO NOT buy $200 sungalsses...

Mt. Timpanogos...a hiking we did go...

Here is yet another day from our trip to Utah. One day Bryce and I decided to take a short, easy, leisurely hike up Mt. Timpanogos ...haha. For anyone who has done this hike before please note the sarcasm. For being in half decent shape I struggled to get up that dang mountain!!! It was a mile and a half hike...but you also ascend 1000 feet within that distance. It probably wouldn't have been that bad but Bryce and i decided to book it up that mountain. We did it in a little less than 40 minutes with no stops. So that is why I almost died that day. I figured if that didn't kill me than I probably would have fallen down the steep drop off cliffs along the trail...lol. No it really wasn't that bad.

We got some gorgeous pictures, fall is the time to go up there, it is absolutely beautiful. From our pictures you can see that we had alot of fun along the way too. I guess we just get goofy when we don't have a crazy toddler to chase after constantly. I would recommend this hike to anyone - sans the kids though, until they are older anyway. I did see one lady with 4 kids under the age of 8 and another baby strapped on her back making the trek...first word that popped into my head was...CRAZY! No I really really give her props for that, cuz there is NO way you will ever see me do that!!

Salt Lake's Hogle Zoo

The "vultures"

One scary ape!

One huge elephant - it made noises and freaked Melia out



Family pic

Very close giraffe, I wasn't even zooming!



Melia and Me

Melia and Bryce



Could you imagine this as your pet???


Penguins

First carousel ride!
One of the days on vacation we went to the zoo. I was suprised of the size of the zoo, I thought itwas going to be alot smaller. I really love the zoo and to see the animals but the animal lover inside of me gets really sad when I have to see these gorgeous wild animals out of there natural habitat and squished into these small, glass faced cubicals for the entertainment of others. Sigh! Poor things!

Anyways we did have lots of fun and Melia knows EVERY single animal noise (im not kidding, ask her anything!) and had a blast seeing all these animals that are on TV and in her books. Her favorite were the monkeys (mine too!) and the elephants. She really loved the huge snake too...ugh! I better watch out I have a feeling she might want one as a pet later on in life! We saw a bunch of wild turkeys... yeah so I thought they were vultures at first so I yelled to Bryce "Look at all of those vultures!" He looked at me funny and I am sure everyone else standing around thought I was a complete idiot! Haha So funny.