Halloween Fun!

Steve took Grayson to his work's Halloween party on Friday, so I dressed him up in his costume -- a little skeleton! I thought it needed a little hat, so I made one really quick right before he left -- I think it ended up very cute! So I snapped some cute pictures outside.

Gray loves to play peek-a-boo in the gap between the trees in our front yard. So cute.

Witch Craft Bootique

This Friday, Oct. 23rd from 5:30pm - 7:30 pm, I'm participating in a craft boutique/fund raiser! You should all come :) It's going to be so fun! It's at Amy Call's house in Ogden -- let me know if you want the address! There will be food, and lots of fun vendors! It's never too early to get in some Christmas shopping, ya know! Why not get something cute, handmade, one-of-a-kind?! And 10% of the sales are going to a needy family in the area. Here are some of the vendors that are participating:
Beaded watches, When Skies Are Gray, Sweet Somethings, TuTu Cute, Sweet Ruby, C’est La Vie Jewelry, Chic Bow-tique, Whimsical Headbands, Girlygirl bowtique, And much more!


And here are some of the things I'm going to be selling that day:



And here are some close-ups of my favorites:

Our Wicked Trip to Seattle

Steve and I had an AMAZING weekend in Seattle! We dropped Grayson off at my mom and dad's house early on Friday (THANKS, NANA AND POPPA!!!), and we were on our way! We flew out to Seattle, and it was raining a very fine mist -- very lovely! Steve and I LOVE rainy weather, so we figured Seattle would be a perfect get-away for us :) We rode the bus from the airport, then walked from the bus station a few blocks to our hotel -- it was a nice little stroll in the rain!
Steve found an INCREDIBLE hotel called Hotel 1000 -- it was only a few blocks away from the piers, and our room was up on the 11th floor, so we had an amazing view of Puget Sound and we could watch the ferries come in --


SO fun! The room was beautiful -- the best room I've ever stayed in! It also had a spa inside, and Steve got me a reservation for a pedicure! Ahhh, let me tell you, it was B L I S S!!!!!!!!!!!! 45 minutes of pure heaven! After the regular soak/file/regular pedicure stuff, the lady (Nita - very nice, funny lady!)put this heated masque on my feet, then put heated booties on, and it felt SO good -- then she massaged my feet, and it was wonderful!!! And I picked a very cute color for my toes :)

After my heavenly pedicure experience, we relaxed in the room for a bit, then went downstairs to the hotel's restaurant BOKA, and it was divine! Pricey, of course, but we were on vacation :) I got some beets for an appetizer (I'm a big beet fan), and they were SO GOOD. Then I got a filet mignon, and I swear it was THE BEST steak I've ever had in my LIFE! Mmmmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it right now :) Steve got some pretty yummy halibut, too -- but I'm not a fan of fish, so I'll have to take his word for it. Then I got a dessert that was a molten chocolate cake, a soft caramel dipped in chocolate, and caramel ice cream with caramel corn sprinkled on top!!! :D YUM! The best part of the meal, though, was sitting and relaxing, being able to ENJOY my food, not having to dodge flying spaghetti or retrieve spoons, bowls and cups hundreds of times from off the floor. Dining without a toddler is so peaceful and enjoyable! And it was so fun to just be able to chat and laugh with Steve!! It took us 2 hours from start to finish, but I loved every minute of it!
The next day, we SLEPT IN! til 10:30 -- wowza! Then lounged around a bit and got dolled up, then headed out -- we were going to take the bus, but the schedule is different on Saturdays, and we couldn't find the right one, so we ended up WALKING all the way into town, and me in HEELS -- and if any of you have ever been to Seattle, you know how many HILLS you have to go up, and how darn STEEP those hills are -- let me tell you, my legs got a workout! BUT it was SO worth it, because we found our way to where we were going -- the Paramount Theater, and we were there to see: (dun, du-nuh NUH!) WICKED!!!!!! Ah man, it was AWESOME!!!! I've always LOVED the music, so I was so excited to see the musical! It did not disappoint! I loved all the performers' voices, and the costumes were so fun! But I was a bit confused by the set -- can anyone explain to me why it was set up as if the whole play was taking place inside a clock? And all the references to the time, clock, etc. It's obviously meant to be significant. I don't get it. Guess I'm missing something. But it was still wonderful! And the theater itself was beautiful, too. Pretty place.
Then we had to walk back to the hotel, though. And that was not fun. We thought we'd stop on the way back and get something to eat, but we never found anything that sounded good that was open (sidenote: why on earth would places be closed on Saturdays? baffling). So we ended up walking twice as far as when we walked TO the play. Needless to say, by the time we got back to the hotel, I wasn't walking so much as shuffling/limping/cursing under my breath. Ok, not cursing per se, but definitely mumbling and complaining. Don't judge me until you walk a few miles up and down steep hills in high heels. I was in pain and hungry, and I was very grumpy. But I made it back to the hotel, changed my clothes and shoes, then we walked some more in search of food. Again, we had some difficulty finding somewhere to eat. We walked down to the Pikes Place Market (we went through the alley where the Gum Wall is -- disgusting yet oddly amusing), and couldn't find anywhere around there to eat, either. So we went down to the water, and found the Crab Pot!
It had quite a long wait time to get in, but I was DONE walking, so we sat and waited. I enjoyed watching the people -- funny. And it was worth the wait! My burger wasn't anything to shout about, but the crab cakes we got to share were AMAZING!!!! Steve is quite the crab lover/expert, and even HE says it was the best crab cake he's ever had. The bread was delicious also. And then I got ANOTHER yummy dessert (I totally deserved it after all the walking, thankyouverymuch) -- strawberry rhubarb cake! Ohhhhhhhh yum yum yum yum yum! Divine.
We then walked back to the hotel, which was at that point only a few blocks away -- I had to laugh at that, as we had again walked a LONG way to get there, wandering as we did to try and find a restaurant. Ah well. It was a beautiful night, and the sunset was gorgeous! *And after that first day of light mist, it didn't rain ever again the whole time we were there -- funny, because it apparently rained HERE the whole time we were gone. Ha.
We then had a nice relaxing night in the hotel room. Oo, the bathtub had a spout that came from the ceiling!
Very impressive :) And there was a glass wall between the bedroom and the bathroom. A little weird, but kinda fun at the same time. So I took this picture while sitting on the bed. Steve was very nice and drew me a nice warm bubble bath so I could soak my aching feet and legs. He even gave me a foot rub! Awesome, I know. He's the best!! :)
Sunday, we just took it easy and leisurely made our way home (riding the bus again, then of course the plane). We flew right over Mt. Rainier -- it was absolutely gorgeous!
It's good to be home, and SO good to see Grayson again! I missed the little guy SOOOOOOO MUCH! But he had a great time with his Nana and Poppa, and it was so very nice to re-connect with my hubby, and be something beyond just a Mommy for a while! :) Thank you so much, Steve-o, for the wonderful trip!! It was the best weekend I've had in a LONG time!:D

Randomness

I haven't posted in a while, because there really hasn't been much to blog about. Here are some random pictures I've taken lately. Enjoy :)
Look how BIG my little boy looks! This was last Sunday before church. He looks like a little man! :)

This is how Grayson watches TV lately -- he gathers up all the pillows around him, and he chews the inside of his cheeks. I have NO idea why. But it's cute.

He's an expert mess-maker. He's decided it is much easier to just dump out the entire basket of toys, instead of looking for the one toy he wants. Geez.

It does look pretty fun, though, huh -- being surrounded by all those brightly colored, fun toys!

Silly boy.

Sweet boy. Those eyelashes STILL kill me.

I love when I catch glimpses of his adorable dimple!! (and yes, that is a huge bruise on his forehead. *sigh*)

Those of you who know Grayson, know that he has one true love, and her name is Ellie. Short for Elephant, that is. Grayson is not attached to a blanket or stuffed animal, like every other child I have ever known. He is attached to a plastic elephant from his Noah's ark playset. Ellie goes everywhere with him. Well, Ellie gets misplaced sometimes, and you'd think it was the end of the world. So we bought some extras off of Ebay, and we keep them in various places so we can find them easily. Well, Gray found 3 of them the other day -- and he HAD to carry ALL THREE of them around with him all day long. It was pretty funny watching him try to pick up all three in his little hands, but he worked out a system :)

Grayson has also discovered a love for all things sidewalk chalk. He is going to be very, very sad when it gets too cold to go outside and draw with his chalk. It's fun to see him draw -- he always has a purpose in mind, too -- he always has to tell me all about his drawings when he's done. There's usually a cow involved somewhere.

Also, I just have to brag for a moment -- my 19-month-old can count to 5 all by himself :) and to 10 with some help. Okay, sometimes he skips 5 and jumps to 6, but most of the time he gets it right! He can even count backward, though he starts at a different number each time he does it. He's also working on learning his colors -- he's got blue, red, pink and purple down so far. In case you're interested, blue is his favorite color, and 8 is his favorite number :) And when he wants to go down the stairs he says "Eight, Nine!", because we always count when we go down the stairs, and we have 9 of them -- so of course it's most exciting when you get to the end. Oh goodness he's cute :)

Ok, that's enough rambling for now :) Maybe I'll have something REAL to post about soon :)