Faith in God Halloween Party

Halloween time!

Those who know me, know that I LOVE holidays. And that I LOVE to decorate for holidays. My favorites are Halloween and Christmas. Last year I did some major clearance shopping at Target when everything was 75% off. So I was excited to open up those bins and get decorating! Everything was cuter than I remembered. :) Oh, and I couldn't resist getting these cute matching halloween outfits for the girls

Alexandria loving her apple.

Kona Inn tide pools

Sorry I haven't been updating my blog very much lately. Now that I'm on Facebook, that is where I do most of my updating. And I think everyone that reads my blog is my facebook friend, you aren't missing out. I'm pretty good at posting pictures on FB so everyone knows whats going on in my life. Now, on with the post.......

Saturday we went down to the shore to check out the tide pools. The kids had fun and it wasn't too hot.

Hanging out on the Sea wall
Gabriella getting up close and personal with the fish
Olsen checking it out too
Found a sea slug
And Gabriella found another one
Vana, no touchy because they hurt.
Oh, and did I mention it was a beautiful day?

Alexandria stayed close to the sea wall
Looking over for crabs
Gabriella is trying to give her mother a heart attack. Way too far away for her to be so close to the edge.
Both lookin' for danger :)
Heading back to the stroller.
Yeah, a picture with daddy
My view from looking straight up from laying on the grass.

4th of July!!

Yesterday we had our neighbors over for a 4th of July BBQ. We had such a great time. Of course, whenever you plan a party it is bound to rain. :) Didn't stop us though.....

Decorating the backyard. I would like to thank Oriental Trading Company for all the cute decorations.
Waiting for the party to start.

My pretty firecrackers.
Added a little soap to the slip n' slide.
Everyone had a good time.
The rain didn't slow them down at all. Only the parents moved under cover. :)
The guys
The girls
SPARKLERS!! Olsen did get a good burn on his fingers, but he still had fun.

Just some cute pics

Here are some cute pictures I took of the kids the other day.

Baby fell and bit her tongue and the only thing that made her feel better was a popsicle.

She LOVES popsicles!
Pretty Gabriella


Cool Olsen.

Before and After of the side and backyard

This last month Byron and I have really been concentrating on our backyard. After finishing the deck last year we kind of got burnt out of working on the yard. We turn our attention to the inside and Byron made those wonderful built in selves in our bedroom. Well now that summer is on us again (thou it is basically summer all year round here) we've been going crazy working on our backyard. Here are some before and after shots.

The lovely princess are building a bridge to the huge mound of excess rock we have from when we had to clear a space for the deck.
To tell you the truth, I think the kids liked the before because it was much more adventurous :)
Pretty plain looking....
Working on it. Byron cleared a path and laid paving stones. With the stacking stones we were able to make a little garden and plant some citrus trees and a banana tree.
Planted some palms to line the grass and the neighbors yard. Also got some big pots and some hanging baskets.
Finished product. Just image the beautiful white fence we will have someday to block out the neighbors ugly yard........ Also imagine all the flowers, plants and trees bigger.... That is just going to take some time...... I do want to get a few more pots to put on the side of the house. So it's not completely done. Just mostly.
Byron latticed in our gas tanks (for our stove) and our garbage cans. Nobody wants to see those thing when walking by. He also framed out a space where we are going to pour concrete to put our grill on (hopefully this next week or two). Where the grill is now is going to be a bench so people can talk to the person grilling.
Finally put plants in the hanging baskets and the big pots. I also just oiled our teak table so it now looks nice and shiny :) Don't mind Byron out there, he is just putting up the extra shade screen because we are having people over for dinner tomorrow.
Now that we've worked so hard in beautifying our yard, I've really enjoyed our deck more. I no longer feel it's a random space attached to our yard. It is now more inclosed and pretty so I like hanging out there more. The plants and trees also give a bit of privacy. Whenever we would eat dinner out there before I felt like I was in my neighbors living room......

And then one day we will have a fence and it will be perfect :)