cows say moo!

 

My Aunt (who lives next door to my parents) is the Webelos leader in their ward.  She likes to take the boys on outings.  She decided to take them to the bishop's dairy barn.  She invited us to tag along. Dieter loved the cows.  This particular dairy barn milks about 650 cows a day. It was kind of fun to go see the operation.  It had been years since I had been to a dairy farm.  I remember going once with a friend of mine.  Her family owned dairy cows and they would go to the barn daily to get their milk.  I remember not liking milk straight from the cow.  It did not taste like the milk I was used to drinking!

 Dieter got to get close to the baby calves.  We eventually got him to say "moo".  Now he knows what the cow says. 

 Inside the barn where the milking operation takes place.

 At the end, the farmers offered us some milk.  I didn't take them up on the offer, but Wes did and he said he loved the creamy milk.

so much to be thankful for...

We love this little fellow to pieces!  We are SO thankful he is our son!

 As Wes, Dieter and I got on the I-15 southbound on-ramp to make the 12 1/2 hour trek home, we remarked how few pictures we took of our Thanksgiving visit.  Just because we didn't document what we are thankful for with photo images, it doesn't mean we are any less thankful. 

We had a great time with ALL of my siblings and their families. There are 30 of us!  We were able to give thanks that my mom is now done with chemo treatments and the blessings/miracles that have happened along this particular journey.  We promised mom that she wouldn't have to do anything for Thanksgiving dinner.  However, she sneaked in and made the gravy for the mashed potatoes.  It turned out great!  My sister-in-law (Tiffany) decorated the cottage and it turned out great.  I wish I had taken more pictures of how she decorated. 

 My sister, Tiffany, is posing in front of the cute Thanksgiving signs that my sister-in-law, Tiffany, decorated with.  (So many Tiffanys in my life!  We have another sister-in-law on Wes's side named Tiffany as well)

 Dieter had his very own seat at the kids table.  Too bad for him, lucky for us, he slept through most of dinner. 

 Amy likes to pose!

Happy Thanksgiving!

the day Dieter fell in love with the ocean

 We took a quick weekend trip to Santa Cruz.  It was so much fun!  It was perfect weather, perfect accommodations and most importantly the perfect people!  Our first stop was to take in the views before heading to lunch.  Dieter didn't want anything but to be close to the water. 

 His shoes promptly came off and he was running (well at least his kind of run!) through the sand.  He loved it!  It was tough to get him to go, but we were starving.  We ate at the Crepe Place.  This is a must restaurant when in Santa Cruz (I recommend the Crepe Gatsby).   Next we checked into our hotel (thank you Living Social for the awesome deal).  Dream Inn.  This place is so cool and looked right out to the beach and the boardwalk. 

 We strolled along the boardwalk.  Dieter loves to people watch and bright colors, so this was his cup of tea. 

 We watched all the boardwalkers go on all the fun rides before we found the historic carousel. 

 Dieter waved goodbye to me as the carousel started.  He had so much fun on the ride.  It was extremely fun to watch.

 We walked along the boardwalk before we made our way over to Marianne's Ice Cream where we ate an undisclosed amount of ice cream!  Honestly, I could not get enough of their salted caramel ice cream!!  It would be worth the 3 hour trip just to get an ice cream cone!

 The next morning Dieter hopped out of bed and made his way to the balcony.  Who can blame him with the spectacular views we had from our room?

 This is the view from our balcony. 

 As well as this view.  Breathtaking!

 We took a walk along the pier and came across the sea lions.

 He made his way to the water, but it only took one dip of the foot to realize it was way too cold for another dip. 

 Santa Cruz is the home of modern surfing.  The modern surf board and wet suit were invented here.  It was so much fun to watch the surfers.

The weekend went by way too fast.  Santa Cruz may be a place we visit annually.  We made one last stop at Marianne's Ice Cream for the ride home.  See ya next year Santa Cruz!

Halloween

 Dieter was a little German boy for Halloween this year.  It's not very creative, but we have these cute little Lederhosen that probably won't fit him next year.  He ended up being as cute as a little Hummel boy. 

 Our ward had a trunk or treat party with games and a chili cook-off.  Dieter couldn't get his mind of the donut-on-the strings.  He spent most of the evening there! 

Pumpkin Patch

Dieter and I got to go to the pumpkin patch with a few gals and children from our ward.  He had the best time.  His biggest challenge in life may be that he is an extravert stuck with an introvert mom.  He loves to be around all the children and try to mimic everything they do!   We had such a fun time.  It was a great way to spend our Friday afternoon. 

 He wanted so badly to be like the other children and have his picture taken in the cut-outs.  They just were a wee bit too big for him and then we found the toddler sized cut-outs (pictured below)

 This a picture of most of the kids that joined us.  I think we are missing a few that were too busy doing something else!

 This was dubbed "the girl tractor".  Such cute girls on that tractor!

 Dieter loved riding the tractor!

 When we finally did pick pumpkins, Dieter wanted so badly to push/pull the cart like the other kids.  He made a valiant effort.

daddy's little boy

 It's no secret that we have an over abundance of bicycles at our house.  Yet, Dieter is fascinated with the neighbor's bike!  He saw the shining red beauty and practically ran (no, he doesn't walk but he took my hand and walked with me...he just knew crawling wasn't going to get him there fast enough) to get a closer view.  Our neighbors are so nice and allowed Dieter to sit on it and let him push him around.  The next day I decided it was probably time to get his DI tricycle out and polish it up. 

 He loves his red rider tricycle.  Wes could not be prouder!  

 We were outside playing when we heard daddy walking up the drive way.  Dieter was so excited to show off his bike.  And Wes was so excited to take him for a little ride.

Dieter's Birthday Party

 Dieter loves other children (especially if they are in possession of a binky!).  He was so happy that Afton (and her mom and dad and sisters) came to help celebrate his birthday.

 We had the party at a Chicago Fire Pizza in Midtown Sacramento.  He liked opening his gifts but got fixated on the first gift he opened (it happened to be goldfish crackers....he loves those things!)

 When we started singing happy birthday to him, he wondered what all the fuss was about.  We tried to get him to smash his cake all over his mouth and face, but he wasn't having any of it.  He took a couple of bites and made sure not to get any on his face!

 Once we got home he immediately started playing with all the fun toys and books he got for his birthday.

I tried again in the evening to see if he would go crazy with the cake.  I thought maybe in the comfort of his own home he would like to indulge.  He did a little bit!