Halloween

We love Halloween in the Lopez household.

Destin Florida...where have you been all my life?

In October we took a spontaneous trip to Destin Florida. Spontaneous trips to the beach should not be that big of a deal when you live in Florida...but this beach is 6 and 1/2 hours from our house. One day I got a call from one of our friend Carrie Haslam (old BYU roomie) in Nashville. She and her family were heading down to Destin...and it occurred to her that we might want to drive up and meet them and share their wonderful beach front condo. Well...the kids had a day off of school, and John had taken a day off of work, so we figured...WHY NOT! We left the very next day and spent the week-end with the Haslams. We had never been to Destin (up on the pan handle) and we absolutely LOVED IT! Such amazing fine white sand. The condo was great with plenty of room, the view was beautiful, the company was so fun...and the kids played non stop on the beach while we relaxed. Kennedy was already on a camping trip with friends, so we took Kinsey's friend Shaina along with us.

Our family in Destin...well, minus Kennedy. Shaina Machado instead.

Me and Carrie

The cute Haslam family...our gracious hosts

All the little boys spent most of the time at the beach digging two giant holes. I mean HUGE. It even had a tunnel going from one hole to the other. Then they tried to fill it with water (not that it worked) to make some sort of big jacuzzi sort of thing. It kept them busy, and it was pretty impressive. I must say.

This was the view from our room. The dark spot is a school of fish. We could see some of the fish jumping out of the water. Later that day another school came by. John was able to swim out to it and snorkel around a bit. SO AMAZING. Especially for just an average October day. John and Cooper even had a visitor on our deck. This cute little butterfly that would not leave them alone.

Fall fun

And now, for some random and unrelated fall happenings.

First of all, some fun with the cub scouts. Carver is really enjoying being in Cub Scouts. It's all so new to me, and I don't really get it all...but I know Carver is having fun. One day I followed along with his little pack to the vietnam museum close to our house. The boys LOVED playing around with all this stuff. What is it with boys and guns? Weird.

A very fun thing that happened this fall was a visit from my sister Brenda. She came from Utah for a visit. She came with my niece Lyn, her husband Cory, and their darling two boys. I LOVED having them here. We had some nice long sister talks, and some great catching up with my darling niece and her family, and a wonderful day at the beach. My boys miss her boys already.

We even headed up to a BYU game in Tallahassee with my niece and her husband. Yes, BYU got trampled, and yes, my poor niece pretty much got heat stroke, but it was neat to be at a BYU football game again. It has been ages and I miss them so much. FSU campus is beautiful and the stadium is really neat. John and I stayed in Tallahassee for the night and it made for such a nice little getaway. I LOVE it there. It is about 5 hours from Orlando, and looks quite different. A little hilly with lots of charm. I'm glad we had a fun little road trip.

We had a great night out at Cocoa beach one night. I was able to do family pictures for my niece Lyn (more posted on my photo blog). So fun to capture the joy on her boys faces from being at the beach for the first time.

Kinsey has been very involved in Student government these past few years. This is the Junior Class float for the Timber Creek High School Homecoming parade. Kinsey worked hard on this float and I think it turned out so cute. Our family loves going to the Homecoming parade every year, right in our own little neighborhood...along with attending the Homecoming game. Fun fall traditions.

Fashionista Birthday Party

Kennedy turned 12 on September 28th. To celebrate this momentous event we figured a fashionista accessory photo shoot party would be fitting. We rented out the beautiful party room at our pool and club house, brought every accessory we could find in our house, brought some food, planned some games, set up a backdrop...and the girls HAD A BLAST.

Kinsey helped so much with the party. She planned all sorts of fun "fashion" games, and really made the night special for Kennedy. We spread accessories all over the room, and these girls just went into "dress-up" mode. But then again, I think women of any age love a little bit of "dress-up".

These girls had no problem "striking a pose"

Carver gets baptized

My boy turned 8 this past summer and so it was time for him to get baptized. He got baptized on August 14th. I think it is a beautiful thing that in our church, (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) kids are eight years before they are baptized. They are old enough to understand the covenant that they are making with Heavenly Father. Old enough to understand Faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Old enough to be accountable for their own actions. Old enough to begin to understand the amazing gift that the Savior has given us. The Atonement.

Carver has been so cute about the whole baptism thing. He has been SO EXCITED and really asked the best questions so that he could fully understand what he would be doing. My mom bought him his own set of scriptures for his eighth birthday and I have never seen him so proud. I just had to take these pictures in my mom's field after he got the scriptures. I'm just so proud of my little man that is growing up to be such a wonderful boy.

Carver wanted a suit for his baptism day. And I must say...he wears it well.

How wonderful to have a husband worthy to baptize my children. A special day for Carver and John for sure. Cooper keeps saying " I get baptized soon".

So many of our wonderful friends shared the day with us. And John's mom came all the way from California for the baptism. It was so special to have her there.
The baptism was beautiful and simple and Carver ended up being the only child baptized that day, so we ran the whole show. Kinsey played the piano, John and I gave the talks, and it turned out great. After the baptism we went and had a wonderful brunch with Grandma Lopez.

To finish off this wonderful day, we headed to the beach with some of our closest friends. We talked and played on the beach and swam and it was a great night. I know that Carver had a great time with his friends, and I know John's mom enjoyed being there. Perfect weather. Perfect scenery. Did I mention that I LOVE THE BEACH.

Grandma Lopez and Carver. We had such a nice visit with her.

The whole bunch of us!