Pumpkin Patch and Carving Knives

This past week has been fun with going to Uncle John's Cider Mill and carving pumpkins. It was a bit cold at the cider mill but we still enjoyed ourselves with warm apple cider, donuts and caramel apples. Evelyn helped us by sitting on the pumpkins to determine which one felt right to take home. It was a fun first time October family outing.



We also had a good time carving the pumpkins Evelyn just wanted to be photographed with her behind, on-top and in the pumpkin, she really seemed to be enjoying herself.


Kyle and I each had our own pumpkin to carve and he felt the need to use his drill to get the job done right.
Here is Evelyn again posing with the final products, she just loves to be in front of the camera.
She is just growing so quickly and we are having so much fun with her and here is a sneek peek at some future pictures to come of my little ladybug. Happy Halloween!!

Fun Family Reunion

This past weekend was a lot of fun at my family reunion in Arizona. It was so great to be with my whole family and just hang out with them all. Saturday was a fun filled day full of games, races (which I won in my group), eating and an awesome talent show. I also won a candy bar for being the one that traveled the farthest to get to the reunion, yeah I was proud. Saturday night my mom, sisters Rebecca and Brittany and I did a tap dance for the talent show. We did it to a song by Elvis and everyone loved it, I'd have to say it was the best act of the whole evening. Sunday we had a nice testimony meeting and enjoyed visiting out on my grandpa's ranch. It is always fun getting together with my cousins and having fun out in the dirt of Arizona, it's just a little different than being in the city of Los Angeles. Evelyn enjoyed seeing her cousins as well and of course having photo shoots. She also wanted to show off her new hat that she is beginning to use as the weather begins to cool.

That's My Grandma!

That's my grandma! She has been featured in a couple pictures in the Ensign this month. Our stake president is a photographer for the Ensign and we were so excited she was asked to be a part of the article. She is such a wonderful grandmother and someone I have always looked up to. I love her sweetness, confidence, love and of course her lemon squares they really are so good. I really am so blessed to come from such an amazing line of women from my grandmother to my own mother. I really strive to be like them and live as they live. I love you grandma and I love you mom.

Doctor Says She's Perfect!

Evelyn is 4 months today and she had a great doctors appointment, besides getting shots. She came in at 15 1/2 pounds and is a little over 26inches. She really is doing so well and is such a good and happy baby, which makes me so happy. I think she is enjoying her new home and new room, but I know she notices it's a lot quieter here than back at Grandma's house and I'm not sure if she likes that, she really enjoyed having people around all the time.I have been doing a body boot camp class at the gym and I really like it. It has definitely helped me get back in shape and feel like I am back in high school with a coach telling me what to do. It is also nice since it is some time I get to get out of the house all by myself. Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner and had our classic Koester chili. It was really good and nice to have them over. Oh and good news Evelyn slept for almost 11 hours last night, lets hope she can repeat that.

We're Back!

Well we are back to blogging and back to Michigan. I definitely miss not having my family around since I was spoiled to be with them all summer, but it is nice to be back to our home and back with good friends. The last few weeks have been filled with a lot of activity. Evelyn turned 3 months which is just amazing that she is getting so big.
Before leaving California Kyle, Evelyn and I went on a mini family vacation to Hearst Castle. It is up the coast from L.A. and there is a beautiful castle to tour. It was fun to have a last little get away and enjoy being together. I am surely going to miss the beautiful scenery of California.



Evelyn was sad to leave her cousin Chloe, they have had a good time hanging out together this summer, and of course she will miss Zach, Gracie, Olivia, Ricky and Juliet.
We made it back to our house very well. We had to ship back 9 boxes of stuff and still had very full suitcases on the airplane. I just don't know where the stuff all came from. Being the kind husband he is, Kyle let me fly first class so I could have the extra room with Evelyn. It was so nice and much more comfortable. Thanks hun! Also thanks to the Misseldines for keeping our house so nice. It was so nice to come home to a clean house. I am sad we missed them and didn't see them before they left. Friday the 29th was Kyle's 30th birthday. So we took a break from unpacking and headed to Detroit for a Tigers game. It was a lot of fun to hang out together and enjoy being at the game. I hope he had a good birthday and isn't too upset about turning 30.

Well we are just trying to get unpacked and back into our normal routine. The best part is setting up Evelyn's room and when I have together I will show the final product. Now it is time to re-pack since we are headed off to Georgia this weekend for some football games!

Grandma Patterson

This past weekend my family went to Arizona to attend my grandmothers funeral. I really can't express how wonderful of a service it was, there was a lot of laughter and tears. She was a woman of strength, love and virtue. She was so strong in her beliefs and would always mention how much she loved her Heavenly Father. Growing up I always loved going to my grandparents house in Arizona and having so much fun on the ranch. We would ride horses, play in the creek, ride the tractor and watch grandpa round up the cattle. We were always considered the "city" cousins so at times it felt good just to go out enjoy the air and get dirty. It gives me great peace to know that my grandma is probably so much happier now being with my grandpa and enjoying being out of pain. I loved hearing her stories and I am really going to miss her, she was a great example and I hope I can strive to emulate her in my life. I am so thankful for the gospel in my life, knowing one day I will see my grandparents again and that when we leave this life we can go to a much better place. I love hearing the story of how my grandparents met. Grandma was a high school girls basketball coach and grandpa was a player on the boys team. Yes grandma is three years older than grandpa. She said she would love watching him play, but she also said at the time, he was too young to marry, but too big to put on her dresser. I love grandma so much and am so thankful I was able to have such a great influence in my life.

Pool Party!

This summer really has been so much fun and I am really going to miss my family and the lovely weather of California when I leave, luckily for me I have some good friends to return to in Michigan. My family ward each week for play group they have a pool day and a beach day. This last week my mom hosted pool day and it was a lot of fun with a lot of kids. My sister's husband bbq over 100 hot dogs for all the kids. Evelyn was really excited to have pool day here and show off her cute swim outfit. She and Chloe were two bathing beauties. Yesterday we went to the beach for beach day and it was so nice. The weather was perfect and Evelyn loved it as well , she is always so good when we go.


Here some of the kids eating their popsicles in the spa. Even though it was like 90 degrees outside they still wanted to have them in the warm water. Here are Evelyn and I chilling in the pool to ourselves after all the kids left enjoying the warm air and watching the golfers, it just doesn't get any better.