Carving Pumpkins & Chino Latino

This past weekend Brandon had both days off from work which hasn't happened in a long time. We took advantage of this first thing on Sat. morning by sleeping in and then going on a 9 mile bike ride despite it being pretty cold out. By the time we were almost home, the sun was coming out and it got warmer. We then relaxed in the afternoon with Joy.

That night, Steve, Katy, Jill and Katy's mom, Julie, invited us over for dinner and pumpkin carving which has been a tradition to do with them and the Orme's. Katy's sister was visiting along with her two sons, Adam and Mark, from California to see little Jill. It was nice to have dinner with everyone and it was fun carving pumpkins. By the way, Brandon picked out the design for the pumpkin we both carved! He thought it would be the perfect design for our pumpkin since we were going to be giving it to Nick (resident Nick). Cassi and Nick carved Curious George for Adam and Katy and Steve picked a really difficult one to carve but they did a great job. Katy even helped carve while she was holding Jill. They seem to be adjusting to having a precious little girl very well...Jill is so cute too! Thank you all for having us over and for the beautiful flowers in the pumpkin as a vase...that was a very neat idea!

Katy's sister, Sarah Jane, Katy, Cassi, Me and Katy's mom, JulieThe boys cleaning out the pumpkinsBrandon did a great job cleaning the pumpkin!Cassi and IKaty and little Jill - I haven't seen her much with her eyes open!Working on our pumpkinOur pumpkin - the vampire! Remember, Brandon picked out the design...I am not taking any responsibility!Steve, Katy and JillAdam knows how to play games on the computer now and he was excited to show me!The boys hanging out while the girls finished the pumpkinsCassi, Adam and Nick with their "Curious George" - they did a great job with their pumpkinKaty carving while Jill is sleepingKaty, Steve and Jill's awesome "Happy Halloween" pumpkinWith all of our pumpkins including the pumpkin vases that Katy's mom made for each of us

After church on Sunday, we drove up to the Cities with Joy. It was super windy on our way up there and it even snowed so I was glad Brandon was driving and not me! When we got up there, we went shopping at REI, the Mall of America and the downtown Target near Joy's place. Brandon also got to see Joy's place for the first time. We then went to Chino Latino's for dinner. I have been wanting to try this place for awhile now so I am glad that Brandon and Joy suggested it. It is an interesting restaurant with Latin/Chinese fusion type food. The dishes are presented very well and everything is served family style. I think it would be a great place for a big group to go to. They even have a dessert called "Hot Zone Banana Split" that you can "Buddha Size" by adding fried Snickers, ice cream and fried ice cream! It was fun to try different things!

Nachos Del Sol with yummy plantain chipsChinese BBQ RibsChocolate Volcano Cup - very yummy!