Thanksgiving fun!

We had the funnest Thanksgiving Break!  We left on Monday and stayed the night in Declo with Dave's sister after having a yummy dinner at IHOP with them.  It is always fun to play with cousins.

Then Tuesday we drove to Corinne and had lunch with Grandpa at the cafe and then when grandma got home from work we drove up to the Ranch to look around for a minute and then to the Golden Spike.  

 Since our Grandpa is so cool, he talked to the rangers and had them take us to the Engine house since they don't bring the trains out in the winter very often.  We got the full tour and it was awesome!

 This is the coal that they use in one of the engines.  We took a picture so we could tell Santa what NOT to bring to us!

 Then we went back to the visitor's center and looked around.  Grandpa bought everyone a special souvineer to help us remember our super fun day!

Then we drove to past the Brigham City Temple.  It was sunset and so beautiful!

In Pleasant Grove we enjoyed Thanksgiving with the Petersons and Grammy and Grandad Poteet.  It wasn't a huge group, but we sure ate lots of yummy food, starting with pies for breakfast!

We did lots of fun things in PG.  We went to the movie one afternoon.  We saw the Smurfs, and boy was it Smurftacular!  We even had popcorn!
 

We went swimming one day at the Lehi Pool.  That was fun!

Monday night I went to SLC and spent the evening with some of my favorite gals, Brooksey and Tiffany.  We had dinner at Rodizio Grill, and if we didn't over stuff ourselves at Thanksgiving, we did there!  It was fun to be together and then to catch up while visiting in the Trolley Square Mall.

Dave had a convention in SLC the next few days, so I spent the night with him at the Marriott Hotel and it was nice to sleep without extra little people wanting our attention for one night.
Grandpa took the day off of work on Tuesday and spent the whole day with the boys.  They started off by hiking the G on the mountain.  They saw some deer and had a wonderful time!  The boys were so surprised to see what the G was made out of.  (By the way, the G stands for Grandpa!)

Then they came home and picked up Mads and AV and took them to Arctic Circle for lunch.  All the while the moms were shopping away!

Then the boys came home and dropped off the girls and then went fishing.  They didn't catch anything but sure had a good time.  Brady said that someone stole all the fish so they couldn't catch them.

Wednesday we headed home.  We made it as far as Twin Falls before the boys were BEGGING us to stop at a hotel so they could swim.  We ate at IHOP for dinner again, (it is so inexpensive with "kids eat free" and the boys eat breakfast so well!) and then stayed at the Best Western.  Their pool was very nice but over chloronated and we had stinging eyes and itchy skin all night. 

Thursday we continued our journey and after lunch at McD's, potty breaks, and ice cream at DQ, we made it home by dinner.  And boys is it nice to be home.  There is really no place like your own bed!

Braden was very anxious to see Pepper, his "favorite person."

And one of the best parts of the vacation was that we got to tell everyone that we are going to have a new baby in June!!  Very exciting!

Happy Halloween

On Halloween we went with our friends from the Union Ward to the Pumpkin Patch.  We checked the boys out of school and Daddy snuck away from work, so it was a fun family occasion.

 That evening we got all dressed up and headed off to trick or treating in the neighborhood.

The boys were so funny.  At every door they would ask me, "do you know this person" and I would say, "no, but it is okay to trick or treat at neighbors homes if you are with your mom and dad."  We got SO SO SO much candy, and had a fun time.  Brady would tell people, "I a zebra."  or "I have a tail" or "I am 2" or "what's your name?"  It was so cute.

Fall is here

And with Fall comes some fun things. 

And not so fun, like Harvest, for 5 LONG weeks (but the end is in sight as they should be done on Monday!!)

A new look  (hair color should change with the seasons, don't you think!)

A visit from Grandma.  We had a fun 4 days with her, spending one afternoon at the circus.  (small and kinda lame, but the kids enjoyed it.)  We were so glad she came.  (Especially me!)

 Daddy's birthday was Oct 22.  He is a big 33 this year!  We spent the afternoon at work with him giving cupcakes to his "work friends". 

 And carving pumpkins.  The boys were disgusted at the thought of touching the guts, but it wasn't as bad as they hyped it up to be.

Run Run as fast as you can!!

The school does a huge jog-a-thon fundraiser as their one moneymaker for the year.  All the kids run for 20 minutes and they ask people to sponsor them as they do so.  The kids that run all get a shirt and if they raise $16,000 they get to make the principal into an icecream sundae.

Brady and I watched the boys run, and it was so fun to encourage them. We even ran a few laps with them.  Tanner ran 16 laps and Colt did 14.  I was so proud of them!

Thanks to our grandparents and the Carlsons for your generous donations.  It sure made the boys feel important.

What have we been up to?

I look at my blog all the time as it is one of my home pages.  I think to myself everytime, I should update, but what have we been up to?  Not much.  Same old thing.  But here are a few pics of things we have been doing....

Of course it is canning season.  Every year I realize just how much I love to can!  I have done peaches, peppers, jalepeno jelly, beans, dilly beans, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, freezer corn, freezer mandarin sauce, grape juice, apple juice, and apple sauce.  Still have apple pie filling to do yet.

I invited a group of ladies to come over and do corn with me, and we had a group come do applesauce.  We completed 12 boxes of apples, equalling 70 quarts and 78 pints. 

Dave is thick into harvest so we basically see him an hour each night before bed and on Sundays.  He brought home a HUGE potato from his field, and we were so amazed.  It was 14 1/2 inches long and weighed 3 1/2 lbs.

Colty's friends can all ride their bikes without training wheels, so he has been trying really hard to learn to do so as well, and he has it figured out.  He wants to practice all afternoon, and he is really getting good fast!  He started on the little tiny bike, but he has now decided he can do the bigger bike. 

And, now that it is officially fall and the month of October, we pulled out the Halloween decor.  We needed something else cool so the boys and I made the neat spooky guys for family home evening.  The boys are so proud!  Colt did the ghost, Brady the pumpkin, and Tanner the Frankenstein.  The Mummy make the mummy, and I of course helped with the faces.  It is fun to have a "holiday shelf!"

9/11 We Remember

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?

Alan Jackson

on the way home

On the way home we stopped in Roy to visit with Brooksey and her kids.  She is one of my favorite people and it is alway delightful to be with her.  The kids play so well too.  I wish we could be together more often.

Then we continued on our journey to Rupert to stay with Grandma and Grandad.  It is a perfect spot to stop because it makes the last leg of our drive bearable at only 7 or so hours.  We had a fun time visiting and playing and seeing our great grandparents that we love so much!