November...or did we go from October right to December....

November went by so fast.  I really feel like we skipped right from October to December.  November is a busy month with 3 birthday celebrations and Thanksgiving.  It was a good month with nice weather and fun family time. We started the month off with my birthday.  It was a pretty normal day.  I went and volunteered in Ashlyn's class like I normally do on Tuesdays.  I spent the rest of the day just hanging at home.  Nate was sick with a bad cold so I ended up making dinner for us and my birthday cake.  :)  He felt bad, but it didn't really bother me that I had to do those things.  I attribute Nate getting sick because of his efforts to surprise me with my birthday present.  While I was visiting my sister in Tennessee Nate spend the week building shelves in our storage room along with being Mr. Mom.  He stayed up late after the kids were in bed working on them in order to get them done before I got home.  They turned out great! We have so much more room now!

Next we celebrated Nate's birthday.  He had to be out of town the couple days before and was due to fly home the morning of his birthday.  Sadly, he got stranded at the Spokane airport due to a mechanical problem with his plane.  He was suppose to be home by 9am but didn't actually get home until 5pm.  We were really bummed we didn't get to spend the day with him, but we were glad he finally made it home to eat pizza, open presents and have cake!

The last birthday was Liam's 9th birthday.  His birthday was on a Sunday which is sort of a bummer as a kid so we made it fun by sending him on a scavenger hunt to find his presents.  :)  He had fun and it made the present opening process take longer than usual. He seemed happy with his gifts and had a good day.  Can't believe he is 9 already.

He wanted a Kendama so bad! They are all the rage at school.  

Ice cream cake! Brrrr...

We also had Pack Meeting in November.  Liam received his wolf badge along side his best buddy Harrison. (these are phone pictures.  Not great)

Gavin also got some more awards.  He is very close to getting his Arrow of Light.  

I got to go help in Ashlyn's class the day before Thanksgiving break.  They made these cute Turkey hats.  This is Ashlyn with her best friend (since they were born, 2 weeks apart) Claire.

Thanksgiving was VERY different this year.  For the past 7 years that we have lived in our home we have always hosted Thanksgiving.  Sometimes with just Nate's siblings and sometimes with my family.  This year we went to Nate's parents house in Saratoga Springs.  They moved into their new house in September.  Nate still insisted on smoking a Turkey so we ended up staying in a hotel close down there Wednesday night so he could be there early the next morning.  We spent the day working on food, doing a puzzle, making cute turkeys, and eating a ton of yummy food.  The hardest part about not having Thanksgiving at your home is that you still have to drive home after eating all the good food.  It was a long drive home. :)

Grandma and Grandpa's new house!

The view of Utah lake and Provo from a hill next to their house.

The Christmas season is upon us.  Details to come! :)

October Happenings

I'm not really sure where the last two months have gone.  Time just flies by.  We have been busy with life and have the pictures to prove it!  

First, we went to our one BYU football game for the year.  It was the Utah State vs. BYU game which turned out to be a big bummer.  We sadly saw the quarterback get injured which led to a Utah State victory and a lousy rest of the season (so far). :(  Regardless, we still had a fun time, good seats, good company and it actually wasn't too cold. 

The first couple weeks of October weren't too exciting.  We didn't go anywhere for Fall break because Nate had to be out-of-town for work.  We spent the Saturday of Fall break cleaning in preparation of getting our upstairs carpets cleaned.  Sadly, I managed to get a large sliver in my hand while washing our dining chairs so I ended up at the doctor to get it removed.  It ended up getting infected so I had to take a round of antibiotics.  It still took almost two weeks before it finally started to heal after I pulled some more of the sliver out a week and half after the doctor thought he got it all.  It was gross!! Here we are in the middle of November and my skin is finally looking more normal.  Crazy..

The end of October I got to take a quick trip out to visit my sister Aimee, her husband Brian, and my favorite little buddy Richard in Tennessee.  It was so fun to visit them and have a little vacation from motherhood.  Nate played Mr. mom and was exhausted when I got home. (so much that he ended up sick with a cold for the next two weeks)  It probably didn't help that he stayed up really late for a few nights building shelves in our storage room as a birthday surprise for me! He started working on them the day I left and finished up just before I got home.  We painted them and moved everything back in.  They are awesome! With extra space for more stuff!! :)

My little buddy Richard.  Such a handsome guy!  Wish they lived closer!!

Super Cheese from me, but it was the best picture we got. :)

 Another new adventure we had in October was going to see the new Warren Miller movie.  Nate found out that you could get day ski passes from a couple resorts if you bought tickets and went to the movie, so he bought tickets for all of us to go (5 free ski lift tickets).  It was fun, but we only got to see the first half because it was a school night and probably wouldn't have gotten over until after 10.  Nate and the boys are excited to ski this season!

We ended October like we do every year with Halloween.  The kids costumes this year were VERY simple.  Liam wanted to be Link from the Legend of Zelda, so he used the costume I made for Gavin last year.  Ashlyn got a cute BYU cheerleader outfit from her cousin Lizzy so that's what she wanted to be.  Gavin just wanted to be something scary, so he came up with creepy mask man.  We all went out trick or treating in the balmy 60 degree weather.  Ashlyn didn't last as long as the boys, but still came home with plenty of candy. Yuck.

We are in the midst of our November birthdays month.  So more posts and pictures to come!

Labor Day Weekend 2014

When spent the long Labor Day weekend up at Bear Lake, but first I have to add in a couple pictures taken around the same time.  Ashlyn needed a picture of 'Spike' for a school project, so I thought I would include one in this post for memory sake.  We have had Spike for 4 years.  He is a great pet and we (excluding Nate) love him!!  

The next pic is of Liam's sunflower he grew this summer.  Nate ordered some seeds online and they sent us sunflower seeds as a bonus.  We planted a few of them around the yard, but Liam ended up with the biggest sunflower of all.  It is beautiful!

Now on to Bear Lake.  With the passing of my Grandpa we know that the years are limited with our Bear Lake trips to the family cabin.  We know we have a few more years to have this awesome place, but it made me think more about taking pictures for memories of our times at the lake.  We spent a nice long (let the kids skip school Friday) weekend at Bear Lake for Labor Day.  The weather was really nice the first day, but then cooled off for the rest of the weekend.  We still had a great time with family playing games, fishing, playing at the beach, and just relaxing.  Can't wait until next summer!!

The rope swing is a favorite!!

So is the hammock!

Beautiful Bear Lake!!