Things we're thankful for

We had an unexpected and fairly eventful Thanksgiving this year.... we'd planned to have a houseful of guests, but it didn't quite turn out that way. There was a hospitalization in the family, so we drove down to Aberdeen and spent the day visiting at the hospital, and had Thanksgiving dinner at Denny's (which was the only thing open!!!). It really made us remember how thankful we are for our family, and how it's not about the turkey or pie, but time spent together. Ron's oldest daughter has also moved in over the weekend and will be living with us for a few months as she gets back on her feet. We're thankful to get to spend some time with her that we wouldn't otherwise have, and Gabe's excited to have his "sissy" around! Although the whole holiday hasn't gone according to our "plan" we know that HIS plan is ALWAYS better! And we made our turkey yesterday (holy cow- we're going to have leftovers for a LONG time- an almost 20 lb turkey for 4 people!) and really reflected on the things that are important to us and that we're incredibly blessed and thankful for- our family, our friends, and most of all our Savior!

Birthday Party at the Pool!

We celebrated Gabe's 5th birthday and his buddy Austin's 7th birthday at the local pool on Saturday, and let's just say, a GREAT time was had by all! The kids loved it, and some of the parents even got in the pool and had a great time too! Fun to celebrate with family and friends- wouldn't change a thing (well, maybe some air conditioning in the party room at the pool!)

Gabe being a ham in the pool

Austin thinking swimming is pretty fun!

The kids sure thought the "Water Walk" was fun!

Gabe blowing out his candles- what a relief this year to buy cupcakes instead of baking a cake!

Gabe and his cousin Mackenzie and the mommies (can you tell Gabe liked the blue frosting on the cupcakes?)

Date night and babysitting trade-

We traded babysitting this weekend with our good friends, the Currey's, so we could both have Date Night for to celebrate our wedding anniversaries that we discovered are just a few days apart. We went to a very nice dinner (how strange to be able to eat without "Hey, stop that! We don't play with our food!" etc.) and then we realized that we are getting really old because we just wanted to come home and go to sleep!!!

At the restaurant- ahhh, a quiet dinner!

When the Currey kids came to our house to play, Gabe and Emma decided a little dancing was in order, and then Emma declared them MARRIED- ack! Apparently, kids grow up quick these days!!!!

They sure did have fun dancing together!!!

Kadin found Gabe's Hulk hands, and decided they were pretty cool!

Trick or Treat!!!

Well, another year, another wonderful time Trick-or-Treating with the Earnhardt's and their neighbors. The weather was great- the rain literally stopped JUST in time! And after we were all done, the kids' sugar high was spent, and they were all all asleep (Thanks Matt and Neese for letting us come over!), us adults got to spend some time chit-chatting and eating YUMMY pie. So fun was had by all- kids and parents alike! Now we're excited for the rest of the Holiday Season- Thanksgiving here we come!!!!

The kids having a great time

Gabe is so excited!

Best buds in their Transformer costumes!

The kids loot!

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Thanks Uncle Matt for the cool pumkin- we carved it, and Gabe thought getting out the "goo" was the best part!

Fall Festival Fun!

The nursery by Auntie Kirsten's house had a great fall festival, so we went and played with Uncle Bruce, Auntie Kirsten, Mackenzie and Mur Mur! What fun! Hayrides, potato car races, hay maze, pumpkin decorating, and face painting- what's not to love?! Mackenzie is getting so big, and Gabe was so proud of himself because he made her smile- he loves his cousin!

Gabe and Mur Mur taking a hayride

Gabe and Mack chilling out

Gabe's cool pumpkin

Gabe's potato car- it was FAST!



Kirsten and Mack in the hay maze



Gabe and Mur Mur in the hay maze

Gabe and Mack in the hay maze- she looks

like she's having fun, right?!

Gabe's rocket ship face painting- what a stud!

Pumpkin patch fun!

What a fun day!!! We went to the pumpkin patch with our friends, and it was just wonderful!!! Sunny, warm, wow- can't get better than that, huh? Then we all came back to our house for more playing, hot dogs, and Karen's yummy cookies. We look forward to this event every year, and this year was just as good as we could have ever asked for!

Pumpkin Patch boys

Pumpkin Patch girls

Kids getting ready to go into corn maze

Gabe lovin' the pumpkins

New hairdo

Gabe got his hair cut and they put sparkly gel in his hair, which he thought was about as cool as ever!!! All day long he kept saying "don't touch my cool hair, o.k.?". Silly boy. We actually had an incredibly productive Saturday- got tons of cleaning done (holy cow- how did the house get so bad?!).

Our adventures this week

Denise and I megacooked together today, and wowsa, can you say "That's a LOTTA meat?" It was fun to get together, though, and we got a lot accomplished- 28 meals!!!

Gabe also got some new duds this week to help with cooking, and boy did he do a great job helping make daddy's soup when he wasn't feeling good!!!!!

Who says you can't have fun in the rain?!

What a fun weekend Gabe and Mom had while Dad was away at our church's mens retreat. Thank you Currey's for opening your home for another crazy and fun day of playing together yesterday!!!! Gabe was so excited to play in the rain at the end of the playdate!!!!

Doing some catching up....

We had a wonderful day at the beach with Lisa's mom over Labor Day weekend- we went to Dash Point for a picnic and a great time finding live sand dollar beds (who knew there were huge piles of them all along the shore at low, low tide? What fun!!!!) and watching the sea lions play near the shore. We love playing with MurMur.

Caving In!!!!!

O.k., so I've finally caved in! What can I say- I bend to peer pressure sometimes!!!!!!!