A Day of Thanks

I can't believe Thanksgiving Day has already come and gone. Man this year has just flown right by. The last 3 years in a row we have spent Thanksgiving with my family either in Colorado or Minnesota so this year it was nice to not have to travel very far and spend the holiday with Nate's family. To start the day off me, Tina and Nate's cousin Aly did the Turkey Trot in Bountiful. Even though the race started at 9:00 am it was still only 7 degrees outside. As we were standing at the starting line I was thinking these 2 ladies were crazy for getting me into this mess.

Even a mile or so into it I was still wishing I was already done running but it didn't take too long for my body to warm up, especially with my head sock on. 

3 Miles later we were greeted at the finish line with our families and the Turkey.

 

Even though I was miserable as the runner I am sure it was worse for my boys as they so willing waited around for us to finish. A big thanks to Nate for driving us up there and hanging out for a couple hours with the boys in the cold weather while us girls got our registration packets, waited for the race to start, and then finally finished running. Thank goodness for warm hats and coats! (and a binky and blanket for Andersen- he doesn't go very far without them)

 After the race we made the drive home, took a long hot shower and back on the road to Nana's we went for Thanksgiving dinner. Jackson was crashed before he even had a piece of Turkey. He tried so hard to stay awake but the car ride put him fast asleep while Andersen was just along for the ride like always.

We spent a few hours before helping prepare dinner and watching Chase cook the bird. He does a delicious deep fried turkey.

After our yummy dinner and a short tryptophan nap we visited for an hour or so with my aunts, uncles and cousins at my Grandma's house across the street. It was definitely different this year without having Grandpa around to clean up the dishes and make sure the wish bone gets carved out of the turkey for one of the grandkids but I was grateful Grandma wasn't spending the day alone and was surrounded by family. Once we were done visiting at Grandma's, back to Nana's we went to play a game of electronic Monopoly (what took them so long to come up with this- so much easier!) and yummy dessert. Many laughs later and one big tantrum from Andersen over taking away his Cheetos we called it a night.

Even though this holiday always seems to be centered around food, it still is always a good day for remembering all those things we are grateful for... and man do I have so much to be thankful for! This year I am especially grateful for family. Seems like no matter what happens in life family is always there to pick up the pieces. A HUGE thank you to all my family members for always being there for us this year, we couldn't have done it all without you.

Halloween

Halloween was an anticipated holiday around our house for at least a month. I was at Old Navy at the end of September and Jackson saw this Batman outfit and the search for a costume was over before we even had a chance to look. He was so excited that we had to take a picture and show Dad from the store.

As soon as we got home he had to try it on and I thought we were never going to get it off of him after that.

He played in it for less than an hour and he had already broken his cape and stretched out his mask! Thanks to Nate's quick thinking he told Jackson we needed to put his costume in the "bat cave" until Halloween. That definitely bought us some time, but making a 3 year old wait a whole month to wear his costume seemed like forever... for the both of us! Finally the week of Halloween came and Jackson got to wear his costume a couple days early for his preschool class. He was so excited, if you can't tell by his smile!

Andersen could have cared less about Halloween, so I probably enjoyed my last year of him letting me choose what costume he wears. I think this is the cutest skunk I have ever seen!

 Come Halloween (or the day before since it fell on a Sunday this year) we did our 2nd annual dinner at the Ware's home. After yummy soup, salad, and scones it was time for the kiddos to get dressed for trick or treating. It's amazing how the number of kids have doubled since last year!

 Jackson loved trick or treating! He seemed to always be the first one to the door as all his friends trailed a few seconds behind him.

Andersen on the other hand was ready to quit before he even started! Thanks to the wind and the rain Andersen got dropped off with Dad after the first 3 homes.

After 2 hours of trick or treating these two boys were still going strong! Jackson's candy bucket was weighing him down and house lights were turning off so we decided to call it a night. 

Last year I didn't get to see Jackson enjoy trick or treating so I am glad it was my turn this year. It was so much fun to watch him go house to house even though I was freezing.

One good thing about Halloween is that it isn't over just when trick or treating is over. The only way I think these boys were so willing to go inside was the fact they get to look through all their candy. This year Jackson got double the amount he got last year. I think Jackson is addicted because the first thing he wants to eat in the morning is candy. I get asked all day long if he can have a piece of his Halloween candy. I guess the more he eats the faster it is gone and the sooner this sugar high comes to an end.  I am sure Halloween is just going to get more fun every year as the kids get older, but this year was super fun with our Batman and 'lil Stinker!

Andersen is walking!

Man, I can't believe how big Andersen is getting! Sunday, October 24th, he decided he was going to start walking. For months he would walk around all furniture and walls, but I think thanks to his cousin Camryn spending 5 days at our house, he got the confidence that he could do whatever she could. Now he really thinks he can do anything! I caught him climbing into the dishwasher the other night while Nate was doing the dishes. Can you tell by that smile that he thinks he is pretty cool? He even has learned to go up and down our stairs and even thinks he can scoot off our bed backwards just like the couch. (If anyone has seen our bed, there is no way he could do so and stay standing) I think Andersen walks around the house just to show off that he can walk, because every time he goes walking he makes this high pitched chuckle just so we will look and make a big deal of him walking. We, including Jackson, love this kid so much!. These brothers have a love hate relationship going on right now. Andersen has learned how to tease and push Jackson's buttons and Jackson has learned that a little brother might not be the coolest idea because that means he has to share his toys. But when bedtime comes around they are the cutest things you'll ever see. They laugh and play so well and when its time to put them in their beds Jackson has to make sure he gives his brother hugs and kisses before he goes to sleep. I just hope we can raise these boys to continue to share this love for another and that they grow up to be best friends.

I FLY

Man what a fun time this was! We got invited on a lunch date a couple weeks ago as a thank you from a guy Nate sends a lot of business to. If you haven't ever heard of this place, it's called "I Fly" in Ogden. It is a skydiving simulator. Our group was Dave and Kirsten, Matt and Staci, and us. To begin, we started with a training video on how to position your body while flying and how to enter and exit the wind tunnel. After that you get all geared up in these attractive outfits. Nate and I were wearing inappropriate shoes so we even got to borrow these awesome chuck taylors.

Once we were ready we all entered the chamber and took our turns flying. We all had 2,1 minute rounds of flying time. Nate was a pro and looked so natural doing it.

I on the other hand was a little nervous!

Round two got a little more interesting and tricky. The guy helping us would hold on to us as we fly to the top and spin around.

I think those were the longest 2 minutes of my life because as you are in this tunnel being blown in the air by 100+mph wind, you feel like you have no control and can't breath! Thank goodness for our little "IFLY" helper... we couldn't have done it without him. What a fun day spent with Nate and a huge thanks to the Wrights for fronting the bill to this fun date!

Preschool Field Trip {Pumpkin Patch}

Jackson's preschool class has done a couple field trips so far this year, but this is the first one we could make it to. A couple weeks ago us moms took the kids that could make it to the pumpkin patch. Jackson seriously could have stayed here all day. His favorite thing from last year was sitting on all the tractors.

 Some of the new things he got to do this year was take a hay ride on the big tractor.

Go through the corn maze.

And by far his favorite new part of the pumpkin patch is the mini wheelbarrows. These were perfect for the kids to drive around the field with to gather their pumpkins.

They even had his name written on the wheel barrows!

I can't say Andersen was having as much fun as Jackson and his friends but once he got his bottle I am sure he didn't care where he was at that moment. 

 

 

Even though we were missing 3 boys from Jackson's class, these 4 boys definitely enjoyed their field trip to the pumpkin patch. And just when the boys thought the fun was coming to an end we decided to take the boys to McDonald's for some lunch. Man did Jackson take a good nap afterwards!