Our Thanksgiving Recap

Our Thanksgiving week started on Tuesday when we all piled into the car and headed up north to Salt Lake to celebrate with Alan's family. His parents moved into a beautiful new home last May and this was the first time we got to see it. Cole immediately felt right at home and started to explore.

We spent Wednesday at Red Pappa's dental office having our annual day before Thanksgiving check-ups. We all had one cavity (boo)! Cole was amazingly brave and didn't have Novocain or gas to have his filled. He was completely intrigued by all of the fun tools and gadgets around the office, especially the little water and air squirter thing, (which I'm sure has an official name).


Wednesday night Carson was up screaming all night and was totally inconsolable. Alan and I had to take shifts holding him all night. The minute we would try to sit down with him or try and lay him down he would just freak out and wail. We had no idea what was going on with him. Turns out it must have been a pretty good ear ache because on Thanksgiving afternoon his eardrum ruptured and drained and he was happy the entire rest of the week.

We were a pretty small group at dinner this year as two of Alan's sisters went to their in laws for dinner. It was fun to sit around the table together visiting and catching up with everyone. The food was good too. This year my MIL soaked the turkey in brine and it was so good and juicy. And those darn pies just kept calling my name, especially that coconut cream one.

After dinner I was looking at the black Friday ads and came across a flyer for 24 Hour Fitness advertising free workouts all Thanksgiving weekends. Can you believe I talked Alan into going to the gym? Seriously, we did! I know, we are nerds! We went Friday and Saturday morning. We even got my FIL to come with us one morning. On Saturday I took a class that seriously kicked my butt, I was sore til Monday. It was great!

This is Cole out on the deck at my in laws wishing you all a "Happy Thanksgiving". Brrrr, it was cold out there. Our thin Vegas blood wasn't used to the temperatures.


On Friday we headed over to Thanksgiving Point to check out the dinosaur museum. It was awesome! Cole and Carson totally enjoyed it (as did all the grown ups). They had lots of fun hands-on exhibits, Cole's favorite was the water/sand area (see photos below). I think that my sister in law Angie's favorite too, lol. We also watched one of the very cool 3D movies in the theater there. It also happens there was a Mod Bod sale in one of the upstairs rooms so me, my MIL and SIL had to go. The prices were ridiculously low and we all scored a stack of t-shirts and cami's, (my MIL spent the most and I spent the least). After the museum we headed to South Towne mall for dinner at TGIFriday's and some quick shopping. Alan and I got some new jeans at The Buckle (his are pretty sexy if I say so myself) and Cole got to see Santa. Of course I didn't get any pictures, duh!

Carson is fighting sleep so hard:

This dinosaur reminded me of Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas, lol:

Cute brothers:

My 3 boys :

Susan, Carson, Angie, Cole and George :

Carson and the baby dinosaur :

The awesome sand and water area :


Saturday was picture day and of course the BYU/U game. The goal was to get all of the kids dressed up and photographed before the game but we got a slow start and so photos happened alittle bit later. I think they must have been competing with nap times because the babies were not so cooperative. It's hard to get 8 kids (six of them 4 and under) to look at the camera at the same time. But I think we ended up with some cute shots. I didn't care to stick around and watch the game (I'm not a fan of either team) so Al and I snuck over to Jordan Landing for some quiet time. When the game ended we all went to the movies. We usually go on Turkey day but this year we decided to go on Saturday. We saw Enchanted (cute show). A huge thank you to my SIL Linda for holding Carson for half of the show so I could actually see some of it. Thanks!

Cole and his cousin Allison:

A group shot of all the grandkids:

Cute movie starring Dr. McDreamy:

Sunday we packed up and headed home. We made a stop in Beaver for the kids to run/crawl around & get their wiggles out in the McDonald's playroom. We also stopped in St George so I could go in the Gymboree outlet and Cole could go to KB Toys. And then we were home. Ahhh, Home Sweet Home! It's always fun to go out of town and it's always good to be home.

Cole's Trip Highlight:

Cole found some of Dad's old Star Wars toys in Grandma's basement which he brought home. Can you believe they still worked after 27 years? Cole thinks it is the coolest thing ever to have his Daddy's old toys. He is pretty sentimental for a 4 year old.

And that's it! Our Thanksgiving in a nutshell. Now onwards and upwards to Christmas!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

In the morning we will be heading over the river and thru' the woods (well actually north up the I-15) to my inlaws for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.

These are a just few of the many things I'm blessed with and thankful for:

A Funny Cole Story

Cole: Mom, what's Dad's name?
Me: Daddy
Cole: No, his other name
Me: Alan
Cole: That's right, Alan. That is such a ridiculous name.

Ready or Not The Holiday Season Is Upon Us

Yesterday we went on an excursion to the Galleria Mall in Henderson to check out the grand opening of my BIL's new food court restaurant called Salad Creations. Yum! I'm a salad addict so this was my kind of place.

After we ate we walked around the mall checking out the Christmas decorations, that's right, I said Christmas decorations. Hello, we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet! And as we rounded the corner I saw that Santa Claus had already arrived as well. It seems when I was a child Santa's arrival was the day after Thanksgiving. I'm thinking everything this year is feeling way too rushed! I'm not ready! Slow down! Can't we at least digest our Thanksgiving turkey before hearing Christmas carols in the stores?

This is not the mall Santa, this is Alan playing Santa for my sister's ward's primary party a couple of Christmases ago. But I can't talk about Santa without posting a picture, right?

Anyways, there will be no "what I'm getting the kids for Christmas" posts from me until after Thanksgiving. Mainly because I have no idea what I'm getting the kids, or my husband or anyone for that matter. Yikes! Should I panic yet? Hmmm, I don't think so...

Here Comes Trouble

Well, it's official: Carson is on his way to being a climber. His new trick is pulling open the broiler on the stove and climbing inside. He thinks that it is great fun and he can amuse himself by doing this stunt over and over and over. It really worries Cole, he is a protective big brother and he doesn't want Carson to get cooked. Some of Carson's other new tricks include pulling all of the pans out of the cupboard, climbing on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, pulling dishes out of the dishwasher while I'm loading them in and pulling himself to a standing position on the bar stool and pushing it around like it's a walker. I think we're in trouble with this little guy. In fact that is what Cole says every time Carson charges towards his toys, "Uh-oh here comes trouble"... Yep, here comes trouble indeed.

Fancy Feet

My girlfriend Leslie and I braved DSW shoe store with 5 kids between the two of us last week. If you haven't been to DSW you need to go, it is shoe heaven. Anyways, Cole and Lindsey found those pantyhose thingies you are supposed to use to try on shoes with and put them on all on their own. It was seriously so hilarious and like a good blogging Mom I had my camera in the diaper bag and snapped some photos. You know someday these photos are going to embarrass Cole but the moment was too priceless to pass up.

By the way we both found cute new shoes too!

Halloween Fun

GOT CANDY? Carson's 1st Halloween!

Halloween was fun and I'm soooo glad it's done! We had lots of fun Halloween activities this year including a dress up day at Music Makers, Cole's school singing program and class party, treat making, pumpkin carving, Disney Halloween treat, pumpkin patches, trunk or treating and trick or treating. Phew! Carson and Cole had matching costumes this year but every time I put Carson's coat on he would freak out! So I'm still trying to figure out how to get a picture of him wearing it. I decided last minute to be a pirate mate, Cole was impressed even if I did look like a goober. We met up with family at Sonic before trunk or treating (there's nothing like eating a little grease before collecting all that sugar). The kids had a great time but Cole decided it was not so much fun to trick or treat at cars and wanted to go to houses so we came back up to our neighborhood and hit a few houses before hitting the hay.