Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, we broke with our tradition this year by actually driving to the grandparents home for a "traditional" Thanksgiving. Traditional if you count Friday being Thanksgiving meal day for us as traditional. On Thursday we drove and hour and a half over the top of a mountain to go to Jackson Hole. Nothing was open except for the Bunnery (a yummy place to eat with the awesome slogan, "get your BUNS in here"). We LOVE eating there (we even buy their bread to bring home - have some on the counter). After eating there, we went to the "antler" park to take some pictures. We drove somewhere to look at the Tetons (amazing). When we drove into Jackson, the view was spectacularly non-existent. :) The clouds were below us, so we couldn't see anything below and then when we drove through them there was no visibility. It was awesome! TJay's dad found an elk hoof and lower part of the leg. It was cool to see for the kids (although the blood on Trey's shoe was gross). We also found some money in the parking lot! :)

Friday we ate & played games all day. It was the BEST! I didn't even leave the house (it was so cold). I alos read a lot, and planned out some changes to my language arts class (yay for an English teacher mother in law).

Saturday we went to the temple in Idaho Falls. It was nice, we've never gone before. It's so old & small compared to Mt. Timp where we usually go. It is beautiful with the murals. Afterwards we went over to TJay's brother's house and enjoyed their sweet hospitality. We played games (even the Dad's) and ate and visited. The girls screamed (for some reason when the cousins get together, they run & scream & have a great time). My sis-in-law's brother was there with his family and it was fun to see them (we've known him since he was 10 - fun to see him as a dad). We had a marvelous time and stayed too late, but it was still too early - we didn't want the evening to end.

Sunday we got up and just enjoyed the slow pace of packing and getting ready to go. We left after lunch (they have yummy leftovers) and actually made it home in 3 1/2 hours! (it took us 5 to get up there). Already unpacked, have 4 loads of laundry done (and by done I mean dry - not folded & put away). :)

Now, on to plan Christmas! It's a Southern California Christmas for us this year - hey, we can only take so much "tradition". :)

Baby Justin's blessing

November 1st was the blessing of our "baby brother who doesn't live with us". :) We were thrilled to go up to Dave & Robyn's and see Justin blessed. We enjoyed visiting with them and Grandma & Grandpa Cash afterwards. We also loved holding little Justin! We think he is awesome!

Weather girls

I arranged for my class to go on a fieldtrip and do the weather on channel 5 news at noon on November 3. We were able to go to the Children's museum and play around before and after doing the weather report and a static electricity experiment. It was very cool. You can watch it on http://www.ksl.com/ go to weather, weather lab and choose nov. 3. Since it was on November 3 (my Dad's birthday), I asked if they would wish Dad a happy birthday - and the meteorologist did! :) It was pretty cool.

Then we went to the U and the Utah Museum of Natural History. We had a science class on traits and DNA. It was very cool. The kids got to extract split pea DNA and study chipmunk skins, plants and beetles. It was a fabulous trip!

Our family is holier now

Yes, you heard that right, we are holier. Alyssa got 2 holes in her ear lobes on November 3. Our family rule is 10 years old and she wanted to do it on the anniversary of her baptism. So, as per tradition, we invited best buddies (3) and went off to Claire's at the mall. After looking over the choices, Alyssa picked her birthstone studs and held on tight to Mom's hand. Alyssa was very brave, she didn't shed one tear. She did jerk and we were worried she had jerked too hard and something was misplaced, but it all worked out. Alyssa even asked for both ears to be done at the same time. :) She got a coupon for an earring holder for her birthday, so after being thus beautified, she went off with her friends to pick out just the right one. We picked out best friends necklaces for the 4 girls and they posed for pictures in a photo booth. We shared a cup of pretzel bites and left for home. It was a fabulous day!

My baby is 6!

Treyson turned 6 a couple of weeks ago. He was so excited. It was hard for Trey to wait thru all of ours. He had been wanting a pirate party for so long! We got him a pirate costume and he even wore it to hand out his invitations. Since his birthday is so close to Halloween, it usually ends up being a costume party - because he loves to dress up. We played games, went on treasure hunts and ate a treasure chest cake. :) It was so much fun and Trey loved that his friends came. He has good friends and loves to have them come over. It was a ton of fun!

6 Reasons why I LOVE my boy:
1. He loves people
2. He is so happy!
3. He is such a hard worker.
4. He likes going places.
5. He loves reading stories.
6. He is my favorite BOY!

The funniest thing, he keeps saying, "pretty soon I'll be 7, then I'll be 8 and get baptized." He is pretty excited about that. I can wait, don't want him to grow up too soon, it's already going too fast.