Here are some tunes to try out… Â It’s a new link since yesterday – takes you to the online listening page…
http://bnetty.com/christmas-home/?page_id=99
and … we got our Christmas Tree!!
Benji and Kiah got along great - all of the kids did.
Packer loved playing trains while we were there!
Ben made this pie using a real pumpkin! He was quite the baker this trip.
Ben's mom hanging out in the kitchen with him while he baked.
Hanging out with Micah in Indiana!! They just loved PLAYING.
Grandpa took Wednesday off from work and brought out the Electric Train to entertain the grandkids.
Ben with his apple pie! I must say that this truly was the BEST apple pie that I have ever eaten! and the best pie of our Thanksgiving Feast. Hands Down.
Cali was a mama's girl the whole time. Everyone wanted to play with her but she had a hard time warming up to it all.
Our last day - In Wisonsin at Ben's brothers house - Benji enjoying some more cousin time.
Micah turned 3 while we were there!
Here's Ben chatting with his sister and dicussing Ninja's or something with the oldest neice and nephew.
We really had a fun trip. Benji and Packer thought the airplane was pretty neat. Flying with 3 young ones wasn’t easy but we managed and survived and we learned that if you buy tickets for 2 people with the same name they will give away one of your seats and make checking in difficult! Thanksgiving dinner was in Wisconsin with Ben’s Grandmother. She takes us all to her country club so we didn’t cook or clean, we just enjoyed the food and the company and the Packer game of course. We spent Thanksgiving day with Grandma and some of Ben’s aunts and uncles and siblings. I caught a cold and Benji and Cali caught the pink eye that was going around – so we took it easy today and will jump back into real life in a few hours when Monday morning gets here and my alarm goes off for me to go running… ughh I shouldn’t have eaten so much pie!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Eat an extra piece of Pumpkin pie for me, or know that I am eating an extra piece for you!
I spent my morning raking a few leaves! It was hard work but our yard looks much better and I feel like we are ready for snow now. Plus it will make the Hot Tub easier without leaves sticking to your feet on your way in and out. Now we’ve got to actually get the leaves out to the front yard and then into the truck. We bagged them one year and we had atleast 15 industrial size bags and it took us forever to dispose of them. We don’t do it that way anymore. So we will let the kids jump in them when Ben gets home from work and then carry them around to the front.
It feels good to accomplish things. Other good things I have done recently… Gone running a few mornings a week. It is hard to get out of bed but it is always worth it, especially when its done.
I finally got my bathrooms sparkly clean – they were literally beyond disgusting and I am going to not let them get to that point EVER again. I’m grounding myself from blogging unless I have clean bathrooms. We’ll see how that works.
My lesson on Sunday was just not flowing and then it all came together, everyone participated and it turned out to be my best lesson yet. I like when that happens.
We got our family picture taken. I don’t know why that is such a hard task but it is. And we got it done. Yipee for us. And that same day I took myself and all 3 kids to get Flu shots!
And Benji did great in his primary program. He stood and said his part loud and clear and he sang all of the songs. I could even pick out his voice amid the 70 other kids on a song or two. Way to go Benj – we are proud of you.
And some not so good things this week would be when I left the front door wide open when I took the kids out for a walk. It was the kids that used that door BUT still my fault, the mom is supposed to check those things.
And the insane amount of PUMPKIN that I have consumed by way of Cookie and Pie can go on the not good list – it’s as if I can only eat the stuff in November and I am not letting it pass me by this year.
Benji muttering to himself, “I hate when Mom says just a minute!” I must take more than a minute and I must say that often. I will work on that.
Not so good would also be the mandarins that I bought this week. They are horrible. No taste. 1000 seeds! They say California mandarins and I believed it. These mandarins do not compare to the real ones that I ate every year in California.
This guy is real cute when he wants to be!
Another Packer picture - he was really getting inside this tiny box!
I almost forgot about our awesome night at the cabin mansion in Park City. We went for a night with some of Ben’s family. It was a fun get away. The kids were loud and crazy but the house was so big that we could barely hear them. Our boys are champion hot tubbers now. Cali cut her top teeth while there. I snuck out to the outlets. We played some games, relaxed and it was the PERFECT start to the Holiday season! Now I’m pumped for Thanksgiving. And to get to bed… after raking I did some packing, cleaning, playing at the park, 5 quarters of basketball, babysit cousins night and just finished the day with a soccer game. Good Night.
Here is our cute 11 month old
She Loves to play Peek a Boo these days.
The View from my Hot tub!
Packer is still our Fruit Eater – I love how he lined up all of his peels here and he gets them real clean.
This is when Joel was entertaining the boys – we can almost get the rakes out, just a few more leaves need to fall.
Cute boys! They are posing with Flat Stanley who came form grade school in CA to visit and see what UT is like.
And this little Monster thinks that it is ok to eat the sand! arghhh
We had a SUPER HERO Halloween, we all dressed up and we all had a lot of fun. Packer got a little grumpy but the threat of taking his costume off was enough to take care of that. Cali is a sucker-aholic, Packer eats candy at will, and Benji asks before he eats any little piece of it.
Their smiles say it all!
Me with my cute little babies - Mia, Cali and Claira!
Cousins Picture - (P&A missed it but Hancocks were in.)
After Trick or Treating the cousins all come over to play and see each others costumes. It has become a great tradition for us. I think the winner this year goes to Matt with his Prom King Hair (I didn’t get a picture – sorry).
They are all in character here having a great time - love it!
Anna, Claira, Mia and Cali-a I hope they are friends when they get older because they are just too cute.
Can someone teach these guys how to flex their muscles? Cali and I are going to be super heroes also!! I’m sure we’ll get more costume pictures up soon.
There is magic in the air today! It is almost time for the BYU v. TCU game!! Than and Sam Hancock were on ESPN this morning. We barbqed at their house this afternoon and the dads and sons even played some football in anticipation. We are heading over to Pete and Amanda’s for the game. I am excited to watch – GO COUGARS.
It is also Super Saturday for my ward so I got up early and spent the morning at the church getting some craft done. I’m not the best but it’s fun to do once a year. I got most of my stuff done but had to bring one project home because I got caught in the chocolate Dipping class – YUM YUM. Sheila might be my new best friend.
IT IS GAME TIME!!
We have had horses behind our house since we moved here and we have actually become pretty attached to them. One of Benji’s first tricks as a baby was that we would ask him where the horses are and he would point out back every time no matter where we were in the house. So the neighbors decided that it was time to sell the horses and they took them away yesterday. Benji and I both cried this morning when I told him that they were gone. ( I’m not an animal lover but I did love these animals because I just got to enjoy them on the occasions I wanted to and had no responsibility for them.