It's Decemeber?!

Did you hear?? December is upon us. Again. Already. I do love it though. I even managed to get our Christmas decor up BEFORE Thanksgiving. We visited sunny St. George for the week with Tucker's family and I knew I would be kicking myself when we got home that on top of all the mountains of laundry to do, I'd be stressed about getting the house decorated. So the day before we left, we got it all out and honestly my kids did most of the work. I didn't even let myself "redecorate" after they were finished. (Avery, on the other hand, has redecorated SEVERAL times!)

Halle took a picture of her decorating skills after they were done...

We enjoyed our trip to St. George with Tucker's whole family (minus Chad & Kathy in Virginia). There were 10 adults, 12 kids (ages 2 to 13) and 2 dogs. Not exactly a relaxing vacation, but we had lots of fun.

The kids spent the majority of their time playing outside. Bikes, swings, digging in the dirt, and getting dirty. They loved the warmer temps.





Thanksgiving day was great. We split up all the meal preparations and it all came together quite easily. We had the works...Turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, green beans, green salad, fruit salad, homemade rolls. It was all d-lish! Grandpa put a couple of the kids in charge of making centerpeices for the tables. They found all sorts of things outside to add to their creations. Halle took this job very seriously and spent a good hour working on hers.

The whole gang at dinner.

Then their was pie...and Halle and Aidan got the wishbone. Halle was SO excited about this for some reason. She insisted on bringing it home with us.


Then the relaxing...
and looking at the ads to plan our Black Friday shopping.
Avery really got into this...

There was a rousing game of Curses followed by the customary Turkey bowl.

While the big kids played football the little kids played on the playground...

Avery thought this was a little friend. She thought it was so funny. Ironically I have a picture of Halle doing this exact same thing at this same age.

We concluded the night with jammies, a Christmas movie and popcorn. All in all it was a very fun day.

The next morning Natalie and I braved the crowds and hit Target at 5AM. I've been black friday shopping every year for the past 5 or 6 years and NEVER have I seen crowds and lines like this one. We toughed it out and managed to get everything we wanted. It was worth it.

We also went swimming at the rec center our last day there. This was a MUST for the kids and they had a great time. I think Tucker even enjoyed it.


Tucker got to go golfing with his dad and brothers, we played lots of games and watched lots of movies. We had a a big BBQ/football game party. What a GAME. I was one of the FEW cougar fans amongst the family, but I still cheered loud and proud at the end of the game. We roasted marshmallows and made smores and the kids had a paper airplane flying contest.

Sunday morning came quickly and we packed up and headed home so we could enjoy a repeat Thanksgiving dinner with my family. It was the perfect way to end the week. I'm so grateful for 2 wonderful families that we can share the holidays with.

I feel very ready for Christmas this year. I REALLY wanted to be done with my Christmas shopping by the end of November, and surprisingly I am. The kids made their Christmas list's last night which was quite a comical event with a 2 year old who wanted EVERYTHING she saw and an almost 7 year old who sadly is not quite into toys any more, and Aidan whose list was very limited to ONLY batman paraphernalia. I love Christmas so much more as an adult. Watching the excitement in my kids is worth everything.

And there you have it. Our Thanksgiving week in a lengthy nut shell. I'm still quite behind on several other November events...oh well. Baby steps!

Tootles.