Thanksgiving Weekend

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We sure did. Brian, my brother, came home from college for a week. It was fun to hangout with him again. Kyle really liked having "Uncle Rat" home again. He always misses him when he is gone. The picture to the left is Kyle and Uncle Rat sleeping on the couch.

We had Thanksgiving at Dad and Mom's house. Mary and I made the meal and Henry smoked the turkey. It turned out really well. Smoking a turkey is the only way to go. The only problem is no homemade gravy. But we made do. Mom, Michael, and Melissa were sick so it was a fun day. Kyle and Kristen ended up coloring, with marker and pen, on Dad and Mom's comforter. Luckily it came it. That was a close call!

On Friday we laid low. Henry had to work a little so Kyle and I set up the Christmas decorations. First we set up Kyle's Christmas train, Michael and Mary gave it to him last year. Kyle was so excited. He just sat and watched it. He loves to make "Kyle tunnels" (see picture). It is were he straddles the rails and the train goes between his legs. He thinks it is funny. We have most of our lights up now. We just have a few finishing touches to do.

On Saturday we went to Dad and Mom's and helped with their Christmas decorations. We got the tree up and decorated with the help of Michael and Mary and family. Everyone was sick, getting over it, or coming down with it so we didn't last very long. We got a few light up outside for them but the roof was wet from snow the night before and we didn't have the right lights for the bushes. So we will finish them this week when the weather gets better. We are not Black Friday people. We hate crowds, especially stupid people in crowds so we didn't head out on Friday, but we went to Costco for some Christmas gifts and got one for Henry too, a 37" HDTV. He is not one for waiting for we set it up when we got home.

Today we woke up to snow. It was bombing snow and we were only supposed to get a dusting. By 10:00 am we got a call, church was canceled. Thank goodness! I was sick and wasn't going anyway, but who wants to make the 20 min. trip in good weather in the snow and icy roads?! When it was all said and dome we got a foot of snow. Boy did they drop the ball on that forecast! I worked on getting the lights on the tree while Kyle and Henry played in the snow. Kyle has been waiting, impatiently I might add, for snow to play in. He really wanted to build a snowman the snow just wouldn't pack real well. After a nap we decorated our tree with the ornaments. Kyle would pile 4-5 ornaments on one branch. Henry and I had to go back and move them later. His favorite ornament is the Thomas the train ornament.

Kyle and Daddy playing in the snow.

Kyle decorating our tree.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

So I have been listening to Christmas music for a week or so now. I wanted to do a Christmas background awhile a go but decided to do a Thanksgiving one first. But there are no really cute backgroungs for Chrsitmas, so I decided I better get on it before they are all taken. I liked this one the best but my sister-in-law put it on her blog first (and she gives me a hard time for not celebrating the holidays in order). I tried a few other backgrounds but they aren't wide enough. Sorry Mary, this one won out in the end. I did try to do another one. But for the record I had this one picked out after Halloween before I did my Thanksgiving background.

Kyle had been watching Christmas movies. We usually wait until after Thanksgiving but with Thanksgiving being sooo late this year we pulled them out a week ago. This way we will have time to enjoy the movies this year (hopefully). We are always so busy this time of the year. Kyle is always asking for "doggy". He loves the Peanuts movies. "What a goof!" But we love him.

Utah Beats BYU, GO UTES!

This week has been uneventful. Last Sunday we went to Maggiano's Italian Restaurant in downtown Denver with a few friends we haven't seen in a long time. We rode the train into town and walked to Maggiano's. The food was good but we hate family style. You have to decide among 7 people which two choices you want. There are 5 courses; appetizer, salad, entree, meat, and dessert. Then you choose 2 items in each course. They bring out as much as you want. So when the plate is empty and you want more they will bring you more, bottomless. "More of everything!" It takes forever to get the next course too. It took over 2 hours to eat. We like to eat and go. We don't dilly dally in restaurants.


Dad and I went to Costco this week too. Kyle loves going to Costco. He loves the samples and then after we are done shopping we get a hot dog meal for him. Here is a picture of him eating a sample while sitting on some boxes in the cart. He was so good.



Yesterday we watch Utah beat BYU. What a good game! When Utah would score everyone watching would cheer and Kyle would start cheering and clapping and yelling "Go Utes!" and then started giving everyone high 5's. What a ham!

Henry has been in Kansas again this weekend hunting for whitetail. No luck though. He is now offically done with hunting for the year. Yeah! Now I can get the garage cleaned up.

We hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Beta - R.I.P.

Last night I went upsairs and Kyle's pet fish Beta (it is a Beta fish and we named it Beta), was dead. Poor Beta. We had Beta for over 6 months. That is pretty good for a fish. So now we will get a new Beta fish and we will name it VHS. Do you see the pattern we are going for? I am sooo looking forward to cleaning the fish tank.

Last night we had some people from the ward over to watch the UFC fight. They get together and order the pay-per-view fights. We hosted last night and we all had a great time. Henry smoked some wings and we had veggie dip and 8 layer dip. It was good food! The fights were really good too.

This past week we have been just doing the same old thing. Friday Ashlee had school off so Mary and I took the kids to the museum. I think they had a great time. Kyle got in trouble for not playing well with others in the Discovery Zone (a playroom for the kids in the museum). I had to take him out and we sat in the hall for about 15 min. He really needs to learn to get along with other kids. He gets along with them, he just plays rough. Hopefully he learns soon. The picture above was taken in the Discovery Zone.

That is about our week. Brian comes home on Sat, just in time for the Utah vs BYU game. GO UTES!!!!!!!!

Kyle on the horse at the grocery store. Ride 'em cowboy!

Fall in Colorado

Henry left for Kansas Friday morning to hunt whitetail deer with a friend. They plan to be gone until Sunday evening, so Kyle and I have been hanging out with Dad and Mom (Papa and Mama to Kyle). The weather has been so nice here. We haven't recieved a drop of moisture in quite a while (that is bad) but the temp. has been so nice! Saturday, Michael and Mary and family, came over to help rake the leaves in Dad and Mom's yard. There were a ton of leaves! Michael had to get the leaf blower out to blow the leaves out of the rocks and into the middle of the yard where we built a large pile of leaves. We got about 10 bags of leaves when it was all said and done. The kids had a blast playing in the leaves. They were jumping in them, laying in them, and throwing them. Melissa was into eating them. She's a baby, what can you do?!

Kristen, Kyle, and Ashlee playing in the leaves.

Kyle and Ashlee raking leaves.

Kyle loves to read! He loves to have us read to him, but sometimes we just can't read to him. I walked into the family room the other day and found Kyle sitting in his tunnel from IKEA (the tunnel was tied up) and he was reading a book. Of course he can't read, but he was telling himself a story!

Happy Halloween!

It has been about two weeks since my last post. Sorry, life has been chaotic! Last weekend we went to Boo ath the Zoo with Michael and his family. Kyle was Mickey Mouse, Kristen was Minnie. They were so cute together. Ashlee borrowed my old Strawberry Shortcake costume. She got many compliments from the 30+ crowd. Kyle had a blast. He likes the candy but he was more excited about the animals. He asked to see the monkeys the whole time we were there. Of course we started on the wrong side of the zoo so he had to wait until the end.

The 3 cousins together

Later that evening after a much needed nap we had our ward trunk or treat. It was fun. After the trunk or treating there was a baked potato bar for dinner, so we stopped and got dinner on the way home.

Kyle trunk or treating. His costume was a hit with the ward.

Then on Sunday we ran up to the train museum to ride the Trick or Treat train. They had a train running with the cars decorated for Halloween and then there were a few trick or treat stations around the museum. Kyle's friend Drake and his parents met us there. Kyle was really grumpy so we were there for a short time.

Kyle watching a short clip on trains at the museum.

Then of course there is Halloween day. Kyle spent most of the morning making treats. We made chocolates, suckers, chocolate dipped strawberries to look like ghosts, and pretzles dipped in chocolates. Kyle liked eating the chocolate best of all. Then he helped me carve his pumpkin. Then that evening, Drake and his dad came over to go trick or treating with Henry and Kyle, while the women stayed home to hand out candy. Henry tells me Kyle ran the whole time. Not to the next house, but just ran down the street. He was just so excited to be outside with all the kids. I think he was on overload.

Kyle with his pumpkin.