Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. It was our year to be with my family in St. George.
Here are a few pics of our fun day.

Brandon brought Toy Story 3 for the kids to watch while we set up dinner and so he could crash.

We had a few things planned before dinner to keep the kiddos entertained since we were all at my grandparent's house. We didn't end up doing them until after dinner but they still had fun!

Making turkeys

Decorating faces with all sorts of things we found in the pantry! This was a hit with all the kids, I don't know why I only have a pic of Brandon making his!

Hadley and Beckam hitching a ride down the hall on grandpa's walker!

The best part of the day was watching the kids play in the leaves like we did when we were younger! We piled them under the tree and tried talking the kids to jump out into the leaves. Safe, I know. We gave our parents a hard time for letting us all do that when we were younger and unsupervised! Dawson was the only brave one who actually jumped. We got Hadley into the tree but she kept saying, "its to high." Then we had a huge leaf throwing party and then cleaned them up into several bags!!!! I'm glad I don't have to do that every day!

Me and Hadley stayed for 4 days to help with my grandparents. My grandpa just had his 4th knee surgery and my grandma isn't doing so hot these days. What an experience. I was glad I could stay and spend time with them and give my mom a few days off since her and my dad pretty much take care of them. But wow, it is HARD work!!
I was at my grandparents house in the morning til late at night when they went to bed, so I couldn't really go see anyone plus we weren't feeling so good. So I was so grateful for the friends who stopped by to say hi!!! I love ya Brit and Jeanie!!!

Our October...

Things to remember about October:

*Had a great conference weekend. My family came down to watch Sunday's session of conference. This was us playing games after. Every time Papa needed his glasses so did Hadley.

*PBR with some of our favorite people. *Hadley's preschool had a Halloween party and parade. Here is her cute little class. She LOVES preschool!!

*Had a fun surprise baby shower for Erin. (Thanks Caitlin for putting it together) Wish we lived closer so we could do girl things more often!!

*Saw some good friends while we were in Utah. We actually had a minute to meet up for lunch with the Gardners. Hadley asked for the camera and if she didn't I wouldn't have gotten these ones. Wish I would've thought to take pics when we saw the Phillips, the Richards and Drages! It was fun seeing all of you, thanks for letting us intrude!

*We went trick-or-treating in Brandon's parents neighborhood with our little "girl" pirate. She has to make that clear to anyone who asked her what she was dressing up as. Forgot how cold Utah Halloweens are! It was fun though even though Hadley made Brandon say, "trick-0r-treat" for her.

* My sister in law Kristen got married!! It was great and we had the best weekend! That one gets it own post once we figure out the picture situation!

*I'm 28 weeks now! And the nausea is coming back. I'm feeling quite large. This pregnancy is flying by. Poor kid is still nameless and probably will be for awhile. Pregnancy #2 is bringing on different pains I never had with Hadley, like charlie horses, major right rib pains, leg pains, braxton hicks and killer heartburn. I'm for sure more hormonal this round and is willing to pay someone to come organize my house!

Pumpkin patches

I love this time of year and all the festivities! We were able to do a few pumpkin patches in October (actually all with in a week) which were so fun for the kids! Our play group gets together a few times a month and for one of the activities they arranged for just our group to go play! They had a few rides, the big blow up slide, a train ride, chickens, rabbits and they got to feed a goat and take home a pumpkin.

Pumpkin Patch #2, was the same one as the first. I just intruded went with Lindsay and her ward so we could go again since it was so fun! (and so much cheaper with a group!) Thanks Linds!

Pumpkin Patch #3: Since the first ones didn't have the pony rides open during the day I promised Hadley we could go and take dad and ride the ponies one night. This one was more on the scary side for pumpkin patches! Good thing Brandon came with! I'm pretty sure we were the only ones without a cigarette behind our ears. This one had a little ferris wheel, a maze and a few different rides. My dang camera broke though so this is all I got!

Happy 30th Brandon!

Yes this day finally did come. Sad but true. He's been dreading it all year and he survived! I think its safe to say it was a good birthday. He is truly the best. I love him so much and wanted him to have a great day. It actually was a few days of celebrating.

Some things to remember:

My mom came down for the weekend and took Hadley so Bran and I could spend a day together just the two of us.

I told him our first stop was shopping and it would be so nice to just walk around and shop with no toddler. I know he wasn't as excited as I was. So when we pulled up to town square I told him he could open his first gift. It was a framed pic of a TV and some birthday $. After years of him wanting a new TV and Lindsay and my mom talking me into it, I caved! This was the ultimate surprise and perfect for his big ol' birthday. I really thought he might cry! So we went across the street and picked it up.

Of course when we brought it home to drop it off, it couldn't just sit in the box. So we had to put it together and watch football for a bit before we could head on our way.

We had a nice dinner at Maggiano's, his favorite Italian place.

We did actually enjoy some shopping with no Hadley.

Went and saw "Social Network".

On his actual birthday {oct 19th} Had and I took him to lunch and brought him a little goody we made. Its kinda junky but its the thought that counts.

Also my brother celebrated his birthday 2 days before Brandon. While my mom was down we ended up getting some Barry Manilow tickets. It was going to be Brandon and my mom going cause Barry's not my thing but we ended up talking my dad into going. So Kason and my dad drove down just for the night. So we had a little birthday party for the 2 birthday boys.

And talked them into helping Brandon put together our new Ikea purchases.

Well Kason helped, my dad just.... observed. Late night at the concert I guess.

Girl time!

This trip has been in the works for a while! Lindsay and I were talking about running away for her birthday back in June and making an Ikea trip out of it as well. Getting pregnant definitely threw off our plans and plus summer is just busy anyways. So it finally worked out for us to get the heck out of dodge!

Two of our friends moved back to Utah so it was so fun to see them and catch up without our kids! Thanks Leslie for letting us crash at your place! Its been way to long since I've seen you guys! And Nancee, thanks for taking time out of your weekend to come spend the day with us! We miss you guys so much!

Here we are at Ikea with our 4 carts!!! 5 hours at Ikea = Kankles for me!

Rodeo Time!

{ Sep 18th }

Anyone who knows our family knows we take the Dixie Roundup pretty seriously! I don't think I've missed one year my whole life! Its a fun family tradition we look forward to with my grandparents and a few of our cousins and we sit in the same seats every year. (wish our other cousins could join us too!) I'm pretty sure this is what started Hadley's obsession with horses.

Hadley's morning started earlier than ours. She had a "sleep over" on grandma and papa's floor. And early Sat grandma took her to the rodeo breakfast they started this year. Hadley got to feed some animals, pet horses and sheep and talk to the clowns. (pictures are on my mom's camera, dang it)

Its been a while since we've gone to the parade but I knew Hadley would love it so we took her this year. She loved catching the candy, getting a balloon, all the horses, cowboys and cowgirls and especially the rodeo princess!

Had's big day!

{Sep 9th}

Hadley started preschool, I still can't believe it! She LOVES it! She's going to Flying Colors preschool with Ms. Monaca. Hadley loves her and her classroom is adorable! Its so cute when she tells us about her day and what they learned. That morning she was so excited. We ate breakfast and got all ready, then she wore her back pack around the house for 30 min before we left.

Here are some attempts of getting the "first day of school" pics.

I love this picture of her and her buddies! Nate-Harrison-Hadley

Then after school she got the best surprise, her papa was down for work and had an extra hour to kill. He came to visit, eat otter pops with us, look at her homework and let us play in the diesel which she calls "mac".