Thanksgiving

On Wednesday, our local library had an activity afternoon for the kids. They could come from 1-4 and watch movies, listen to stories, make crafts and enjoy treats. I dropped the two older boys off while I took Landon and ran some errands.  After about and hour, I went to pick them up but they were having so much fun so we ended up staying for another hour. The boys made some fun little Christmas crafts and had a good time being with some of their friends.

Fun at the library.

Our thanksgiving this year was full of family and food. We started out by doing a quick family photo shoot for our Christmas cards and then had lunch at Grandpa and Grandma Asay's house. After lunch, we sat around and visited and enjoyed some pie. Grandpa took all the kids out to see the new Billy goat and sheep. Around 3, we headed to Powell for dinner and Grandpa and Grandma Foulger's house. After dinner there, uncle Jason set up some turkey hunting for the boys using our place cards from dinner, we played a couple of games and then we had more pie. We are so grateful for all our families and that we get to spend time with them all!

Table 1 at the Asay's.

Table 2

The turkeys all set up to be hunted

Travis taking aim at a turkey.

The boys getting set up behind their blind.

First Snow

We got our first snow of this winter season on November 20th. It came down in big wet snowflakes. It was so nice to not have to got anywhere during the day. I was worried for Christian who was in Denver for meetings trying to come home that he might not have good roads, but they were ok and made it home safely. Travis and Landon had to go out and test the snow the next day. It was super cold, like in the teens, but they didn't seem to care!

The weekend

After a week of our family being sick, we were ready to do something fun to get us out of the house this weekend. Carson got sick last Friday night with a sore throat and fever and wasn't getting any better. On Monday, I took him to the Dr suspecting that he had strep throat, and he did. We got him some antibiotics and got him going on those. Within a day, he was feeling lots better and was able to finally go back to school on Wednesday. Wednesday, Travis started complaining of a sore throat and mine started to get sore too. By that night, we both had fevers of 101+ and were feeling pretty lousy! Luckily, when we left the Dr's office Monday with Carson, she told us that if anyone else started to get a sore throat and fever to just call her. I was able to call and get some antibiotics for Travis and I on Wednesday but we still had a yucky day on Thursday (I pretty much didn't leave the couch unless I had too...it drained me!). Friday, we were all feeling TONS better. I am so grateful for modern medicine! Luckily, no one else has gotten sick! 

Saturday, we were ready to party! We got up in the morning and headed out as a family to hunt for some pheasants. We walked out on grandpa Asay's farm for about an hour but didn't see a single pheasant! It was nice to be out and about as a family even if our pheasant hunting trip was a bust. 

After our hunting, we ran home and showered and headed to Powell to hang out with my family for the day. My sister and her husband, Jabin, got to my mom's house late Friday night. We spent the day crafting, eating, playing and visiting.

My mom and Megan working on their wood projects. Megan brought a bunch of fun Christmas projects for us to work on. We weren't able to get them totally finished before the kids woke up, but it was still fun to spend time with them!

We were able to get our snowmen done that go with one of the projects.

My boys had tons of fun playing with uncle Jabin. Travis followed him around like a little dog and talked his ear off! They think he is pretty cool!

Today, Sunday, was our Primary program in Church. It's always one of my favorite Sacrament meetings of the year. Grandpa and Grandma Asay, Grandpa and Grandma Foulger and Megan and Jabin all came to watch the boys in the program. Travis did a great job remembering his part and Carson read his part really well. They each sang a song with their classes too. Travis was front and center, in front of the microphone, (which was a huge surprise) so luckily, we had practiced it a few times, but could have used to practice it a little more! Their program was really good this year!

Let the work begin!

This arrived today(Friday)...

 The studs (and no I don't mean Christian) we are going to use to frame our basement are here ready to be put up. Christian and I worked on unloading the trailer together while the kids were asleep until an awesome neighbor showed up and helped us. We were able to transport them through a window in the basement making for a lot less walking. Too bad it will be a week or more before they get used!

Christian handing a 2x4 through the window. He and our neighbor, Jason, would hand them through the window and  I would take them and place them in their appropriate piles.

Races

Christian and the two older boys have spent the evenings building legos in the boys' bedroom (so Landon couldn't wreck their creations) this week. We decided after the second night of them working on building cars out of the Legos that we would have races after dinner. I guess you could say we were going to have our own pine wood derby races. They boys worked on perfecting their cars when they had spare time the next day so they would be ready when dad got home. As soon as dinner was done, Christian made a "track" out of an old box and they took turns racing their cars down the ramp to see whose would go the farthest. They had so much fun and worked so hard on their creations. Christian even made a car for Landon so he could participate in the races.

Getting the ramp all ready.

Testing it out.

Let the races begin!

Travis's race car.

Carson's creation.

After the competition was done, they just had fun playing the with ramp.

The mighty hunter

Christian got back Friday from a week long "business" trip. A company he buys product from for the Co-op took him and some other guys from Montana and California to South Dakota to go pheasant hunting.  He said they didn't do real great in the mornings when they would go out but the afternoons were always pretty successful. It appears that they had some pretty good luck and he brought home 9 breasts for us to eat.

Pretty happy!

He said when they woke up one morning, it was pretty frosty.

The whole group

The lodge that they stay in. 

Ready to hunt.

JOY

I love that my boys find joy in doing some of the simplest things in life. Like yesterday, we ran to the store to get some groceries and when we got home, the boys wanted to play outside. It was a nice afternoon and the wind wasn't blowing so we decided to rake some leaves to jump in. They had a blast!

Landon had a runny nose so every time he would get out of the pile, he would have a leave stuck in snot. This time, some how, he got leaves in his mouth and he was trying to get them out!

Travis decided to practice his football hiking skills with the leaves.

He ended up doing a head stand and then falling over.

Happy boys.

Once while we were out there, there was a little bit of wind that caused a leaf tornado. I don't know if you can see it, but Travis ran so he could stand in it. He said it hurt because the leaves kept hitting him in the face.

Beet Harvest

Friday night, we celebrated grandma Asay's birthday at our house. When grandpa and grandma Asay were leaving that night, Grandpa told the boys he would probably need their help using his beet knife to gather beets from the field tomorrow (Saturday). Saturday, after naps, we loaded up and headed out to find grandpa so the boys could help pile up the beets. We got there just as Grandpa finished digging the last of the beats. It was kind of chilly and starting to get dark, so each of the boys got a turn using the beet knife (that they think is super cool to use) to gather and chop up beets with and then headed back home.

Sitting on the tractor with grandpa and grandma.

One of Travis' finds.

Landon carried this beet around the whole time. He would pick up other ones, but always throw them down. It must have been just right for him.

Crazy man Carson with the beet knife.

It was a beautiful evening.

Halloween Happenings

Halloween was busy and full of fun for us this year. We started the day by attending part of Travis's party in the morning. They played some games and then had some yummy treats. His favorite treat was a cookie his friend Addie brought. After Travis was done with school, we ran a few errands in town and then headed home for some lunch. We got to relax for a bit and then headed to the elementary school.

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Enjoying some treats.

Travis and some of his friends.

I like to refer to these guys as the 3 Amigos. Rocco (batman) and Sam (Buzz Lightyear) are the two boys that we carpool with and these guys have become really good friends! I love it!!

Landon sat and took it all in at Travis' party while eating a mummy dog!

 The Elementary School always does a costume parade for the parents. It's always hot and squishy, but is quite entertaining. Each class gets a chance to walk across the stage and dance to the music. When the costume parade was done, we joined Carson's class Halloween party. They had nachos, cookies and juice for treats and had spider races for fun. We left his party a little early so Landon could get a little nap in before we headed out to make the Trick or treating rounds to the grandparents.

Heading in to the parade.

The three amigos found each other at the costume parade and had fun checking out the cool costumes together.

Carson getting his groove on!

Love this kid!

Getting ready to race his spider (actually a pom pom).

Travis and Landon watched the kids race their spiders and enjoyed a cookie.

Trying to get his spider to cross the line first!

 As soon as Carson got home, we got Travis and Carson all ready to go and then took some pictures of them. We woke Landon up, got him dressed, took his pictures and then headed out to Grandma Asay's to trick or treat and to say goodbye to Charlene, Ian and Chloe before they left back home to Washington. After a little bit at grandma's we ran home and picked Christian up and headed to the church for our ward Trunk or Treat. It stared to pour rain as we were waiting to start, but it didn't keep the boys from making the rounds! They managed to fill their buckets pretty darn full in one trip around. We ran across the street to visit grandma Dorothy, grabbed some delicious Pizza on the Run and ate that as we drove out to see Grandpa Monk. The boys were plenty tired when we got home. Carson even went to bed before the other boys because he was so tired...and he didn't even eat any candy...crazy! It's a good thing the weekend is here and we can catch of on our sleep!

Carson the Bears football player.

Travis the Broncos football player. We made shoulder pads from plastic sacks full of newspaper. They kept sliding down his back so we decided to take them out.

Landon the dracula doing his scary noise.

My cute boys!

Carson wanted to do a jumping picture. Looks like they got some good air!

Visiting grandma Asay. My boys were full of it while getting their pictures taken. Travis had his helmet on backwards in half of them and Carson had his eyes purposely closed in all of them...little stinkers.

Waiting for the Trunk or Treat to start.