Thanksgiving at Home!

From NovDecFavorites

Now I know what you are thinking, "How cute - she is praying on Thanksgiving". Yes, she is, but it's not a prayer for what you might think. She is really saying, "Please pick me, please pick me. . ." I don't know how it happened, it probably has something to do with the fact that Kelly was in charge of the games - but the kids ended up playing Murder in the Dark after our Thanksgiving feast. Not your typical Thanksgiving tradition. But the kids LOVED it! Most of them peeked when the murderer was being chosen, but that just added to the entertainment for the adults as we watched.

From NovDecFavorites

I don't know what this game is called. Pile on uncle Kelly, perhaps. It was a huge hit too.

From NovDecFavorites

Awww - Gracie is so cute, I could eat her up.

From NovDecFavorites

I brought a little turkey hat craft for the kids. It made for some very cute pics.

From NovDecFavorites

Cute Corbin. (o:

From NovDecFavorites

The cousins! What a rare treat that I hope we don't take for granted! Our kids are starting to develop friendships and memories with their cousins. This is the first Thanksgiving we've spent with family in years. It's such a hard time to travel, but not when the drive is 15 minutes!

From NovDecFavorites

Cameron is such a sweetie. Ever the loyal BYU fan, he wrote BYU on every single one of his feathers. Poor Cam got sick just minutes after I took this picture. We must've played one round of "murderer" too many. (o;

From NovDecFavorites

Snuggle time with aunt Em. We love our families.

We also got to enjoy a fun visit with my family, but apparently I didn't take any pictures. I think we mostly sat around and munched on leftovers and talked about the day.

It was a good, good day.

November . . .

From NovDecFavorites

As the boxes got unpacked and we began learning where to find things, we started settling into our new life and felt very grateful for everything that brought us to this point. It really is miraculous. I think it was so appropriate that all the feelings, changes and events of the last few months come to an end during a season of gratitude.

From NovDecFavorites

Now does this look like "home" to you or what? Nat got all "cozy" one Sunday morning as we watched a little MoTab.

From NovDecFavorites

Our yard has 16 rose bushes. Our last house had about 12, which I thought was too many. We will probably be replacing some of them, but until I decided which ones, I had to do some major pruning for winter. I got extra motivated just before a big snowstorm hit - I was out pruning in 25 mph winds all bundled up. I was happy to get it done - I think it took a good 3-4 hours that day. Phew!

From NovDecFavorites

Angela and our white backyard!

From NovDecFavorites

I couldn't resist getting a shot of my Eskimos before heading to school one morning! I don't remember why Sarah is wearing pajamas. Must have been a party. This was before our real Lands End snow boots arrived, so my poor girls had a couple days of tromping in the snow in their galoshes! Poor things!

From NovDecFavorites

Angela wore this pilgrim hat she made at school for several days, including Thanksgiving. Here she is eating a "crabby patty" treat. I don't think the pilgrims ever tried one of these.

From NovDecFavorites

Hank got to dive right in to his church calling in Young Men by heading up the youth talent night. We came to watch and support. It was fun to get a glimpse at our new ward's youth. They are great kids and I was amazed at the talent! The boy above did the cutest song from a Broadway show about an older man looking through his yearbook and singing about how he never got picked first for any teams, but he got picked by his wife to be with her and that's all that mattered. Such a cute song and he really did a good job.

From NovDecFavorites

This is a familiar sight. I have similar pictures of the girls doing this at one of my YW activities in Hillsboro. (o: Some things never change.

From NovDecFavorites

Lots of musical talents were shared - what a fun group of kids!! We have tons of youth in our ward which will be so fun for the girls as they grow up here.

From NovDecFavorites

A new job to get used to!

Let it Snow!!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

See all that snow on the handrail? We woke up to that after one night! It was quite a sight! We were so excited! I wonder how long snow will be a novelty to us Oregonians? This was our first now storm after moving into the house and it made us feel extra cozy. Just look at that big back yard, just waiting for three little girls to tromp through the fresh snow!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

I just love how beautiful everything looks covered in white.