Thanksgiving

I guess if I am going to print out 2012 I better get up to date soon. This year is speeding right along. We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We got to have everyone of our kids home with us that are allowed to be here haha. Hayden was the only one missing. Jeff & Rachel arrived pretty late Tuesday night. They brought Tori and Dreah with them from BYUI. They are my nieces from Tennessee and we were so excited they could come for Thanksgiving this year. We started off our holiday the next night after work with a trip up to Cedar City for a family taco fest at Grandpa & Grandma Cooper's house. It was fun to see Stacey& his family, Rob & his family, and Charlie & Alisha all there too. We met up Christina there on her way home. Going to Cedar meant that there wasn't going to be homemade rolls etc for Thanksgiving but I didn't care if no one else did. It was a fun night visiting with everyone.

 We had a little time to kill while we waited for our feast Thursday to be ready so the  kids went 4 wheeling. This was a first for Dreah for sure and maybe even Tori too! They got nice and dusty so we made them eat outside. Nah not really. The weather was so nice we decided to eat out on the patio. Plus our neighbors were gone to it was really peaceful out there for once so we took advantage of it.

 Jeff was a big help getting rid of all the turkey skin! We pretty much ate it all between the two of us!

Group Photo time.

Dessert time! Hhmmm which one to choose...

We had to gear up after all because all us girls went into Vegas to go Black Friday shopping. We left about 9pm and got back about 4am. It was so fun. We hit up Target first then we did Kohl's. The checkout line there was horrendous though. We were going to go to H&M but it didn't open until 4 so we decided to call it a night. Or a morning. We went through the drive through at Burger King and went home. The girls in the back seat slept all the way but Christina kept me company on the drive. It was so fun but the deals were kinda weak.

 Friday Jeff had a ton of correcting to do for work. He is a TA at BYUI and has to grade and record papers every single week. Lucky for us he brought that week's worth down to do.

We also played a killer game of Croquet while everyone was here. It was nice to get outside and do something. We missed Hayden and his trash talking game though!

Friday we took a hike too. We took everyone to the Valley of Fire for a little hike. I love this one with the little slot canyon and stuff. It's my favorite.

I am not giving an explanation on this one. Tori & Rachel!

After our fun afternoon hike we had Ashley and the family out for dinner and games.We played Kinect games with everyone. I got it at black Friday so we were anxious to try it out.

While the kids were all home we even decorated the whole house for Christmas which explains the Christmas tree behind them already! That's a nasty little chore that is good to get over with!
It was so fun to have a full house this year for Thanksgiving. We had alot of fun together and got alot accomplished together too.

Veteran's Day 2012

 This was a fun Veteran's Day for us. It was weird having everything take place on Monday so our timetable was a little off. Mendis' birthday was Sunday so we had a two day celebration instead of everything being on Veteran's Day. We always start off with grape juice and Egg on Toast which never disappoints! Love that stuff. Then we troop on down to Mendis' parade. This year Rees and Cooper were here with Ashley while Benjy had to work. It was so cold too that day but it didn't slow us down too much. The boys really got into the candy throwing during the parade. They got so much candy they couldn't begin to eat it all even though Cooper tried. 

 We met up with the Coopers in our traditional spot in the island by Maverick. I am not sure why we always set up there because nobody ever performs there because it's on the curve of the road but sure is convenient. SO after the parade we headed home for a relaxing day. Mendis took the boys down to the river for a rock throwing session. Cooper wanted to get right in the river of course. They threw rocks and dirt clods into the river until there was nothing left to throw.

 Then to complete the outdoor extravaganza they hit up the sand box. It is so fun to watch them play with the boys old trucks. They need a little tlc but they work! It was a fun day. Of course we had tacos for dinner with the Cooper Clan for Mendis' Bday too.

Missionary Moms!!

 We had the best brunch in November. It was hosted by a couple missionary moms, Geniel & Michele. They invited every mom of every missionary from the class of 2011. Mendis and I counted 27 in all from that class. These boys were super close and they are such amazing missionaries. I would love to list them all but I am afraid I will forget someone. We had a potluck brunch which was super fabulous by the way and got together at Geniel Ozaki's house. Then we went all around the room and updated everyone on how our boys were doing. It was the most fun day. I tried to remember everything so I could tell Hayden in my letter that week. He is always wondering how his buddies are doing. They really were an exceptional class of guys. Every class has sent out lots of missionaries but with this group there was never any doubt that they would serve the Lord since they have been doing it all through their lives. There are just a few more that we hope to send off soon. Love all those boys and we miss having them hanging out at our house. They are all over the world right now and in just 8 short months they will be coming back home one at a time! Looking forward to that day.

Halloween

Halloween was so much more fun with little kids around the house this year. Quick recap...I had the day off because who wants to get their eyes checked on Halloween?? So Ashley and her boys came out early. Cooper was supposed to sleep in the car on the way out but that didn't happen. I had an afternoon of Disney cartoons planned that my kids used to watch while I worked on Halloween projects like finishing up costumes. The boys weren't terribly interested but I think as they get more familiar with them I can win them over. Ashley & I were into them though! I had a project to work on of course. I had to make cute little treats for the neighbor kids and my visiting teaching sisters.

 As you can see Cooper was pretty fascinated with them. They were pretty cute though. A brownie on the bottom with white chocolate pretzels in a stack on top of that with a marshmallow with a face painted on to make a skeleton. I added glow sticks in each bag so he really loved that.

Rees getting all ready to be Batman blue hair and all!!

 It took about a million pictures to get this cute one of the boys. First they had to stand still at the same time and then...

 without the pillow pet...

 and then maybe standing not trying to sleep in the pillow pet...

 we about gave up

And success.

With their costumes on they were ready to go to the ward party. We had chili and some dessert there. The boys played the games they had for the primary kids and then it was finally trick or treat time.

They were so cute. We just did Robbin lane, Robison & Shurtliff St and that was about all we could fit in. They walk a bit slow of course but the funniest thing was how into it they were. Ashley had made them the cutest trick or treat bags with glow in the dark ghosts on them and everything and I wish I had a picture of Cooper dragging his through the dirt the whole night. He just dragged it behind him everywhere and wouldn't let anyone help him with it. Then we went to Crawford's house that was all set up spooky with a fog machine and everything. When that thing went off with lots of scarey noises too they both cleared about a foot jumping up and then the screaming ensued. Okay I tried not to laugh but I have to say it was hilarious to the adults...poor little guys never really got over that.

So we skipped all the trunk or treats because this was their chance to really go door to door. It's been years since we went trick or treating but it was a blast. No one wanted to stay home and miss out by handing out candy so I just left the bag on the porch. AND we even had some left when we got home. The dynamic duo was pretty played out and were asleep before they turned off Cooper St to go home!!