Birthday Season

I didn't capture every picture I should have this birthday season but I got a few. 

We start with Cooper on the 14th:

Quickly followed by Ashley & Christina. We celebrated at our tea party:

 I got them each one of these cute little floral arrangements in a tea cup. I thought they were so cute even if they made them hot pink not a pretty pink.

Next is Mendis. I didn't follow him around with the camera though darn it for his special day.

We had egg on toast for breakfast just the two of us then headed out to the Valley of Fire to see if we could see Ashley finish her 5K. Dang it we missed her by a few minutes.

How amazing is she to run a 5K. We're pretty proud of that girl. At some point we went to the Wynn buffet. Christina and Logan took us for Mendis' birthday.

We have extended family birthdays all month too like Stacey & Terri and Cymoni! The last birthday of the month belongs to Rees:

 It's so nice to have Christina close enough to come to special events now!

It’s Thanksgiving,,

 This was our year our kids all went to other places for Thanksgiving. So strange after all these years. I didn’t even really cook. We had a Cooper dinner at Beth and Rob’s house which was great. It was mellow and low key. We really missed our kids though.

 Grandpa and Grandma with Sade's baby.

 The weather was perfect to eat outside.

 Aubrey had set such a pretty table for us.

Hayden & Megan went up to DC and spent Thanksgiving with Jeff and Rachel. Shelling pomegrantes for the salad.

 Ashley & Benjy and the kids went to Delta for the first time in years. Christina went with Logan to dinner and we didn't see her at all until Rees' birthday on Sunday. Not sure I'm liking the new normal! It was easy to prepare just a bit of food though.

Sister's Retreat 2.0

We really did scrapbook while my sisters were here. We spent Thursday scrapping. Nadine introduced Carolyn and I to digital scrapbooking. It was a chore for me because it just was hard. I only got one page done the whole time it feels like. I spent alot of time organizing and organizing stuff which is always helpful. We met up with Ashley and Shay and Dane and went walking the Logandale trails together. We needed to get out and do some exercising after all the eating. But it got worse because after we went walking and did our meet and greet with all the kids we went to the Wynn Buffet with us and Mendis. We were thrilled because it was not super crowded.

After dinner we did a walk about in the Wynn. Show everyone  around the floral sculptures and walk off dinner kinda thing.

 A good finish to the day!

 Friday was spent scrapping. All day. Well we did go for a walk and eat tea party leftovers but lots of scrapbooking. We like noise to listen to and occasionally stare at so we introduced Nadine to GBBS. It was a hit. Love love love that show. She loved it so much she binge watched it all and decorated her new pretty room in GBBS colors. We didn't even get dressed Friday. A true scrap-a-thon.

 Saturday we scrapped some more. We needed more entertainment so we broke out the Escape Artist to watch too. Love that show. Very intense but it made for a great break.

Saturday night well all day Saturday really Mendis smoked us some meats for dinner. It was a smokers delight if you will. Fantastic!

 Before we knew it the party was over :( We left the house at 2:30 am the next morning to get Nadine to the airport and Carolyn and I kept on driving all the way to her house! I had a couple of NAET appointments to keep. Carolyn stayed awake the whole way. What a trouper. We had a nap the second we got to her house.

Honor Choir

Rees had a number of choir concerts this year. I could never get a picture with all the parents in the way or all the kids or BOTH! I didn't get much at the Festival of Trees but I got a few.

 There was always kids in front of him darn it>

He did a great job! So proud of that boy.

THE Tea Party

It was Sister's Retreat 2.0! 

The first clue my sister's are here!

 This all happened because Carolyn said she was going to get back into scrapbooking again. I told her she should come up here because I had everything known to man. Nadine said she wanted to come too and next thing you know they were both making plans. It was all so exciting. They came the week before Thanksgiving Tuesday night I picked Nadine up at the airport and Wednesday we went back in to get Carolyn. After we got her we went shopping at The District and got some lunch. Then we got back home and started the prep for our tea party. I had Ashley and Christina coming and Shannon Jourdan. I wanted it to be really special so we pulled out all the stops. It was actually also a celebration for Ashley and Christina since it was their birthdays the next day.

Oh what fun we had and what a spread we put on. I even ordered pink bread from the bakery and everything. There was no way we could eat everything even with Sherlock Holmes showing up after board meeting so I planned on us eating leftovers till forever.

 Not too shabby. But now I've set the bar high. Maybe too high!

Even Sherlock enjoyed himself.

Kallie Mae Cooper

It's all about Kallie today. She was blessed by Hayden in Sacrament meeting and we had a quick photo shoot after. Ok maybe not so quick but it sure was fun...

 The happy Aunt & Uncle!

How sweet is she?

Hanging Rock State Park NC

It was so nice to be able to go back to Winston-Salem to be there for Kallie's blessing day. Jeff and Rachel were able to come down for the weekend too so it was a party.

On Saturday we drove out to Hanging Rock State Park to see the fall colors together. It was really cold but it was gorgeous there so we suffered through it.

 Two Studs.

 The photo bomber strikes again.

 And a picture without Hayden.

Love our family!!

 And my Sweetie!

It was a lovely day. It would have been perfect if it was just warmer and no drizzles but we'll take it!

What can I say, I like fall colors.