Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving in St. George with Anton's family. We knew it was going to be a little different this year, due to Anton's grandmas health. Right before we headed down we heard she had gone downhill, and was approaching the end. Anton's mom has been caring for her parents the last several years, so we knew she would be preoccupied and that this Thanksgiving would be a little different than normal. We made the best of it, and it was really good for Anton to see his Grandma before she passed. 

We decided we would host Thanksgiving at our place, and it was fun! It was my first time "hosting" Thanksgiving. Jeremy & Nicole were a huge help in making & bringing half of the food. It was delicious, and great company - as always. We took some food over to Anton's aunts & grandpa, which they seemed very appreciative of. It ended up working out great to spend Thanksgiving down there this year. My parents house has a casita, so Anton's aunts were able to stay with us - but have their own space - while they were spending time with their parents. The weather was great, but cool! I felt like I was cold the entire time! I didn't take a jacket, or coat, and that was a mistake. Oh well. We ended up going on a fun hike, which was stunning. I couldn't get over how beautiful it was! It is always nice to get out and explore - and spend time outdoors. It is good for the soul! 

I have so many things to be grateful for. First and foremost, the sacred calling of being a wife & mother. I hold that calling so dear to my heart. There is nothing in the world I would rather do, or have than what I have right now. My heart could burst with happiness and love for my little family. I am so thankful for Anton, and the hard work he puts in to support our family. He is so good to me, and he is a great dad. It is fun to see how much the girls adore him - especially Lilly. I could go on and on about the things I am grateful for, but when I think of what I am thankful for - my family first comes to mind. My family, my extended family & parents, Anton's family...I am a lucky person to be surrounded by so many wonderful people!!

Random Claire

Claire is my little shadow. Seriously, I can't go to the bathroom without her following me. I know someday I will miss her following me around and will miss her randomness. She still loves to dress up in funny outfits, and old Halloween costumes. 

My parents took the grandkids out for dinner and to a Halloween store to pick something out. Claire came back with this most random costume from Wild Kratts. It is her favorite show so when she saw it, apparently she didn't put it down and carried it with her the whole time. My parents didn't fight her on it, and they also didn't check the size. Hence the size 2 costume!!! So funny!! She wears this everywhere....the gas station, to bed, to neighbors houses. I love it. And I love her!

Claire is a little bit of a clumsy girl. This is her second black eye. I am actually surprised she hasn't had more injuries. When she gets tired, she gets more clumsy. We were at the zoo, and she fell down about 5 times. While we were leaving, she fell into a pole and it smacked her right on the face. She woke up the next morning, and had a pretty little shiner!

California Part 3

I mentioned earlier that before we went to California, we decided we wouldn't do Disneyland this year. But, when my dad asked if he could take us, of course we didn't turn him down! Anton had to fly to Phoenix on Wednesday morning, so we dropped him off at the airport and went straight to Disneyland. As soon as we dropped him off, both girls burst into tears. They had so much fun with their dad on the trip, that they were so sad to see him leave. Sometimes I think that Anton's travel schedule doesn't bother the girls, but when he gets ready to leave they take it harder than I always think they will. Especially Lilly. She adores her Daddy. Its cute. 

Anyway, back to Disneyland. We just did one day and one park. It was perfect! It was pretty busy, but not awful. The longest we had to wait in line was about 20 minutes. My dad took Claire and Luke on the train, two times in a row, while the older kids went on some bigger rides. It was a really really really fun day. The kids were such little troopers, and my parents were the best. My parents are always so generous and are the cutest Nana & Papa.  

I love that we had this trip, and got to spend so much quality time with both sides of our families. These are the times I will never ever forget!!

California Part 2

I don't know what it was about this trip, but it was truly one of the best trips we have had in so long. I loved every single minute of it. I didn't want to come home, and we even looked at real estate when we got home. The good news is, we would need to raise 8 million dollars in order to live there...so I think we will stay put :) Now that we are home and back to reality, I realize how much I love it here. Salt Lake is my home. But, I can dream about living there right?! The Leonard family left on Monday, and my parents and sister arrived on Sunday evening. We spent more time at the beach on Sunday and Monday, and my dad treated us to dinner at Fashion Island. Tuesday we took my parents with us to Knotts Berry farm. Before we left on the trip, we decided to do something other than Disneyland this year, so we decided on Knotts. My parents wanted to come with us, so because of them giving us a free place to stay, we decided to treat them to Knotts. It was SO much fun! We laughed so hard, and had a ball going on all the rides and eating at their famous restaurant. My dad bought this awesome sweatshirt, not knowing it was a womens xxl. We laughed so hard we had tears! We had such a fun day with them. I love getting to spend one on one time with my parents and my little family. It doesn't happen very often, so when it does we always have a great time. 

Halloween & California Part one

We had such a fun Halloween week. It is funny though, at the end of every halloween, I am so sick of putting on the costumes! Friday was the girls halloween party and parade at their school. Claire kept asking "how many more sleeps until my party"...she was so jazzed. It was her first real halloween parade and party. I was in charge of Lilly's class party, and it turned out really fun. Her class is so low key, and there aren't a lot of kids in her class. We did a bingo game, a bean bag toss and a little craft. Claire had a combined party with the morning and afternoon classes, and her class got out a little earlier than normal so she was able to come into Lilly's class party for a while too. It was such a fun morning. After school, we went to go visit my granny and show her the girls costumes. She had a little treat for them. I love my little granny so much. We couldn't stay too long because we had to get to the airport to catch our plane to California! Such a crazy and fun day!

We arrived to California on Friday night, and met up with the Leonards the next morning to hit the beach! We couldn't get over the fact that we were in the water and playing on the beach on Halloween. The weather was perfect!! We spent most of the day at the beach, which was so much fun, then we went back to our condo to get ready for trick or treating. We grabbed pizza from one of our favorite pizza places in newport and had the Leonards over for dinner. We got the kids in their costumes - again! - and went to a little haunted house they had at the hotel and then took the kids trick-or-treating in Corona Del Mar. That was SO much fun. The homes there are absolutely to die for. I couldn't get over it! It was a halloween I will never forget...it was probably one of my favorite ones ever! We had so much fun with the Leonard family. We always love being with them, and our kids have so much fun together. There is always an abundance of laughs when we are with them!

Fun in October

This fall...I can't believe how gorgeous it was!! The whole month of October was perfect, so we took advantage of the good weather and the girls having several Friday's off of school. One of the days we went to the zoo with my mom, Anna and her kids. It was fun - as always! We also spent a couple of outings at the pumpkin patch. We went one day with our cute friends, and another trip with my sister and mom (again! we love outings with them!). Needless to say, we ended up with lots of pumpkins. I still have 7 sitting on my porch....and that's after the ones we carved for Halloween!

The girls wanted to have a late over with some friends, and it turned into a whole neighborhood affair. It was such a fun night - but holy cow - it was crazy having that many kids running rampant around our house and yard and trying to keep track of them. Thankfully it was great weather, so the kids played night games outside almost the whole night. Anton and I took the 3 pizzas outside and laid them on the driveway - and let them feed themselves! The girls kept saying thank you to me and Anton for letting them have a "party"....they had so much fun, so it made it worth it! And, I love all the kids in the neighborhood - and I am so grateful for the friendships my little family have made here. It is so similar to my childhood and neighborhood growing up, which makes me so happy! After pizza and games, they came in and frosted cupcakes. Love these cute kids.

We were leaving for California the day before Halloween, so we decided not to go crazy this year with pumpkins. The girls got to carve a pumpkin this year, but Anton and I decided not to do one this year. Here are the results! Lilly's was a zombie hand, and Claire's was a bat. 

The week of Halloween was a fun week at school for the girls. They had pajama day, crazy hair day, college color day (go Utes!), sunglasses day, and the day of the halloween parade. The girls thought the crazy hair day was so funny...especially Lilly!

It was a crazy and fun month! Next up - pictures from Halloween!

Camping

Every summer we say we want to go camping and this summer went by so fast that we didn't get a chance. With the weather being so beautiful and warm, we decided to go up to Midway and camp and use the 4x4. It was a doozy, but so fun. We found a great little camp spot and got camp all set up and a fire going so we could cook our tin foil dinners. Well, the dinners burned. Anton got a terrible blistering awful burn on his leg, thanks to the Jiffy Pop. And a bear came into camp at about 4 in the morning. I honestly don't know of a time where I was more scared. He started growling and was really upset about something. We found out in the morning that the boy scouts that were right next to us left food out, and the bear was eating skittles about 20 feet away from our tent. Anton wanted to open the tent and see him, and I flipped out. So, he waited a few minutes, and when he finally opened the tent to see him, he saw it wandering back into the trees. Scared me to death. But, I still love camping. I like it more than Anton. Funny, but true. 

On Saturday we took the girls on a ride in the 4x4. We found a great little trail up Guardsman and I was blown away at how beautiful it was. We picked the best time of year to go up there! It was a really fun weekend. One we will never forget!