Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

I am grateful for...
-all the things you are grateful for: family, home, church and life.
In addition to those things our family is especially grateful for our neighbors. We loaded up our red wagon and walked over to the Titus families home for Thanksgiving. Emily was so generous to make sure we had somewhere to go on Thanksgiving Day. And since the Titus family has become our NH family it couldn't have been more fitting. We did miss the rest of our NH family the Huntings and Olivers. And of course, our families back in Utah, Idaho, and Montana were in our thoughts all day. Thanks for the phone calls everyone!

The kids had a great time wearing their Turkey and Pilgrim hats (thanks Grandma Frankie!) and eating till their tummies hurt.

Do you think Elliot is taking "posing" lessons from Miles? Hmmm...

Kicking off the Holidays.

To kick off our Holiday season we visited a great Christmas store. The "Christmas Dove" is more than a store, it is an experience. The store is divided up in 30-40 different rooms, all with a different theme. In the very back room is a row of Christmas Trees and you can sit on a park bench and watch a classic Christmas movie play. The kids loved the Halloween Christmas section (only in New England). The entire second floor is dedicated to Christmas villages and TOYS! The middle of the room is a giant display of working Christmas villages. The kids all got Carpels Tunnel pushing all the different buttons. And they tried to "pad" their Christmas lists with even more "wants." We ending up buying a great Santa Claus night-light. It was a great way to start our Holiday.


Can't you just hear mike saying..."All I want for Christmas, is that my beautiful wife blog about this experience."

Hairstylist looking for work.

Are you in need of a new hairstylist? Here is an energetic, hardworking girl looking for her next willing participant. The best part, she works cheap. All she charges for her service is one "horsy-ride."

Way to go Griffin!

Griffin just had a major accomplishment. He learned to tie his shoes! I can't tell you how many times we have said in the last few months. "make a tent and put the Indian in it. Pull. Then make a bunny ear, around the tree and down the hole, then pull the bunny ear out by his ears." After hundreds of tries, finally it clicked and he did it! I think he got fed up waiting on me to do it for him. Our house is crazy in the morning with lots of "happy" yelling. Ex: "Okay guys, I leave in ten minutes, is your morning routine done yet?" (done in a sweet voice) And then..."If your not ready in 2 minutes, I leave without you." (done in my, "I mean business" voice) Oh, what was this post about? Anyway, good job Griff.

Move over Oprah, this is MY favorite thing.

This is my favorite holiday find this year. I found this at K-mart (a store I never visited often, until moving to NH, and shopping is limited). If the picture doesn't explain it, It's a Lego Advent Calender. Each little square holds one little lego set (ex: the pieces to one guy) and by Christmas you have created a lego winter wonderland. There are snowmobilers, bakers, and more cute little guys. I am going to surprise my kids with this on Thanksgiving. I just hope they can wait until Dec. 1st to open the first box.
And as long as I can keep it out of reach of my "floor grazing" toddler, this will become a great Christmas tradition.

Have you tried them yet?

So I just discovered my new favorite "Chocolate-fix." They are the Pecan Pie squares made by Ghirardelli. I am a true Choco-holic, second generation, and these hit the spot. I just bought them in a combo pack with the peppermint bark square and the Eggnog square. All are amazing.
With Christmas right around the corner, these would make a great neighbor or teacher gift. Yumm!

4th picture in 4 folder

Here is my 4th picture in my 4th folder-I got tagged by Shannon. I'm just glad it wasn't a picture of me. Me and my pictures don't agree on what size and shape I am, therefore I avoid all my pictures. Anyway, here's Griffin, at an amazing play gym in Boise (sniff, sniff). He is such a Monkey!

If you were rich...

The other day my friend and I were talking about what routines we would add to our life if we were "rich." (I don't know what defines "rich" in your mind, but for me it would be NOT a collage student budget.) So my friend said she would want Fresh Flower put in her house once a week. I mentioned I would want a mani/pedi done every week. Maybe every two weeks for the pedicure. So what would you want, if you suddenly found yourself with unlimited funds? I borrowed this picture from my sister in laws blog. Look at those cute toes, and I LOVE her red sandles. Oh and all these pictures were taken in Australia!, where she just got back from. (And, Yes, I am bragging about Tracy's life, since I have nothing to brag about of my own right now.)

I give up!!!

A lot of tooth drama in our house! Miles and Caleigh both lost teeth this past week (caleigh finally pulled out that other top one.) So they were so excited for the tooth fairy to come. But... I forgot again. In my defense, Mike is the usual fairy, I have never had to do it before. I guess I am not in the habit. Miles was the first to discover that the TF did not come. When Mike asked if he came, Miles just shrugged his shoulders. How sad is it that my two seven year olds have completely lost trust in the TF. To make up for it, Mike said he would email the TF and tell them that Mom and Dad were just going to take care of it this time. The kids each got to pick out a new toy. Yikes, the TF is so much cheaper. But how else do you get rid of the guilt of forgetting to uphold this long standing tradition.

Toothfairies are human too

I can't imagine the drama Caleigh has gone through getting that tooth out and this morning she woke up and found that the drama wasn't over...the tooth fairy forgot to come!!! Oops, I think he (yes, our tooth fairy is male) was too tired from watching the historical victory of Obama last night. I feel like I have made a major Parent faux pa, never forget to put money under your kid's bed. I smoothed it over okay, but I'm gonna have to shell out some moo-la on a "littlest pet shop" toy to make this up to her.

I am a little worried this will happen again. Christmas is only a few short months away, I better make sure "Santa" has it marked on his(or hers) calender. Could you imagine if I forgot that one...

Snarl-toothed

Caleigh is going through the drama of teeth pulling. Her two top ones have been loose for a while. She finally got the first one out and the other one has shifted over in the middle of the space. GROSS!!! I can't stand to watch her talk. I hope she pulls out the second one soon. I have been bribing her, but she's holding out for something.

Giant Pears

Has anyone seen pears this huge before? This is a BIG can and they are so tall. Plus they were so yummy. But is this an eastern thing or do pears grow this big all over?

Trick or Treating

I didn't get any photos of Halloween last night, but we had so much fun Trick or Treating. We live in one of the only neighborhoods in Farmington so we get most of the town. I had bought over 250 pieces of candy and we went through all of it. This is a first for us. After the kids went out, we made them pick out any candy they wouldn't eat and put it in the bowl. It was so busy most of the neighborhood just sits outside on their porches or driveways. It was so fun and we got to meet lots of new neighbors.

It took us only about 45 minutes to go around our little circle and then the kids loved coming home and handing out candy for the rest of the night.

What a great night.

Halloween 2008

Our ward does a trunk-or-treat every year. It was so fun!

With Mike as ward Mission leader we get to know the Elders pretty good. These two are hilarious! They love all the kids and put up with Mike's crazy schedule. And having them around gives us great opportunity to teach the kids about missionary work.

In reference to the Curious George photo; Griffin brought home the classroom stuffed animal that day and we dressed him up and took him to the TOT with us. I think after meeting the missionaries, Curious George has made a time to have the first discussion.