Our Thankful Weekend

We spent our Thanksgiving break in Alton at "the cabin." As we piled into the car, Nolan looked at Ezra and said, "Oh Ezra, you're so sweet. You're so strong." What a good start to the trip! I must say the food was more delicious than ever (which I didn't think possible)! It was a group effort but well worth the fuss. I especially enjoyed that both of my children went down for a nap just before it was time to eat. Finally a peaceful meal for Justin and me. Nolan had had an especially rough day. Justin had been telling him not to touch the gas stove because it's so hot. Well, I came along and turned the fire off and within a few minutes Nolan took hold of it. I'm sure that he thought it was okay because there were no longer flames. It was a miserably painful burn (his first) and for a solid hour all he wanted was "Mommy blow on it!" I eventually got lightheaded so we found a fan that would do the job. It turns out he was also coming down with a cold so it wasn't Nolan's happiest holiday to date. Here are the pictures we took that day. Check out the pies... I made the apple one under the direction of my sister, Lacey. I was just a bit proud of myself!

That evening, the kids all begged for Lucky Charms. They were much happier with that than the huge feast!

The next day we went for some short hikes at Zions National Park. Before we left I told everyone I would not be taking Nolan on any hikes that have cliffs higher than 3 or 4 ft. Well, my Dad found the perfect place. It was a little canyon where Nolan couldn't run away or fall. We all had a good time and the weather was beautiful. I'm so thankful for gorgeous places to get away from it all. At one point, Nolan looked up at a huge rock formation and said, "Look! Daddy Nolan rocket!"

One night, we all filed outside to see the space shuttle and the space station pass overhead. It looks like we're looking at a huge full moon in this picture. But no folks... that's just lint on the camera. It really was fun to see, though!

Here we are playing noses. It's like spoons, but you touch your nose instead. It's sly, I tell you. We kept saying, "One, two, three, pass" over and over as we played and Nolan joined in by saying "One, two, three, ass" plain as day. He's so helpful!

This next picture is exciting (for us)... my Dad spent the weekend drawing up our plans so that we can begin work on our basement!

Getting in the Spirit

I'm starting to really get excited for Christmas. Okay, I was already excited weeks ago. I even put some Christmast lights up. Last week I made this:

It didn't take much - just a cheap wreath from Wal-Mart, and some miniature ornaments. So festive!
Last Saturday we went to the Christmas tree lighting at Gateway. We're not sure why they lit the tree before Thanksgiving but I won't complain. We went with Grandma K and Justin's brother's family. They gave away cookies and hot cocoa while we listened to Jon Schmidt play the piano. Luckily we were prepared with hats and gloves even though it wasn't too terribly cold. The tree really is gorgeous! The surprise of the night was seeing Santa drive up in a carriage. Nolan was so happy! It also didn't hurt that we rode Trax to get there. He can't get enough of trains.

Today I made my favorite pumpkin cookies. So yummy and easy! Just a can of pumpkin (15 oz.) and a box of spice cake mix. Throw in some chocolate chips. Bake @ 350 for 10 to 12 minutes. Here are Nolan and his buddy Jaxon enjoying a beater.
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a happy turkey day. I wish you all a glorious nap that afternoon. I doubt I'll be so lucky!

Girls Getaway

I spent this past weekend with my mom and sisters in Park City... a much-needed break away from Nolan is what it came down to for me. The kiddo has been wearing me down and the time away made me remember all the reasons I love him. We started our weekend by going to see Good Things Utah. We're pretty sure it was the most boring show they've had. There were three "on location" segments, a lame craft, and a cauliflower recipe. It panned the audience once and it's obvious that I was holding back a yawn. Bummer that we happened to be there for a blah show. We thought it was interesting that the Good Things girls don't give a hoot about what the reporters or Joy in the Garden are saying. They gab and mess around (or eat) until the camera is on them. I think they were just as bored. It would be fun to go again if I just knew they would have better guests or a musical number.

We enjoyed eating out and shopping at the outlets. Too bad there was a snowstorm. Every time I left a store I had to go out from under the covered area while pushing Ezra in his stroller because there are so many stairs between stores. He was cozy, but I didn't even have a hat. After a while, we left and took a nap together in the hotel room until everyone else finished shopping. While we were all relaxing, we heard a loud glug in the bathroom. A while later, this is what I found:

So while that was being fixed and while the hotel room aired out, we lounged in the lobby trying to decide where to eat. We were still full from lunch and so at 8:30 we finally decided to get Lucky Charms and a quart of milk. It hit the spot. It was so fun to be with the girls in my family (and Ezra was an angel). Thank you, Mom!

The day I came home was my 26th birthday. Nolan was so excited to put candles in my cake, sing, and blow out my candles. While we were eating, Justin said to Nolan, "Since it's Mom's birthday, we should tell her why we love her." Justin got him started by saying that I cook good food, I'm so pretty (his words, not mine), etc. He had to ask again, "So why do you love Mommy?" Nolan thought hard and finally said, "Mommy cleans the floor." It's sure nice to know that my two-year-old appreciates my most dreaded chore.

In other news, Ezra is 5 months old. He's just started eating cereal. It took him 3 days to learn how to swallow, but I think he's getting it down now. Can't believe how fast he's growing!

Never-ending Yard Work

That's the theme of our lives, really. Yard, yard, yard, and the only one loving it is Nolan. If you think you're sick of reading about it, then think how I feel about doing it! This past week was spent planting our last tree, moving rocks to make the creek bed, spreading massive amounts of weed fabric ($$$, ug), hauling bark from the trailer and truck we borrowed, and spreading it out. I worked so hard in the yard that I think I felt my testosterone levels rise (but not that much). Justin took a brief nap while putting Nolan to sleep and he came out to find the trailer emptied. I was proud of myself... it's the least I could do for his birthday! We're really close to being done. If any of you are considering buying a home and putting in a yard yourself, run the other way! If any of you are considering putting in a dry creek bed, just say over and over again like a mantra: I don't need this in my life! We're pretty proud of ourselves that after nearly 3 years of working on our yard, we're nearly finished. Now we can start maintaining it. These pics show our progress:

I look at the picture above and think, "What are you smiling about?"

For Justin's birthday we got a baby-sitter and enjoyed dinner out together (with Ezra since he's such a little tike). We also went to a free ballroom dance lesson. It was all going great until they asked us to switch partners. I quickly learned that Justin is an amazing dancer! Dan, Preston, and Blair are really no match. Dan seemed to be frightened to touch my hand, I don't think Preston could have moved on the beat if his life depended on it, and I knew immediately that Blair was nearly drunk. Wow, what breath that man had! Justin was disgusted when he looked over and saw him continually trying to hug me. I'm talking long hair, thick cologne (but barely detectible over the alcohol), touchy-feely. Do I need to go on? Luckily, studio-owner lady saw my plight and switched partners so that hubby and me could be together again. She later told us that Blair is their resident alcoholic who installed the dance floor. So thank you, Justin, for sweeping me off my feet in the proper way! You really know how to dance. I'm not kidding though, it was a fun date. We all enjoyed his peanut butter dark chocolate cake. It was so nice of Nolan to sing and blow out the candles for Dad.

Here are this week's random pictures:

P.S.

Here are some pictures from Justin's Uncle Jeff. We've had requests to see our costumes. We were never quite ready for when he would snap the picture (hence the funny post in the first one), but at least you get the idea. My mom did a great job with altering my dress and making the silver "shawl" thing, even if no one knew what we were. Justin even matches! I'm realizing that makeup really does a lot for me! So I give you Justin and Kenzee from Dancing with the Stars! In case you're wondering, I'm the star. ;-)

Spooky Weekend

Congratulations to Daren (Justin's brother) and Noel! They were married on Friday and threw a spectacular Halloween party the next night. It was quite an amazing spook alley they made in their basement. Justin and I dressed up as a "Dancing with the Stars" couple, but no one knew what we were, so we just looked like we were going to prom. Nolan was a cowboy and Ezra was the sweetest little giraffe. Halloween night was crazy because we'd been working in the yard all day. We made a trip to the dump to get wood chips. It was fun until we had to figure out how to tie the tarp down. We did it though without any problems on the way home. That's a relief. Thanks to our friends for letting us borrow a truck and trailer. Needless to say, we were barely able to drag ourselves out the door because of the busy yard day. I'm not in a writing kind of mood so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Hope it was a Happy Halloween for everyone. I'm glad it's now the thankful season!

Enough with the scary! How about a sweet picture?

And here is Rabbi Nolan.