Next Installment - November

I am trying to finally catch up. In November our friend Paige invited me and the girls to go to the Renaissance Fair. There is a huge Fair here a few miles from our home and we have seen it for years but never gone. Paige also shared her pictures!! The fair was much larger then I thought. Tom helped me dress the girls and put shoes on Audrey that wouldn't stay done up. I couldn't make it more then a few feet and they would come off. We ended up taking the shoes off and letting her walk in her stocking feet. Hey, we are at a Renaissance Fair, right? Well, I wasn't planning on the girls being so clingy, the place being so big and one kid without shoes or I would have brought a stroller. Life's learning lessons I guess. We had a good time though and liked watching all the activities going on. The highlight was definitely riding the elephant. The girls got to choose between an elephant and a camel and there was no competition. The girls got fairy wings and love them to pieces. I think we will definitely be going back. In fact after hearing about riding on an elephant, I think Tom was a little sad he didn't end up going. PS, in case you are wondering....the shoes got thrown away that night so neither of us mistakenly put them on Audrey again.

We hadn't been there long and I was already tired of carrying Audrey.

Super yummy Turkey Leg. Ella ate a TON of this. Even between the 5 of us (Paige, Calla-1, Audrey-2 and Ella -3, and me) we couldn't even finish half of this.

If it looks like I was worried we were all going to fall off the elephant, well I WAS! There wasn't much holding us on. That is definitely a nervous smile thinking one of my babies was going to fall out and get trampled by the thousand pound animal.

Also in November, we headed out to Utah to visit family for Thanksgiving. We didn't leave until early Thanksgiving morning. I have not been on a flight in many years that was as empty as our Thanksgiving Day flights. We got in before noon and Scott picked us up. We headed over to Tom's parents, got settled and it wasn't too long before the family started to gather so we could eat! All the food was delicious, as usual. The chocolate creme pies were the best. After that we took the girls to my dad's to visit my family. I couldn't help but taste a few more things. Not smart. My tummy hurt the rest of the night. I bet I gained 7 lbs just that day. It was nice to have both Kurt and Erik at my dad's. Sorry no pictures. We brought our small camera and I kept forgetting to actually take it out!

On Friday we spent the day shopping for Audrey's birthday. Her 2nd birthday was on Sunday but since my family was all going home before then, we had a party for her on Friday night. We had both families come to Tom's parents for ice cream cake and presents. It was so fun having Lorilee and Carl there too. My kids usually don't have family around for their birthday so this was a special treat.

Ella helping Audrey open all her gifts. Ella loves birthdays! Even if it is not her own.

Daddy opening the cases and explaining what all the toys do.

Lorilee's darling kids. Caleb, Syd and Ashley.

Sorry about the bad lighting. Here we are lighting the candles and blowing them out.

Ella already taking over Audrey's new toys.

We love Aunt Shelly.

Now if we can just break the bottle habit now that she is two.

After the party we went to Brick Oven with Erik, Shelly, Lorilee, Carl, Davin, Tawny, and Ricky. We just laughed the whole time.

On Saturday morning we got up to go to Jamie's baptism. Although Ella had a meltdown, it was a beautiful baptism. It was a lot different then here though. It was a Stake Baptism, so there were like 8 or 9 kids all getting baptised. Here you have one, maybe two baptisms at a time. Saturday night Tom's parents watched the girls so we could go to the HOLY WAR game. BYU vs UTAH. We parked at Danny and Jessie's house, just across from the stadium. Everyone warned us, great parking but it is going to be terrible getting home with all the traffic. BYU won in overtime. It was one of the best games I have been to....ever. We were on the edge of our seats most of the game. At the end, students rushed the field. It was kind of a blessing because with half the stadium on the field, Tom and I were able to easily get home with minimal traffic.

Sunday we just spent time with family. It was probably the most relaxing day we had there. It was great seeing everyone though. This is the first Thanksgiving since we have moved to North Carolina that we have gone home and it was fun to have everyone together.

Now, onto working on Decemeber's blog. Most of our "pictures" are video from new camera and I am having trouble getting Christmas morning to download, so hopefully it won't be another few months before my next blog.