merry christmas

I'm a day behindwith this post
but oh well...

temple lights

Curtis and Oliver joined

me and the young women
on an outing to see the
Christmas lights at the
Mesa Arizona Temple.
Oliver has loved seeing
all the Christmas lights
this year and the Temple
lights certainly did not
disappoint.

thanksgiving 2011

After some last minute changes,we ended up celebrating
the big turkey day with just
the three of us.
To make it work,
we all had to pull
our own weight in helping out.

Oliver took care of the decorations.
He had some help from his
nursery leader who would send
him home with the cutest
Thanksgiving crafts each Sunday.

I made my first
full Thanksgiving dinner.
I overcooked the turkey
and forgot to set out the rolls
to rise but everything else
was there.

Curtis did the honor
of cutting the turkey.
It was a first for him too.
Luckily, he had Bobby Flay
right by his side
(on the computer)
showing him exactly how to carve it.

While everything was cooking,
Ollie and I watched the
Thanksgiving Day Parade
while Curtis did a puzzle.

It turned out to be
one of my favorite Thanksgivings.
If I had to pick one word to
describe it, I would say,
relaxing.

And it was capped off with the
good news that I didn’t need to
go to work that night!

let the holidays begin

This is our 3rd year of going to the ZooLights,
thanks to my company hosting an annual party there.
And one day when I quit working,
we will have to fork out the money to go
in order to keep the tradition going.

In the meantime, we enjoy having the freebie.
Oliver was particularly excited this year.

We got there right when it started
and headed straight for stingray bay.
Oliver liked watching the stingrays
swim by but wasn’t willing to put
his hand in to actually touch them.

Then we headed on down
to the carousel.

While we walked around looking
at the lights,
we enjoyed our first of many
Starbuck’s peppermint hot chocolates.
A seasonal must have.

They had a little art project
for us to do and I forced the
boys to take this picture
when we got home
to show off our works of art.

Oliver’s favorite part of the night
was the large projection of the
Wii game “Just Dance”.
He got up on the stage with
all the other kids to join
in on the dancing.
He was the littlest kid up there
and we couldn’t pull him away.

It was a really fun night
and now I am ready for
the holidays to begin!

home of the wildcats

We ventured on down to Tucson
for the homecoming football game.
We were invited to go with our
good friends the Butlers,
and I totally forgot to get a picture
of all of us together…lame-o.
But we had a lot of fun!

The game didn’t go as we would
have liked, but I know some family
members were happy about the ending.
(G, thanks for the phone message
rubbing it in).
It was fun being back on the campus
where Curtis and I dedicated so many years.
It was definitely a trip down
memory lane topped off with
a quick halftime visit with
a favorite college friend...Dana.
I have been lucky enough to
see her on several occasions this
year and always failed to get a
picture with her.
So I'm happy she reminded
me to snap this picture.

Oliver loved his little
trip down to U of A,
and who knows,
maybe we have a future wildcat
in our family.

halloween

We had so much fun
this Halloween season
and topped it off with some
good old fashioned
pumpkin carving.

+

Then Oliver got dressed
in his costume one last time
to go out trick-or-treating
with his cousins.

As much as I have loved
making his costumes these
last three years,
I am worried I have started
a tradition of homemade
costumes that will be difficult
to maintain with more kids.
I hope my future children are
willing to wear hand-me-downs.

Happy Halloween!

halloween tradition

Every year, my grandma
has a big halloween party
at her house for all the
cousins up in Utah.
Since we can’t make it
to G’s house for this annual
event, my mom has started
to do one for our family.

Dinner consisted of
chili in some pumpkin
shaped bread bowls.
Then it was onto a
highly competitive
game of BINGO.

Normally a game for
kids but with prizes
like these on the line,
it’s the adults who are
fighting for the win.

My dad was the caller
and kept the game fair.

The most sought
after prize was the
Steve Jobs Biography
and the gift that no one
would claim was the
Glen Beck book,
Snow Angel.
And the big winner was…

Oliver was happy
with his prize too.

It was a wicked good time!

boo at the zoo

It’s the end
of October and
we are still running around
in swimsuits,

and making a scene
in the splash pad.

But this trip to
the zoo was during
Boo at the Zoo.
Meaning they put
pumpkins in the animal
exhibits for them to
chow down on.
And they have some
free goodies for
the kids.

There was also a
little pumpkin bean bag toss.
Oliver was able to get all
of his bean bags in...
if standing this close counts.

But Oliver was most
excited about getting
to feed the giraffes.
It was his first time feeding
them and I was worried how he
would react but he absolutely
loved it and was giggling
the whole time.

The giraffe that he
fed is named Zuri
and at 14 feet tall,
she is the tallest
giraffe at the zoo.

The little dance
Oliver did afterwards,
out of excitement,
was my favorite part
of the day.
I may just have to let
him feed them again.

spooky spooky spooky

Oliver’s favorite halloween
book is titled
spooky, spooky, spooky
and he really discovered
what that means this weekend
at a halloween party.
At first,
he was loving the party,
playing with all the balloons
that were scattered on the floor.

But things quickly
turned from fun to
frightening as we headed
outside for all the main festivities.
Outside Oliver ran into
many spooky things.
Most of which moved,
talked, and had scary light up eyes.

But none scared
Oliver more than
the dreaded skeleton pirate.

Honestly the best halloween
decorations, right?
But Oliver was scared to death.
He kept asking to go inside to
be with my sister Brooke who
was nursing a twisted ankle.

To get inside meant he would
have to pass by the pirate
and the skeleton,
who guarded the door
and he was not willing to
do that alone.
See him screaming
as we try to pose by the mummy.

He was so afraid that he would
not let me leave his side.
He then resorted to the only thing
that consoles him…rocking.
So for the group picture instead
of standing with the kids he
would only be with the group
if he could sit in a chair and rock.

Then at the table
he had to be sitting
on the side that faced
away from all the monsters
and kept his head down
and rocked.
This was his face for most
the night.
It actually played really
well into the character
of his costume.

But the party was
otherwise a ton
of fun and so cute.
There was a doughnut contest.

Pumpkin decorating

A game of BINGO
and a bean bag toss
all put together by
the lovely Krista.
(By the way,
you can catch Grace
in that exact same pose
in pictures from my sister’s
wedding, she loves her
bottled rootbeer).

Luckily, I think this
party has not left
Oliver permanently
traumatized because
after the party we stopped
by his cousins and he was
back to his usual dancing,
laughing, and happy self.
Although we won’t be
going to any haunted houses
anytime soon.