Pie Party! Yummy!

Last week we had Das's side of the family over for Pie and to draw names for Christmas. 

It was fun to have everyone make it(except Nataha.)  Das and I made a few dips, and everyone brought a tasty pie. 

After everyone filled their bellies, we all got ready to draw from the cute bags Melissa makes every year.

Thanks everyone for coming.  We really enjoyed having you all and can't wait to see you in a few weeks.

Baby, it's COLD Outside!

Friday afternoon Das headed to the Utah/Denver football game.  Since he was already going to be downtown, we thought it would be fun to get a hotel for the night and go to Temple Square. 

 Das booked us a room at The Marriott.  He rode to the game with my brother Mark, and then took Trax down to West Temple, where I picked him up and we checked into the hotel.  Once we got settled, we played around with my old camera the we had just purchased a new battery for.  I need to read the manual....cuz I can not figure the darn thing out.  The U unfortunately lost their game...but are doing reasonably well considering they lost their quarterback several weeks ago. 

We decided to head to the lights before dinner since we knew the later it got, the colder it would get.  We bundled the boys up, even though they did not want to wear hats and gloves.  But by the end, they were thanking us.  The wind was the painful thing.  Little Logan has chapped cheeks now.:(  My camera wasn't capturing the Christmas lights, so we switched to Das's Iphone....which I think takes amazing pictures.  And it even has a flash.  The flash was not used on the pic above, but on the rest.

I love going to see the lights.  The temple is absolutely beautiful standing alone, and the lights make it even more spectacular.  The Nativity scene is always so neat.  And even though it is majorly crowed....the people are always pleasant. 

 We then waled back to the hotel to get the car.  We had the boys sit by the fireplace to warm up.  A sweet old lady asked us if we wanted her to take our picture.  Of course we did.  You can tell Logan will have Das's skin. lol  Look at those rosy cheeks and nose.  Logan crashed out on the way to Rio Grand.  Das looks like a hard ass in this photo.lol  But really, I think he didn't want to wake him.

We enjoyed our Mexican food, stopped at a redbox to get the boys a movie, and headed back to cuddle up and go to sleep.  It was a great way  to start off our Holiday season.  And we get to go back for my parents 50th in a couple of weeks.  Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas!  We hope the next month is filled with Love, Hope, and Peace and most of all....Our Savior's Love!

Gobble Gobble!

Every year we rotate where we go for Thanksgiving.  This year it was at my parents house.  I love this time of year and getting together with our family.  Thanksgiving morning after we woke up, Das headed outside for a few hours....putting up Christmas lights, cleaning up the garden, and putting the swamp cooler cover on.  I wasn't feeling well, so stayed inside.  I forced myself to eat and after I felt better, I made the green bean casserole, and then we headed in for dinner.

I had to get a picture of my goofy nephew and his hair tail. lol  He wants me to bleach it before his parents make him cut it off in a couple of weeks. 

I love watching everyone work together to get dinner going.  You would think with my family as large as it is, that it would be chaotic....but it really isn't. 

Everyone one else sat around to watch football and mingle. 

And the yonger ones ran around the house and outside. 

Then it was time to finally eat!  The food was spectacular, and the company, as always, was superb. 

Logan ate everything we put in front of him.   

Then we sat down to digest our food and make room for pie. 

I am always so sad how fast the time goes.  So much preparation for just a few hours to spend with the family.  I was going to blog each day this month for all I was thankful for,  but I wasn't very good about it.  But I do have so much to be thankful for.  I am thankful for a wonderful husband who loves and respects me.  He has been so great this last month that I haven't been feeling great.  I am so lucky to have a husband that would do anything for me.  I am thankful for his eagerness to get us to church every week and to the temple. And most of all, I am thankful for his example to me and to our children.   I hope our boys grow up to be men and fathers like him. I am also thankful for my sweet boys.  They light up my days with their sweet spirits and their willingness to help me.  Each day they bring so much joy to my life.  I couldn't have asked for a better family.  I am thankful for my Father in Heaven and for his son Jesus Christ.  I am so excited for the next month of celebrating his birth.  We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Double Trouble

 So the other day Logan knocked the pencils down and started playing with them.  In a matter of seconds, the kitty was right next to him playing.

 They play like this all the time.  Chase each other around.  I told Das they seem to have an ET connection. lol  Cuz even the other day they both had a cold.

 And whenever Logan is asleep on my lap, the kitty has to be right on top of him.  So let's play a little game.  I will show you a picture and you decide if the cat made the mess, or Logan. 

Don't let the kitty in the picture fool you.  Logan actually made this mess.   

Yep.....Logan again! 

Hmmmm.....could this be the two of them together? 

YEP! 

Ahhh....the knocked over Christmas tree.  They both look guilty. 

This Would be the cat's doing. 

Logan will follow him everywhere and lay his head down on her to cuddle.  The kitty doesn't seem to mind most of the time.  What great pals!

Couples Fantasy Football

For the past five years or so I have been playing fantasy football with a group of my guy friends. We put a little money down but mostly we play for pride. Sue was getting more than a little bored watching me glued to the TV on Sundays cheering/cursing random players. Her: "The Bears aren't even playing why do you even care?" or "No way we are watching another game, besides Desperate Housewives is on." Well over time she realized it was a battle she wasn't going to win. And being the sweet wife that she is, instead of getting mad she decided to join in on the fun. So we rallied together a few friends and created a Couples Fantasy league. Unfortunately for me and Sue it has been anything but a fantasy. My team is Business Time and hers is Little D.O.W.N. As you can see by the standings we are bringing up the rear. Well mostly me I have won only 2 games! It seems every team plays their best game against us. Ours are the only two teams to have over 1100 points scored against them.  What's up with that?  Last night it was looking like Sue was going to win her 5th game up until the last 60 seconds when the Eagles scored a touch against her defense/Giants causing her points to go down and putting her opponent in the lead.  And to add more salt to the wound I am having one of my worst seasons in my other league. Coincidence? Maybe. Sorry babe, I may need to put an end to this fantasy next year. =) But really, win or lose, I have enjoyed my wife getting more into the game and cheering/cursing along with me.

Our new family member

I forgot to thank my sweet sister in law Keli for watching our new kitty while we were gone.  I have been promising the boys a kitty for months now, but I couldn't get Das to say yes to one until last month.  But I told the boys we weren't just gonna buy any cat.  I had to really like her.  So we just happen to stop at Petco last week for fun and The Humaine Society was there.  They had lots of kitty's.  We held several and chose this one.

 She has been a wonderful kitty.  Follows the boys around every where, let's them carry her every where, and lets Logan grab her hair.  My sister in law said,"I don't think she has a mean bone in her body."  The morning we were leaving for California, we couldn't find her any where.  We thought maybe she had ran out while we were packing the car up.  The boys were just heart broken.  Tristan went in his room and cried.  After searching for a while, Das found her sleeping under our bed.  I think this kitty is growing on him as well.  He won't really touch her, but she keeps coming and cuddling up to him.

Tristan was so relieved.  he said the kitty was the best thing that has ever happened to him. lol  And during our family prayer, the boys chimmed in asking to keep our kitty safe while we were gone.  They are so cute! And thanks again Keli for helping us out.  The boys are forever grateful.

Our last full day in Newport

This morning was a rough one. I had woke up feeling quite queesy. Then after breakfast I started to get a migraine. Took some tythenol and ended up throwing it up. But I kept on.  After a shower I was feeling better.We were disappointed to see it was still overcast.  But we didn't need the sun to go and check out the tide pools and cottages. As we headed out around 10 AM I began to get another migraine.  This is a good pic of how I felt as we are walking down to the beach.  Our Villas are in the background.  By the time we made it down, the cool ocean air hit me and I started to feel better.

We had gone further down the coast this time to view more tide pools than we had the night before.   

The scene was like out of a movie.  These old cottages dating back to 1930 line the cliffs.  I actually mentioned to Das how much it reminded me of the movie "Beaches" (that I currently just made him watch).  He agreed.  Later when we got back to the villa, I read that "Beaches" actually had been filmed there. 

These boys scared me a little.  They were going a little farther out than I was comfortable with.  But they did ok.  And once the waves finally got them, they stayed closer in. 

And this little monster.......He is out of control! 

Das put Logan on his shoulders, and he fell asleep.  Das didn't even know until Logan's head started to fall.  He really is such a delightful little boy.  I am really lucky with my 3 wonderful little guys.  I would be perfectly happy to have a 4th! 

And as you can see in the picture above....the clouds were disappearing.  The sun felt so good.  Das couldn't get us out of there fast enough to get to the pool.  We headed there and swam for a couple of hours, ate lunch and the snack bar, and came back to the room to go back to the beach.   

We didn't quite make it out.  We all got hooked on a family movie.  Now we are gonna make dinner and go to the Shake Shack down on the beach.  Another great day and sad it is coming to an end.  Especially since we head home tomorrow :(