November & December Events

In November Eddie and I had the opportunity to go see a Maverick's game for free. It was a great date night! We were reminded not only of how much we enjoy each other's company, but how much we both love sporting events. (Even when it's not our favorite sport.)



For Thanksgiving this year we stayed in Irving and had a wonderful time celebrating with friends. Our pity party for one turned into a rip-roaring good time. I was feeling so sad to not have any family to spend the holiday with and thinking we were just gonna wind up having Thanksgiving dinner by ourselves. Eddie came to the rescue and discovered another family that we're good friends with was also going to be in town without family. From there it blossomed into a "come one, come all" party and it was totally the way we want to do Thanksgiving from now on. We got to know a really cute new couple in the ward who had just moved in, we got to know an older gentleman and his wonderful wife, get re-acquainted with others and ultimately to walk away with an afternoon spent in wonderful company and delicious food.


You can see behind Eddie that we had set up a few kids tables to eat on and then do some fun activities. Allison S. brought stuff to make this really cute candy turkey and the kids "gobbled" them up. (couldn't resist!) I brought some fun coloring pages but mostly the kids just loved running around the building. They did however perform the cutest "Thanksgiving" play. I wish that I could get video from my video camera onto the computer and not just off my camera. But alas, you'll just have to take my word for it...It was AWESOME! I think my favorite part was when they brutally killed the turkey (Kyra) and then proceeded to eat her.


We had so much food! We had to add a second table to just hold it all. It was soooooo good! Thank you to everyone for making it such a wonderful family holiday!

That next day, Friday, otherwise known as Black Friday, was spent in shopping and decorating the house with Christmas decorations. We had so much fun setting up our tree and the kids got to do 80% of the decorating. (Only a few minor adjustments, but for the most part, they did it!)



Maggie really enjoyed the traditional "Thanksgiving Leftover Day" and ate rolls like there was no tomorrow. We did however manage to capture Maggie's first, true walking. We had captured her first steps, but this was really walking.


Just watch this movie on mute okay? If you don't know how to mute it, just please ignore that crazy, high-pitched mom voice you hear...I promise it isn't me. :)

It seemed like after Thanksgiving, Christmas was around the corner and there really wasn't much down time. We had the wonderful opportunity to go down to San Antonio to see the Davidson's and meet new baby Ella and to be with "family" for the holiday. It was an amazing trip! (Minus the puking...more on that later)

We drove down on a Thursday and got up Friday to walk the Riverwalk.

Maggie enjoyed cruising on Dad's shoulders. Why did I lug the stroller around again?

We passed by the "Ripley's Believe it or not" and most of the kids loved all the statues and other creatures.

Andrew did not. This was about as close as he would get to the dinosaur. It looks like he's squealing with delight, but he's not. He's just squealing.

My sweet, sweet baby girl.

Andrea, Nate and Lacey enjoyed the day together. Drew was somewhere near by and we got a really cute picture of them all together but I think it must be on Jeanette's camera.

Our next stop was...


We managed to get a family photo in front of the "closed for the Holidays" Alamo...maybe on our next trip. We did however get to listen to a very animated telling of the events from an off-duty tour guide.

As we walked back to our cars, we noticed some rain clouds were beginning to look more and more scary. We got to our parking garage and "CRACK"!!! The heavens opened and the rain descended and the flood waters came. It was remarkable....HAD I NOT BEEN THE ONE DRIVING! Let's just suffice it to say that I've been traumatized for life from my return trip home from cali in a rainstorm. I think at one point we were going less than 25 mph on the freeway back to the Davidson's house. It started to get a little lighter and lighter the closer we got to home and as we pulled in to the driveway, the rains ceased and we were able to get all sleeping babies into the house and down for naps. It was amazing! If only the rest of the trip could have been that fate-filled! Unfortunately, it didn't pan out that way. Poor Hyrum was sick on the way down and Andrea fell victim to it next. That night Andrea got sick, really sick and then poor Maggie woke up puking. And after that it was kind of a free-for-all of puke-age. It got Mark next and then Caleb and then myself and then Jeanette I think. Anyways, it was not a pretty sight. But even with all that ickyness, we had a GREAT time. We laughed, we played games, we ate really good food, we re-newed deep friendships and we came away feeling like it was a wonderful Christmas.

Nate on Christmas morning...Love the new Christmas PJ'S! (I think we have a picture of all the kids in their new pj's, but again, I think it's on Jeanette's camera.)

Drew re-enacting Maggie's Christmas morning.

This is how Maggie spent the entire day...practically catatonic on either Eddie or my chest. Poor baby! It was really, really, really hard to see her whole body convulse trying to get what was in her body, out of it. But thankfully it was a fast bug and was over soon.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank you so much to Joe and Sally and Dawn for letting us crash your family Christmas and for making us feel so welcome despite washing 8 loads of pukey blankets and towels in your washer. We owe you big!