Christmas Day!

GK didn't sleep well on Christmas night. We brought him in bed with us at about 1:00 A.M. So we didn't get much sleep that night. GK and Patrick were both up at 6:30 but they stayed in bed for about an hour. GK was so cute when he saw the tree, he pointed and said WOW. He wasn't in to the presents at all. He picked one and was happy with that. Why do we teach kids to be spoiled? Well it is fun! We made him open a bunch more but we did save a few for when he gets bored with these ones. We had German Pancakes for breakfast because the big breakfast wasn't until 12:00. It was really fun to watch GK get a hang of the whole Christmas thing.

Vickie and Scott have quite the spread for Christmas breakfast. They were so sweet and invited my parents and brother to come. There was so much food and it was so good. I wish I could eat that every day! (notice no Patrick..)

We opened presents and had some candy. Poor Alyssa was so tired, she woke up at 4:00 A.M. and was paying the price dearly by early afternoon. (still no Patrick..)

Then GK had to go down for a nap, he was SO tired poor kid! I went to my Mom and Dad's house. I missed Wendi and Dennis and their family but I made it just in time to see Dane and Jodi and their family. Peyton and Riley are so cute! They are really good kids. They were in a hurry for Dane's big Birthday party. It was nice to spend some time with my parents and Dave before Dave is back in Vermont. (Where is he?)

Poor Patrick was sick with the flu all day! He missed Christmas breakfast and all the presents from his family. All the screaming, wild, happy, enthusiastic kids on Christmas day! Poor Patrick had to spend all day in bed. Wait maybe that was what he wanted all along...

Christmas Eve

We had such a fun Christmas Eve. Patrick only had to go to work for a few hours so we had lots of time to play together! GK found his new favorite hiding place, he crawls under here all the time. Patrick will even climb under there too to check in on him!

Then it was off to the Astle Family Christmas Eve Party! Uncle Reynold and Aunt Fawn were in charge of it this year and they did a great job, we didn't run out of any food! My favorite is the potato leek soup! Carson was a sweetheart and played with GK most of the night so we could visit with family. We had a talent show and a pinata. The kids were really cute, you could see the excitement in their eyes!

Temple Square

We made it to Temple Square for Family Home Evening last night! I really didn't think we would but I am so glad we did. I was crazy in thinking that if we didn't go on the weekend it would be less crowded.. Crazy! And I was crazy for not using the bathroom at Wingers, the lines were really long. But we made it and GK was so fun. We didn't use the stroller because they can be so hard to direct in a crowd. GK loved to run around like he'd been bit by a dog with rabies! It was fun to chase him around. The lights were so pretty, and my favorite tree was all lit up in red (again my favorite). It is the bottom left pic. in the collage. It wasn't too cold, but the air quality was really bad. I am so glad that we made it though! It really feels like Christmas now!

Lights from the Car

We had high hopes last week to see the lights at Temple Square, but Brandon was working late so we looked on KSL and they will give you addresses in your city or zip that have really cool lights. We had just as much fun and got to stay warm! We all found a new favorite Christmas song called Dominick The Donkey! It is pretty fun!

Jazz Game

Patrick got some tickets for the Jazz game last week. It was so fun to go out on a date with him. Jenn and Brandon watched GK and he was so sweet and tired when we got back he didn't wake up at all and he took a really good nap the next day. I think we will be fighting who gets to hang out with Jenn and Brandon when GK gets older!

I think Kyle Korver (I don't know how to spell his last name and I am too lazy to look it up.. Sorry!) it such a cutie!

This kid on the right looks like he is 16! Patrick and I are getting old.

Hand Dipping!

Every one in Patrick's family always talks about the times when they use to dip chocolates. I have never seen it or been invited, I have tasted some of the caramels, centers, and even had some of the chocolates. This year Vickie really felt she needed to pass the trade on and I was so excited. First Michelle and Vickie made the centers: penuche, mint, rum (artificial & real), cherry, orange, lemon, and caramel. I think I may be forgetting some... Then we all got together and rolled them into little balls. They are so good plain, I ate way more than Vickie knew.

The room, the chocolate, the centers all have to be at a certain temp. It was really a lot of fun! I had an inch of chocolate all over my whole hand. I ate it off, I think 3 different times. DON'T worry, I washed my hands really really good in between. I was not very good at writing the letters on top of the chocolates. Vickie is really good at it. I need a lot more practice.

Patrick was so good to watch GK all weekend for me. I thought it would take Saturday morning and afternoon. (On Saturday night we had our annual trip to the Old Spaghetti Factory, it was so good and I wish I had taken pictures because Jason, Adam, and Patrick had gone to Cabela's and bought the same style shirt. It was really cute!) But we were dipping all day Sunday too. It is really hard work, your back gets pretty tired from leaning over. I had chocolate everywhere! I was a mess. I am so glad we did it, I hope we continue dipping!

Some Happenings

I think GK has more fun with his Dad than he does with me.. I'm pretty sure of it! WHile I was in Vegas they had a fun time, but I know they worked hard too!

When I got back I swear GK had grown up SO much! I think this picture captures how big he is getting.

GK and Patrick got the tile ALL finished! SO we were able to get the Christmas Tree out and decorate for The Big Day!

I think I have posed this poor little kid WAY too many times. He loves to sit in the weirdest places! And he LOVES to play with his belly button!

It was hard to leave Las Vegas, especially knowing that Snow was on it's way. If only Vegas was warmer I might have stayed. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! YAY!!

Vegas Half

I am so lucky!! I got to go to Vegas with an awesome group of fun girls and we all ran the Rock 'N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon. We drove down on Saturday morning and had a fun ride. I think we covered every topic there is. When we got there we had to hurray and get our packets from Mandalay Bay. The place was a zoo. The NFR Rodeo competition was the same weekend and Mandalay Bay had a Cowboy Convention there too. It was fun to pick out the ones going to the Running expo vs. the cowboy expo. It took us 45 minutes to get out of the parking garage. We headed to the Venetian to make sure they still had our reservation because last time we all shared a room they lost it and it was not good! We went to dinner at Olive Garden, I've never had better breadsticks!

Here we are all trying to unwind and relax so we could get some rest!

The morning of the race. Before

Vegas is the best place to run. The half went up the strip one side and down the other. There was SO much to look at. There were a lot of flying Elvis's, fireworks, bands, and a lot of interesting people to watch. I think my favorite people to watch are all the bride and grooms. They actually have a run through wedding chapel! I think that is so cool. They don't wear full on wedding attire some just had the veil on the bride and the groom was wearing a bow-tie. Seriously I never got bored. My friend got a charlie horse so I walked the last little bit with her, I really didn't want the race to end!

It was nice to come home. I missed my boys a lot! Thanks again Patrick!

Build a House!

I love my sister Jodi. I don't see or talk to her near enough. Every year she has this awesome tradition of making tons of ginger bread and building houses for everyone that wants to decorate one. I think it is a labor of love! They are so much fun, it is really one of my favorite traditions, and it makes my kitchen smell so yummy!! Thanks Jodi!

Black Friday

I think it is really appropriate that they call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" because I think it really will be the death of me! Every year it is tradition that we go shopping Friday morning, a few years ago we decided to make it an all nighter. We start the evening out with a movie, this year we saw Blindside and Loved it! I think we all cried our makeup off. Then we headed to Walmart. I have yet to make it, every year I go "sleep" in the car. It's not really sleeping because it is so cold and there are so many people around, and you almost get too tired to sleep! After Walmart we went to Burlington Coat factory, they had great deals on boots if you could find a right/left combo in the same size. Sounds easy, but the store was ripped up! People were hoarding certain shoes until they found a mate. Some were in the wrong boxes and they were all over the store. We went to Roberts who had unreal lines. They took so long! Then Target and the mall. We finished the day with Olive Garden which was delicious and well worth the wait! It was fun to have Jenn come along, it was her first time with us! I don't know if she will come again. Last year we didn't have Kortni, C'aira, and Jennifer, so it was so much fun to have them there. It just wasn't the same without them last year. But we got some good deals and no fist fights!

ThanksGiving!

We had such a great Thanksgiving! It was the Lowder's turn this year. We ate at Lyndsey's and it was so fun to have almost the whole family there. We were still missing Alyssa and Madeline:( We had quite the feast! Patrick literally had to walk away from the table because he was so full. He didn't even eat any dessert!

After dinner we stopped by my Mom and Dad's house real quick. It was crazy there! Those kids really don't see each other enough! They were having such a good time. It was fun to see GK just watching them. Everyone was there too except for Tom & Yadi. Hopefully we will see them soon though. Happy Thanksgiving!

Boise

My brother Dave is interviewing for his residency, he's been traveling all over the country to find the right place, GK and I went with him to Boise. I've never been a huge fan of Idaho so I thought I needed to give it a try. We headed out Monday early afternoon and got there in time to see the sunset. It was beautiful, I wish the capitol would have been open for tours but it is being cleaned, Dave said it looks like a baked potato because it is brownish! We went for a quick run along the Greenbelt, which is a lot like the Jordan Walkway. It was so pretty, there were a lot of birds and it was such a pretty night. GK didn't last very long so we walked back carrying him (He's really heavy!)

That night we went to a mongolian bbq place that was really good. I put too much spice on mine so GK didn't love it. I think he's gonna be a "gringo" like his Daddy!

On Tuesday Dave had his interview. It went from 8:00 to 3:30. Talk about an interview. The president of Family Medicine really liked him though (can you blame him!!), and I think Dave really liked their program too. It would sure be nice if he lived closer!

GK and I had some time to spare so we went swimming at the hotel then to the Old Boise State Penitentiary. It was so cool built in 1870. It was really old but they stopped using it in 1973! Most of the building didn't have indoor plumbing (inmates have it pretty easy now!) 10 people were executed by hanging and you got to see the gallows, the drop room, solitary confinement, and all the cells.

Inside some of the rooms they had extra displays about electricity and how it has evolved for Idaho. There was a really cool exhibit on Tattoos, how they use to tattoo inmates then how they tattooed themselves. They tattooed about EVERYTHING!! There was another exhibit on transportation. The coolest one was all about guns and how they have evolved. It was really neat and warm in that building. In the picture below GK is standing in front of a dryer that was used only for drying socks. During the war the inmates made shirts for the soldiers fighting.

Gk and I did some shopping. We went and got Dave and did a little more looking around down town.

We went to a dinner at some one of the residents houses. It was fun to meet all the doctors. Dave totally fit right in. They were super nice and really liked him. GK was SO tired and I hope he didn't cause too much trouble. We didn't leave until about 10:30 which is way past his bed-time but I think he had a lot of fun. We missed Patrick and it was nice to get home. Thanks for the fun trip Dave!

Jenn's Birthday!

Jenn's Big Day was on Sunday!! Wahoo! I just LoVe Birthdays. We celebrated on Saturday by playing with Jenn's new Cricut! They are SO fun! Then we went shopping up in Park City, there wasn't a whole ton. I think the stores are waiting until black Friday to have the killer sales. Jenn did get a really cute shirt at Banana Republic. We then headed to Alberto's which Jenn always talks about. She loves this place and I totally see why. They are downtown, really clean, yummy mexican food. In Jenn's hand in the picture she is holding pepper spray! After we went to our house to watch Star Trek, which Jenn, GK, and I all slept through but the guys really liked it. Thanks for letting us share in your birthday bash Jenn! I still think we should have gone to Vegas though!

Twilight!

I always forget my camera.. Thank heavens Jenn had hers, so sorry if you are seeing the same pictures. Mandy my cousin who has the same birthday as me, got all of us Bunko girls some tickets for Twilight. My Mom was out of town so she didn't see it, but we had an extra ticket for Teena from E.W.S. and it was SO fun to have her there. We met up at Chili's for some yummy dinner and Twilight Trivia by Mandy! Some of the questions were really hard. I haven't dared to read the books again because I get too wrapped up in them and it isn't fair to Patrick. Then we headed over to The District and that place was CrAzY!! We saw some people dressed up like the Volturi and some of the main characters. We also saw a guy dressed up as the Joker, weird! I loved the movie. Jacob was totally hot but I am still an Edward girl!

The Farm & The Hunt

It is now a tradition that every year we spend the first weekend in November up in Beautiful Lewiston. Jenn is from Lewiston, her parents are so gracious to let us crash there. They are so generous to share their home with us. They also feed us such good food. We are so spoiled! Brandon and Patrick get to hunt on some farms because of Jenn's Dad. So we really get the royal treatment.

On Friday night we had dinner and they boys had to run some errands (hunting license & making sure Brandon's workers had everything they needed) so Jenn, CeCille, and I got our craft on! We Mod Podge'd some wooden blocks for Christmas!

I didn't wake up early enough to see the boys off before they went hunting. Jenn went to get her hair done and Cecille and I took G.K. to the farm. It was so much fun. G.K. and I loved it. The cows were so cute. I just love cows. I think we have a special bond because I don't eat them and they can sense that. Jenn's brother owns a dairy farm so there are cows that are babies, pregnant, and milking. Garrick was so sweet to answer all of my questions. I had a lot, my only experience with farming is on Farmville on Facebook.

These are some of the best behaved kids, and some of the smartest I've ever met. They taught me a lot about cows. I never knew what a heffer was, only you didn't want to be called one. They were so cute with G.K. showing him everything. I think a farm is a great place to grow up. They are really hard workers.

The cows were kind of scared of G.K. but the horses were really friendly. I was holding G.K. up to them and he was petting them and even put his head on the horses nose. It was so cute. He pointed to the horses eye and said Eye. Usually what he says is so random but he know what he was saying.

We went back and met up with the hunters who had seen a lot of bids but only shot one. CeCille made us a yummy lunch and Patrick and Brandon took Kyle out to go shooting. I think was as much a treat for Patrick and Brandon as it was for Kyle. They shot a few targets but Garrick (Jenn's bro that has the farm) needed some pidgin's "taken care of". So they had a blast! Boys love to shoot things. Jenn and I played with a marble game for at least an hour. It was really a lot of fun, I think I need to write to Santa for one.

On the way home we went to Firehouse Pizza. It was so yummy, and of course we all ate way too much.

We had a great weekend! Thanks everyone for being so hospitable and welcoming us again!