Day Trip

Today we ventured into Canada for a day trip in Vancouver.  We started the day at TELUS World of Science.  We watched a film on a gigantic Omnimax screen, explored room after room, had fun watching an illusions presentation and only lost Cooper twice...

The revolving rock wall was really cool!

After the science center, we headed to La Casa Gelato for a fun filled experience of trying to choose from their 238 flavors.  

 We sampled quite a few strange ones, like black sesame and Oreo mango, but these 12 were not tempting at all!  Kim Chi...corn and cheddar...gross!

Oliver chose chocolate of course.  I had chocolate raspberry truffle and strawberry fudge brownie.  Some of the others we chose were white chocolate cherry, raspberry cheesecake, salted caramel, red velvet cake, lime, blackberry and more...we had lots of flavors.  :)

It was a fun family day!

Thanksgiving

"To live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven." -Thomas S. Monson

Our grati-turkeys

Oliver:

 Todd:

 Cooper:

 Ethan:

 Me:

 Madeline:

Our family of Roll-a-Turkeys.  We also did a Thanksgiving Mad lib, Thanksgiving Pictionary, and some Thanksgiving quizzes to make the day fun.  We also may or may not have ended the day watching Elf.

 This was the first time we've ever had Thanksgiving with just the six of us.  And it turned out to be such a wonderful day.  We had a little lunch at 11.  Fruit and shrimp, squash soup, and crackers and cheese.

 Our Thanksgiving feast was around 4.  I felt pretty pleased that I was able to pull off the entire Thanksgiving feast on my own.  Here is a picture of my lovely shingled harissa sweet potatoes.

All the goods:

 So grateful for my family!!

 And of course, PIE!

I felt grateful the entire day.  I am very blessed.

My Kids

This week, Madeline finished reading The Book of Mormon on her own.  I am so proud of her.  She read every day because she wanted to.  How many 11 year olds can say that?!?  

 Oliver is my cute little turkey

 Cooper always makes us giggle!

And the teenager is once again not pictured.  But can I just say that I really enjoy playing dice and cards with that kid.  I CANNOT beat Ethan in Quiddler, though I tend to win Dutch Blitz.  And we both take turns winning in Yahtzee.  I find it all quite fun!

Week 4

Week four of pie month:  Pecan Pie!

 I've never been able to eat such a big piece of pecan pie in my life.  I'm totally loving this pie month thing!  :)

This Week

My little donut buddy 

Cooper was very impressed with himself when he spent the afternoon collecting a bucket full of worms!  It was probably at least an inch deep!  I made him put them back in the dirt.  :)

 Waiting for the kids to come out from school

 Cooper's concert was very cute!  He likes to perform.  He sang seven original animal songs.

 Last Sunday was week 3 of pie month.  Cherry Pie!

 And yesterday, Todd and I celebrated our 16th anniversary.  We enjoyed breakfast together and then in the afternoon went to Vancouver for shopping, temple sealings, and dinner.  I have felt so very grateful for Todd lately.  And so blessed that he is my companion now and forever.

Cute Kids and Treats

Madeline came home from school in the mood to sew a Pokemon.  So she did!

Cooper spends a lot of time upside down at ninja class.  He still loves it!

Oliver is pretty pleased with his first ever lego set!

And these two have been playing legos for hours!

Ethan is awesome too.  I just don't have any pictures of him.  lol.

I turned the leftover birthday cupcakes into cake pops.  I just wanted to randomly.  teehee, kinda like suddenly wanting to sew a Pokemon...

They were sooo yummy!

and cute!

Week two of pie month:  Chocolate Cream Pie

Sooooooo rich!  YUM!!

Oliver's Birthday

We started out the birthday with chocolate chip muffins!  Yum!

and a present because waiting until the party at night is too hard!

 Giraffe cake!

 John Deere Action.  Oh yeah!

 Oliver and I went to McDonald's for lunch.  It was a fun little date.

 Admiring his beanie boo zebra

 It is Nana's birthday too!

 First LEGO set

Playing Hungry Hippos.  This game is a winner!

 Happy Birthday to two of my most favorite people!

Oh how I love you both!

 It was such a fun day.  I especially enjoyed the evening which was full of chaos, excitement and a very hyper Oliver.  I couldn't stop giggling.

Happy Happy Birthday!