Thankful For

I feel like we truly have a blessed life and there are so many things that we have to be thankful for.

First and foremost I am thankful for my wonderful husband. He really is my best friend and loves and supports me and the boys in all that we do. Victor is such a hard worker and has a huge heart, no wonder he is loved by everyone.

I am extremely thankful to have three happy healthy and beautiful boys. I don't think we have ever left the house without someone telling us how adorable they are. They are each so different but full of personality and bring so many smiles, laughs, and giggles to our home. They sure do keep us on our toes but I would not have it any other way.

I am so thankful to have the best parents in the world who would do anything for us (and they do!). They are a HUGE part of our lives and I don't know what we would ever do without them. We are also blessed with the rest of my and Victor's family members and so many wonderful friends who we love and appreciate dearly.

I could go on forever but I will stop after this one. I am also thankful that Victor and I have wonderful careers. We are not just in jobs to get a paycheck but are in careers that we love.

To me, there is no other way to celebrate the day of Thanks than with family, much like every holiday that we want to be surrounded by those we love. Our normal four hour drive to my parent's house took us eight this year.

The roads were horrible. In fact the worst roads I have ever driven on. I watched the snow plow driver close the road right in front of us, literally. He closed the junction to Utah and we had to take the long way around. I was happy to be in a big ol' SUV and we just kept trucking along. The kids traveled like old pros and Victor probably had a brown spot in his underwear by the time we arrived to our destination after some of our experiences. :) Conner kept asking if I could see the road or if we were even on a road. Not sure about the second question, we may just have made our own route there. But am left wondering, what on earth did we do before we had a TV in the car?

The winter wonderland we arrived to.

We all had a wonderful time at Poppa and Gram's. I even brought stuff to make a little Thanksgiving craft with the boys. They read books, did puzzles, watched movies, played games, and played in the snow with Gram. They also managed to do some shooting (a lot of shooting!) with Poppa.

The little oreo turkeys were so cute!

Dinner was fantastic as always with the best deep fried turkey in world cooked up by Poppa! Naturally Mason could not be far from the two favorite men in his life, his dad and Poppa, and had to be part of cooking the turkey.

Is that a picture perfect turkey or what? My mouth is watering!

Victor and Conner did some more hunting with the Poppa, Jake, and Triston while my mom and I took the boys to meet my sister and her kids and go see the new movie Tangled. (Victor was a little concerned about this, however it looks like a little cute adventure move and not just a girlie princess movie so I thought it was safe).

Everyone else in Logan must have had the same plans because the movie was sold out all day! So, we had a change of plans and we to play at Camille's house and the kids didn't seem to miss the movie at all. In fact, the just enjoyed the heck out of each other! Then we even got to squeeze a Logan favorite of mine, Fredricko's!

Now we are home safely and the kids are begging to go back to their Gram and Poppa's. Mason has even called them to ask them to come and get him. ha ha Thanks so much to everyone for a wonderful Thanksgiving! Certainly worth the long eight hour drive!

SnOw!

We finally got our first good white wash of the season. I try to make sure the boys have all of their snow gear by the first part of September. We never know when we will get snow, but I dO kNoW as soon as the fluffy stuff arrives my boys want to be outside and playing in it more than anything. So it is always good to be prepared.

The boys were up at 6:30 am and begging to go outside and play in the sNoW at 6:45 when they noticed all of the accumulation. They were outside all morning! The snow was pretty "wet" so they were soaking by the time they came in, but they were the happiest kids in the world!
And what is best thing ever after a sNoW dAy? Why hot chocolate of course! EvErY time I use our cocomotion I think about a funny moment that took place with that cocomotion and my sister Jennifer and brother-in-law Howard. When I am taking the cocomotion out the pantry I get a huge goofy smile remembering. Victor will look at me funny until he sees the cocomotion then he is laughing and smiling right along with me! Funny how certain items or sayings can instantly bring back good memories.

So HoWaRd, this cup of cocomotion is just for you. . . . and in case you were wondering, it is just the right tEmPeRaTuRe. ;)

A Birthday AND an Anniversary

Victor just turned the big 3-2! It was also our 13 (holy crap!) year anniversary a few days later so we just threw the events into one big fun weekend!

My mom came up to watch the boys ALL weekend. Thanks mom!

We showered Victor with gifts and love his birthday morning then he and I took off to get started on some Christmas shopping! Funny how different it is to be in a store and actually be able to look around without chasing the little ones!

Then what we had been looking forward to for weeks! A day of pampering at the spa. We went to our favorite spa, Two Rivers. We normally try to make frequent "dates" to the spa, I don't know what has been going on but it has been wayyyyyy to long since our last visit.

The pedicture and manicure stations overlook the river. It is so pretty and was so much fun to watch the ducks and animals!

Part of our spa day included a 90 minute peppermint aromatherapy pedicure. I opened my polish book to pick a color and on the first page they had a picture of a woman's toes painted the beautiful colors of BSU, blue and orange. I laughed and dared Vic to do his toes up like that and guess what?????? He DID!!!! The ladies loved him! They thought he was coolest and super fun for painting his toes. ha ha Only my Victor!

Pretty toes! The boys on Victor's upcoming man trip are going to love that. I am sure he won't be teased at all. ;)

We raced home to have some birthday cake with the kids and then down to dinner at another one of our favorite spots, Chandlers. Oh and the food was divine! I could have eaten my life away that night! And I think I did!

I know the bottom two are not very good pictures, but I have had to give Victor a hard time. Look at how high the flames are and how much smoke there is after he blew the candles out! Man, he must be getting old!

The next day was a full day of nothing better than Boise State football! Fun tailgating with friends and a dominating game when we beat Hawaii! After the game we went out for dinner and to the movie Megamind with the whole family.

The game was a blue out. Every section was supposed to wear blue.

It is hard to believe it has been 13 years! I think our best decisions have been getting in the military, getting out, and finishing our education. I am very thankful for Victor's time in the service and the experiences we had and friends we made. However, I am more thankful for the choice to expand our horizons and get out. I am sooo pleased we decided to better ourselves with an eduction and move on and didn't stay stuck in the "military box". I can't describe how it is to have a husband that is home every night with our family and is an active part of their lives and not deployed for months on end.

Just for kicks we looked up to see what Victor would be making if he would have stayed in, considering his time in service and the rank he probably would be. It was laughable. Even if he went in as an officer he would be making far less and giving up more. Thanks so much to all of our military members who I feel are CERTAINLY underpaid and under appreciated. Be sure to thank a vet on Veteran's Day!

And here is to another 13 years!

Trick-or-Treat 2010

Naturally as kids get older they are into all things scary. Conner was very excited about his phantom costume!

Zachary loves all things Super Mario and Victor and I thought he was going to die with excitement when he saw this Mario costume. He was even more thrilled to volunteer Mason to be his sidekick Luigi. There was no talking him into any else!

It was a special year this Halloween. It was cousin Casey's first time to trick-or-treat! He is the same age as Conner and is a type 1 diabetic. His mom, Victor's sister Maudi, had just always taken him out to dinner and a movie. We tried to talk her into letting us take him last year, but were thrilled to be successful this time around! Victor and I went to the store and filled a bag with sugar free candy and surprised him with a trade for his bag at the end of the night. Every kid has to have the chance to trick-or-treat right???? He was a cute little gangster.

The kiddos patiently waiting at our neighbors, Kurt and Barbie's door. Their first house of the night! They couldn't hold still!

Good times to be had by everyone this Halloween!