Be Thankful

Getting everything all ready, packed, and cleaned up (kind of) before leaving on the trip was all left to me.  It was a little stressful, but I finally made it out with Dak to go pick up Kyle in SLC.  Although right before I left there had been something stuck in the sink's garbage disposal...but again in a rush and couldn't fix it right then.  The rest of that story will come later.

Thanksgiving morning.  Started with my family taking family pictures and then having a delicious dinner.  Here's some shots from our outing.  I thought it was some of my best SOOC photography shots.  

The place we shot at even had a really fun playground that Dak enjoyed running around and being crazy...along with some of the adults.

After stuffing ourselves for lunch, we drove to our next dinner.  

Helping with the cooking and cleaning of the Thanksgiving dinner.

It was at Aunt Jana's and Uncle Wes' house with much of family there.  We ate a ton more.  And afterwards played the usual badminton, and even music concerts with piano and singing.

Playing on the McQueen's team.

He knew to throw the birdie and try to hit it with the racket.

Family badminton group shot!

Last picture before my camera died for the rest of the weekend....Tyler and his girlfriend Sam.

Black Friday was spent sleeping in...well not really.  But more than the people who go shopping.  We went and played our annual golfing with the Hansen clan.  Kyle and I each improved our scores from previous years.  We rested up a bit, then headed over to the Ingram's again for leftovers and more chill time.

Saturday was my family's day.  We just chilled.  Then had a nice drive back on Sunday, although it was incredibly busy on the highway back.  One gas station had a 20 minute wait for the bathrooms.  Oy.

Oh now back to that thing stuck in the disposal.  Turns out I had forgotten to tell Kyle about it.  So he comes up stairs Tuesday morning saying the disposal is broken.  After many attempts to fix and reset it, nothing was working.  Consulted with a few people.  Waited for Kyle to get home, and with him cranking the bottom.  Me using a screwdriver pick we finally recovered what was extremely wedged in.  It was a housekey that Dak had somehow slipped in without us knowing.  Key priveleges are now revoked.

Kyle is again busy with projects.  Basically he has one due each week over the next three weeks.  No breaks for him.  I've resorted to taking Dexter shopping in the evening just so Kyle can focus.  My focus is to not spend money while wandering around Target for an hour or more.

Today I showed Dexter not just how fun leaves are, but how fun piled up leaves are.  We loved jumping, rolling in, and tossing these leaves.  Which then I raked up into the piles over and over.

Rolling in the leaves.

Tromping and jumping in the leaves.

And to give Kyle a quick break from work we played a round of Nerf war.

Taking an aim at me.

Clean Up the House

Well  it's crunch time for Kyle.  So I was happy to see him for a date night.  We grabbed some hot chocolate from the new 7-11 on our corner, and watched Battleship.  He did take a break Saturday.  However, that happened because I gave up trying to keep Dex away from him.  Productivity suffers a 99% drop when a little guy is constantly around you.

Dex is a sneaky guy, and daddy is his favorite person.  He'll shout "Kyle" at the bottom of the stairs to call him down...cause I do that.  Or he'll say "daddy" and run until he finds him. Sometimes so quick before I realize it.

But Kyle's LAST semester will be over in just 3.5 weeks.  But he has 3 things due during the week after Thanksgiving.  So he's trying to finish as much as he can so he can enjoy the long holiday weekend.  He's had some late nights at school and home.

I wanted to take a picture but I figured it'd be ridiculous.  But I was proud of myself yesterday for having the entire house clean.  All rooms vacuumed  all bathrooms scrubbed, laundry caught up and it felt so nice!  And Dak was even awake during this.

Well I'm looking forward to eating mass amounts of meals.  I even did my workouts so I don't have to feel as guilty eating all the delicious stuff.  Everyone, Happy Thanksgiving!

Mr. Sandman

Well the main encouragement for finally doing that zoo trip was a nice snowstorm was supposed to come in.
And it did.  It snowed/rained for 2 days, plus a little.  It was beautiful to wake up to Saturday and Sunday morning.  Winter wonderlands.  Winter is here.

Friday date night even included driving through the snow, to go eat at Rumbi Island and go to Petco.  Dak had fun looking at the furry little animals.

I'm slowly getting used to Young Women's.  Taught my second lesson, and it went better than my first.  And on Tuesday I helped with my first activity.  We made pies, ice cream and made grateful journals.  It was fun, but the girls were a little shy talking with me.  Not their friends though.

Well I'm super excited for the holidays.  Already planning Christmas gifts.  Dex has actually had his bought since September because there was a great deal on the things we wanted to get him.  Now to get all the family members.  Other than presents, I'm excited for family time and lots of food.

Oh and this morning Dex did something I didn't think would ever happen.  He fell asleep.  This kid can be up 5 hours past nap or bedtimes and he won't crash.  Today it was quiet and I looked at the couch.  At first I thought he was resting his head, but since it didn't come up 2 seconds later I knew he was asleep.  It was funny to watch with his legs and arms twitching....but Dexter really was dead asleep.

Autumn Leaves

Although we got dressed up for the Trunk or Treat, we didn't for passing out candy on the actual Halloween night. We watched TV while waiting for kids to ring the doorbell.  Dexter did not like this.  Each time we gave out candy to the crowd he would scream because we wouldn't give him the candy.

He washed the dishes for at least 30 minutes.

Only non-breakable stuff of course, but he enjoyed it tons.

Saturday morning Kyle made an antenna for our TV.  It picks up all the channels without having to mess with it in between.  He's my amazing nerd.  We also went to the park so I could take some 18 month pics of Dak, and enjoy the lingering warm fall weather.

Only part of the herd that came near us once they saw our food.

Wasn't afraid of the ducks or geese, and had fun throwing them food.

Swish!

He gets a strut when he walks

Smiley face on the swing

Each day I've been trying to spend time outdoors with him.  I love the warm sunshine and a smiling crazy little boy. Dak even noticed and started playing with the leaves.

Rolling around in crunchy leaves

Such a handsome boy

Throwing leaves

On Thursday I took Dexter to the zoo!  We invited a friend and her kids to come with us.  It was nice to have the other kids to play with Dexter, and a mom to talk with.  The new exhibit had otters, seals, and sea lions.  All three kids loved watching them from above and then underwater.  Dexter also loved the snow leopard as there was a baby one who was actually playing around.  He loved saying his "roar" to it.  By the end of the time walking around and seeing all the animals he was pooped out.

Right up close to the elephants

Watching the playful river otters

Brinlee and Dexter.  She was watching out for him since he was putting his hand through the gate.

The boys loved watching the harbor seals

It was hard to drag the kids from this spot.

Pooped out after.

Good thing we fit in as much warm sunshine as we can.  Winter has come.