Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving morning Andrew went and played in our Ward's "Turkey Bowl" he came home covered in mud, head to toe! He was bruised and worn out, by the time he got home! He hasn't been able to walk all that well for the last few days. Why does he do that to himself? We then had Thanksgiving with just our little family of 5. It was fun though! We made appetizers for the boys, we had 7 layer dip, brie with brown sugar and nut topping, and a veggie platter! Then we watched movies, took naps while the turkey cooked and Andrew made deliscious potatoes! I was so exhausted from all that cooking, I was too tired to make pie! Imagine that, a Thanksgiving without pie! The next night our friends the Andrew's who live up in our old ward in Seattle, invited us over for an after Thanksgiving turkey dinner, and Kelly made a huge spread of food! The boys made turkey hats and gingerbread houses and we watched Disney's UP, if you haven't seen it, go get it! It's cute!

Bite of Seattle

A bunch of Seattle Restaraunt's get together and set up booths at the science center so people can come try their food all in one spot. It was so much fun and so good! We went to the booth where you pay $10 and get 6 differnt items from 6 different places. So fun. They even had one of Tom Douglas's eateries there. They say he's there sometimes, but I didn't get to meet him. One of Giada's favorite fried things was from his restaraunt called Lola's in downtown. Still on my list of things to do...but Dan, Genny, Sarah and Darryl all went with us and then we finished off the night with Harry Potter #6. Darryl totally gives us the hook up of free tickets! Thanks Allen's!

The State Fair....

I love the fair. What's not to love? Awesome food, fun stuff like Wierd Al's 3D movie which was so fun! Mutton Bustin' which I'm totally going to have Nathan sign up for it next year! Fun bands, hypnotist's, and crazy clowns. Good Times, Good Times.

Family Pictures

Tyra and Bryce were up for a week visiting her family here in Washington, and as you know she does AMAZING pictures! Here are a few of my favorite ones. Darn Seattle rain, started misting hence my awful stringy hair! True Seattle hair though!

I LOVE Food!

So I saw Julie and Julia recently and aside from the language (darn it!) I loved it! I wanted to run out and buy Julia Child's cookbook as soon as the movie was over to try it out! Except for the Lobster! Yikes! I love that the french don't try to make their food all healthy, I love that they cook for taste using rich ingredients in everything like HEAVY Cream and BUTTER! I want to go to France just so i can eat! Did I mention i was trying to lose 25 lbs?! One other food for thought, I LOVE my subscription to Food Network Magazine! It's Sooo great, they have kid's halloween costume ideas that are so cute. We are going as a Happy Meal! Nate - hamburger, Ben - french fries, Ava - Cupcake, Andrew - Shake, me ummm...the chef??? I love fall, I can smell it in the air!!!





Happy birhtday again Dan! Here's the pics! Genny you are such a great wife!

HEAT WAVE

We had a major heat wave this summer! 78 days without rain and temps got as hot as 113! It was so hot, it was kind of treated like a natural disaster. They had cooling centers open for people. The malls, theatre, restraunts were all packed. Very interesting when Seattle has hot weather!

Learning to ride a bike, crawl and Ben

Nate's learning to ride a bike without training wheels! Ava is begining to crawl, and Ben is getting an attitude! love my kids!

May the Force be with you!

Happy Birthday Ben! Ben turned 3 July 5th. He wanted Mac N' Cheese for his special dinner and then the next day we had a Star Wars party, complete with an appearance by Darth Vader and a pinata! It's was so cute when Darth Vader walked out the door, all the kids had black balloons and got to throw them at him, he whipped out his light saber and kept them off! So Funny! The pinata was also toddler friendly, you pull the strings until the right one pulls the trap door and all the candy falls out! We had the kids make their own personal pan pizza's on pita bread, (turned out awesome!) and then we played stick the darth vader control's on darth's chest! Good Times! I decided that instead of buying toys, we would let the kids pick whatever they wanted to do for their birthdays, like some sort of trip as a family,(hopefully Wild Waves when they get older!)and then I will take all of the pictures and make it into a shutterfly book! YaY for New Family Traditions! I love birthday parties! We love you Ben!

Tae Kwan Do

Nate has been taking Tae kwan do classes! He's actually really good at it and has learned self control, can stand still for 5 min. and kicks like he's the karate kid! Well he's still wild, crazy and his independent self, but at least it's a little bit more under control! I love watching him in class!