Thanksgiving 2010

On the way up to Utah, we stayed at a great place in Las Vegas called Tahiti Village Resort.  It was really nice to stay somewhere that didn't require a long walk through a casino, plus the suite had two rooms, a jetted tub, a full kitchen, and a steam shower (which kinda makes you feel like you're suffocating, but is still somehow relaxing.)  The resort also has a big pool with a lazy river, but it was too cold to try it out.  We stayed there on the way back, too -- I think it might become a regular thing. 
      

    
My mom took the kids and I the rest of the way from Vegas, since Ryan had to work one more week before joining us.   When we arrived at my mom's place, we got to meet my new (and first) nephew Felix!  He's stinkin' adorable.  He spent a lot of time crying or threatening to cry, but that's just what smart babies do, right?  The kids loved him, and I enjoyed watching Kyle and Kelli have to take turns eating.  Yeah, sadistic, I know. 
      

    

          

We had a great time over the next week doing school, cooking, visiting with family, and riding on the tractor.  
  

      

Elise made a "star cake" with her kids' cooking set

She didn't actually eat much of it.

Kelli and I played Just Dance 2.  Ryan mocked us.

Elise was scared to get on the tractor at first

   
My parents are in the midst of constructing a workshop and a dog kennel out on their property, and Elise had fun playing in the foundation gravel.  
   

   
After Ryan joined us, he and I were able to take Connor to visit the Nephi City Police Department as part of his school project.  The Chief of Police was so cool about everything.  He answered all of Connor's questions, and gave us a tour of the police station.  It was pretty awesome.  
    

Machine Gun

Bullet-proof Vest

Chief Morgan

A couple days before Thanksgiving we drove up to Brighton Ski Resort and stayed in the lodge for two nights.  Ryan and I traded off watching the kids in the lodge while the other went out.  Connor did ski-school for the first time, and loved it, and I took my first ski lesson, as well!  I've snowboarded for several years, but I always felt that skiing might be more my thing.  I think I was right.  It seems a lot easier and much less scary.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to try again in February!  We had the mixed blessing of arriving at the lodge right before a blizzard, which brought sub-zero temperatures.  It made skiing a bit uncomfortable, but the runs were nearly empty, and Connor had a private instructor both days he did ski school.  
   

Connor got a sticker on his badge for every skill he learned.

Yes, obviously these are sideways.  I could explain, but I'd get in trouble with the Feds.  Lets just say that I wasn't willing to pay $33 per digital photo and the online proofs are booby-trapped.  (Lest you think me a total crook, I did actually buy the top picture as a print for $15 plus shipping, and it will be scanned and posted when I receive it in the mail.)

        

Connor Skiing!

Ski School

The kids spent most of their time keeping warm, eating cookies, and watching movies, either in the lodge common area or on our portable DVD player in our room.  
    

Watching "Benji the Hunted"

Yeah, Evan almost fell off the bed.

We were lucky to have purchased a snow scraper on the way up.  
   

  

   
Thanksgiving Day was awesome.  I'm disappointed that I didn't get a picture of the family all together.  The meal was great, and we all put blessings on our "thankful tree", which turned out really cute.  Kevin came down to stay at Mom's place for several days, and we had a lot of fun staying up ridiculously late playing this zombie game.  
   

  

Connor didn't actually play, but he stared at the zombie pictures a lot.

Grandma Cloe had another dizzy spell while we were in Utah, so she spent several days at the house, too, and it was nice to be able to spend time with her.  
   

  

   
We headed home the following Saturday, and when the kids got antsy around Saint George, Ryan suggested we stop at the temple and have a look around.  It turned out to be a great idea, since everything was decorated for Christmas and they had a bunch of cool displays. 
   

  

  

   

Coming out of Las Vegas on the Sunday after Thanksgiving was not the best planning, and it took us about eight hours instead of five, but we got home safely!  
   
I definitely needed this trip.  I had been struggling with feeling really overwhelmed before we went up, and had a chance to take a breath and kinda figure out what needed to change in my life.  For one thing, I read a couple of books and  was able to get Evan to start sleeping at night -- that made a big difference in my sanity (and I didn't have to let him cry, it was awesome!)  I also realized that I can't do everything I feel obligated to do, and I've been able to reduce my expectations a little.  That time to reflect was exactly what I needed.
   

Fun Stuff We Did

In case you haven't noticed yet, I use my blog as a sort of long-winded Flickr album.  If I don't take a picture of something, I forget to post about it.  Sooo, here's some stuff we apparently did last month:
       
1. Math!  Connor's doing a math program called Right Start, which we mostly love.  It really emphasizes hands-on activities for learning math, so to document it for Connor's school I take a lot of pictures.  Here he is displaying ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. 
    

    
2.  Mountasia Family Fun Center!  Yeah, it's a weird name.  Ryan got coupons from work to go do Go Karts and mini-golf at this place in Santa Clarita.  The kids (of course) loved playing the indoor video games to earn tickets, and bought some sort of valuable plastic junk with them.  Evan couldn't go on any of the rides, and Elise didn't want to (the boats allowed little kids, but she was afraid of getting water in her face - it's a phobia of hers.)  The mini-golf was fun, but when we were about halfway done with the course -- and thoroughly trapped at the far end, mind you -- Elise decided she was about to wet her pants.  The only way out was to backtrack, so we kinda abandoned our game until later.  When we decided to try again (a different course this time), the kids were exhausted and pretty much quit halfway through.  Despite how much complaining I'm doing right now, though, I have to admit it was a fun day.  We ended with ice cream and junk food, so everybody was happy!
     

   
3.  Oak Glen!  We did this last year, too, and it will probably be a fall tradition.  Oak Glen is a valley full of pick-your-own apple orchards, but has the atmosphere of a fair.  We got cider doughnuts at one of the farms, which may or may not contain a significant amount of cider, but they're awesome.  The owner told us that, although raspberry season was over, if we could find any leftovers we were welcome to them.  So, Ryan, the kids and I went raspberry hunting.  Most of the raspberries we found (and there weren't many), were dried up, but there were a few good ones, and it was a lot of fun just searching.  Elise rode a pony, Connor bought a marshmallow shooter, and we bought a bunch of cider and apple pie.  
      

    

 

       

Oak Glen was actually the first leg of our journey up to Utah, so at the end of the day we headed out to Vegas . . .
       

Evan gave Dad a break from driving.

Halloween

This year Connor started talking about his Halloween costume in July.  He was quite insistent that he was going to go as Mario, and that Elise should be Princess Peach.  Elise disagreed at first, saying she wanted to be a kitty (same as last year), but it wasn't a hard sell to convince her to wear a princess dress and crown.  

   

Evan's lobster costume is a hand-me-down from Elise, and still our favorite.

That's Connor's "Mario pose".  Think breaking bricks.

 Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, the church party was pretty much the main event.  They decided to invite the neighborhood as well as ward members for a trunk-or-treat, potluck, and spook alley near the bishop's house on Saturday night.  It turned out great, but it was a little overwhelming to keep track of my kids in such a huge, crowded space.  
     

Yeah, it was quite the event.

I think this was the costume parade.  Mario looks pretty scary, huh?

Connor doesn't share my crowd-induced anxiety.  Elise kinda does.

Poor Elise and Evan had colds, Ryan was getting over strep throat, and I was convinced I was coming down with it (turns out I wasn't), so we skipped the potluck part of the party in an effort to be considerate.  The candy haul for the evening compared well to regular trick-or-treating, so the kids were content.