Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving in Utah this year. Nate's mom did a WONDERFUL job with Thanksgiving dinner and everything. It was so nice to just kick back and let the kids play together while the adults laughed, chatted, and watched football. I guess we were too busy enjoying all of the yummy food that we forgot to pull the camera out.

Here are a few of the other highlights of the trip:

BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING! We're pretty much die hards.....why?

1. We were shopping in UTAH with all of the crazies......need I say more?

2. We brought hot chocolate and cider with us!

3. My sis in law Ashley 9 months pregnant not to mention 2 days OVERDUE yet she was still up for the challenge.

4. We left at 10:15 pm and didn't get back until about 5:30am!

5. We're not afraid of a little elbowing.

6. We got all of the goods we were after. Woot woot!

One pleasant surprise of Black Friday was watching Peter Breinholt preform at the South Towne Mall. I LOVE him! Nate and I used to go up to his concerts at Sundance while we went to BYU. We also danced to his "Grow old along with me" at our wedding. It was such a treat to see him!

Who in a million years would have ever guessed In N Out would open in Utah? I never did...but I am not complaining! We only had to wait about 20 minutes.....and it was worth every second! Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one will open up here!

I was able to find some time to meet up with Ash (the other Ashley), Grandma EE, Grandma Jex and Ashley's mom in law for lunch over at Thanksgiving Point. Parker tagged along and loved seeing Santa's reindeer. It was so much fun seeing everyone....and especially to see Emmalee eat her very first ice cream cone! Too cute!

I have so much to be THANKFUL for....family, friends, blessings, and good memories to just name a few. It's hard to believe Christmas is just around the corner! I love this time of year!

One exhausting day!

Yesterday was NUTS! (In a good way!) We started out the morning having a couple of friends over to make some Thanksgiving crafts. We made turkeys, noodle necklaces and Thanksgiving placemats. Then, we enjoyed some "pumpkin pie" sugar cookies! My kids won't eat pumpkin pie but they will eat cookies that LOOK like pumpkin pie! :)Then we headed over to the zoo in the afternoon. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL out and hardly anyone else was there.YES...Dallin has another black eye. This is his 2nd one so far since he has been on track break. ( I really don't beat him...I promise!) We had fun playing in all of the beautiful leaves and tried not to get too stressed keeping track of all of our kids. I think between all of us we had 16 kids running wild!......crazy Mormons.

Finally, it was the night we have been waiting for...NEW MOON! 17 of us met over at Edwards around 9:30 and we chatted and laughed until midnight. The movie was FABULOUS! I wish I had taken more pictures....I may steal a few from my friends once they post theirs.

After watching the movie it is 100% confirmed. TEAM JACOB for me!!! What a fun day! I don't think I actually fell asleep last night until 4:00am because I was so wired from watching the movie!

Good thing I was a fun mom yesterday because today I was too exhausted to do anything!

We're thankful for.....

It's that time of year again! We have a tradition in the Starnes home of making our thankful turkey every year. Tonight for FHE we learned the words to the song "Count your Many Blessings" and then we wrote down some things we are thankful for and put them up on our bird. Nate drew the face on this year......it looks like a very worried turkey this year.

Here are a few of the things we were thankful for:

Dallin: friends, family, all of the air (...as opposed to SOME of the air??), life, vacation, Jesus, food and church

Parker: Grandma's house, the pond that we drive the remote control boat in, Mom, bananas, and the Dad's job

Landon: scribbles interpreted as brothers, family, water.

Mom: ALL of my boys, temples, callings, friends and family

Dad: Mom, Dallin, Parker, Landon, fruit, health, having a good job

As we closed out our family evening of love and bonding Parker said the closing prayer. These are his words exactly: "Heavenly Father, please bless us that we can have a good night and bless us that we won't kill anybody in the name of Jesus Christ amen."

Parker is such a turkey sometimes.

Cyclo-cross Race #1

Today we spent the majority of our morning FREEZING to death! Nate raced in his very first cyclo-cross race over at Sandy Point. I think the temperature was about 25 degrees when the wind chill was factored in. BRRRR!
I thought I was going to have my husband back during the biking "off season" but apparently I was wrong. Cyclo-cross is basically road bikes pretending to be mountain bikes. They ride on dirt, sand, over stairs, through mud, and up steep hills. They even pick up their bikes and run with them occasionally. It is kind of a hybrid road bike/criterium/BMX thing.
The boys and I pretty much just hung out in the car and cheered every time he rode by. We tried to get out and watch from a different point of view but after about 2 minutes we opted to stay in the heated car. :)
It was fun. Nate took 12th out of 40 people....not bad for a newbie.

Just because......

I'm happy it's Friday today! It has been a long week and I feel like I haven't seen my other half at all.

We've pretty much seen each other in passing every day. Nate has been so good about putting the boys to bed almost every night and not complaining at all while I am out couponing, doing the YW thing, or getting some girl time in. I'm so lucky to have him.

I'm pretty much obsessed with him....can't you tell from this picture?

The List

Dallin is off track for the next 3 weeks. I thought I would be a fun mom and have him write up a list of things he and Parker wanted to do to keep us busy. Here is his list: My favorite item on the agenda would have to be "chat with friends" on November 26th SO...if Dallin calls you up on November 26th, not only will he be wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving but he may just want to "chat" as well.

Yesterday we checked off another item on the list by going on our "nature walk" over at the MK Nature Center.

It was such a beautiful and warm day and the kids had a blast playing with the sand and river table. We were the only ones there so we played with it for a good hour or so.

Today was "park" day on the list. We met lots of friends at the park just in time for it to rain. Too bad.

I'm thinking "park" day for Parker meant "lets watch Parker get into as much trouble as possible" day. He dumped the entire container of moon sand on the kitchen floor and proceeded to skate around in it. He smeared toothpaste all over the walls, he threw an ENORMOUS fit when leaving a friends house AND he cut his hair AGAIN.

It looks like his hair is receding like an old mans. This kids drives me NUTS!

Is it really only day 3 of track break? We've got a looooooong way to go.

Costumes....again??

Wasn't Halloween LAST weekend? So WHY are the Starnes boys dressed in costumes yet again??

Tonight was the annual fund raiser at Dallin's school. The school had a "Lords and Ladies Ball" and the kids were invited to dress up. Might I introduce Sir Dallin the knight, Parker the Dragon and the small yet feisty King Landon.

Nate and I just stood back and laughed as we watched our 3 amigos at the dance tonight. When we got there they all just stood together in a little group and watched everyone else dance....such wallflowers! When Cotton Eyed Joe came on Parker's little head started bobbing, Dallin started in with some sweet robot moves and Landon started jumping all over the place. I WISH I had a video camera to capture the moment. After that, we couldn't get them to STOP. (I think Nate and I have the same problem when it comes to dancing!)

It was a fun night until our little king had a royal meltdown.

A sweet little moment....

Nothing warms my heart like seeing my boys snuggled together in the same bed covered in Grandma EE blankets. (They do this almost every night even though we DO tuck them into their own beds!)

I love how Dallin's arm is resting on Parker. It's almost like he is looking out and protecting his younger brother even while they are sleeping.
Tender moment....had to capture it.