Thanksgiving Week At Eagle Crest Resort

Thanks to a wonderful mother-in-law, we got to go to a wonderful resort in Eastern OR for our Thanksgiving break. We had a great time recharging our batteries and even got lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving day with our fabulous cousins who live in Washington. It was a lovely week of game playing, crafting, swimming, movie watching, eating out, sleeping in, hiking, geocaching, playing with cousins and riding a horse drawn carriage to see the lights. Our room was right by the playground which was especially great because whenever Ethan felt the need to get out some of his extra energy, he could ride his bike down the little hill into the playground and play for a little bit. I have to say, it beat camping in the cold and rain...although I do love camping in the summer!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, this year we are especially grateful for our health and our little growing family, our extended loving family who supports us through prayers, letters, phone calls, and visits, as well as our ward family here. We are also so thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ which gives us purpose and meaning in this life and reason to look forward to the life to come. The atonement of Christ blesses my life each day as I strive to improve as wife and mother and seem to fall short at too many things....thank goodness we are not expected to be perfect! We are so grateful also for our home and wonderful neighbors. We have been given so many wonderful blessings! This just touches on a few, but ones we have been thinking of lately. We know the Lord is mindful of us as I see his tender mercies in my day to day life as a mother and wife.

Veterans Day Parade

In our town, because there are so many veterans here, the kids get the day off of school and their is a big parade. Since Preston is in scouts, he got to be a part of it this year, and the other kids enjoyed watching. I think this is becoming a tradition for us. They love getting the candy and seeing the trucks and horses.

Happy 4th Birthday to Our Ethan Man

We can't believe our crazy Ethan is finally 4...he has looked big enough for that age for a while! He is still as rambunctious as ever, always throwing, squeezing, jumping or whacking whatever is in his path. It is hard to stay mad at him for long though as he is the first to be there with a big hug and slobbery kiss, saying he love you as much as he can tell. He can talk the ear off anyone willing to listen or hardly respond, and we ware always hoping he doesn't say anything too embarrassing. This little boy is so full of life and brings much joy (and frustration) to our family. We feel so blessed to have him and grateful for the many life lessons he teaches us. Ethan is quick to forgive and is usually better at making friends than enemies with his contagious laugh and love for life. He always knows when I need a kind word or helping hand. He is especially good in the kitchen with me. As you can see from the picture below, he was helping me make his cake and we had fun piping frosting stars on his fingers for his enjoyment. He wanted a truck cake again this year...I think we improved the design from the last time. Ethan is happy to be four!

End of Soccer Season

Preston has had a great soccer season! I think, luckily he has his dads sports ability and really loves playing soccer. He is good on both sides of the field due to being ambidextrous with his feet. Prestons team won the 3rd grade championship this fall which was very fun for them. They came a long way from the start of the season. Preston is a great team player and enjoys being with his friends. His coach and others have tried to convince him to do the traveling team, but for this age, we are happy to just do soccer for one season of the year and do a few other fun things like scouts and piano...that is about all the running around we can handle at this point.

Our Halloween Costumes

The kids decided we should all be super heros this year for Halloween since the boys already had their costumes. I was going to make Sylvia and Briana capes, but then we found a great deal on the pink poodle costume for Briana...so she ended up being the superhero dog. Briana loved the poodle costume and wore it the whole week before Halloween, with Sylvia carrying her all over pretending she was her dog. The ward had a fun trunk-or-treat for the kids and the donuts on a hook (done by the young men) was pretty funny to watch. Preston and Sylvia also had class parties at school which was fun for them. It was a great Halloween which ended in our traditional delivering of "spudnuts" to the neighbors...as well as collecting too much candy from them as well. Out kids are the only ones that trick or treat to our neighbors because of where we live, so they get the whole bowls of candy to themselves as well as king sized candies and money. Fun for us and the neighbors I think.

Pumpkin Carving

This year we decided to carve our pumpkins with some friends. There were lots of seeds and guts, but the kids did great. Sylvia and Preston carved theirs all by themselves (thanks to safe carving tools). They turned out very cute! The kids always look forward to this tradition, and roasting the seeds of coarse.

Cub Scout Fun Fall Day

Preston has some wonderful cub scout leaders that planned this fabulous day for all the families. We got to go to their house to see goats and chickens, worms composting, make fresh apple cider from their apples, and sample home-made donuts. We had a little rain, but that didn't stop the fun.

Superhero Wrestling

Kruse Farms Pumpkin Patch

Lovin Our Home in Autumn

Things we have loved this fall: Colorful Dahlias on the deck, pumpkins that our neighbors' brother drops off at our house and all along the driveway (he does this every year!), dandelions to use as war paint on Brianas' face, pretty colored leaves and the grass turning green again.