What Could Be Better...

...than wearing pajama pants, five pairs of socks and rubber boots while holding Daddy's umbrella and standing in the deepest mud puddle in the entire backyard?

Apparently, not much!

Angels We Have Heard on High

The season of Christmas programs began last Thursday when the second and third graders presented "Angels We Have Heard on High." It was a great program and we were thankful my parents could enjoy it with us. As we walked out to the car, Allie exclaimed, "That was FUN!" She absolutely loves to sing and smiles the entire time!

Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter!

Although Phil isn't especially fond of all the leaves that fall in our yard every autumn, the kids sure love to play in them!

And, in less than three weeks, things changed from autumn to winter! Brrr!

I do believe frost has a beauty all its own.

Thanksgiving in Frisco

On Wednesday, we headed for the hills! We stayed in a condo in Frisco, CO and had a wonderful time. There was a hill right next to our condo that was perfect for sledding - the kids had a ball! My favorite part? The roaring fire that Phil kept going all day long on Thanksgiving. It was so warm and cozy! It was a real treat to enjoy time in the mountains all together. We made a lot of wonderful memories - just one more thing to be thankful for!

More Fun...

On Tuesday, we were able to attend the Grandparents' Day festivities at the kids' school. It was fun to visit the different classrooms and watch their program! Luke really shone when he sang his solo! The kids enjoyed playing outside at recess with their cousins.

Heading East!

Last Saturday morning, we headed East to Colorado to visit my sister and her family. The kids had the entire week of Thanksgiving off from school, so we decided to take a road trip! We broke the drive into two segments - we are just too old to drive straight through - and slept in Utah on Saturday night. We arrived in Denver last Sunday afternoon. The kids were awesome travelers and the weather was perfect for driving. God gave us bright sunny skies the entire way there.

On Monday, we headed to the Museum of Nature and Science with Tami and Cara. It's the fourth largest museum in the United States - so big that we didn't see all of the exhibits! We enjoyed the space exhibit, dinosaurs, animal and mummy exhibits and also took in a showing in the IMAX theater. That was an experience!

When we arrived at Tami's house, Nathan got bundled up and found the patch of snow that hadn't yet melted. He played out there for an hour or so before getting too cold. He came to the door a few times to show us his snowballs - too cute!

"Now this is what I call a snowball!"

The girls didn't spend too much time outside - they were too busy getting to know Cocoa and Gizmo. These dogs are just adorable and so mellow. The girls totally fell in love with them!

After school, we went to watch Joshua's basketball game (he scored 4 points!) and had dinner at Chick-fil-A. Yum! We also spent some time with our friends, Troy and Jill - that is always a treat, too! Our first full day in Denver was very fun!

Back at it...

It's been a long time since I've taken time to update the blog! Things have been busy, but nothing has been too blog-worthy. It's hard to believe that it is nearly Thanksgiving. This year has flown by!

Here's a brief update of our life in the last few weeks:

*The kids finished up their tennis lessons at school this past Tuesday. For six weeks, they stayed after school for an hour long tennis lesson. They enjoyed it, but we're all glad they are over!

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*My mom is recovering from her recent surgery. We are so thankful that she has bounced back so quickly! What a blessing!

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*We have new carpet in our house! I'm still working on getting everything back into the house from the garage. It was a lot of work packing up everything, but it was worth it. The new carpet is much nicer and will hide the dirt and stains more effectively!! (A definite must for our family!)

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*It finally feels more like fall around here. Today we even had a bit of fog. Now it is bright and sunny, and the leaves are falling faster all the time. We'll have a lot of leaves to rake soon, but for now, I enjoy the fall color they add to our yard!

Nathan and Zachary after tennis lessons

Allie, all pretty in pink and ready for bed!

Beth can't get enough of Spinner!

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We are counting the days until we leave for our roadtrip to Denver. Since the kids have the entire week off, we're going to enjoy some time with my sister and her family. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures and stories when we return!