Thanksgiving 2013

We enjoyed Thanksgiving this year at my parent's house.

It was pretty small with our family and the Ross', but it was absolutely perfect.

I was either too busy helping with food...or maybe I was being lazy...

but, I have just a few pics to show of the day.

My mom's beautiful table...

Jack eating his staple feast of Mac N' Cheese.

I may have not gotten a picture of my family this day...

but, I got this darling one of our dinner partners.

Hello, Ross Family!

The afternoon looked like this...

with the cousins all crashed, watching the Wizard of Oz with Grandma Jackie (again).

Daddy Daughter Pheasant Hunting

It's almost been a year since my sisters and I gave my dad this for Christmas...

It was a date to the Duck Club, with us and our papa.

Finally...it happened!

He took us up for the opener of the Pheasant Hunt...and man, oh man, was it an experience!

He bought us all new boots...matching sweatshirts and hats!  To say it was something I will never forget is an understatement. We rarely have the opportunity to hang out with my dad like this...and it was really cool to be in his world for the weekend.

We got up to the club just in time for appetizers and to meet the guys of the Chesapeake!

My dad treated us to chips and salsa and some edamame at the trailer before we headed over to the clubhouse. He's the cutest.

We met all his peeps, and had ourselves a fine time.

We even earned ourselves an invite to the after-party at the ritziest place of the Chesapeake.

Here we are living it up on the deck as we admired the view of the marsh.

 

We hung out and laughed back at the trailer until bedtime, where Annie and I shared a bed and giggled some more.

We were awoken at 6am by the smell of breakfast and the sound of my dad clunking around in the kitchen.

He made us bacon, eggs, croissants, fruit, etc.

I could not love this man more.

We got geared up, and we were off to find our hunting spot.

Surprising I know...but, us girls aren't licensed hunters...so, we were more along for the ride, and to admire my dad in his element.

He shot his limit in hardly any time, and we were in awe of his never missing a bird!

Selfie.

He decided to bend the rules a bit, and let us all take a shot at a bird.

Turns out, none of us are a very good shot.

We all missed.

I even missed when I tried to shoot one that was still on the ground!

That one was close.... at least, that's what my sweet dad made me think!

We kept busy idolizing my dad, and pretending to not be girly.

Annie and I took his mini-truck out for a spin...

We're totally legit.

We went back to the trailer, where my dad cooked up the pheasants...what a man's man!

After, we headed over to the clubhouse for lunch before we made the trek back home.

It was such a wonderful time being with my sisters and dad.  We had a lot of laughs, and learned things about my dad that I'll never forget.

It was reconfirmed to me that, my dad is a really really really great guy.

And we're all incredibly lucky that he's our dad.

I can't wait for another excuse to hang with him!

Halloween 2013

I almost have to gear up just as much to write this post as I did for the actual Halloween holiday.

There's a lot of pressure around these parts for the day of Halloween...considering it's practically celebrated 365 days of the year at our house.  

Jack had picked out his costume idea weeks ago when he found a YouTube video of someone making a very ornate and totally awesome mummy costume.  In true Jack form...he had to put his own twist on it, and decided he wanted to be a Mummy Zombie.

We worked together to make his costume...tearing, tea dying, tying, etc.....

He was right with me the entire way through the creative process.

The thing that sold me instantly on the costume, was that he got to wear white tights and a white turtleneck as his base layer.

I mean, check out this physique!

Hahahahahahahaha!

When we realized how cool the costume was going to be...I decided to have Tucker be the same thing.

On Halloween morning, we had to be at preschool by 9am...so, we started the day EARLY in order to have him wrapped and ready in time.

It was a labor of love, that's for sure.

And, here we have it!

We were both super pleased with the result.

I gotta give it to Jack...when he has a vision...it's usually something AMAZING.

I got to help in his class for his Halloween party, and it was so fun to see my little mummy zombie in action.

I think he needs to dress like this every day.

Jack's costume was definitely the highlight of Bear Hollow.

We came home, took a costume break and nap...and then it was time for Round 2.

Back went on the costume, and this time Tucker got to join in the fun.

It was quite the feat to get Tucker wrapped at all, so we nixed the head wrapping and sprayed his crazy hair white.

Getting a picture of the two of them that wasn't blurry was an even harder feat.

We started at Annie's house where we ate dinner and did some trick or treating.

We took a detour to the Halloween House (a totally over-the-top) house here in Lehi that we have visited nearly every day of October, on our way up to Alpine.

When we finally arrived in Alpine, 

this was waiting for us...

Jack did a little more trick or treating, and we hung out with the gang for a while.

In the meantime, Tucker ate waaaaaaaay too much candy.

We came home so exhausted and so tired of dealing with mummy wrapping, that it was officially time for Halloween to end, and our regular day-to-day zombie/skeleton worshiping to resume.

Halloween Partying

Leading up to Halloween, we had all sorts of opportunities to celebrate.

Because I wasn't ready to have the boys burn out of their costumes for this year before Halloween even came...we resurrected a few costume pieces from year's past.

At our ward party, Judge Hopkins came back from the grave... and boy, was he in fine form.

(this photo was 100% Jack's idea)

Tucker was quite content as Plex for the evening.

A couple of days before Halloween, we were able to celebrate up in Alpine at a party with the Jones'.

Laurel had endless activities planned from pumpkin carving, to doughnut eating contests, cookie decorating, and more.

Jack was a "Bones Zombie Ghost" (in his words), and he had a mighty fine time instructing Brett on his carving.

The party was even more of a treat because DeEtte and Grayson were in town...

and boy were they patriotic!

Tuck and Grayson kept themselves busy planning their next trouble making scheme.

Zombie Nurse (Tiffany), Gypsy (Laurel), and Brynne

Tucker had a few too many ghost marshmallows...

My kids are lucky to have such a fun loving grandma.

Cookie decorating with Ethan.

It's a never ending holdiay...let me tell you!