universal studios...harry potter!!

*We celebrated the official day of Thanksgiving with my mom (my dad is still out of the country). The morning started out with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I enjoyed having it on in the background and Kendall seemed especially into it. Maybe it will be a tradition as I know it is for millions of people. :)

Cameron decided to make another train track around the table (he did this as well at my in-laws'). This one, however, was quite special in that one of the cargo trains held our butter. Every time someone needed some butter on their bread, the train was sent around the track. :)

Dessert was a new experiment and has now become a favorite of mine. It was awesome!!!

German Chocolate Upside-Down Cake

*Cameron is excited to announce that he has officially started his own blog. It's a hiking blog and I'm sure he would ADORE it if anyone wants to leave a comment. :)

Cameronshikingblog

*I got half way through putting our outside lights up yesterday. My numb hands drove me inside. :(

*I will find a way to make THIS happen!!

thanksgiving #1

This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving with Chris' parents. It was a quick trip, but fun none the less. :)

The kids helped a lot with the food prep. Here Kendall is getting her hands dirty by helping combine all the stuffing ingredients. 

Wayne got up at 4:00 a.m. to put the turkey on the smoker. Here the kids are helping him check on it soon before the meal.

The feast!

Being outdoors on their property is always a highlight. The kids and I went on a few bike rides around the country roads. Here Chris had taken the kids on an after Thanksgiving feast walk. 

IHOP for breakfast before we take off has been a tradition for a long time. :)

 This morning the kids were SUPER excited to start decorating our home for Christmas. This is one of my favorite days too. :)

p.s. This past weekend my friend, Jana, invited me to a clothing swap party. I come home with two great pairs of jeans (it amazes me that I found two pair when good fitting jeans can be so hard to find!) and several other items. Such an awesome feeling to get super cute clothes for free!!

coconut coffee

*Last week the kids had Veteran's Day off from school. Their request was a trip to IKEA. I let them each pick out something to buy and Kendall chose a stuffed toy. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. It's obviously from the story, Little Red Riding Hood. The weird part is that the little grandma can literally be stuffed inside the mouth of the wolf. The wolf's shirt then opens up so you can take her out of his stomach. Hmm...

*Last night my parents came over for dinner before we all headed to Chris' softball game. My dad leaves this Friday for a missions trip to Africa, so he showed us a very cool cartoon/video telling the, "Creation to Christ" story he had been practicing (which he'll tell to people when there).

*The installer came yesterday to deliver our desk top for the kids' new desk, which Chris' dad made. It looks beautiful and adds so much to our loft. Thanks, Wayne!!

*I tasted the yummiest coffee the other day at Costco. Oh, wow. There was obviously more sugar than coffee in it, which I'm sure is why it was so amazing!

*Last night Kendall's noise machine shut off at 4:30 a.m. She went in and woke Cameron up to help her. She went right back to sleep. Cameron? Not so much.  Thanks, Kendall. :(

family hike

*On Saturday we decided to do an easy family hike, followed by lunch. We've done this same hike numerous times and the kids always enjoy it.

*I just finished up, Killing Lincoln and am now deciding between, Killing Kennedy and Killing Reagan. Sometimes I feel like I don't know enough history, despite loving to learn about it. These books make me feel at least a little smarter. :) I also need to work on current events. If it weren't for Chris filling me in on what is happening in our world, I would be pretty uninformed. :(

*Yesterday we had some friends over to hang out and decorate cookies. I love to bake, but I'm not a huge fan of making fun shaped sugar cookies. They are a lot of work. I cheated and made cake mix cookies, which aren't that tasty, but the kids never seem to mind. :)

numbers

7: Days until I'm allowing myself to dive into Christmas music. Next Saturday we'll be heading up north for an early Thanksgiving, so I figure that will be a great time. Hopefully I can hold off. :)

5: Christmas presents I've bought so far from my list.

4: Tortillas I bought the other day from Cafe Rio. They are the BEST in the world, so Chris and I will sometimes purchase just the tortillas and make our own burritos at home.

5: Time my eyes popped open this morning. Ugh. I even went to bed late last night (10:00!!!) so was hoping to sleep a little later. :(

2: Number of the best buddies in the world. I just adore these two. Yesterday Cam played hooky from sparring class and we decided to take a walk up to a Redbox so they could rent Inside Out.

30: Pounds of chicken we BBQ'd, chopped, and froze yesterday. This should last well into the new year!

4.5: Hours it took to finish above BBQ from start to finish. Well worth it.

charlie brown

*I'm really getting into the whole making coffee at home thing. :) I wish I was more adventurous when it comes to creamers, especially since there are so many fun sounding ones around the holidays. However French Vanilla and Hazelnut are what can most often be found in my fridge.

*I chaperoned Kendall's field trip today to the Living Desert.

*I love doing most anything with my kids...except going to movies at the theater. I typically have zero interest in seeing kid movies and have always made them, "daddy outings". :) Yesterday Chris took them to see the new Charlie Brown movie. He said it was one of the best kid movies he has ever seen, was super clean, and overall a really fun movie.

*Sometimes I let Cam get a donut before our early morning hikes. However knowing we would be hiking for 4+ hours this past weekend, I told him he needed to have a healthy breakfast. But once the hike was done, he definitely deserved a big, fat donut!

*Now that the weather  has turned cold, my motivation for getting up early to work out has turned cold. I'm going to take a few weeks....maybe months...off :)

murray peak

Chris' parents came to visit this past weekend. Chris' dad had built a desk for our loft and the kids were anxious to see it. It is beautiful! Friday night we went out to dinner and then frozen yogurt for dessert.

While it was not late when we returned home, I think a week of early wake ups (thanks to the time change) had taken their toll. :)

On Saturday morning, Cameron and I headed to the desert for another hike with my dad. It was such a fun hike. We had done Murray Hill before, but had not made it to the peak. Cameron REALLY wanted to complete this one, so our goal was to make it to the top. Since it was six miles, we prepared him that it might not happen...but it did!  Here is a 10 second video of us reaching the top.

Usually hiking clubs volunteer to build picnic tables on many of the summits. It's such a great feeling to get to the top and just relax and enjoy the view. :)

Taking a break on the way down...

Here I am reading our directions.  There were numerous "goat trails" around the mountain which can make it difficult to get to where you want to go. :)

We were pooped when we made it back down, but felt so accomplished! I can't wait for the next one!

coffee maker

*Every day (multiple times a day) I make a hot drink. I can't quite describe how comforting it is for me to have a hot mug in my hand. It's usually either hot cocoa or the french vanilla powder. The other day I finally decided to get out our coffee maker and attempt to become an official coffee drinker (meaning someone who makes it each day).

I was somewhat successful, however a couple of times I found some grounds in the bottom of my cup. I'm still working on figuring this out. :)

*Yesterday I watched the Leah Remini interview from last week's 20/20. I have always found Scientology to be very interesting, especially those who have left. I mentioned a while ago reading, Beyond Belief and really enjoying it. I'm thinking I'll probably check out Leah Remini's new book as well.

*I snuck the new Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cup out of the kids' Halloween stash. YUCK! It tastes like chemical peanut butter.

*Speaking of Halloween candy, I decided to store Kendall's in an old casserole dish holder. She quickly turned it into a backpack so she could go trade with the quads across the street. :)

halloween

*Yes!!

*Harry Potter and the cheerleader (we forgot to borrow the glasses/wig from Chris' mom but luckily he didn't mind).

*Love these guys :)

*Yesterday my dad and I went shopping for some hiking boots. For the past couple years, I've only had old tennis shoes that were about five years old. The tread had disappeared and they offered very little support. Here I am attempting to break the new ones in a bit before our hike this weekend.

*Candy I never eat but realized again how good it is (thanks to the kids' Halloween stash): KitKat