January/February - Snow, Snow, and more Snow

December

Christmas 2011

November

November was a pretty low key month.

We had a super great Thanksgiving though. Our friends Rob and Nayara and their three kids came up from Utah and spent Thanksgiving with us. And I have to say that our Turkey was the BEST turkey I have ever had - EVER. I don't even really like turkey that much, but this turkey was falling off the bone - it was super tender (I hate that word) and juicy. And I think it was so good, sort of by accident, but I want to write down what I did, so that I remember to try it again next year.

Turkey Prep:

Day before Thanksgiving I decided to prep the huge 22 lb bird. I have serious anxiety about touching raw meat/poultry - it's so gross!!! So I wanted to get it out of the way, so I could enjoy Thanksgiving. It was still pretty frozen, so I took it out of the packaging and soaked it in cold water for about 5 hours (I really think that is what made it so juicy). So then, Nayara and I prepped the turkey by rubbing softened butter (with a bunch of spices mixed in it and 4-5 cloves of minced garlic) in between the skin and meat of the turkey. I put a cut up apple, onion, and celery in the middle of the turkey, then we put it in a turkey bag and put it in the fridge until the next morning when I put it in the fridge. Pretty simple - but something in that equation made the turkey amazing - pretty sure it was the soaking.

Too bad I didn't take any pictures of the kids. Brandon and Ally got along perfectly! Bridger and Sophia totally acted their age :-/ and baby Devin cried a lot - poor Nina. It was so much fun to have them here. We are so lucky to have so many amazing friends.

Usually when I decide to post anything on our blog, I basically just look at what pictures we took to remember what we did. The only pictures I have are pictures a friend took on her iphone from a service project we did as a family with some of our great friends. The service project was called Rake-up Boise and it was really great to do something to help our community - especially with the whole family. So here are a few pictures of that.

October

October

Okay, last month to catch up on. Sheesh, I really just need to do this once a month or something. I really am just keeping up this blog for my own benefit, it's sort of like a journal and I'm hoping one day we'll print it out and voil à it will be a journal with pictures.

October was fun and busy. I can't believe how much of my day goes away just from driving the kids to and from school - blah! I started going to a fun book club with some interesting new people. I sort of feel like the dumbest of the bunch, but I love being there, I just don't contribute much - I hope I just pass off as a quiet thoughtful intellectual or something, not sure I pull that off. Why is it that just about every time I open my mouth I say something silly or if I try to say something smart I fumble over my words? Anyway, I am enjoying that. I've also been volunteering in Brandon's class at school. I love doing that. I also just love that when I come, Brandon blows me kisses and gives me hugs. He is the best!

We did some spooky Halloween things this year. It was such a great year for Halloween, Brandon isn't really too scared anymore and Bridger is brave, but from a distance. We went to a haunted forest for the kids and it was perfectly creepy, but just a little too creepy for Bridger (although the next day he told us he wasn't scared at all and that he really wanted to go again - brave from a distance=so cute!) We also had to walk by a house in our neighborhood that had some pretty scary decorations a least 3 times a week, for a couple weeks. Bridger loved it. Ben and I went to a fun Halloween party, I didn't take any pictures and my makeup was kind of awesome too :( I just went as a gypsy and Ben just went as a Roman (toga) - can you tell that I went for cheap and easy? We rarely ever dress up, but it was so much fun.

A friend of Ben's from Utah moved to Boise a week or so before Halloween, so they came over to trick or treat with us. So that was pretty fun. Brandon and Bridger had a blast trick or treating. I loved those days when I was little.

So, to sum up the past few months - they have been FULL and they have been wonderful.

BOO!

The kids seemed to enjoy dressing up a lot this month.

(On a side note: I finally got rid of our Winnie the pooh costume :( both kids wore that for 2 Halloweens each. But Bridger outgrew it this year and there was really no reason to keep it, but it made me sad.)

Brandon was really good at getting into character.

Cute little Thomas the train.

September

September

We took the last of our tennis lessons in September :( (at least, until next year). I made a few friends during the lessons, so maybe next year Ben and I will play mixed double or something with them.

Bridger started preschool. His teacher's name is Miss Tia and he reminds me that her name is Miss Tia, not Miss Quesadilla. He LOVES her.

It was also Brandon's 7th birthday. We had a fun party at our house for his birthday. We played a scavenger hunt/clue game, where at the end they found a bag of money, then they all split the money and used it at Brandon's little store, where they bought fun little party favors that Brandon picked out, we also had a piñata, and of course, cake and pop.

Here is Bridger ready for his first day of preschool.

Brandon's 7th Birthday

We hand 10 kids at his party. It was actually great, but I stressed like crazy about this party.

When I was asking Brandon what kind of cake he wanted, he said he wanted to see some cakes on the computer to choose. When I looked up cakes, there were a ton of wedding cake pictures and just about every cake he wanted either was covered in candy or was a 4 tier wedding cake. It was so funny to me that he wanted a wedding cake. I told him there was no way I could make a big tall cake like that, he seemed a little disappointed, so, I made him a 2 tier candy cake. He loved it :)

Some of my friends and I went down town and took a fun art class. It was awesome. I haven't done something like that in a long time.

This is just a picture of a bbq I went to, but another cool thing we did this month is we went to a Star party. A couple of friends I do yoga with told me about it. I'd never heard of a Star party before, but it was really cool. I guess it's kind of a nerdy party, but I loved it. Everyone just brings their telescopes (if you have one) and you can look at different stars and planets and stuff. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved it. There were a few of the husbands that were really into it, so that made it fun because they knew what the stars were called and all of that. It was new and interesting.

August

During August we spent a lot of time swimming, playing tennis, and going to a lot of the great local markets that have around here.

The highlight of the month was going to Bear Lake for our annual friends reunion. We always have such a great time together. We leave every year feeling so lucky to have such amazing friends.

After Bear Lake, we came home and our days were packed before school started. We all went to the dentist and the kids had their doctor check-ups. Brandon went to climbing camp. We went to the Western Idaho Fair - which was SO fun. I love the fair! And we celebrated both Bridger and Ben's birthdays!! Brandon started 1st grade on Ben's birthday. It was hectic, but fun.

(All of these Bear Lake pictures were taken by our friend Melissa. I am so glad that not only are these pictures beautiful, but that she took so many. I don't think we took a single picture.)

So cool to see a picture like this, with so many of our kids together.

Meridian Urban Market. In the background is our favorite food truck. YUM!

Brandon at rock climbing camp.

Happy 4th Birthday Bridger!

Bridger wanted to go to a place called Pojo's for his birthday. He loves it there!

Something that is worth noting this Summer too, is that Brandon learned how to swim!!!!!!! He learned just 2 weeks before our pool closed, so hopefully it won't take much for him to remember how next year.

We have a few friends that also have August birthdays, so we kind of did a combo birthday for Ben and some other friends. We went to Eagle Island Park. It was fun, and then it started pouring :(, and then it stopped and it was even better because most everyone went home, but a lot of us stayed and the kids got the slide pretty much to themselves.

Ben's Birthday and Brandon's first day of First Grade.

We went out to breakfast to celebrate.