Nov 20 - 26

Monday, November 20 - Ricki asked me to help her with her homework from preschool and make a hand turkey. It's a little risque (didn't help her with the "turkey breasts") but she was super proud of it when we finished.

Tuesday, November 21 - The Howard sisters got together with dad for our annual Daddy-Daughter Christmas Shopping for Mom Date. It's one of my favorite dates of the year!

Wednesday, November 22 - Look at all these cute pilgrims and Indians! There were school Thanksgiving celebrations going on everywhere today!

Thursday, November 23 - Happy Thanksgiving!! Our family has so much to be grateful for! We loved spending the day with our family. Now, I need to go lie down. I feel a turkey coma coming on...

Friday, November 24 - Jenni and BJ went out of town for the night for their anniversary so we got an extra couple of cute girls to hang out for the night. Zack's favorite food is cinnamon rolls and although I love the simple Pilsbury ones, I thought it was time I try to make them myself. They weren't honestly my favorite but the kids loved them so it was a win!

Saturday, November 25 - Simon and I got the amazing opportunity to see the play "Elf" at the new Eccles Theater. It was such a cute play! They did a really good job. I enjoyed a date night out with my hubby very much!

Sunday, November 26 - Do you see the light that is on at the top of the strand? Do you see the light that is OFF at the bottom of the picture?? Well, we spent over an hour trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with this section of our tree lights. Luckily, I married an electrically intelligent man and he finally figured it out and got the tree lit! Christmas is coming!!

Nov 13 - 19

Monday, November 13 - Oh man! All of my Christmas ideas keep getting shut down! Without saying what my plan was, mom bought Jenni, Katie, and I my idea for her and Jenni! Then, I came up with a second **ahhhmazing** idea for Jenni and I've been waiting until Black Friday to buy it - an InstantPot. Well, her new boss called her and told her to come pick one up from her. So...now I need to come up with a new idea! Are you wondering what this pic is about then? Jenni bought this boom box for Ricki for Christmas but unfortunately, she already has one. Guess I'm not the only one who's ideas sometimes don't pan out. :) 

Tuesday, November 14 - I never get a picture of Aunt Jean's nails. I have been doing them for over a year now and they always look so beautiful. She started with French tips, moved on to a sparkly pink, and now has a beautiful brown sparkle for fall. I love doing her nails because it gives me time to sit and visit with her. 

Wednesday, November 15 - I know Christmas is quickly approaching but we couldn't wait. Ricki got new black boots. She's such a diva, she wanted a picture in her new boots on her way into preschool. I just love this girl so much!!

Thursday, November 16 - I took these pictures at Sam's Club because I had Marisa who wanted one of Sam's cute new Christmas shirts and Amie who needed Thanksgiving plates. I chuckled to myself that despite being out to lunch with Gma Sharon and Gpa Jim then spending the afternoon with my two littlest of darlings, the only pictures I took were these to send to my friends. :) 

Friday, November 17 - Simon took today off because he is about to start losing his PTO for being maxed out. He and I needed to make final wall plans for the basement so we spent a lot of the day downstairs laying things out. Dave came over to give us his professional opinion as well! Around 2:00, my head started to ache and I got really tired. I had felt a little worn out all day but it got worse and worse until at 4:30, I had to go lay down. By 6:30, I began vomiting. By 10:00, I had thrown up 5 times! I was up every hour to hour and a half in the night until about 5:00 am. Plans for this weekend have suddenly been thrown out the window! :( 

Saturday, November 18 - My little scout braved the cold and went on an overnight camp out with the 11-year-old scouts. I felt okay about it because they were only 4 doors down at the Moon's house. However, being that I was awake most of the night, I worried all night that he was freezing cold. However, he came home this morning happy as could be and said that he had a blast! He said the only time he got cold was before they went to bed. Once he was in his sleeping bag, he was toasty warm! 

Sunday, November 19 - I woke up this morning still not feeling well. I am achy, weak, and don't want to eat anything because my stomach is still protesting. Because of that, I didn't make it to church, family dinner with the Pearson's, or Nick's special Priesthood Preview. All I have done today is lie on the couch, catch up in my journal, and now post on my blog. I do feel a little better and ate a PB&J - just to get some protein in me. I've had enough of being sick in the past two weeks and hope that this is the end of it for a while for me!

Nov 6 - 12

Monday, November 6 - The beginning of Simon's "Day Off Project". When we moved into this house, the home inspector mentioned that we really needed to get a bathroom fan installed in our master bathroom. Why the builder didn't do it is beyond me! Anyway, Simon spent his entire day off installing a fan - which included spending a lot of time up in our yucky nasty attic! I'm pleased to report that it is in, working, and looks like it has always been there! Love having a handyman around!

Tuesday, November 7 - Remember those cookies I made last week for the Tai Pan photo shoot? Well, here are the pictures that Tai Pan will use for the layout. It's super fun seeing my creation in a professional photo shoot!

Wednesday, November 8 - I have been pretty sick this week since Sunday so today, while I was out running some very necessary errands, I stopped and treated myself to a Jamba Juice. I thought an extra kick of Vitamin C would help!

Thursday, November 9 - I just can't say enough about this picture! This is Amie with her brand new garage door opener and house key!! She has been through hell and back to get to this point and I could not be more proud of her for reaching this very important goal in her life! She is amazing, strong, and a great example to me of love and perseverance. All she wants is what is best for her little family and she is on the right path! Way to go and congratulations Amie! You deserve this!!

Friday, November 10 - The kids' school put on a wonderful program today for Veteran's Day. Miss Sharp put a ton of time and effort into this program and it was spectacular. Some of the kids and even a couple of faculty members got up and spoke about their family members that have served. It was so neat to see these men and women in the audience stand as their stories were read. The sixth grade (Nick) did a flag salute and held flags lining the hallway coming into the gym then bordered the room with those flags for the whole program. The fourth grade (Kendra) sang songs to honor the Veterans. They even had the second grade write thank-you notes to the service men and and women in the audience and each of them received one during the program. It was just so neat and I was thankful I went and got to be a part of it!

Saturday, November 11 - First of all, Happy Veteran's Day to the men and women that have fought and continue to fight for my freedom! What a special day to reflect on all I have and all that some have given to make it possible! Yesterday was David's birthday so the family met at Red Robin today for lunch to celebrate. We love our Grandpa Dave! Later this afternoon, Simon and Kendra went on Trax (which ended up being an adventure) to the U of U game. It took an extra hour to get there, thanks to a rollover crash on the Trax line, but they had lots of freezing cold fun once they got there!

Sunday, November 12 - I had this brilliant idea back when we were buying pumpkins for Halloween. I was going to spray paint some pumpkins white, add a monogram letter, and deliver them to my visiting teaching and Simon's home teaching families. Well, I have an appointment with Erin tomorrow at 10 am so today seemed as good a day as any to get my little gift ready. :) 

Oct 30 - Nov 5

Monday, October 30 - For family night, we carved our pumpkins. This is always fun and an activity the kids look forward to every year. Ricki got a kick out of putting her hands in the pumpkin "goo". 

Tuesday, October 31 - Happy Halloween! It was a busy day. We started at Ricki's preschool for her class Halloween program. Right from there, we went to Zack's class to run his Halloween party. As soon as that was over, we went outside to school Halloween parade and watched the kids pass in their costumes. Kendra's class party was right after the parade so we headed there and helped with the craft. (I did send supplies to help with Nick's class but I couldn't be at Nick and Kendra's parties at the same time.) Tonight, Kenny, Katie, and Kam came over for dinner and to go Trick-or-Treating with us. Unfortunately, they missed Nick who had already left the house with a big group of friends...which I love! Simon, Katie, and Kenny took the kids around while I stayed home handing out candy. It was a super relaxing and fun evening for me! :) Right before bedtime, Dave & Viv came by to see the kids and all their candy. I love Halloween!! 

Wednesday, November 1 - Andrea, Tammy, and I spent a few hours today setting up the lighting and decorations for Young Women in Excellence. It turned out really nice and I think the girls had a lot of fun!

Thursday, November 2 - Sometimes I find a nail idea on Pinterest and it doesn't turn out that cute. But sometimes...it does! I did these and really love how they turned out. Yay!

Friday, November 3 - Grandma Sandi is the best! Plus, she's always trying to win brownie points with Zacky - he's a tough shell to crack. :) She brought him this awesome Lego Batman costume for next year and he LOVES it!

Saturday, November 4 - Ricki and Kendra have been in need of haircuts for weeks now! We finally made it over to Ricki's best friend, Penney's for haircuts.

Sunday, November 5 - How lucky am I to get to work with these wonderful ladies in young women's? I love and look up to each one of them!