Utah

I got to go see the New Moon movie with the Sutton sisters at midnight since Amy and Allison's sister Jennie bought out a whole theater and sold the tickets to whoever wanted to go. I've seen a few midnight movies, and this was the best way to see one - we didn't have to wait in line, and our theater didn't have a bunch of giggly, screaming little girls in it. Thanks, Allison, for advertising your extra tickets!

But I couldn't celebrate a Twilight event without my beautiful friend Ashley Bailey:

So on Friday, November 20th we drove up to Tremonton so I could see the movie with her on Saturday.

Before the movie we took a walk with the kids around the neighborhood. Then we decided to get pizza and let the kids bowl:

This was the first time my kids had been bowling, and they loved it.

We went home and rested for a bit before Ashley and I drove down to Ogden to see the movie. She chose the Ogden theater because it has assigned seating, which meant we didn't have to stand in line. Such a good idea! Las Vegas needs a theater like this.

It was so nice to see the Bailey's again. I wish they didn't move so far away. Thanks for the fun trip, Ashley. I'll see you next summer!

Birthday Trip

Rebecca turned five on November 22, so after our trip to Tremonton, Kevin and I packed up again, left the boys at home, and took Rebecca to Disneyland to celebrate her birthday.

I don't ever remember seeing Disneyland decorated for Christmas when I was younger. We finally got to see it this year, and I loved the decorations, especially at Small World.

We ate dinner at Ariel's Grotto where Rebecca got to meet all of her favorite princesses.

I'm pretty sure they have two or more people dress up as the same character. For instance we've seen two different Snow Whites. But the Jasmine Rebecca got to see at dinner was the same Jasmine she met back in June:

I think this girl is so perfect as Jasmine, and I love her cute picture poses.

It was nice to spend some time with just Rebecca since her younger, more high-maintenance brothers get most of the attention when they're around.

I love you, Baby Girl. I hope you had a fun birthday at Disneyland!

Utah Again

After Disneyland, we came home, did a lot of laundry, and packed up again to spend Thanksgiving in New Harmony, Utah. After a week of lots of driving, we took it easy for the first couple of days of this trip. We planned on doing early morning Black Friday in St. George again this year, but when the alarm went off, I told Kevin I didn't want to get up, and I'm pretty sure he was okay with that.

We did get up a little later that day to go snowboarding in Brian Head. It had been six years since the last time I was on a snowboard, so I had a few wrecks during this trip. I came home with two bruised knees, sore palms, and a shiner on my face. (I won't be posting any pictures of those injuries.) But I am grateful to have a hobby again, and I'm grateful to have babysitters an hour away from Brian Head so that I can really enjoy that hobby.

I didn't take any pictures on this trip because I was sitting on the couch most of the time, but we did get a video of Braden's favorite thing to do on this visit:

This kid loves attention from his cousins.

What a great week of trips!

No More He-Man

We love the new haircut, Bryan!

A Welcome Site

Especially after seeing a lot of this:

Ten Year Reunion, Round 2

Kevin had his 10 year high school reunion for Banana, I mean Bonanza High School on October 24. This thing was planned so quickly that three weeks before the 24th at my reunion we were talking about how Kevin probably wouldn't even have a reunion. And I hope Stephanie doesn't read my blog because I would have to say that this reunion was better than Chaparral's.

Kevin's reunion was not only planned in less than three weeks - it was cheaper than my reunion, it was held at the Turnberry Towers Stirling Room which was gorgeous, it offered an awesome three course dinner that was served to us, and the organizers got tons of free stuff donated for raffles and table games which were a lot of fun. I think the drinks were more expensive at Kevin's reunion, but that didn't bother me because I don't drink. I actually think even this made his reunion better because people didn't seem as drunk at his reunion as they did at mine.

I forgot my camera, so I stole some pictures from Carrie's blog (thanks, Carrie).

Kevin still sees most of his friends from high school quite a bit. They are a fun group of guys.

The girl in the black dress planned this event, and she did an amazing job.

Amy, Carrie, and I were the only wives that came. Dave's wife just had a baby the week before, so she had an excuse for not coming, but I really would have liked to have seen the other wives.

We had a great night, and I'm glad that someone finally stepped up and planned this.

Halloween Week

I love Halloween. I think it is starting to take Thanksgiving's place as my favorite holiday.

Our Halloween week started on Monday with Rebecca's Dance or Treat party with Mrs. Stephanie.

The girls got to dress up in their costumes for dance class, and they had to dance to get their treats from Mrs. Stephanie. Rebecca loved this last year, and she was so excited to do it again this year.

Then Friday was our Trunk or Treat. I didn't get any pictures from it, but it was a great party. Kevin and I dressed up, but no one could tell. We were trying to be these two:

I wore a headband and earphones, but people just thought I was being anti-social. Kevin only spiked his hair for his costume. I guess that's what we get for being lazy dresser-uppers. I kept thinking all week, "I should go buy a long brown wig for my costume." I never did, and hence no one was aware we were even in costume. Maybe we'll try harder next year.

To celebrate Fall, Rebecca's preschool class went on a field trip to the Gilcrease Orchard in North Las Vegas. She got to pick out a pumpkin to take home from the trip. On Halloween morning, Kevin helped her carve it for our Halloween party that night.

We had this Black Cat pumpkin stencil, and Kevin let her do most of the hole-poking so that he could carve it.

We took her pumpkin to my brother Travis's annual Halloween party. The cousins always have cute costumes for this fun event:

As always, my brother put hay bales on his trailer for trick or treating:

The kids love this because they can climb on whenever they get tired of walking, and the adults love this because they don't have to walk at all. We just send the kids up to the doors and watch from the trailer.

And now we have plenty of candy to eat for a while. What a great holiday!