ZOO LIGHTS!

A week or so ago we went with our good friends to Zoo Lights to celebrate Rob's new job! We have made it a family tradition to go see the lights at the zoo and I think this was our third year in a row! The boys loved it as always.

So excited to go in!

Say Cheese!

I love that most of the lights are animated!

Wesley, Carter, and Beckett

Beckett pouting

No more pictures Mom!

Cute Max

Beckett and Me

Wes the goofball

Checking out the animals

Jess and Carter

I don't think Wesley can ever give me a normal smile

The Hubs and I

I'm so glad we were able to keep the tradition going this year. It was great to finally get out and do something Christmasy with the boys.

Thanksgiving!

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving this year! It was a little different than we are used to, but it was a great day spent with our wonderful family and friends! I kicked off the day early with the Human Race 10k. It was FREEZING! My car said 5 degrees when I pulled up to the race. BRRRRRRR! I don't think I have ever been so cold during a run before. My best friend {and favorite running partner} Jessica came down to run it with me! {Thanks again Jess!}

Me and Jess before the race

Our good friends Mike and Trisha joined in the fun as well!

I was in charge of bringing rolls to the Smith's this year. I decided to make my Mom's delicious homemade rolls. It's not Thanksgiving in my book without them! This was my first time making them {my Mom has ALWAYS made them in the past}, and it was a complete disaster in the beginning! My Mom accidentally left out a key ingredient when she emailed me the recipe. Luckily it was an easy fix, it just took twice as long to make them. They turned out perfect though. Aren't they pretty?

My siblings also volunteered me to make my Mom's cream pies...PANSIES! None of them dared to try and since I have made them before, it was automatically my job. They turned out beautifully as well!

3 out of the 5 pies that I ended up making

We ate dinner that day with Rob's family and our good friend Mike came along. The food was delicious and the company was even better! Every year we put together hygiene and school kits for the church's Humanitarian Center. I think it's a great tradition and an even better way of showing gratitude for all that we've been given. After we put the kits together, the kids put on some Thanksgiving costumes and Rob's brother David read a cute Thanksgiving story.

Beckett the Indian

All the kiddos with Dave

Wesley the Pilgram {not really sure what the baton was for?}

Yoshi, Grandpa Smith, Rob, and Beckett

Everyone watching Rob and Dave play their annual piano duets

Thanks again to the Smiths for a fabulous Thanksgiving! After dinner we headed to my grandparents house to eat pie with the Rigby family. It was a good time as always and it was fun to visit with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and Jen's family.

We tried to get a picture of our little family, but the boys weren't really cooperating.

Ok, maybe I was the problem in this picture.

Seriously?!?!

almost there...

This is the best we got :)

Wesley ended up getting a wedgie for not cooperating!

We definitely missed having my parents here for Thanksgiving! It was the first time that I truly missed them since they left. It's comforting to know that my Mom will be back next year, cooking a mouth-watering meal that I can already taste! I know that a lot of people have been doing this, but I just wanted to list a few things that I am grateful for:

* My Family, I honestly don't know what I would do without them!

* My Husband...yes he gets his own line :)

* My amazing friends!

* a healthy body {and the healthy bodies of my family}

* Jesus Christ

* The Gospel

* The Scriptures

* Our warm house

* Trials - This is a big one!

* Diet Coke

* Hot showers

* Our cars

* In-n-out

* Dunford Donuts

Although this past year has definitely been difficult, I have truly seen the tender mercies of the Lord. He has truly blessed our lives and I am grateful for that! I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving as well!

Mission Blog

My parents decided to start a blog to document their mission adventures. If anyone is interested in checking it out, click here. So far, they are loving Chicago and the work they are doing. We are missing them like crazy, but know they are doing the right thing! They have a pretty flexible schedule and have some free time...for now. We get to text and talk to them as often as we would like. The boys love to Skype with them and talk face to face. I can't believe they have already been there for almost 3 weeks! Just 49 more to go :)

Halloween Festivities

I absolutely LOVE Halloween! It is one of my absolute favorite holidays! I don't know what it is, but it makes me giddy inside. Bummer thing is that my husband is the complete opposite, and I usually have to pull his teeth to dress up or even participate in the activities. Our festivities started on Friday with a costume party at the Potter's. We had a great time as always!

Rob and I decided to dress up as my parents this year. I was fortunate enough to snag my Mom's gold cruise dress from the yard sale that we had a couple of months ago. A lightning bolt hit me a couple of days later and I knew that Rob and I had to dress up as my parents. The costumes couldn't have been more perfect!

The inspiration behind the costumes

The final ensemble!

I loved how everything turned out!

On Saturday I made my Mom's famous chili. It is a tradition in my family to eat chili on Halloween. Since my mom was gone this year, I decided to make it for the first time. It turned out delicious! We ended up eating with my sister's family before heading out trick-or-treating. My niece Kendra is such a good sport and tags along with us every year.

The rain started pouring that night the minute we started eating dinner. To say I was a little upset is an understatement! Lucky for us, shortly after we finished eating the rain let up a little and we decided it was now or never. It continued to sprinkle the whole time we were out, but it wasn't too bad. The boys had so much fun! They ran from house to house and couldn't get enough of it! It made my heart happy!

After trick-or-treating we made our usual stops at my Grandparents house and at Rob's parents house.

My cute nieces

Savanah and Jacob

When we got home, we were even lucky enough to Skype with my parents before taking off our costumes. It was weird not having them here. My mom is also a huge fan of Halloween! I think that's where I get it from. After talking to them, it was rough to get the boys calmed down. They definitely had a sugar high! All in all, it was a GREAT Halloween!

Gardner Village

Last week Wesley's Preschool class went on a field trip to Gardner Village to see the witches. Beckett and I were lucky enough to tag along. They even got to dress up in their costumes for the afternoon.

My little Spidey and Superman

Gardner Village has a Witch Scavenger Hunt that you can do. You have to walk around and find all the witches on the sheet and then the bakery gives you a cookie. The kids did it and had a blast!

Wesley's class

Peter Parker

Eating cookies...Yum!

Pumpkin Carving

Every year during the week of Halloween we spend our family night carving pumpkins. The year of Wesley's first Halloween, our friends invited us over to their house and we ate one of Papa Murphy's Jack-o-lantern Pizzas while carving. I thought it was such a cute idea that I decided to keep it a tradition. So every year we carve pumpkins and eat pumpkin pizza! This year we decided to include Rob's parents in the fun. They actually grew pumpkins for the boys in their own garden, so we had to go there anyways to pick them out. We had such a great time!

Dinner

Beckett with his pumpkin

I was so proud of the boys for scooping out their own pumpkins this year. Normally Wesley won't go near the goop!

Rob helping Wesley get the last few seeds out.

Beckett kept saying "Eeeewwwww! Gross!"

Rob and Beckett with his finished pumpkin

Wesley practicing drawing spiders for his pumpkin

Beckett and Me

The Finished Products:

{From L to R: Wesley's, Rob's, Beckett's, Mine}