Thanksgiving Food and Family

On Thanksgiving we made rolls (and got covered with flour)

took random pictures

taste tested the olives

and played dress up with cousins (Zeke was the dragon).

It was a wonderful day of family and food and gratitude. 

Novembrrrr

It's turned frigid! I don't remember it being this cold in November before. The good news is the sun is still warm and it's not too bad when the wind isn't blowing. I've been doing my fair share of whining about the cold....but that doesn't stop us from trying to get out and about, at least a little bit! 

Gorgeous sunrise in Salt Lake. 

Nora is completely adorable in her winter wear. She loves it all. Not pictured here are her new boots, which she loves so much she wears them around the house. 

The kids are excited about winter, at least for now. They are really looking forward to playing in the snow. 

Silly cuties!

Goin' to the Zoo

We planned a fall zoo trip with Dynna and her family and Grandma and Grandpa. As it turned out, Ryan and Aaron had opposite schedules, so instead of going to the zoo together, we had to plan to go to the zoo on the same day and overlap for a couple of hours. 

It was kind of a bummer trip because we missed a bunch of animals we wanted to see. The zebras and ostriches were in the barn for the day. The otters were nowhere to be seen. So we were disappointed in the animal department. But it was wonderful weather and we enjoyed riding the carousel and the train with the rest of the group. 

The kids were super excited about the rhinos. I didn't know they liked rhinos so much! 

The seals put on a good show for anyone who would watch. They were fun. 

One highlight of the trip was the carousel. We had purchased 4 tickets, so the kids each got to go twice. Zeke was so excited to ride the zebra.

And Nora rode the ladybug. It was so dang cute. 

The kids also loved loved loved the little play area. Nora could have slid down the lighthouse all day long. 

The other highlight was the zoo train. Nora could have done that all day too. 

Fun day? Yes. Love our cousins? Yes. But maybe next time we'll just plan to go for a walk and play in the park. . . . .

Halloween Pirates, Matey

We had two awesome treasure-seeking trick-or-treaters this year. 

Zeke's costume really came together nicely. We made the vest from black fleece and it really completed the look. Plus, he had a sword. 

And Nora had her pixie dust puch, her Izzy ponytails, and her pink bandanna. 

And we had to take a picture with the funny-face gourd she made in preschool. 

We had so much fun looking for Halloween treasure. We even came home with gold-wrapped chocolate bars and ring-pop jewels fit for pirate treasure chests!