Thankful

I'm so sorry that there has been a shockingly low amount of posts in the past several weeks, you will find out why in a second.  But I wanted to just say that this post isn't about Thanksgiving (though a few pictures are here about it) but about how thankful I am for my life.  Though it's crazy (as described below) and busy and all that, really it's a good crazy.  I'm tired and busy because of my work.  Which I love and am so appreciative to have right now cause so many others don't have jobs, and especially ones that they actually like.  I complain about being tired from my travels lately, but really, it's not all that bad.  And my kids, they make me sooo very tired, but seriously, can they be any cuter and loving and adorable?  Nope!  Anyway, I really am thankful for my crazy life.

So since halloween, here is what I/we've been up to - I traveled to Denver for the day, I traveled to San Fransisco for 4 days, I hosted a jewelry party, Fogg went on a 4 day dirt bike trip, I traveled to Boulder, Colorado for 2 days, I traveled to Seattle for a few hours, I got on a plane less than 10 hours later with both kids by myself to visit my dad and grandma in Des Moines, Fogg started a new job, the kids got sick and I worked my fingers to the bone at work, finished off with Thanksgiving skiing and dinner with the Duran's.  *Sigh*

Pictures start a week or so ago, on a Friday night when Nora really wanted to put my boots on.  She actually got a couple of steps in before she fell over.

 I don't get too many pictures of the kids standing next to each other, the usually start walking off before I hit the button, hence why it's blurry.

The next morning, I headed to Des Moines with the kids to visit my grandma, aunt and dad.  Dad drove over from Chicago, my grandma lives with my Aunt Irene.  They have such a comfortable place and we were well taken care of and fed.  The kids immediately started playing with G-Pa.  Here they are playing a game of "belly pop".  The kids would put there heads on his belly and he would push it up and their heads would fly up and they would laugh and then do it again.

 G-Pa got Reed a coloring book but then Reed only wanted G-Pa to color in it.  He just watched.  Nora wanted to check it out.

 We found this picture of my Grandma from 90 years ago and I was shocked how similar Nora looks to this. 

 On our last day there, we went to the mall to run an errand for Grandma and who was in the middle with no line?  Santa!  Reed had to go see him.  So we did, he told santa that he wanted a car.  Good thing we've got that covered already!  He loves Santa, even though we tell him that Santa isn't real, that he is just a character like Spiderman.  We tell him that Christmas is about Jesus being born and that mom and dad give him presents.  But he disagrees and says that Santa gives him presents, that he loves him and asks if he is nice.  Oh well, gotta love the kids enthusiasm!  He isn't shy at all and just loves him.

 After seeing Santa, he went for a train ride.  He was the only kid on the entire train (not much Christmas traffic on a Monday in the mall!).  He smiles and waved at us every time he came around.

 Our first night in Des Moines, we went to a Christmas light display that was a fundraiser for the Make a Wish foundation.  It was a mile loop to see different lights.  Nora lost her shoe sometime during the first half, we noticed too late.  My uncle and cousin went back and miraculously found it!  I pulled Nora up next to Grandma, and though we missed it in this shot, they stared at each other for quite some time.

 Reed liked to play in the backyard on the swings.  Dad takes such nice photos, I just love his face, smile, bright blue eyes.  Love this kid!

Nora likes to be nakey baby, just like her brother.  We were changing her at this time into an outfit that Grandma had worn 90 years ago but let her run around nakey for a bit.

 Reed didn't want to be left out, so wanted his picture taken too.

 Here is Nora in the dress that Grandma wore.  It was very delicate and simply beautiful.  We have a picture of Grandma in the outfit that I'm going to print out and put in a frame with one of these.  Cool huh?  Almost exactly 90 years apart.

 Again, Reed got jealous of the attention and picture taking of Nora above and posed this adorable picture for G-Pa.

 We took some generation pictures.

 Grandma with two of her Great-Grandkids.  She has 38 great grandkids and 2 on the way.

 Four Generations

 I love Nora's curls.  In Utah they don't curl up as much cause it's so dry, but in Des Moines with just a little humidity they curled right up.

 G-Pa gave the kids these little elf ornaments.

 Reed called his "thingy thing" which out of his mouth sounded like "singy sing".

 Nora got into a play purse and put on the pearls and sunglasses and talked on the cell phone.  She was pretty excited about it.

Upon our return on Tuesday morning, Nora got sick with both a cold and a little stomach bug.  She wouldn't throw up everything, just her formula.  I think it might have been a bad can of formula actually.  She seems to be doing better, but she had a few bad times.  Now Reed and I are getting sore throats and feel a tad yucky - luckily not stomach bugs!  Despite that, he went skiing like a champ.  Picked up right where he left off last season.  He skied many more runs than we expected him to.

 

Nora napped at the bottom most of the morning.  It was actually quite warm and sunny, it was nice in the fresh air.

After skiing, we headed over to the Duran's for some dinner.  These three boys love playing together.  When I said smile, this is the look that I got from each.  Not sure what Reed's scowl is for.

Nora LOVES stuffing.  It was the first thing she went for and shoved it right in.  Check out her big eyes!

Well, that about wraps it up for the first few weeks of November.  I'm really looking forward to getting the house all Christmas'd up tomorrow and start our usual Christmas traditions.  I'm already done shopping - yay! - so I can just enjoy the holiday's.  

Cheers~