More updates

We are still on a borrowed computer, but I wanted to document our activities this weekend. As I was laying down with Brandon to get him to sleep tonight at 11:15pm (he had come to our bedroom saying his tummy was growling...true...he didn't eat dinner at all), I started thinking about how much I enjoyed this weekend! I love having Mikey home. I love going everywhere together as a family!

I can't remember where I left off, but we went to the zoo with the Gibby cousins on Wednesday. It was really fun and not too crowded for a free day at the zoo! No pictures, because again....no computer!

Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family. It was so fun to have everyone there. The past 2 years we have been on our own for Thanksgiving because both sets of parents have been traveling. But, that made for a fun change of tradition. The first year, we had my bros and their fams up for dinner at our house! We even had the little kid table! It felt a little weird to be hosting, but it was great fun. Last year, we headed south and Kay & Bud took pity on us. It was really fun for the kids to be swimming on Thanksgiving!

This year the food was fabulous as always. Evan, Jamie & kids are here visiting which makes it extra special. We all headed out for a walk around the block after dinner. Quite the adventure with 9 kids 4 and under! Then, the girls spent time looking through the ads and planning any shopping. From what I hear, Kat was the only one to venture out on black Friday!

Friday, Mike & I decided to take the kids to see the movie BOLT. We didn't realize, but we got tickets for a 3-D show. It's a cute show and kept the kids busy. We were late getting there because we were waiting for Mike's boss, Kevin, to come to our house and pick up some tickets from Mike. Since he and his family live in Denver, we visited for awhile and they wanted to see our house. After the movie, we decided we should stay downtown to see the lights go on for the Christmas season. This gave us some time to kill. So, we went to the Planetarium again. The kids love to go there! Then, we rode Traxx to Temple Square. The kids also love that! When we lived in Murray, the girls and I would ride the train frequently, but we couldn't remember if Brandon has even been on the train!

We walked around Temple Square a bit, saw the Christus and then it was finally time for the lights! Very beautiful, although I think they used to put lights in more trees between the Tabernacle and the Temple....now there are tons on the Plaza. We didn't get to the Plaza because the kids were starving at this point-only having had popcorn for lunch!

We went to The Dodo for dinner! Yea! About this time, Roger called to let us know my family was at Temple Square. We didn't go meet them, however, because the kids were tired by then. We had been downtown for 6 hours by that time. We also felt bad again when Steven called to see if we were still downtown because they were going to walk down and meet us since they live near the Temple.

Saturday, we all went to Abi's birthday party! They had a bounce house in the social room of their apartment building. How cool is that! We were excited to see Cath & their girls for the first time since they became Utahns again! We had a great time visiting and watching the kids bounce and go crazy. It was also fun to watch Steven and Mike in the bounce house playing together!

We ran to the U after that and got some new t-shirts! Brandon and Syd ended up getting stuffed animals....so much has changed up there since we graduated! Buildings where there used to be grass....new parking lots....pretty crazy.

We ran Amanda to a birthday party when we got home and then eventually put up the rest of the Christmas lights and outdoor decor. This turned into a small nightmare as we ran out of clips and Mike & Amanda ran to 4 stores to find some more! Amanda was a great help to her Dad and stayed until the job was finished!

Mike & I did some shopping later and then met our friends, Darin & Elise for sushi! We love hanging with these guys. They are great fun and always up for sushi!

I'm kind of dreading the weekend ending. I really do love it when Mikey is home, and when we are able to visit family and friends without worrying about getting home to put kids to bed on a school night, etc. Although, I do need to get to bed sooner (right now it's 12:20am!)

We have really concentrated on counting our blessings and feeling gratitude this month with our children. We have listed out our blessings and things we are grateful for and taped them to the back door. It was fun to see the kids, especially Sydney, come up with different things each day. I will be sad to take down our display tomorrow as we make way for the Christmas season!