Thanksgiving 2011

Drew's family decided to come to our house for Thanksgiving this year, and I must admit I was quite excited to host my own Thanksgiving.  I had never done it before and it was fun to make all of the preparations and look forward to such a fun time with family. Unfortunately, as Drew's parents were driving from Kansas to our house they received a call that informed them that an explosion had taken place at the salvage yard shop that Drew's dad owns and that it had burned down and one of his employees had been severely burned and had to be life-flighted to Kansas City.  Although this was some very devastating news and we were constantly thinking about the situation, we were still able to have a lovely Thanksgiving weekend and we truly enjoyed the time we got to spend with our family.

 THE turkey.  It was my first one (although Drew's mom Linda helped quite a bit) and I was very happy with how it turned out. 

 Ava and her grandpa

 Our friends the Stones were kind enough to join us as well.  

 Ava was very excited to eat all of that yummy food!

 The place setting.  Meriah, Joshua and Caleb helped me make the little turkey clips and goodie bags the night before.  

 Getting ready to eat!

 All of the food that wouldn't fit on the table!

 Oh look, I was there too!!

 My favorite part, the PIES!  We had pumpkin cheesecake, banana cream (made by Becca Stone), apple and lemon meringue pies and I am proud to say that I tasted and enjoyed every single one!  Perfection!

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Hardee's Reindeer Ranch which is near our home.  We got to  pet the reindeer and feed them some graham crackers. 

 Ava wasn't too sure about a huge antlered creature getting up close and personal, but with Drew's help she warmed right up to them!

 Caleb, Joshua and Meriah

A little family photo under the antler arch.

What a wonderful weekend!  We were reminded of the many blessings that we have, especially the blessing of the Gospel and of our eternal families. We know that we have much to be thankful for, and hope to live each day with more gratitude for all that we have.

Family Pictures

Our friend, Dan Stone, was kind enough to take some pictures of our family to use on our Christmas card.  We decided to take them in our local downtown Mahomet, IL which was fun.  Here are a few of the best.

Best Friend Weekend in Columbus

Katie Gardner, RoseAnna Batty and I have been best friends since our wild and crazy dorm days as Snow College freshman way back in 2000.  We have managed to stay close despite the fact that we have never, ever lived in the same cities (and now states) since the glory days.  Needless to say, it's a rare, rare occurrence for all three of us to get to spend time together but the stars aligned and it happened for 4 glorious days the first weekend in November.  RoseAnna flew out to Columbus where Katie lives and I drove out and met them there.  We had such a blast acting like we were college freshman again, doing things like dressing up to go pick up RoseAnna from the airport, having dance parties and staying up into the weeeee hours of the morning talking.  It was perfection.  The following are a few pics from the trip.  (Sadly, I did not take nearly enough pictures.  Too busy having fun I guess!)

 Carolyn-Kate was so darling with the babies.  They loved playing with her!

 RoseAnna's baby, Sophie, is exactly 2 weeks older than Ava and they are the best of friends already

 A lovely lunch at Max and Erma's

 Ava and Sophie were holding hands in the car - for real.  We didn't pose them like this, I swear!

 Precious 

 Who are those good lookin' dudes you ask?  Oh, just Katie and me all dressed and ready to go pick up the Batty girls from the airport.  We have a tradition of going to the airport dressed up, so of course we had to do it this time too!  (It was actually quite disturbing how little time it took us to look like this.  What does that mean?)

Best Friends

What a wonderful weekend!  Too bad it can't happen more often, but we certainly live it up when we get the chance!  Here's to next time ladies!

Halloween!

Even though Ava is still too young to grasp the concept of trick-or-treating, let alone eat candy, we decided it would be fun to still take her out.  Let's be honest here, it was really for me.  I wanted another chance to dress her up in her darling costume and to celebrate Halloween the way it should be celebrated - trick-or-treating!  We went over to the Stone's neighborhood with the Reynolds and the Skousens and had a great time!

 The pre-trick-or-treating shots

 (this one taken by Dan Stone as is evident by the much higher quality!)

 Ava and Dean spent most of the night observing the fun from the stroller

 I had a great time watching the kids (Luke Reynolds the spider, Scarlett Stone the shark and Jane Skousen as Hello Kitty along with Jill Skousen) run up to each door and do their thing.  Such fun!

 Ava started getting tired but hung in there while her daddy held her and snuck her candy.

Celebrating Halloween was even more fun this year than normal since we had Ava to share in the fun!  We are already looking forward to next year!

The Great Pumpkin Patch

We have heard tell that the Great Pumpkin Patch is amazing, but we hadn't ever been there ourselves.  Our friends, the Stones, invited us to go with them the Saturday before Halloween and all I can say is, How have I lived in Illinois for 6 years and never been there before?  We have been missing out!  It was AMAZING!  I love all-things Autumn-y and Pumpkin-y so this place was pretty much heaven!

 Ava giving Drew a kiss - too cute!

 This place is seriously amazing - the decorations are incredible.  I could walk around there all day and just look around!

The following pictures were taken by our friend, Dan Stone (gotta give credit where credit is due, right?).  It sure is nice to have a photographer with you to get great shots like these!

 Little Dean-O and Ava having fun in the pumpkins!

Since we were in the pumpkin mood, we came home and carved a pumpkin and I think it turned out pretty great if I do say so myself!

 The pumpkin master, hard at work.

The finished product

What a perfect Autumn-y, pumpkin-y day!

Ward Halloween Party

Our ward has an annual trunk-or-treat/chili cook-off every year and it is probably my favorite ward activity.  I love, love LOVE Halloween anyway, and it is so fun to see everyone in their costumes and eat some great chili.  A perfect evening in my opinion.  I'm happy to report that this year did not disappoint!

 I bought myself a brain Jell-O mold this year (something I've wanted for a very long time!) so I just had to make a brain Jell-O for the party, complete with worms!

 Ava's little buddies - William Bednar and Dean Stone

 Ava had the most fun hanging out in the bed of  Drew's truck during the trunk-or-treat 

 Our friend, Anna McClure, and Drew handing out candy

 A farmer and his little watermelon (Doesn't Drew look a little too natural for this to be considered a costume?)

 I dressed up as a "Real Housewife of the Mahomet Ward" along with some other fabulous ladies.

Too much fun!  Can't wait for next year's party!