Housewarming Party

 Woo hoo! We had such a successful housewarming party! The food was delicious, a lot of people came, and the house was actually ready! That was a relief. I knew once we set the date there was no turning back, and although I was ready to pull my hair our an hour before it started, it magically came together. :) I had each of the "before" pictures in their respective rooms so people could see what improvements had been made. It was really neat!

Melissa, Taylor, Rick, Deleen

Nancy, Grandma Hanks, Clara, Chad and Irelyn

Robert, Craig, Ken, Karen

Julie, Steph, Berto, Angela, Kendra

Amy and Eric

Melissa and Jennifer

Sam, Ian, Carter

Adelaide, Wyatt, Jayli and Joselyn

It was a late night for us, but we had fun. Especially Brooklyn. See below. 

Thanksgiving and Temple Square

Thanksgiving! What a wonderful holiday. Not only do you realize how much you are thankful for, but you get to spend it with family that you love. At least I did. We had the whole Hanks clan (minus Mom and Dad) at Melanie's, and it was a paaaaartay! Even Matt and Jen were able to come up and spend a long weekend here. We had such a blast. On Wednesday we made the pies (banana cream, chocolate cream, pecan... yum), and although I didn't get any pictures of that, I did get one of Brooklyn and me in our matching aprons. *sigh*

On Thanksgiving Day, the boys went out back to play football while we got dinner ready. It was a little chilly, but what a beautiful day for a football game! Even the older kids played. I had such a lovely "housewife" experience, busy in the kitchen with the other women, with mounds of food everywhere while the boys played out back. I felt like a wife of the olden days. ;)

The table was set to perfection, and it wasn't until after dinner that I realized I didn't get a picture of it! It was so beautiful, complete with sprigs of flowers on each napkin, and nametags made by the kiddos. Our turkey was DELICIOUS! We used the Our Best Bites recipe, so we knew we couldn't go wrong. It was so good.

As per tradition, the boys cleaned up the dishes. ;) 

Here is everyone (minus Marianne, Michael and Marilyn who had already left) hanging out afterwards.

So fun to have Matt, Jen, and Toby!

Uncle Matt taught Brooklyn how to correctly hold a rifle. Thanks, Matt.

On Friday, we went downtown! It was Brooklyn's first time on the train, and she absolutely loved every minute of it! She cried every time we had to get off. Here is her waiting for the train!

Each family got on at the stop closest to their house, so we "picked up" each family on the way to Gardner Village. 

At Gardner Village, we got lots of pictures and stopped at the Sweet Shoppe. Then we headed to Salt Lake City!

Cousins.

All the girlies. Brooklyn was slightly terrified of the freaky looking elf on the bench.

Handsome boys in a girly set up.

The lights at Temple Square were beautiful, and we had a blast exploring in a big group. It was one of the best Thanksgivings ever!

Brooklyn loved being with her cousins. This is Jade and Brinley having a "dance party" waiting for the train to go home. So much fun!

Snow

The first snow of the season! Brooklyn looked outside this morning and shouted, "NOOOOO!!". She loves snow. Except I always think she's shouting "no" at me, which irks me until I look over and she's pointing out the window at the "no". It's adorable. Bucket also loves snow, which is weird. Anyway, here are some pictures of us playing in the snow!

 Hahahaha!

 Tasting the snow - a common occurrence.

 Love my Craiggy.

 Brooklyn learning to throw a snowball!

 Daddy teaching her how to make one.

AND this face just cracks me up. Perfect timing. We love snow! One of the perks of living in Utah.

Hallowaste of candy

Halloween is my least favorite holiday. I don't like the decorations, I don't like scary movies (or scary anything), I don't like giving pounds of sugar and chocolate to children all at one time, and I don't like coming up with costumes. It's the most ridiculous holiday. There, I said it. Although Brooklyn was old enough to trick-or-treat and know what was going on, so that was more fun. Craig dressed up as an M&M, and Brooklyn was a Ute cheerleader. First we went trick-or-treating at Craig's work, where Brooklyn came home with 500 pieces of candy.

Later we went up to Snowbird, which was the most fun part of the day. People in the hotel put signs on their doors if they're giving out candy, and Brooklyn had fun running through the halls knocking on doors. If they hold the bowl out, she'll grab a huge double-handful of candy, toss it in her bucket and reach for more. Halloween does bring out the best in our children. Not.

This is what she looks like after eating about 3 pieces of candy. Sugar drunk.

I may look happy, but that's because Halloween is over. Finally, we can move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas, the REAL holidays!

Our California Adventure

After all the work we've been doing on the house, we needed a vacation. So we went to California, and left Brooklyn with Grandma and Grandpa Davis and Melanie. Although we missed Brooklyn, it was a much needed break from all the stress of life! We went first to Las Vegas and dropped off Bucket at my Mom and Dad's. Then we headed to San Diego! It was so beautiful - I haven't been there in years. We visited the temple, which was definitely one of the most beautiful temples I've ever seen.

We also visited the Mormon Battalion Historic Site, which was really awesome because my Dad is in the movie they play during the tour! That was cool to see. He's so great. :) This is a really interesting place with lots of artifacts and things to see. I learned a lot!

Then we went to Sea World. It was a blast with just me and Craig, and we were able to see all the things we wanted to. As I looked at the other parents I thought, "I'm so glad we left our kid at home..." Someday we will take her to Sea World! We saw a lot of fun shows.

 Craig got to visit his favorite exhibit.

We met up with Matt and Jen in San Diego, and they took us to the most wonderful place (Jen grew up in San Diego). Target. But not just any Target! A two-story target with an escalator specifically for your cart. This might have been my favorite part of the trip! How awesome is that?!

Then we headed over to Anaheim (without seeing the beach!) to go to Disneylaaaaaaand! Woo hoo! We spent some time alone, and some time with Jen's family (her parents and sister Sam) and Matt and Jen. We had SO MUCH FUN. We saw Cars town.

 It's Halloween time, so everything was decorated for Halloween. So cool to see!

 The Tower of Terror. Our favorite ride.

It was so great to get in touch with my "young" side again. Anyone with children can attest that it's easy to lost yourself when you are constantly caring for children, and it's such a relief to know that young, fun Alissa is still in here somewhere! It was also fun to see "young Craig". He is so fun when he doesn't have to be responsible! It almost felt like our honeymoon, where there seemed to be no one but us and we got to get to know each other again. I never knew that Craig could be so much fun! He was like a little kid. Of course, it was great to get back to our little weirdo. She had a little vacation of her own. ;)