These pictures are crazy out of order, but that's ok. November just kind of came and went. Which is too bad because despite the cold weather, I like the month of November. It's when people start being a little more kinder, loving, and giving. It's too bad this holiday induced behavior isn't practiced everyday. But regardless, I enjoy it. I really wanted to teach my children the importance of being GRATEFUL in a fun way, but I think I failed. We did manage to teach them about the pilgrims. I'm not sure it processed. And after about the 10th random question, I couldn't come up with creative answers to their questions. So Anabell, "I don't know if cats poisoned their crops by pooping in their garden." and Ethan, "Yes, the Indians probably killed the Turkey with their bows and arrows. Yes, it would've been cool if they killed a bear and ate that instead." Here's our Thankful Turkey. Another attempt at teaching the kids about Gratitude. I asked my children what they were thankful for and we'd write it on a feather and glue it on. At first I was a little sad as I watched them hum and ho and take minutes to come up with something. I felt like I had failed as a parent. Everyday in our prayers we Thank our Heavenly Father for all the wonderful things he has blessed us with. So to see my children stumbling to think of 1 thing made me think I went wrong somewhere. I often forget that my children are just that, children. We have to show them by example and teach them over and over in hopes that when they grown and out of the house, something stuck. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be a mom to three beautiful, healthy, happy children. And I'm grateful for my wonderful husband who works so hard to support our family so that I can stay home with these young children and be a constant part of their lives.

In October, I went on a girls trip to to Vegas. We visited our friend Triscia and stayed with her Wednesday night. On Thursday we went hiking and it poured on us. We were soaked to the bone! We spent the day relaxing and grocery shopping. We also happened to come upon this lovely fella. Who walks their baby around the block with no shirt on??? We seriously followed him around trying to get a good picture without being caught. It must've been a sight to see; A bunch of married women from Utah in a minivan trying to get a picture of Mr. Elvis here. Ha Ha
Thursday night we checked into our condo at Summerbay. It was a nice condo with a kitchen. We had a bbq on the grill, hung out in the hot tub and played games. Friday morning Kandy, Tomi and I went to the Las Vegas Temple and did sealings there. It is a beautiful temple! That night we went out to eat at the Harley Davidson and walked the strip a bit. I know this sounds bad, but I can't quite remember what we did on Friday.....or do I??? hee hee

Saturday we seriously went shopping ALL day. We found some GREAT deals on a lot of stuff. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was the most shopping I have ever done in my life. And probably the last. As a lot of you know, I hate shopping. But I still had fun with the girls. That night we went to a show called "The Divas" and then went dancing at this fun club which I don't remember the name of. I haven't been to a club since before I was married, it was seriously a blast! Vegas really doesn't sleep, at least the strip anyway.Sunday is when we made the drive home. And of course I have other pictures. But those aren't for my blog. hee hee Bye Bye Vegas!

This year Anabell was a pirate princess. But then on the day of Halloween she decided she wanted to be Tigger...indecisive already. I was ok with that because it was cold and raining outside when we went trick-or-treating and the Tigger costume is nice, fluffy and warm.
Austin was Eeyore. And he made the PERFECT Eeyore too. His expressions were priceless. I just wish I had caught them on camera.
We weren't even out for an hour and look how much candy they got. Austin for sure got the most candy. To him, "Just one", applied for each of his hands. He just kept shoving candy in his bucket until it was physically pulled away from him. I divided the candy amongst all the buckets so they all had about the same. Not that they'd notice anyway. As soon as we get home, the candy is placed in my closet and they pretty much forget about it. So needless to say, Halloween candy lasts until Christmas. It's fabulous!
Ethan made this sign and hung it on the door. Isn't it awesome!? If you can't see it very well, it says "This House Gives Good Candy". Ha ha silly kid.
Friday night we went to a Halloween Party. It was a fundraiser for the Aquarium. It was a lot of fun. Our friends the Arvidsons, Breinholts and Kennedy's came with us. There was food, salsa lessons, dancing and competitions. I feel bad because John and I entered the Salsa Dance competition and I was too embarrassed to get on stage for people to vote. I'm kicking myself because we could've won a new snowboard and according to Aubrey, people were cheering us to get on stage. Sorry honey for being such a party pooper! My hubby rocked though! We ended up leaving the party a bit early and going bowling in our costumes. Super fun!
Ethan's class had a Halloween parade at the olds folks home across the street from his school. It was cute to watch.
These old folks were so excited to see all the children. I'm sure they look forward to this every year.

We don't get to see our cousins as often as we like so you can imagine how super excited we all were to have Gage with us for a couple of days over UEA weekend. His birthday was on Thursday the 14th so we had him over Wednesday for a movie night sleep over. He picked out a movie and all the kids stayed up late playing games and watching a movie with their bag of goodies.