November

Mason is my good leaf helper in the fall. He doesn't always last very long, but at least he's outside moving his body. :) He especially likes to help winterize the garden beds by covering them in cardboard, newspaper, compost, and leaves. It looks messy, but keeps most of the weeds out until spring.

I had to take a bunch of pictures of our home and town for our adoption profile book. Here are some of my favorite shots of Sherwood in the fall:

I had the boys write their letters to Santa extra early this year since the news kept forecasting huge toy shortages due to supply chain issues. Pokemon cards were hard to come by and a few food items were out of stock, but it didn't turn out to be as bad as I had imagined.

Spencer was feeling a little old for this tradition, but Mason takes it very seriously. ;)

Giant memory game at the library:

Grandma came to visit for a couple of days while she was helping her mom! She gave Spencer an organ lesson, treated us to delicious Handle's ice cream, and play lots of games with the boys. That was actually the first time she had EVER stayed with us because we lived in tiny apartments in Utah when we were first married and then moved close to them for the past 15 years. It was really fun to have her visit!

More pictures for our profile book. I really do exist!

Spencer woke up with an extremely sore neck after one of his first basketball practices in two years. He was in a lot of pain and I wound up taking him to Urgent Care on the second day. They just prescribed a muscle relaxant that made him sleep all day. It was really sad to see my active, happy boy in so much pain. I even took him in for a professional massage. It felt good, but didn't help long term. Thankfully, it just started getting better on its own and Spencer hasn't had any problems with it since. 

Target finally got some Pokemon in stock and Mason was super happy to spend some of his birthday money on some new cards.

Another first in the past 15 years was that we decided to travel for Thanksgiving! We had always celebrated with Alan's parents since they were close and because the Turkeython made it impossible to leave. Once again there was no Turkeython (thanks Covid) and Darwin and Debbie moved so we drove to Idaho to spend the holiday with them and Geoff's family. 

I didn't do much of the cooking since we were traveling, but I did make cranberry sauce, my favorite fancy green salad, and I put together a veggie tray.

We stayed at Geoff's house because they have all of the fun toys and video games, but we spent some time at Darwin and Debbie's too. They only live two miles from each other.

Thanksgiving morning sunrise and run with one of the people I'm most grateful for. It was cold!, but refreshing to run out in the country instead of on city streets.

Grandpa's interesting Jello and marshmallow creation! Mason liked it. Haha!

Too bad I didn't bring my swimsuit! Alan and Mason had to borrow some.

Both Spencer and Mason love playing video games with their cousins since we don't have them at home.

Geoff's family had a temple baptism reservation the day after Thanksgiving so we treated ourselves to some Costa Vida (we can't get it in OR) and then helped Darwin and Debbie put up some of their Christmas decorations.

Caldwell's amazing light display. It was packed, but really cool. Geoff had taken us there when we stopped on our way to AZ for Christmas a few years ago and it wasn't so busy. Maybe it was a little warmer this year so more people came out? Or maybe that's just the thing to do on the day after Thanksgiving.

Pretty Idaho sunrise:

Spencer and Alan helped put up Geoff's giant 15 foot tree!

Geoff had all of us squeeze into his Pilot for a drive to Boise to get ice cream potatoes. That was probably the most uncomfortable ride of my life! At least I got some good visiting time with Tanya. We ate the "potatoes" at a fun park in Boise. It was almost warm.

It turned out to be a great trip and we are so glad we were able to spend one of my favorite holidays with family! A huge thanks to Geoff and Tanya for hosting us and to all of the cooks!

Our own Christmas tree went up a little later than usual since we weren't home right after Thanksgiving. We all love decorating it even though we can't agree which color of lights is best. ;)