Turkey Day Trip

The kids and I went to Utah this year for Thanksgiving to spend time with family (poor Jason couldn't take enough time off work so he stayed home). The past couple years we've gone to Utah for Christmas, but we knew I'd be in my third trimester at Christmas time this year, so we opted to visit at Thanksgiving instead. It's always nice to be with my family. They absolutely spoil us when we're there. My Mom always goes out of her way to make us feel at home. She had our room all set up, toys for the kids to play with, their favorite foods in the cupboard and she volunteered to babysit several times. I got a much needed break.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house where we enjoyed all of our family's traditional festivities.

My mom and sister, Emily were wonderful chef's...


Zeke (nephew) helped too...


My dad carved the turkey, it smelled delicious...


Tressa snitched the olives and put them on her fingers (just like we did when we were kids)...


Corbin was thoroughly entertained by uncle Tony (my youngest bro) and the cool train set he brought over...


After dinner the kids were a little restless so uncle Tony took them outside for a quick game of football. It was pretty cold, but they needed to get out and run around.



Later when things calmed down a little Grandma read a few books to the grand kids

and we played a rousing game of BINGO...with prizes and everything. BINGO is a tradition in my Mom's family and we really get a kick out of it. We call out all the cheesy jokes as the numbers are called..."B4"...."and after" (hee, hee, hee)....same jokes every year. And everyone reminisces about prizes we won in previous years...like the 5 lbs. Hershey's bar I got one year when I was a kid. My mom finally chopped it up and put it in cookies because I was never going to finish it! This is the first year Tressa was big enough to have her own card and actually understand the game. She doesn't look it in this picture, but she was thrilled to play the game and she loved her prizes.

Another highlight was the beautiful Christmas dresses that my Grandma Spratt sent for Alie, Tressa, and Rachel. They tried them on right away and danced and twirled all around the house.


Later that evening we stopped over at Grandma and Grandpa Briggs' house to visit.


Tressa enjoyed playing the memory game with her cousin Becky. I remember playing the same game with Becky when she was about Tressa's age. It was really cute to see them play together...Becky is so sweet to Tressa.



Later they went downstairs and danced while her cousin Brandon played Guitar Hero.


Highlights for Corbin were playing blocks with Grandma (she was so patient to keep building towers for him to knock down with his cars),

and rough-housing with uncle Jordan (Jason's youngest brother).


And of coarse they loved playing with the dogs (except for when Maxx tackled Corbin and tried to bite his ears)! Here they are with Sadie...she's the calmer of the two dogs and the kids love petting her and snuggling up with her.

It was a wonderful holiday - all except for the fact that Jason wasn't with us. In fact, the poor thing was sick to his stomach on the couch all day and couldn't even stomach a bite of the pumpkin pie I left for him. I figured at least he probably got his fill of football, but he must have been REALLY ill because he said he hardly watched any. I felt bad that we were so far away and couldn't take care of him.

A couple days later we went back to the Briggs' house to celebrate Nanny's 90th birthday! (Nanny is Jason's Grandma) What a remarkable woman.



We spent the rest of the trip doing fun things with both sides of the family....Chuck E Cheese with the Briggs Family, the children's museum with Emily, Sarah, and our kids, and since most of my family had to go back to work after Thanksgiving I got tons of quality time with my big sis, Emily.

Doesn't she look awesome! She recently lost some weight and is looking so skinny and beautiful. Since I'm in the process of getting more and more hugely pregnant I didn't want to stand next to her! Actually I loved every minute together...even though she looks way better than me. We went shopping, saw the twilight movie (and both decided to read the books), did some fun things with our kids, and she even treated me to pedicure and massage as an early birthday present. She's the best! We both dream about living closer to each other so that we can spend more time together. Her daughter Rachel is about 16 months older than Tressa (same age difference between me and Em) and they are the best of friends too. They loved spending as much time as possible with each other and even got to have a sleepover one night at Grandma's.



Before it was time to go home, we snuck in a trip to temple square with Grandma, Grandpa and uncle Tony to see the lights. Afterward we had hot chocolate at Tony's new house.






That was probably the last time we'll be traveling for a while since the baby's coming in March. I'm so thankful we were able to go....we miss you guys already!

"World's Friendliest Player"

Tressa's first soccer season is over. Her final game was at the beginning of November and we were glad it was the last because it was getting too cold!

We were all bundled up and huddled as close to the building as we could to block the wind.


Tressa was a really good sport. She played the whole game even though it was cold and windy. Here's a picture of her running down the field (at the back of the pack) with a newfound friend on the other team.


Some of her teammates were not so tolerant of the weather....here's her buddy Jack at the beginning of the game.....


and by the end of the game.....

he never went on the field - I don't blame him!

Later that day we had a team party at Outback Steakhouse (owned by the parents of one of the players on her team). The coaches gave out medals to all the kids and they each got a certificate that highlighted their particular contribution to the team. Tressa's certificate said "World's Friendliest Player." She was thrilled to get her awards and so proud of herself.


Corbin is looking forward to trying it out next year. Maybe they can even be on the same team!

Today's Our Anniversary!

Eight years ago today Jason and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. I can't believe how the time has flown by. When I look at these pictures it feels like it all happened yesterday...

The happy couple...







Bride and groom...









Love you Babe! Happy Anniversary!

Fall Photo Shoot

I've been wanting to get some updated pictures taken of Tressa and Corbin together, but didn't want to pay a professional...seems like we are at the portrait studio way too often and the cost adds up quickly. Lacey told me about Woodward Park and we planned a day to take our kids there for a photo shoot. The park was beautiful and there were lots of great places to take pictures, but it is SO dang hard to get both kids smiling and looking at the same time! Between squirrel chasing, rock climbing, puddle jumping (Corbin actually fell face first into a muddy puddle about 15 minutes into our photo shoot, but luckily he was wearing dark clothes so you can't really tell), leaf picking, hill rolling and running wildly through the open spaces we did manage to get a few good pics....but maybe next time I'll leave it to the professionals! I'm trying to learn how to use photoshop, so maybe I can fix/enhance some of the pictures, but as of right now these are my favorites:

Little Mommy

The kids are at a really fun stage right now. They are playing together more and more now that they can communicate better. Usually Tressa is kind of the boss and Corbin goes along with it, which I think is so cute...and sometimes really funny! The other day I had just gotten out of the shower when Tressa came running up to me and asked if I could open Corbin's toothpaste for her. When I asked her why she said "Well, I already helped him go potty, put underwear on and I combed his hair. Now I just need to help him brush his teeth." Corbin is not potty trained so I had to go investigate this one for myself. His diaper was laying on the bathroom floor. He really had gone in the little potty and was wearing underwear. She even managed to get his pants back on. It just made me laugh. They both seemed to be having a pretty good time so I decided to let them be while I finished getting ready. While I did my makeup I could hear Tressa down the hall in Corbin's room..."Okay buddy, it's time for your nap." She then proceeded to go through the whole nap/bedtime routine. She got him a drink (climbed up onto the counter and got a sippy cup out of the cupboard then filled it up with water in the bathroom sink). Next I heard her asking him to choose a book .... "No, how about this one instead," she said next. Then I heard her ask him to sit on her lap. I grabbed my camera and got a picture of her "reading" to him. She can't read yet but she did a pretty good job of telling the story and was pointing out different things to him....and he was totally content to sit there with her (that's the amazing part)! Next she turned the light off and sang "I am a Child of God" to him. He kept saying "Happy Me, Tretta....Happy Me..." because he wanted her to sing Happy Birthday instead, but she just kept on singing. Then she shut the door, blew him a kiss and said "Nighty night Corbin, I love you!" He called back "Lub you too Heehee (sissy)." Sooooooooo adorable. Tressa is such a little Mommy....and Corbin is a very good sport!

Happy Halloween

Halloween is such a fun holiday for the kids. This year they got to celebrate almost all month long. We went to two different pumpkin patches here in town. They loved checking out all the pumpkins (and rolling them, climbing on them and trying to pick up the huge ones). They also got to do the hay ride, pet the animals, ride the tractor tricycles, pull each other in the wagon, climb the haystacks and run from playhouse to playhouse.





We each carved or decorated a pumpkin and we even made one for the baby. Here's our little family of pumpkins:



This was Tressa's first year to participate in a costume parade at school. She was so excited and felt pretty special wearing her costume to school. Here's a picture of her and her friend Maddy. Maddy is a Southern Belle and Tressa is a princess. Aren't they cute?!



Tressa wanted to be a princess this year (I'm sure we'll have many years of princess costumes). Corbin still doesn't care too much about what he wears, so we thought it would be cute if he was a frog prince to go along with Sissy's costume. I was going to try to make both of their costumes for the first time this year. My Mom always did such a good job sewing our costumes and I think it made Halloween a little more special. The last couple years I haven't planned ahead far enough, so I ended up just buying them. This year I started looking at patterns about a month ahead.....I still didn't finish Tressa's costume until the night before she had to wear it (must get that from my Mom too!) By the end I was asking myself why I was spending all this time sewing a princess costume when there's no shortage of such costumes in the stores, but I think it was all worth it in the end. She loved the dress and felt so beautiful. I ended up finding a frog costume for Corbin at my favorite thrift store, so I didn't bother making it...but I added some special touches like the feet and a crown. When I first bought it he almost threw a fit when I asked if he could try it on. "No! Don't want dat Mommy!" But we made a big fuss over how cute he looked and when he figured out that he would be getting candy if he wore it he actually tolerated it for most of the ward party and for trick or treating at the mall.

For the first time in our married life Jason actually dressed up this year too, kind of. We found this really great mullet wig and he wore it to the ward party. I couldn't look at him without cracking up. It was hilarious!



More cute pictures of all the fun things we did for Halloween this year:

And the holiday season begins.....