We have some amazing friends, that are now our next door neighbors to Eric’s house. When they moved into the house next door, there was lots of work to be done with their yard. One of the main things was to get rid of a large blue spruce growing up against their house.Eric asked them if they could wait to remove it until Thanksgiving, so he could use it as his Christmas tree. They agreed, so today, we got to cut it down.It is a beautiful tree!And makes for a very nice, and Large!, Christmas tree!Lucy had a blast running through Uncle Eric’s house trying to find “ornaments” for it.

We were invited to a Pie Night with some friends the night before Thanksgiving. Lots and lots of pie! Can you believe they have a basketball court In Their House!That’s where our kids hung out most of the night!This Thanksgiving was our very first Thanksgiving with just us. (Plus Eric😊)The kids helped cook a wonderful meal……while Uncle Eric spoiled them in between.We could see the snow coming down just as we were about to eat.We had turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. William made chocolate covered strawberries. Natalie made pumpkin pie. We had a good laugh when Lucy asked Sam for the turkey leg. I guess it was so tender that as he went to break it off, the entire leg bone cane straight out of the meat. Lucy then pretended she was a dog. After our dinner, Sam and the kids went to visit his Utah family since I had to work. They had a blast at his aunt’s house, with Aunts, Uncles, and lots of cousins. (Sam has never been good at taking pictures. 😭)As the weekend went on, the snow continued. The kids were in love!Even Khaliyah loved playing in and eating the snow.There was lots of snowball fights, building, sledding, and pure fun! A wonderful first Thanksgiving in Utah!

Tonight was my date night with Alex. Poor little man has had quite a tough time lately, so I wanted to do something special. I read about a shopping experience on KSL at The Shops of South Town where you can go into a Harry Potter Village. It sounded pretty cool, so I figured we’d give it a try. We were a little disappointed that it was so small, but it was still pretty cool, with some unique Harry Potter items to purchase. Quite a bit overpriced, but we were just looking anyways. Alex loved looking through all the different wands from the movies. He got to play “quidditch” on the little game inside the village, but that was about all there was to do. We got a cinnamon pretzel from Pretzel Maker (one of our favorites) then went over to Scheels for some more fun.I have never been inside of Scheels. I have only seen it from off of the freeway. I was blown away! It’s only totally huge sporting goods store with all kinds of fun entertainment scattered about through it. They have an enormous Ferris wheel in the center of the store, which was the first thing Alex wanted to do. He was a bit nervous when we started out, but after we got going, he really enjoyed it. After that, we looked at skis and all their components. Then we found a really cool micro bowling alley. After that, we looked over toys, then went to the hunting area. Alex enjoyed playing at the laser shooting range. He has a pretty good shot too.We had a wonderful night together. I sure love this little guy! And impressively, with all we did, we spent $6! I call that a complete success. 🙂

William has been studying ancient Utah history over the past several weeks, so I thought it was fitting to take a field trip to the Museum of Utah’s Natural History.We were greeted by this dinosaur coin eater, that Lucy was so super excited to go see. That is, until it started talking and roaring at her. Then it kind of freaked her out and she wanted nothing to do with it. The Utah museums we have been to have been absolutely amazing!!! There are so many hands on exhibits, that are all in wonderful condition, with very few people so that you can enjoy your experience without getting run over. Lucy and William loved learning about the different styles of weaving and the importance of each one in ancient times.They really enjoyed the paleontologist pit and exploring how they do research and know where and how to search and recover artifacts. We had to send Brie a picture of all these amazing botany notebooks, full of all different species of plants’ pictures, soil samples, as well as scent samples! There was a button next to each book that you could push and it would blow out a fragrance of one of the plants in the coordinating book. Pretty awesome!We learned all about weathering from wind, water, sand, ice, creatures etc…Their exhibits did not disappoint! And their collections of animals was incredible!!!Utah’s vast amount of fossils is something for everyone to see!The kids did not enjoy the swamp animals because THEY STUNK! The smell of rotted carcass and swamp dirt was definitely NOT one of their pleasant smelling stations. 😂Lucy enjoyed making her own dinosaur creations with William, then had to show it to the scientist who was working in the lab. Even though they were obviously very busy with their work, he still made time to smile, wave, and acknowledge the work she was showing him. It was super cute!The last area we visited was the toddler water works room. They had really large bullfrogs and other forest dwelling animals in various locations. Lucy enjoyed floating her boats down the canals, but was obviously getting very tired. We decided to save the rest of the Museum for another day.After the Museum, we rushed home for our family night adventure. The kids have been wanting to see The Grinch, so we decided to make that happen. What a FABULOUS night for it! Monday nights at Farmington Station are $5 Family Nights! What a treat we were not even expecting! This theater is fabulous, with its plush reclining seats, and The Grinch was fabulous as well!!!! A great movie for everyone in the family. We all really liked it. It was so nice not to have to worry about some side love affair blended into a kids movie. This was just a good movie to make you laugh at parts, and feel the spirit of Christmas in others.It was in the upper 20’s by the time we got out, so sitting by the fireplace was a great way to warm up before our run to the van. Farmington Station is by far one of my most favorite shopping centers! It is always kept beautifully clean, and with the Christmas lights added this time of year, it was like a magical land. What a great way to end a very nice day.

Sam and I HAD to get into our storage unit today and put some things in there. It is really crammed full! While we were working, the kids had their own selfie fun. At least they have been very patient with us through this process. And!!! We finally found the box from our master bathroom with ALL my jewelry in it!!!!! Including my wedding rings!!! It obviously was the very first box put in the 30′ unit, all the way in the very back corner on the floor. I am just SO happy we found it! We tried to visit our ward afterwards, but I guess they had a special meeting, at another time and location, so we missed it. We sat through another ward’s primary program instead. (Not sure we’ll ever hear the end of that one!) We drove out to our lot after that and were super excited to find the beginnings of our actual house. Even though it’s only a basement, it is promising to us! Alex was so excited, he just wanted to put a tent in the basement and stay there until the house is complete. 😢 These guys are so ready to have a space of their own again.Every time I come, I get teary eyed because it is SO beautiful. I cannot wait!Being patient is really hard sometimes, but I know it will all be worth it!And great memories will be made in this house! ❤️

We were invited to attend a special Harry Potter event at the Treehouse Museum and I could not pass up the opportunity. My kiddos still watch the movies and read the books all the time.The kids had a wonderful time. There was broom riding……Quidditch playing……that even William forgot he was a teenager for a bit and let himself enjoy……on the side bronco riding (A favorite anytime we visit the museum!)……magic treats……as well as a magic show……that Alex got to star in!He was quite the magician!The kids created special Wanda of their own……created concoctions……and really enjoyed making their own slime! (With permission OUTSIDE of our house!) This was such a great event!

We had a play date today after story-time at the park. Lucy has grown so much in the almost 6 months we have been in Utah.Her confidence and ability to do things has grown so much. She LOVES to show off that she is a “Big Kid” now. 🤦🏼‍♀️ (I just have to try and be discrete at keeping her from killing herself. She gets super mad if she thinks I am trying to help her.)When we came home from the park, she decided she wanted to draw with chalk. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous! Even though it has been in the low to mid 40s, surprisingly we have not been cold. It is actually a delight to be outside.Lucy started telling me all about the monsters in her dreams, and how they have really big noses. She is such a ham! She kept on acting out that their noses were as long as her chalk, to the point she had chalk all over her face.I couldn’t help but laugh. Never a dull moment with her. 🤣

We had the privilege to go to SubZero today as a field trip with our homeschool group. We sure packed in the place!The girl that gave the presentation was amazing! She really knew her information and helped the kids learn all about liquids, gasses, and solids, and about how liquid nitrogen works. They froze and condensed balloons….…Froze and shattered flowers……And then the kids were able to bring in items from home to freeze. Some items brought included: tennis balls, bubble gum, lego men, a man dog toy (that shattered to pieces before it even came out of the liquid nitrogen) , Tabasco sauce (which the lady was terrified to put into the liquid nitrogen in the bottle, so she just dropped some drops in), and my favorite…a container of blue paint. They poured the paint in, and it froze in some pretty awesome shapes.Once the presentation was over, they made everyone their signature vanilla ice cream, frozen by liquid nitrogen, right in front of us. The kids were presented with learning certificates that they could bring back later for another ice cream. Since it was super packed inside, we chose to eat our treat outside. Quite fun! 😊 (And Yummy Too!)

When we went to let the dog out this morning, we weren’t expecting this…Everything was lightly covered in fresh fallen snow! We have had bits of snow, here and there, but never enough to stick and stay.Lucy was so excited, that is until she realized that it was not enough to make a snowball. She has high expectations! (No clue where she got that from. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣)The dog was very confused, and kept sniffing the ground, only to have it stick to her nose and mouth.It’s so beautiful to look out over the valley and see everything blanketed in white! I am absolutely loving the seasons in Utah!Cold, But it didn’t keep Lucy and William from playing outside until most of the snow melted off the grass. . .…And made us late for church. It was worth it this one time.All our buddies keeping saying, “Just wait until the first Big Snow!” Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

We visited Cabela’s today, to see that it was completely decorated and ready for Christmas.