Holiday times

We got to spend this year's Thanksgiving with my family at our house.  Jared absolutely LOVES gearing up for Thanksgiving and was collecting recipes for a month before, even trying some out to see if they were worthy of Thanksgiving meal.  I keep waiting for him to get tired of cooking, but it hasn't happened yet.

Here's our turkey brine.  Did that two days before I think?  You boil this mixture up, let it cool, then you put the turkey in a big bucket and pour this, apple cider, ice and water in with it.  It makes for such a yummy turkey!

 What's that Conner's eating?  A snake?  Jared used our apple peeler for the apple pies, well Conner was eating the apple peels all up.  Funny kid!

 Two Apple crumb pies done

 Chow time! We had turkey, ham, two kinds of stuffing, veggies, crackers & dip, potatoes, carrots, green beans, sweet potato souffle, rolls, salads....lots of desserts.  Lots and lots of grub!

 Dad brought these for the table, painted by Grandma Hibbert in 1981.

 My Mom made these name card goody bags for everyone.

 Kelsey ended up collecting the stickers to embellish her sweater. =]

 Dad brought slides to watch while we digested. 

 This is Sophie at about 7:00.  Turkey nap!

 Playing Just Dance with cousins

Before Thanksgiving we got a huge storm.  It just snowed & snowed for 2 days.  It's all long gone now.  Hoping we get more for Christmas!

 We went with Jamie & kids & Bergman's to watch Santa arrive at City Creek on Nov. 15th.

 For FHE on Dec. 3rd we took the kids down to see the lights at Temple Square and the candy windows at City Creek.  

Emma's a TEENAGER

 Emma turned 13 on Monday, Nov. 26th!  We let her have her gifts the Sunday before, and had the "grandparents" over for dinner that day too.  Her friends decorated her locker, and we went to our favorite place, La Costa, for dinner Monday night.  She is such a good girl - beautiful inside and out!

I love my girl!

Last Real game of the season

*sigh* Real Salt Lake's last game of the season.  We were hoping it wouldn't be.  It was a playoff game against the Seattle Sounders and we lost 1-0.  Oh well.  Many boys on Ashton's team go to each game, but we got tickets just for this game because I arranged for the team to go out on the field just before the match for the "Parade of Kings".  It was windy & cold!  This was just before we got that huge storm that dumped over a foot of snow. 

 Real's mascot, Leo the Lion

 The crazy south section threw streamers at the start of the match.  With the wind they all took off.  It was SO cool!

Flag getting passed along over head.

Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year - busy as always!  

In all the running around I forgot to get a picture of Sophie in her costume!  So bad of me.  She loves the new Barbie movie, "Princess & the Popstar", so when I saw costumes for that at Target I had to get it.  She loved it and wore it all day long.  The dress was covered in glitter, so at the end of the day there was glitter all over the house.  

Jared & Seth waiting on the porch for trick-or-treaters.

Las Vegas Tournament

The last weekend in October we traveled to Las Vegas to watch Ashton's Sparta team compete in the Las Vegas Mayor's Cup.  They played two teams from Arizona and one Texas team.  We tied two and lost one.  They played hard! We were a little unprepared to play on turf, but they were good games nonetheless.  My voice was almost gone after the last one.  I like to yell!  

The BIG downside to this tournament was that many of us got sick.  Friday morning Ashton threw up.  I was panicking!  I really was totally kinda freaking out.  Ashton was in the bathroom, and I was walking in to come talk to him and stopped - he was saying a prayer.  What a good boy!  Made me feel bad for freaking out and not thinking of that right away.  Such a good kid.  He ate a little, had one of his "energy blocks" & played the game!  That wasn't the end of it though.  Soph & Conner got sick to, but with diarrhea.  (TMI?) We got to the soccer fields on Saturday morning, pulled Sophie out of the car & she had pooped ALL over her clothes.  Jared had to run to Target & get her an outfit.  Conner pooped in his pants several times.  Fun, huh?  It was g-r-e-a-t.  

Team dinner at Macaroni Grill (I think this is where we got sick!)

 We wanted to take the kids to do some "touristy" things - so we took them to see the dam and go on the dam tour. ;]   That new bridge is CRAZY! Huge & way high.

 Emma was stuck with Queen Sophie.  I found them like this Sunday morning. What a good sister!

 End of the last game, one more pep talk from the coaches before everyone headed home.

 Before heading home we decided to take the kids to see the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.

 I was driving, but couldn't get over the sunset!  I think this was just past Fillmore?  Yes, I was driving and taking pictures with my phone.  Not safe.  But it was SO pretty!