Turkey Day

We spent Turkey Day at my mom's eating great food, playing speed scrabble and watching A Christmas Story (for the first time). I made rolls and two pies. What other family has as many pies as they do people at their Thanksgiving gathering? This year we kept it simple; we only had 5 pies among 9 people. I made Chocolate Cream and Banana Caramel Cream Pie. I've been watching Kelsey Nixon's new show and I watched her make this pie. It really was amazing. I'm usually not a huge fan of banana desserts but this was an exception.

I have to say that the best part of the holiday was not having to host for the first time in 3 years. It was a relief to be a guest for a change.

After the Blizzard

There was SO much build up to our big pre-Thanksgiving storm. Blizzard warnings, cancelled events, huge crowds at the grocery store yesterday... it was a whopper but I guess when you live in Utah you expect a little more when they say "blizzard". I woke up this morning and said, "What? That's it?"

All that mattered to the kids was that there was enough snow to cover the rocks and ravines at Happy Hollow. The kids each invited a friend to go sledding with us and by the number of kids out there you wouldn't have known it was only 15 degrees. I can't believe we were out there for nearly two hours. We probably would have stayed longer but Mia decided to pee in her snowsuit.

Another photo shoot

I've been trying to take each of the kids out for photos before we're up to our eyeballs in snow. I found a great place for the boys; a wonderland of two by fours, rusty nails and decaying cow manure. When I was there with Gavin a few weeks ago I stepped on a nail that went all the way through my shoe. Don't be alarmed, I haven't started foaming at the mouth or exhibited any other signs of tetanus (yet).

Do you think Tristan looks like a blue-eyed Justin Bieber? Maybe it's just the hair. Which ones do you like the best? I know there are a lot and some of them look nearly the same but you know how I am. Come on, I value your opinion!

Fall Biking

Dan and I went to Midway for my birthday. We rode our bikes around town, stayed at the beautiful Zermatt resort, and biked a trail near Soldier Hollow. This trail was gorgeous, it wound around the edge of Deer Creek Reservior.

After arriving home on Saturday the kids were dissapointed that we'd gone biking without them. We ended up taking them out that evening on the Legacy Trail. We've been biking there several times since. We pull Mia in the bike trailer and the rest of the kids go it on their own. Gavin has done a remarkable job, considering that he just got the hang of his two wheeler at the end of the summer and we ususally ride eight or so miles on the trail.

I don't know if we'll make it out again this fall considering that today was the end of daylight savings which will make it dark by 6:00. We also had an unfortunate accident with the bike trailer on our way home last weekend. Dan's tailgate wasn't closed securely and it went flying off the back of the truck. Dan jumped out and saved it before it was hit by another car but he tells me it sustained some damage. Hopefully not too much because we're really liking this biking thing.