Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving this year at my mom's house. She is a great cook and I feel lucky to get to eat all the yummy food she prepared! It is quite the feast! This year, Brian fried one of the turkeys and my mom cooked one in the oven. Both were so good! After we ate, my step dad did the dishes even though we tried to help. He is a great guy! The rest of the day we looked through Black Friday ads, played ping pong, played some games, and visited with everyone. What a great day! I have so much to be thankful for.

Jacob's party

Jacob wanted all of his friends to dress up like pirates for his birthday party and it was a riot! They really got into it! Jacob even went over to his Grandma's house before the party to make each of them matching pirate headbands with their names embroidered on them. They turned out so cool! (Thanks mom!) They also ate lots of yummy food and played a ton of games together. The party went by way too fast! One thing I have to say is that Jacob has a GREAT group of friends. They are all well mannered and such a joy to be around. Happy birthday to my sweet Jacob! I am in no hurry to see you grow up, but at the same time I am so proud of who you are becoming.

Jacob is 12!

Jacob turned 12 years old! Here is a photo of when he was a baby, and then one taken on his 12th birthday. I love this kid! He and I can butt heads at times, but that is because we are so alike! We both are very clumsy.... We both have an odd sense of humor that when we get together, we can laugh for a long time!... We both love doing crafty things too! He is just an all around great kid and I am so proud of him!

CA Birthday Trip!

My husband surprised me and bought me tickets to CA for my birthday present! I was so excited to see my sister in laws, my brother in law and my nephews and nieces! The first day, we played games, then Lauri (one of my sister in laws) and I went on a tour of the NBC Studios thanks to my friend Scott Lucas. We saw behind the scenes for Minute to Win It, Access Hollywood, and Days of Our Lives. It was pretty interesting stuff! Then we took a quick break, grabbed a bite to eat at In and Out, and headed back for the Jay Leno show that Scott had also got us tickets for! Diane Keaton and Keven McHale (Arty from GLEE) were the guests and Switchfoot was the band. We had seats up in the front, but since they were over by the band, they never panned that far over to get us on camera. I guess I was never meant to be famous anyways... Ha ha ha! After Leno was over we went to IKEA to mess around and shop. That is an awesome store! Every time I go, I could spend hours there!

The next day we played more games, then went to Disneyland for some fun! We rode Tower of Terror with Scott and that was awesome! (It was his first time..) I can't get enough of that ride! It is on my top 5 at the parks for sure! I also loved how they had the whole park decorated for the holidays already. It was beautiful!

That night Scott had arranged through one of his friends for us to go to the very exclusive Club 33 at Disneyland. It was a super fancy place! You walked in and took an old fashioned elevator to the top floor overlooking New Orleans square. We had a crab and shrimp appetizer, this really yummy sourdough bread, a French onion soup with baked cheese, the Fillet of Chateaubriand with a Shallot Sabayon sauce for the main course, and for dessert I had a custard and raspberry tart in a baked sugar crust with sorbet on the side. It was all so delicious!!!

They also have really cool toilets and I just had to take a picture! I thought they were funny!

This last picture is of my niece and nephews in CA. I had just given them haircuts and they were being silly for me! They are really funny kids!

My kitchen helper

Evan loves to help me in the kitchen, even with the clean up part! Just thought he was so cute with his yellow rubber gloves on and in such a good mood! Love this guy!

We love fall!

We only have 1 tree in our yard, but we love when it changes colors and all the beautiful leaves are here!