Thanksgiving

This year, we went to Ashland for Thanksgiving.  It had been a few years since we had been there, so it was fun to go and visit this year.  None of my siblings were able to make it this year, so we had my parents all to ourselves, so we could be fully spoiled by them. :)  We drove down Tuesday evening and came home Sunday afternoon.  Some of the fun things we did included going on a walk in Lithia Park, watching some fun Christmas specials, doing Thanksgiving crafts, the kids going to Science Works, Shane and I going to lunch and to the temple, going to the Christmas parade downtown Ashland and seeing the lights turn on, shopping till we dropped, going up in the mountains to cut down a Christmas tree, and of course, eating a DELICIOUS thanksgiving meal!

 

The boys were in charge of toasting the bread and tearing it up for the stuffing.  They were good workers, even though they got a little distracted half way through!

 

Above, Landon and Grandpa doing a turkey puzzle.  Below, playing Thanksgiving Bingo with Grandma.

 

The Thanksgiving table:

 

Our good friends Clause and Lesley came over for Thanksgiving dinner.  Lesley made these amazing hats for the boys!  She left a few details for them to add to personalize them, and the wore them during the dinner.  So cute!

More turkey puzzle, this time with Lesley’s help, and James just up from his nap:

   

In the evening, after Thanksgiving dinner, Landon and Davis sat here forever with my phone.  I realized later they were taking pictures of Grandma’s thankful tree on my camera.  They were pretty funny sitting there.

Here we are all bundled up Friday, drinking hot chocolate, and watching the Christmas parade:

 

Santa on the balcony just as he turned on the Christmas lights:

And finally, here are a few pictures of us cutting down our Christmas tree.  My parents found on fairly quick, but Shane and I were a little bit too picky and took way too long to decide!  We should have just taken one of the few great ones we found at the very first!  We did eventually find one, and the boys had fun playing in the little bits of snow we could find here and there along the way.

     

And finally, this wasn’t in Ashland, but here is a picture of our thankful door this year, organized alphabetically.  :)

   

Davis at Preschool {November 14 & 19}

Davis had two fun activities in November at his preschool.  The first was a field trip to the fire station.  It was a little disappointing that ten minutes before we arrived, the trucks were called out for a major call and didn’t make it back during the time we were there.  However, the kids still had a great time checking out all of the equipment, and seeing where the firemen eat and sleep.

Checking out the fire pole, and touching the fireman’s suit.

 

Plugging his ears when the fire suit would beep because the fireman wasn’t moving around, and knocking on the glass of the mask.

 

Davis with his class, his teachers, Mrs. Abeyta, and the fireman.

Davis sporting his nice near fireman’s hat, and a picture with his good friend Isaac.

 

The next week, Davis’s preschool had a “feast day” to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Every child brought a feast item to share (grapes, popcorn, crackers, juice, apples, etc.), and they all sat down with all the classes and ate their feast together. 

Davis waiting for the feast to start, and wearing his new leaf hat.

 

Let the feast begin!  And a picture of me and James with Davis.

 

Quick Ashland Trip

When we found out that our Stake Conference the first Sunday in November would be a broadcast shown throughout Oregon, we decided to head to Ashland for a quick trip and watch the conference from down there.  It was a nice relaxing weekend.  The older boys went to preschool with my mom one morning and all of them to ScienceWorks the next.  They also loved jumping on the trampoline!  We walked through Lithia Park one afternoon and saw the beautiful colored leaves.  The weather was gorgeous and it was a nice quick getaway.

This first morning, after waking up, I found these two kiddos looking pretty cozy in Grandma and Grandpa’s bed watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Ethan and James are about six months apart, and they are becoming quite the buddies.

 

Trampoline time was definitely a favorite activity for the kids, and they went out there a few times during our quick visit.  Their favorite game to play was “crack the egg,” but they also liked taking turns alone jumping as high as they could.

     

The trees at Lithia Park were gorgeous, and brought back many memories of fall walks through the park!

  

      

(James and Ethan never quite got the throw-the-leaves signal the same time as the other kids.) 

  

It was a great relaxing trip, and we also enjoyed not only watching a great Stake Conference broadcast, but we also got to hear both my parents speak at the Stake adult session on Saturday evening.  It was a much needed break from every day life!