Christmas 2009

We had a happy Christmas! For the first time in several years, Travis didn't have to work and we were able to celebrate Christmas at our leisure. I think everyone was happy. Even Sarah felt the magic of Christmas morning. She has been playing with the toy kitchen, scribbling on her Magna Doodle, and pushing Michael out of her chair ever since. Michael has assembled all of his Legos and he and Travis love to play with his remote control helicopter, lovingly bought by Anna with her hard-earned $30. Anna loves her new doll, who used to belong to Emily. It's fun to discover games, art projects, and new books throughout the Christmas break too. This is our last Christmas on our own--too far to visit family. We are very excited that we'll live close next year, but we have had fun on our own too. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner together, but on Christmas night we ate dinner with several friends in the ward. Good times and good memories.

Thanksgiving Accomplished

Anna and Michael were adamant that I take pictures of our Thanksgiving food and put it on the blog. They are aware that "everyone else" posts more often than we do. I think it's funny that we have no pictures of people from our Thanksgiving, but that probably shows how very dominant food is at Thanksgiving, especially when you're preparing the entire meal. Travis did help on Thanksgiving Day and made the potatoes single-handedly. During the holidays I'll miss our prettiest dishes that are all in storage. The Nutter Butter turkeys were fun. I made them for my nursery kids at church. Sarah quacked whenever she saw them (I guess she thought they were ducks) and kept taking them out of the fridge to eat. We had a lovely Thanksgiving and even put up our tree in the evening. It's Christmas time!

Halloween . . . finally. I never promised to be prompt when I began this blog. Travis was actually in Albequerque (job interview) with his brother Brigham and his family on Halloween. Some friends in our ward (who belong to our church) came Trick or Treating with us because we live in a very friendly neighborhood full of small houses that are close together--ideal for Trick or Treating. This is Sunshine Park across the street from our house. The yellow leaves have been gorgeous this autumn. They're mostly gone now, and I'm afraid the warm spell we have been enjoying is gone for good.

More with Grandma Thompson

My mom has been gone for a week and a half, but I wanted to post a few more pictures from her week-long trip to Minneapolis. We had so much fun while she was here! Travis was in Utah for a few days for a couple of job interviews, so we were lucky to have her company while he was gone. We tried to soak up as much of Minnesota's beautiful autumn as we could, but it snowed twice! We played a lot: walked along Lake Harriet, went apple picking, went to the temple on a ward temple day (where the kids had activities so Mom and I could go), went to the Mall of America, discovered the Galleria (gorgeous mostly window shopping mall), went to music lessons, Mom did my hair with coaching from Elisa over the phone, played with our bunnies, talked a lot about where we might take a job, and just had fun. It was very relaxed and wonderful to not be painting and prepping a house for sale, packing, or unpacking!

Apple Picking

Something we really wanted to do this fall in Minnesota was go apple picking, and the timing was perfect when Grandma Thompson was here. We wish Travis could have been there. The weather was a little chilly--and it snowed the next day--but we had a lot of fun. We picked Harrelson apples and honey gold apples, which are a lot like golden delicious but bruise very easily. Sarah was very happy to take a nibble out of any apple she found (and our bunnies know where they are and make a beeline for the apple bags when they're out of their hutch). We also had to try Minnesota's famous Honeycrisp apples, available only locally. We ate a yummy dinner of pulled pork sandwiches and chicken dumpling soup with various apple desserts and hot apple cider. Then the kids played in a giant hay stack and we rode a tractor to pick our own pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. I'm so glad we didn't miss out on apple picking while we were in Minnesota.

11 Years

Wow. Travis and I have been married for 11 years! I turned 32 in August and Travis realized that since we were sixteen when we met, we have officially known each other for half of our lives. I am so blessed to be married to this wonderful man! When you get married in mid-September, your anniversary is always at the beginning of a busy school year. Sarah probably has strep (Michael is antibiotics for strep now), Michael has a cello group class at 5:15, and we have a 1st grade parent info night at 6:30. Even if we don't get to go out on an anniversary date this year, it's wonderful to stop and think of how I've been in love with Travis for sixteen years.

Back to School

School has been in session for one week in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and that was met with complaints by Minnesotans who are used to starting after Labor Day. Michael is in first grade at Peter Hobart Elementary, which houses K-3. Anna is in fourth grade at Susan Lindgren Elementary, which houses grades 4-6. I am very impressed with both of their teachers and their schools. Most importantly, they both seem happy. In the evening of his first day of school, Michael did notice, "School is taking most of my time!" It's a sad reality. It's either school or work from here on out, Buddy. That's why we cry when they get on the bus.