Thanksgiving 2014.

It's time for the Thanksgiving post!  Things have been so busy, I haven't had time to blog for the last several weeks.  I'm so excited to post again!

This year, I went to Cleveland to celebrate Turkey Day.  (In sad news, Don had to work  :(.  So, I flew home solo to celebrate.)   Apart from missing Don, we were lucky to have the rest of the family together at the same time.

The week went something like this:  Sleep in, relax, run, eat, relax, and eat some more.  It was so wonderful after the hard-working year Don and I have had.  In addition to the much needed relaxation, we also went shopping, cooked a ton, made crafts, had a snowball fight, played games, shot off rockets, and watched the little people perform a ballet!

We took a ton of pictures, and I'm going to post most of them.  I apologize for the overload.

Cooking:

Dad and I looked positively thrilled to be making stuffing.

Crafting:

Snowball Fighting:

Game Playing:

Whenever Stephen and Philip get together, there is almost always "gaming" of some sort.  This year's version was called "The Oculus".  Basically, when you put on the goggles, it creates a virtual 3-D reality!  I am proud to say that while on vacation:  I shot down a helicopter in mid-air (that was firing bullets and rockets at me), while sprinting back and forth along a wooden dock that was built high above a sandy beach, with seagulls flying past me every couple of minutes.  

Yay!

Rocket Shooting:

I had to fly back to Boston earlier than everybody else so I could work on Black Friday.  Sadly, I actually missed both the rocket shooting and the cute little ballet performance by Penny and Nelly. However, I'm glad I have a lot of pictures from both events.

After firing Nelly's rocket, nobody could find it anywhere.  She kept shaking her head and saying, "Where's my rocket?  It must be in outer space!".  She was so distraught that it hadn't come back down; she just didn't understand where it could have gone.  Everybody searched forever, and they finally found it after about an hour.

Victory for Nelly!

Ballet Dancing:

A New England Fall.

Fall comes and goes quickly here in Boston.  

Sometimes it feels like as soon as Summer gets started, the leaves start changing.  And then, just as suddenly as you notice them...they're gone.  They've fallen to the ground and graced the sidewalks with their vivid range of autumnal hues.  Fiery red and orange, vibrant yellow, and golden brown.  

In another week they will be trampled under the faintest layer of frost, so easily forgotten in anticipation of Winter's flurried snowflakes.

This year, Don and I went to the oh-so-famous Wilson Farm to pick out our pumpkins.  It lived up to it's reputation; from the incredible pumpkin wall, to the caramel apples and cider donuts.  It was fun to look at the variety of different pumpkins too!

We carved our pumpkins a couple of weeks after our trip to Wilson Farm.  It was a lot of fun, and I love how much personality our pumpkin faces ended up having.

As for Halloween...I've been waiting 4 years to actually be together on Halloween, and this year we finally did it!  When we very first got married, I asked Don if he would dress up as Newsies with me.  Ever since I thought of the idea, I've been waiting and waiting to not have to work, and finally be together on Halloween so we could dress up.  I've been acquiring our outfits piece by piece over the years, and I can't tell you how excited I was for our Newsies debut!

We went trick-or-treating in Beacon Hill with a group of friends from our Ward, and then got burgers afterward.  It was a really fun night.  

Don is the most photogenic person ever.  Is he not?  He was born to be a Newsie.

Happy Halloween, and goodbye Fall!

Summer Races.

So...this post is about 90% pictures, 10% explanation.  Lots of photos!

This summer, Don and I participated in, and/or watched, several races.  They were all a ton of fun, and I'm so glad we had the chance to compete!

Race #1:  DC Ragnar Relay with some wonderful BYU teammates.  

I was SO excited that Don enjoyed doing this too.  Not many husbands like to run for 24 hours through the night...but Don actually had a blast!  (I think the Cafe Rio and the kill counts helped)

Race #2:  Mudderella with the ladies of my ward.

Well, this was just disgusting.  And really fun.  And really disgusting.

Race #3:  Cyclocross Race that we watched with some friends.  Don was really excited about this, and it was SO fun to watch.  These guys are riding incredibly fast, and it's pretty out of control.

Cyclocross is basically the "cross country" of running.  Instead of on the road, they are riding through parks, forests, trees, dirt paths, obstacles, etc.

Racing is good for the soul.