Giving Thanks

Grandpa Papa and Grandma Nana came to our house for Thanksgiving week! We had a really fun time with them, but I have to be honest, they mostly spent time with the boys, haha.

Dallin was very proud of his pilgrim hat that he made at Sheila's house. 

I took my parents to tour the Hormel Historic Home to see all the Christmas decorations. This home has grown to be a favorite place for our family. I teach my family music classes in their big living room with a grand piano built in 1914. I am also a member of the board for the home, on a task force to help make the home more of a family destination. A week before Thanksgiving, we hosted a big Holiday kick-off event that was very successful! 

My mom really enjoyed the self guided tour.

For lunch, I took us out to eat at B&J. I was glad there are still some restaurants in town that my parents haven't tried yet! This is the only picture I took while we were there. I can't remember what cute thing Dallin was doing.

We made some native american hats to go with the pilgrim hat.

It was fun to have Tanner help set the table. That is one of his four daily chores. He did a pretty good job!

The Petersons came to join us for the feast!

We ended up with so many yummy dishes that our turkey go neglected. But it saved well for lots of other meals.

After feasting, we had a Mario Cart tournament. I did not expect Leighsa to do so well!

The game continues...

Guitar buddies

Getting a family photo wasn't easy.

Dallin loves all of the Peterson kids.

I'm glad I got to spend some time with this lady!

On Black Friday, Tanner searched through the John Deer ads and decided what he would buy. 

Just happens to be the same kind of mower that Grandpa Papa has! Only $6,900!! Tanner says he's gonna start saving his money now. Lol.

On Saturday, Jeremy bought a real tree, and we all decorated it together. This was one of my favorite things about the week!

Dallin wanted to put all of his ornaments up very high.

Grandpa and Tanner had fun playing outside. Tanner insisted on wearing shorts since it was sunny outside. 

We're so glad that the boys got to play with their grandparents so much this week!! It was a nice, quiet visit with them, playing in the basement and outside, doing projects, watching football, cooking and eating. In addition to the Hormel Home, we also enjoyed a minor league Hockey Game in the stadium in our town. The game was delayed about 45 minutes, and we almost gave up on watching it, but I'm really glad we stayed because our team scored 2 points within the first ten minutes of the game and 1 more point before the period was over! The boys liked watching the game, Dallin loved watching the mascot. Mom and Dad were impressed that we have a hockey stadium in such a small town. That's Minnesota, haha! Also, Jeremy and I got to go to the movies by ourselves for the first time since we've lived here! We love you, Grandpa Papa and Grandma Nana! Thank you for coming to visit us!!

November Photo Journal

Here's photos of our life during November!

The beginning of the month finally brought us red leaves on our trees! It seemed like all the other trees in the neighborhood had changed colors and fallen before ours even started to turn. But luckily, the weather was still warm enough to play in the leaves a little bit when they all fell down.

I worked really hard to get our rooms looking nice, and decided to take pictures to remember what they look like when they are clean, since a perfectly clean room is a rarity at our house. Notice the art work above our bed? I designed those myself using google images and PowerPoint.

Here's what the boys' bedroom looked like at the time. We have since then gotten them matching sports bedspreads. Someday, we plan to get a bunk bed, but for the time being, we all really like having their mattresses on the ground. Tanner's bed is on the left.

I put some wall photos at Dallin's eye-level because no one was looking at them when they were up higher. Now, Dallin looks at them everyday.  

We turned our changing table into a home for stuffed animals. It actually works really well. The painting on the wall is Tanner's. It's a house on a hill on a farm.

Here is a painting that Tanner made probably in the summer. I can't get it to be vertical, but if you tilt your head you might be able to tell that it's a playground with a slide and jungle gym.

One day, the boys had their animal pj's on and figured it was warm enough to play outside without a coat. They were right! 

Oh yeah, Tanner didn't feel the need to wear shoes, and his feet didn't get cold! We had some really warm days in November.

Tanner had his first ever visit to the dentist!! I had him come with me to my appointment at the dentist, and then the following week brought him for his own. Seeing me in the chair I think helped him know what to expect, but he still had a meltdown before getting in the car, and did panic breathing all the way into the office. As soon as the hygienist called him back, Tanner stopped panicking and suddenly became a sweet child. HA! What a punk.

We went to pizza ranch to help raise money for the Kindergarten Center where I teach music. The boys love Pizza Ranch, so it worked out nicely.

Dallin helped Jeremy fix our shower door. The new one is amazing! I love it!

We took a little friend with us on some adventures to the park and Nature Center so that her mommy could rest before the new baby arrived.

Dallin loved collecting sticks.

He refused to hold hands even though she kept asking. Holding sticks is much more important, I guess.

Look what our boys figured out how to do! There are times when Tanner plays with Dallin so nicely. They were non-stop giggles when they figured out how to do this!

I attended an awesome Christian conference for moms in Rochester called Hearts at Home. It was a really great experience. 

I got to be with some great friends. Kellie and I drove to and from together on both days and had a blast!

And I got to meet Gary Chapman, the author of The Five Love Languages! He is also an excellent speaker.

We took some pictures before Jeremy left on a week-long business trip to Arizona.

Tanner's owie on his eye is from a rug burn when he was rough housing with Jeremy.

Jeremy had a great time at his work conference, including getting the best at this golf challenge.

Meanwhile, we had lots of fun at home. Dallin loves his Kazoo.

We got our first snow storm of the season!! It was fun to have my "niece" play in the snow with us.

Tanner took these pictures of Jeremy on Saturday morning before going out in the gorgeous snow.

Jeremy pulled them all over the yard and around the loop on our street.

At the end of sacrament service at church, this is what our pew often looks like.

Tanner colored this picture and was very proud of his work.

We made these sculptures in the family music class that I teach. I have been loving working for MacPhail Center for Music. 

And here is Tanner as a Ninja Dinosaur Superhero!