Thanksgiving 2009

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family and some friends. My mom is the oldest of 8 and 4 of the 8 and all their kids were able to make it this year. We had 50+ people! Once again we held it at the cultural hall of our church. It works out quite nice. The food was delicious as always. We were also joined by my sister Brittney's in-laws and some of mom's (and now ours, too!) friends from work. It was great to spend time with so many awesome people. Everyone played BINGO and we got some sweet prizes.


My grandma brought little figurines for the grand kids to paint. It was supposed to be one figurine per kid but Mali went nuts! She LOVES painting. She ended up painting her's, Abram's, David's, and mine! ( and yes I still get counted as a grand kid!) In the end she even painted another one, for a grand total of five. She was so concentrated and had a great time....

Here's the little man contentedly chewing on a car...

How grandpa and Abram spent the afternoon, post grubbing...

Here is me contemplating my next move in Scrabble. Apparently I should have thought a little harder... my uncle Eric whomped everyone. Although, let it be known that had Eric not gotten 2 50 point bonuses for using all of his letters, I would have been close. After that we played a rather intense game of spoons. Blood was drawn, shoes lost, and chairs knocked over. Good times...

Here was one of my contributions to the feast... Little Acorns. I got this from my friend's blog. Aren't they cute? Donut holes, melted peanut butter chips, toffee chips, and a pretzel piece. Delicious! Thanks to Britt and her awesome photography...

It was my second Thanksgiving in a row without David. We are in no way getting used to having him gone, but it was nice to be surrounded by family and friends. Can't wait for next year when I will actually get to celebrate the holidays with my man.

We also got word on when his leave will be... January 16th he should land in Phoenix. I can't wait!!!! David's sister, Liz will fly up here on the 14th and help me drive back to Phoenix. I actually bought the plane ticket before I knew when his leave was for sure. They had said it could be January (the latter part), February, or March. Leave it to the Army to mess with my plans! Hopefully our traveling will go well and we'll get there BEFORE David does. I don't want to waste a minute of the precious two weeks we will have with him.

After that the kids and I will be staying in Arizona for a while. It will be a great opportunity for the kids and I to spend time with David's side. Not to mention work on our Spanish! I am very excited to get to know everyone better and have them get to know us as well. Often when I tell people my plan to spend time with my in laws the give me horror stories of their own and tell me that I am crazy. I personally am excited for this opportunity. I am sure there will be challenges but the benefits will definitely outweigh them. Can't wait to see everyone!

Some Swinging Time

This is mostly for David... Mali loves swinging with her papa... So here you go, honey...



May not be that exciting... but I'm sure I know a man that would give anything to be here for it.

Playing at the Park

While boating at Delhi, we got to play at the park. Britt and her family went out on the boat first, and while we waited Malia got to do one of her favorite things.... SWING!


Then we tried a little combo sing time. Abram wasn't quite so sure at first...


Even in motion he wasn't quite so sure!

She even enjoyed the big, scary, ancient slide...

Abram mostly just hung out on his blanket...

This was SO two weeks ago, when I could sort of keep the little guy on the blanket! Now he is everywhere. He has mastered the "army crawl" and gets to whatever his heart desires. Every now and then I catch him lifting his belly up and rocking on his knees. My little boy is growing SO fast!

Boating at Lake Delhi

A couple weekends ago we went boating at Lake Delhi. Crazy huh? November in Iowa and boating!??! The weather has been so weird. I'm loving that we got to extend our boating season though. The kids love going out on Grandpa's boat.

Here is Abram with Grandma...

Mali and I soaking up the sun...

Grandpa at the helm...

A closeup of cutie Abram... see his two teeth?

Mali getting up close with the water. She is such a water fanatic! She wanted so much to put her feet in but it was just too cold. She settled for leaning over the edge to feel the water splashing on her face. No worries... I held on tight!

I'll miss going out to Delhi. It's a great lake. My parents are selling their house in Farley and moving to the Quad Cities. They are in the process of house hunting right now. Chris has been working at the John Deere in Moline, IL for over a year now and making the hour commute each way is getting old. So they are putting there house on the market and looking in some of the outlaying towns of the Quad Cities for a new house. I'm sure we'll find a new lake to enjoy boating on!

A Grand Opening

A couple weekends ago Britt and I took the kids to the Grand Opening of Mountaintop Stoneworks. Its a company that is owned by some friends at church. David worked there back in the day when they were much smaller. The new showroom is beautiful and we enjoyed lots of free food and fun.

Here is Mali loving the jump house...

Nathan and Malia on the climbing wall...

Mali thought it was fun to jump up into the air before sliding down...

Then she tried surfing down the side...

Abram just chilled in the stroller, watching the other kids...

Afterward we went to a Kids Expo at the Grand River Center... also free. The kids got all kinds of free stuff, including balloon animals. I love it when we can find fun free things to do with the kids. Definitely more enjoyable when you don't have to shell out big bucks to entertain the kiddos.

A Sweet Set Up

One of Malia's favorite things to do is paint. She would paint all day, every day if I let her. As you can see it makes the girl happy...

Even more fun for Mali is her "sweet set up". My mom teaches early morning seminary (religion classes) for my cousins and uses this little television for her class. Bonus for Malia... she gets to watch the "TB" while painting...

I love my little girl. This great artwork, of course, will be sent off "for her papa".

Halloween Day at Mom Mom's

We spent Halloween at my mom's...aka "Mom Mom" or Grandma's. All of my aunt Deanne's kids call my mom "Mom Mom", so Malia has started to also. Otherwise it's "gwanma". My mom does a great job with Halloween festivities and really gets into it. She started by making breakfast (pancakes and bacon) and pumpkin decorating. She invited all the Hayes kids over as well. Nora came too, but Nathan was sick :(

Here is evidence of Malia's pumpkin decorating skills...

A close up of the masterpiece...

The Hayes kids went home after breakfast and that left the two girls and Grandma. They were her little helpers in decorating pretzel rods and baking cookies.

Here is Nora throwing some gang signs...

Later on everyone came back for dinner. Mom made some yummy chili and chicken noodle soup. Then off to trick or treat...

Super cute Cassie and Nora...

Malia inspecting her loot...

Abram chilled back home with Uncle Eric and Aunt Deanne...

It was a great night. To top it off we skyped with David for long time throughout the night. It was like he was there! Malia showed off her costume and candy. Although I'm pretty sure David was wishing he could partake in the goodies too. It was sad that Nathan had to miss the festivities. Turns out he had the flu and now its been working its way through the family this whole week. No fun!