Thanksgiving 2023

We had a good Thanksgiving.  It was a nice chill day.  We enjoyed hanging out at home in the morning.  Then in the early afternoon we went over to Margie's house to help with dinner and Tony went and picked up Nana from her apartment.  

It was nice spending time with Nana.  We haven't seen her in a while, so it was nice to chat with her.  Brennen was also there with us.  Suzanne, Tim, and Gabe went to Orlando for Thanksgiving to spend time with Cortnie and Landon and also to go to Disneyworld.  

It didn't take long for everything to be ready to eat.  We all then had a great meal together.  After dinner Tony and I did most the cleanup while Margie and Nana went in the front room to listen to the kids play the piano.  I had them bring the songs that they've been practicing.  Allie also sang Nana a song that she learned in Primary.  Margie and Nana both seemed to enjoy listening to the kids.  After they were done, Nana was able to play a few songs that she could remember on the piano.  That was a treat.  He eyesight is so bad; we were all impressed.

The kids then helped Margie bring up some more of her Christmas villages and decorations.  After it was all up, we had pie.  It was yummy per usual.  We then hung out until it was time to go.  We got to take Nana back to her place.  It is a treat to get to spend a little extra time with her.  We then went home and had a chill evening at home.  It was a nice, stress-free, fun time with family day.

20th Anniversary Trip - DCA & Disneyland: The Day it Rained

This day we started at Disney's California Adventure.  The weather said there was a good chance of it raining this day, so we took our rain gear and got going on some rides.  We were able to ride a bunch of fun rides before it started sprinkling.  We just put on our ponchos and continued on with our day.   

We did everything that we wanted to do at DCA, so we then went over to Disneyland.  This is when it started raining harder.  This made things tricky because they close some of the rides when it is super wet, so that makes other lines really long.  We went on the rides that we could and then once it got dark, we decided to call it a day.  We had tons of fun and we loved spending these days together in Dinseyland.  

The next day we were able to sleep in and then eat breakfast at the hotel.  This was our free day.  We were going to have Monday be our free day, but the weather showed rain Thursday, so we changed it.  Funny thing was that it rained worse on Wednesday and hardly at all Thursday.  I wished that we didn't have to make reservations so that we could have changed our dates once the weather changed, but it's ok.  We survived going in the rain.  It used to be that rainy days were slower, but with the reservation system people have to go when they have their reservation, so not so slow anymore.  

We went to the Disney Outlet store and walked around Downtown Disney.  We ate lunch at Tortilla Joe's, and it was super yummy.  We then finished walking around Downtown Disney before driving over the Joe's Italian Ice.  We got an ice cream to share, and it was, of course, the best.  We then went back to the hotel.  We relaxed in the hot tub that the hotel finally fixed.  Those jets felt so good on my achy feet.  I then started packing up our stuff so that things would be ready for us to drive home the next day.  The drive home was smooth, and we had such a great trip.  It was so nice going away just the two of us.  I sure do love Tony and the lives that we have built.  I am a lucky and blessed lady.

20th Anniversary Trip - Disneyland Day 2

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us!  This was the official day.  We started back at Disneyland this day.  We had a lunch reservation at the Carnation Cafe.  We really like their country fried chicken.  It was super yummy.  

It was another great day with lots of fun rides.  We were able to do everything that we wanted, sometime more than once.  We had yummy treats and walked all over the park to ride tons of rides.  

20th Anniversary Trip - Disneyland Day 1

Tony and I really wanted to do something fun for our 20th wedding anniversary.  We thought about going to Florida, but the budget didn't allow that.  So, we did the next best thing and went to Anaheim.  We were able to use our hotel points to cover the hotel and we also drove, so we saved money on airplane tickets.  

We left Sunday right after sacrament meeting.  It was the same day as the Primary Program, so we didn't want to miss that.  We went home, changed our clothes, packed the van and then headed on our way.  We drove a couple of hours before picking up some lunch.  We just ate in the car and continued driving.  We stopped in St. George for gas and a quick pit stop.  The traffic was good for most of the trip.  It was a busy and slow moving down the canyon outside of Victorville.  But we were able to get gas at the Costco in Victorville and we picked up some Mexican food for the road from a local Mexican Restaurant. 

We then got into our hotel about 8:00 p.m.  We unpacked the car and got in all in our room.  I got us unpacked and ready to go to Disneyland the next day.

The next morning, we got some hotel breakfast.  It was decent, price was right.  Then we got our stuff and drove to Disneyland.  The traffic was good, and Tony was able to get us there without any problems.  We parked and then walked down to the trams.  Best first ride of the day.  We then went to Disneyland for the day.

The weather was perfect.  We brought our jackets but didn't end of needing them.  When we bought holiday Mickey popcorn buckets for us, Margie, Suzanne, and Kim we then got a locker to store the buckets and our jackets.  That made the backpack a lot lighter to carry.  Tony was so nice, and he wore the backpack the majority of the time.

The park wasn't super busy, but we did have Genie Plus to help not have to wait so long in the lines.  We were able to get on every ride we wanted to at least one time, if not twice. We got Mickey beignets, tried multiple treats and the breakfast chimichanga this day.  We ate lunch at the Hungry Bear restaurant.  The food was okay, not the best thing every, but not bad at all.

We had wanted to eat at the Plaza for dinner this night, but they had a way long line, and I was too tired to wait for that.  So, we got everything out of our locker and went out of the park to get dinner at The Earl of Sandwich.  They had a longish line too, but we were able to get a table and enjoy our sandwiches.  

We then got back on the tram and walked back to our car.  We then drove back to the hotel and got some good rest.  It was a good day and we had lots of fun.  

November Happenings

It's been a fun November so far.  Josh got to go do baptism for the dead at the Saratoga Springs temple with the youth in our ward and he loved it, per usual.  Tyler had to work, so he didn't go.

Tony and I got invited to go to a Jazz game with a vendor and friend of Tony's from work.  We went with him and his wife and it was super fun.  We ate dinner at Tucanos before the game and then enjoyed the game where the Jazz won by almost 30 points. We had a great time.

Megan and Allie had their Primary Program.  They both did so good.  It was Megan's last program in Primary.  She had three parts, flipped the pages for the next speakers, and sang out loud and proud.  Allie did her part very well and also sang out proudly.  It was so fun to see them both and we were so proud of how well they knew all the songs and had no stage fright at all.  It's crazy to think next year we will only have one kid in Primary.  Our kids are growing up, it's very exciting and scary at the same time. 

We had the most amazing sunset this month and I just had to take a picture.  God blesses us with these special moments.

Josh got to go see the musical My Fair Lady at the University of Utah with his theater class.  He really liked it and had a good time.  

We also found out that Josh got the part of Javar in the upcoming musical Alladin.  He tried out for the Genie, Javar, and the Sultan.  He thought he wanted to be the Genie at first, but after trying out for the different parts, he decided that he really wanted to get the part of Javar.  So, we were all very excited and proud of him for getting the part of Javar.  

Tyler, Megan, and Allie have been enjoying singing karaoke with each other.  They have been singing a lot of the songs from Percy Jackson the musical.  It is so nice to see them doing things together that they like to do and getting a long while they do it.  

Halloween 2023

Another successful Halloween is in the books. 

We went to see the girls walk in the school parade.  It was a cold but sunny day.  The girls were so cute, and it was fun to see them with Tony and Lloyd and Margie.  

Allie found the red cape in our costume stuff and decided she wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood.  So, then we went to the DI to find the rest of her costume.  Megan was excited to be Hermione Granger again.  She still is really into Harry Potter.  I think they both looked so cute.

The boys both wore their Percy Jackson shirts to school as their costume.  I told Josh he needed to wear something else trick-or-treating because it didn't look like he dressed up with just jeans and a t-shirt.  Plus, it was cold, so no one would see the t-shirt.  So, he wore my old M&M costume.  It was nice because he wore his coat under it, and it kept him warm.  

We were able to get Tony to wear wolf ears for a picture, so he was The Big Bad Wolf, but then he quickly took them off.  But at least he humored me for the picture.  They went around the neighborhood and got lots of goodies.  Allie came back and then Tony took Josh and Megan around a little bit more.  They all had a good time and got lots and lots of treats.  Tyler enjoyed the evening at Grace's house where she had a Halloween party.  So, Halloween was a success all around.

Trunk-or-Treats

We got to go to two different trunk-or-treats.  We went to my parent's ward trunk-or-treat first and they served hotdogs and chips.  It was nice and they had a good number of kids and cars.  It was nice hanging out with my mom for a little bit more before she left for California the next day.  

After we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat and it was lots of fun.  Becky Okelberry sat next to us, and we had a good time chatting and handing out candy.  We all had a fun time and are excited for Halloween.  

Pumpkin Painting

The girls have been so excited to paint their pumpkins and they were finally able to do so.  Megan decided to paint a witch and Allie painted a cat.  Carving pumpkins is also fun, but painted pumpkins last a whole lot longer.  I love that they still like to do stuff like this.  

Frost Halloween Night

The elementary school had a fun Halloween night at the school.  They had face painting, games, little treats, and a spook alley.  Megan was part of the team that made the spook alley, and she was very excited to have us go through it.  I thought for a school run spook alley they did a very good job.  If you had a glow stick, then the kids knew not to scare you.  Allie and I had the glow sticks, and the kids were so nice and cute with us.  They waved and gave us high-fives.  It was super cute.  If it wasn't so busy, then I wouldn't have gone again without the glow sticks to see how it was.  But there was an extra-long line went we got out of the spook alley.   It was a fun night, and we were glad that we went.

Fall Happenings

It has been such a lovely fall.  The weather has been so nice, and the leaves are looking so pretty.  

We were able to help rake up some of our neighbors leaves and the girls really wanted to jump in them.   

My mom and I happened upon the haunted woods in Murray Park while we were walking.  We had to detour from our typical walking route and found some scary creatures.  Not so scary in the daytime, but I think it would be much scarier at night. 

We also walk at the Jordan River Parkway, and it has been so pretty.  First it was the sunflowers that were all blooming at the same time and then it was the bright yellow leaves in all the trees.  I love fall.  It is so pretty and such perfect weather.  I do enjoy my walks with my mom and am going to miss them when she goes back to California.

Allie got to eat the rest of the ice cream out of the container at Margie's house and she wanted a picture of it, then she wanted me to send the picture to Julie.  It was silly.

The girls got to go to This is Place State Park for Activity Days.  They were the only two girls who were able to go with their leaders.  Their leaders spoiled them the whole time and they had a great time.  The girls really are spoiled by Brother and Sister Jones, and we just love them.