Thanksgiving week

This year we were lucky enough to have 2 Thanksgivings. While shopping for our little Thanksgiving dinner at the great and abominable grocery store, a friend called and invited us to join his family. We were already emotionally committed to have our own little Thanksgiving so we left walmart with lots of groceries, but no turkey. I don't think that we could have fit any kind of full grown turkey in our camper oven anyways. We had a fun time cooking and eating our pre-Thanksgiving meal, and enjoyed spending Thanksgiving day with lots of good people and crazy kids. We got to spend the day outside because it was so warm, and got to skeet shoot right before it got dark. The food was great! We only had to pay the small price of me being dressed up by the kids. I consider this my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.

We've become quite flexible since September. Although there is no way to really express the battles of practical flexibility we face daily, here are a few examples:
- We use an old wash tub as a fire pit and when we run out of marshmallows we roast mushrooms (this was my idea... Shayna and Trace didn't quite appreciate it)
- Previous to our discovery, that our hot water tank can use both electric and gas heating at the same time, the hot water would run continuously for 4 minutes. Since the discovery a shower can now last for 8 minutes with continuous hot water... we're so cheap though we just use the electric heater and turn the water off when soaping up.
-Trace takes baths in our kitchen sink... he loves it. Maybe we'll start encorporating washing the dishes with his bath time... gross.
-Our furnace is in the process of being fixed (it needed a little work so we have been using electric space heaters this whole winter so far), and the past few nights have dipped down into the mid 20's. We are able to keep the trailer about 40 degrees warmer than the outside, with the heaters, so this morning it felt a little bit like we were camping... good thing we like to cuddle... and good thing Trace's basal metabolic temperature is that of an obese bear cub.
- Arranging food in our fridge after grocery shopping is like doing a 3D puzzle. Most of the time we can get everything to fit, but there is never any spare room.

aRiZoNa

 Tracer and I had such a blast in AZ! 

We missed Chris like crazy.. but the time flew!

We got to spend 2 weeks instead of 1, and its a good thing cause so much went on! 

Lacey & Ty's WEDDING

( What a beautiful wedding on the Farm! I was lucky to be the one to take their pictures! They are the Dream Couple!)

Grandma Jessi's 86th Birthday

( We took our sweet Grandma to breakfast and to get her hair done! She loved every minute.)

 HALLOWEEN

( I had so much fun helping Sunde's Fam get all dressed up as the Kung Fu Pandas! Tracer was a tiger thanks to Summer:)

Kacey & Belle had Baby Kessia

( What an awesome thing to see Belle have her baby with a midwife in Summers house! It definitely brought me back to a lot of amazing and terrible memories ha ha! It was priceless to sit and wait on the stairs right by the room with my family. The little girls would run and put their ear to the door listening intently for that lil' cry.  Belle was a champ and the baby was a lil' 5 lb. doll! What a blessing to be there!)

Other highlights;

Being on the Farm at my favorite time of year,

 Eating Mom's Pumpkin Pie all week,

Watching Asher& Elena's Soccer Games,

Randomly seeing Amy Johnson on her way home from Havasupai,

Dad and Kolt both got their Deer,

Hearing the Song Summer Wrote for the Primary kids to sing in the Church Program, &

Took lots of pictures..Lisa & David, AZ Dream Gymnastics, Baby Kessia, & The Andrew Fam.

 It took being a way from Da Da for 2 weeks, but finally... Trace learned to say MA MA!!!