Thanksgiving

Like last year, with us in Kansas and Shanna in Utah, we met in the middle and had Thanksgiving in Colorado. Since Ciera is also in Utah she came along too. We stayed in this cute little town in the mountains but we mostly stayed in doors and spent time together. The girls did crafty stuff and the boys played video games. It was a nice break for all.

It was fun to see how big Austin has gotten. In one of the pictures below you see Cade kissing Austin-do not be deceived. He took many swats at Austin which resulted in a lot of time outs for Cade. I guess we will have to work on the future best friend thing.

We had 1 oven and a tiny kitchen but we managed to pull together a Thanksgiving dinner. We had a lot of fun.









These elk were seen from our window. This is just across the street. I am always amazed how easily Cole can spot wildlife from far away or on a mountain top. I can never see them though. I am proud to say I am the one that spotted these-Cole was mildly impressed ;)

The Last Two Weeks

Recognize these people?

Mom and Dad just got back from Dubai. (Part of the United Arab Emirates-Near Saudia Arabia) Don't they look awesome?! They flew to Paris and stayed there for a few days and then traveled on to Dubai. My mom's brother lives there so he and his wife were able to show them around. All their pictures and stories were amazing.

Standing in front of the only 7 star hotel in the world. Dubai is very wealthy. You can get a helicopter to shuttle you from the airport to the roof of the hotel. It is the tall sail shaped building. (Dubai also has the tallest building in the world, the largest mall in the world, and a ski resort in the center of another mall. )

Here is mom all decked out.

Riding camels.

Mom and Dad in Paris.

While they were gone I went back home to man down the house and watch Kayla and Alyssa. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them (except for the part of making sure Kayla was up for early morning seminary!) Cade loves going to Mimi's and Papa's house so he was content most of the time. One of Cade's favorite things to do was to watch Alyssa get off the yellow school bus in the afternoon. He thought that was the coolest thing. Here are some snippets of what we did.

Going to watch the high school football game and see Kayla perform during high school. She is in the same drill team and Shanna and I were in. Alexi came with us. She was also on the drill team with Shan and I, it was so much fun to see! Cade loved going to watch Kayla dance. We ended up going to two football games and a basketball game.

Us out shopping.

Cade happily playing and trying on Papa's boots.

Kayla and I after her pep rally.

It was such a fun visit, but I am glad to be reunited with Cole. Being a single parent for 2 weeks was tough. Cole posted the last post from the airplane. He also left for a conference a few days ago. So I had to come home to a lonely house :( I leave to go get him in about a 1/2 hour!

Halloween

Cade was an elephant for Halloween. Isn't he the cutest elephant you have ever seen?

Cade and I were able to go "trunk or treating" with my family since we were in Texas on Halloween. He was a little unsure at first and would barley whisper "trick or treat". Then he would sign the word "car" because he knew we would then go to the next car. He loved watching candy go into his bag.

He started to get a little overwhelmed with so many people and kids running around him.

I unwrapped one of his suckers and that changed his whole outlook. He was so excited. He started running around with his big elephant ears flopping around. When he finally got tired he sat by our car and ate his sucker.

Success and a question

On Saturday I successfully left Cade with a paid babysitter for a good portion of the day-lunch, a nap and all. This may not seem like a big achievement, but this has seriously given me stress. Living away from family takes away automatic babysitters and people I trust. There are plenty of people here that I trust but then I just worry. Maybe it is a first time parent thing but I have had a problem leaving him with a paid babysitter. I have left him at neighbors' houses where they have kids and he is very familiar there because I have been there with him several times. But yesterday Cole and I had to be two different places for a good portion of the day. I had one of the Young Women from our ward, who Cade had never met, to come watch him. I was a mess. I was so nervous. I almost cancelled. But I figured just as Cade needs to get used to babysitters, I need to get used to the idea of leaving Cade in the care of a babysitter. And everything went fine! Cade was great. He took his nap great. And everybody was happy and calm when we came home. This was very exciting for me. I feel very liberated. I can successfully leave him with a babysitter and nothing catastrophic will happen. 

So here is my question to all my blogging buddies- What do you pay your babysitters? I don't want to be a cheapskate because I want it to be worth their time. I want them to want to come back. But also when you calculate a date and babysitting money things can get pricey. What do you think is reasonable?

 

Come on-who wouldn't jump at the chance to watch this little guy for free! ;)

Peas

We had peas for dinner tonight. Later after dinner Cade wanted a snack. We got him a small container of peas to munch on. I checked out a new toy for him at a lending library-a peg board with colorful pegs you put in the holes. He has really enjoyed playing with it. He was content playing with it by himself and munching on peas. We looked over and he had found an alternative activity for his peas.  Shoving them into his peg board. He was so proud of himself for figuring it out. We thought it was hilarious. And we just let him continue shoving.

 

Book Recommendations

I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I surprisingly loved it. It is in letter format which I thought I would hate. I thought wrong. It was very witty, endearing, and historic. It was not one of those books where you just can't put it down but I did throughly enjoy my time reading it. I actually kind of liked that it was easy to put down when I needing to be getting things down. I didn't feel trapped or bound like I couldn't function until I knew what happened next. Very good and very informative. It makes me want to go visit the island of Guernsey. Want to come?  

I am looking forward to The Circus Ship coming in. I ordered it today. It just came out this month. It is by Chris Van Dusen. I love his picture books. This will be his fourth one. I love looking at the illustrations. The stories are cute and the rhyming clever. The best part: I don't get bored reading them to Cade over and over. (which he asks for often since he too loves this books.)

Austin's Blessing

Last week we went up to Utah for Shanna's baby blessing. So fun! We seriously need like 2 weeks whenever we go to Utah because there are just so many family and friends there. But we had so much fun spending time with family. We miss living near them. Quick rundown of events-lots of holding baby Austin, watched BYU football game (fantastic victory), blessing and wonderful luncheon, more of holding baby Austin, Labor day events, more holding Austin, sewing time with Shan, an Allen side cousins party, family Ratcliffe time, and did I mentioned that we held Austin? Well we did and he is adorable. 

On Labor Day we went up American Fork canyon to spend time with my dad's side of the family. It was nice to be in and around the mountains again. It was the ideal place for Cade: rocks, dirt, and water. He loved it. 

Last Thursday Cole's Great Grandma turned 100. And she is still going strong. Wow. I was so pumped to take a 5 generation picture. 

Left to Right-Cole's Great Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Cole, Cade

We loved the time we got to spend with so much family. We wish we could have stayed longer. Thanks for all the love and hospitality we received!