Thanksgiving Week

I know, it's wierd to start off a post about Thanksgiving with a picture of our Christmas tree, but I don't have any photos from Thanksgiving week - we had THAT much fun! :) It was a bit of a rough start with us not leaving until Monday night around six when the plan had been to leave first thing Monday morning, but such is life with a farmer who has to help haul cows. We finally arrived and started our week off right with a trip to the Manti Temple with my sister and her husband. It was awesome! We have not been to the temple together in a very, very long time and it was extra special because it was the first time for my sister and her husband have been back since they were married there. Then the crazy pie making began! We made 18 pies this year! Thanks to everyone for pitching in, though so it wasn't a mammoth task for just one person. We had so many yummy ones to choose from, it was awesome! I think the favorites this year were the returning champion blueberry, the raspberry sour cream and the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

We were able to squeeze in a little shooting with the pie-making and then we enjoyed a nice, relaxed Thanksgiving with family and food. Friday we skipped the Black Friday shopping to go paintballing, which was a blast! I got the best injury for the entire time on the first round. I got hit in the finger, which bled right away and hurt like the dickens for a while. At the bottom is a picture of what is still there after nearly a week. That night my sister, mom and I went out to get much-needed haircuts and do some shopping. And the last day us gals went out for brunch at IHOP and saw The Help at the cheap theatre. That night the guys went and saw Contagion. It was an awesome week, let me tell you!

While we were in Utah Amy finally cut her first tooth - Yay!! And now we are back to reality with cooking, cleaning, and schedules. Sam loves being back in preschool. Amy has decided to wake up in the middle of the night again, so we will be working on retraining her to sleep through the night. I am enjoying playing volleyball three mornings a week with ladies in my ward since running outside is no longer ideal. And Robert is just biding his time until his big trip to Texas to hunt deer (all expenses paid!)

So that's about it for now. Hope you all are detoxing from all the family, food, and fun ok. We are having a bit of a time adjusting - Amy to not being held every minute of the day and Sam to not having constant playmates. It may be a good thing for him, though; I caught him admiring something he had made out of playdough saying "Ohh, it's so cute!" in a high, girly voice :)

(Oh yeah, and how do you like our Christmas tree? It leaves very little living space in the living room, but it is worth it for the lovely sight and smell all month long!)