So much has happened....

Lots has happened since I stopped blogging. We did lots in October. We went to Thanksgiving Point for the big shindig Cornbelly's does there every year. We carved two pumpkins and painted pumpkins. I usually do some immaculate pattern on a pumpkin when I carve. This year I forced Jake to carve one because he never does. It was so cute. And the other pumpkin, Caden drew the face and I carved exactly what he drew, which included a brain (it looked more like three eyes). It was the best pumpkin we have EVER done. I love that it was a Caden original. We had Halloween of course, where I bought way to much candy. We still haven't eaten all of it. Luke was Elmo and Caden was an evil knight, which later became a good night. The kids are still not big trick or treating troopers and only lasted down the street and back. So we came home and watched Monsters Inc. as a fam.

Lastly, the most awaited thing, we did in October is buy the mini-wan. So many people asked me about this and I never posted it. I'm sorry. I am sure you have all lost interest, but here it is:


We bought a 2009 Toyota Sienna. We love it. We stressed and stressed about the van.......well I did. Jake was set on the new VW. Then we decided to just test drive the new Sienna. It was like magic. We both felt great about the decision to buy it. I did look back once, but you would too if you were writing the check I wrote! I am so cheap. I hate spending money. But we love it and haven't looked back since. It is even red/marroon (the technical term Toyota uses is Salsa Red Pearl, I believe). For all the many who don't know, Jake drove a minivan when I met him in high school. It was marroon and was called the super wan. Ours is a prettier marroon though. :)

I am trying to give you the condensed version of the last two months. I figure no one wants to read a book about it.

In November, Jake's brother Tyler got married. So we now have a sister-in-law Sara. Congratulations guys! I don't know why I put that, because neither one of them read my blog. Two days later, Lucas had his second birthday. It was the best birthday party we have had. We had all the close family over to our house for pizza, cupcakes, ice cream, and presents. Luke was so cute and seemed to really enjoy it. He sang happy birthday to himself in his new big bed until he fell asleep. The party was missing a few important things. Two uncles and a new aunt. Sara and Tyler were enjoying their honeymoon in Maui and couldn't make it and Casey was in Logan at school. Bummer.

We had our first Thanksgiving with the Talbots this year. We had a great time. We decided to make a whole weekend out of it and had a four day sleep over. The kids loved it and we got to have fun with the fam. We watched movies, played a game (an amazing feat, Jake and his brothers hate games), played tennis (my new favorite sport), and did a lot of laughing.

Right before Thanksgiving my step dad broke his knee. Not good. So we have been trying to help out as much as we can. He just had his second surgery on Monday and should be getting discharged from the hospital tomorrow. He has been really miserable, dealing with the pain, the surgeries, getting sick, and being immobilized for 8 or 9 days. My poor brothers have been spending a lot of time with me. They aren't acting sick of me yet though.

I think that is about it. I hope you enjoyed my cliff notes version of the last two months. Oh and I believe I have missed a blog or two going private. So if you went private recently and didn't add me, please post a comment with your email in it so I can email you. I moderate, so it will never really get posted, your email will stay secret. Thanks guys! Sorry I have neglected you all!