November

So I am pretty much the biggest slacker ever. It's funny how the busiest times of the year full of fun things to write about are so hard to blog, and take pictures. This post is mostly pictureless. November came in a hurry and we had a few fun/exciting things to do the first couple weeks.
*Tippy's birthday party here in Hurricane
* Steph's birthday (dinner with friends)
* More BSU games to watch
* Took pics for the YW in my old ward
*Caleb left for 6 wks training for his new job in the Navy
*Tarek and Vaughn came for a visit

Then Steph and I started packing for our 2 week trip home. I was a big emotional mess leaving Daniel because we weren't even sure he'd be able to come up for Thanksgiving, but he managed to get 2 days off work so he could be there for 5 days and so I wasn't away from him too long.

The trip up was long but the kids were really good! We stopped in Centerville to let them play at a Carl's Junior and met up with our friend Sophie who had just moved :( it was good to see her and we had a fun time getting out of the car. We then got into Boise around 10:00 pm and I was picked up at Steph's dad's house by my brother Will. I hadn't seen him since he'd moved there so it was good to see him he took me to a meeting spot where we sat and waited for my mom to come get me. We got home and my Mom dropped me off at Ruth's house where I was staying.

The next few days were weird and fun while we waited for family to arrive. LaRae and Adam got there and a few days later Daniel did too. We had a birthday party at a jump house/ trampoline place for Tippy to go to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The kids loved it and we saw Sophie and her husband TJ again (she's from Boise and was visiting family) I think Tippy loved her party a little too much and now Steph will have to let her down easy that this is not how her birthday will be every year :)

Thanksgiving morning we went into our cousin's house for the annual Turkey shoot (clay pigeon shooting, and homemade french fry eating) visited with family shot a few skeet and then went home. We had a good meal and relaxed/slept then the boys played basketball.

LaRae and Adam ended up leaving earlier than expected due to Tyson's asthma. Daniel and I went shopping and to a movie and to dinner for a real date on Friday while my family watched the kids. We also got to go to a friends (Ben Boster's) reception and it was so fun to see everyone. Daniel left Saturday night and I was bummed. Of course 2 am rolled around and Daniel called me and told me he'd just totaled our car when he hit a deer on the freeway while he was going 80 mph. I was grateful he was okay but a little sick about our car. Luckily Daniel's sweet sister Sondra was visiting in-laws about an 1 1/2 hour away and they picked Daniel up and took him to Draper area where he was able to get home with a borrowed car from there.

While home I did pretty good exercising and on good clear days I went running. I also had a Turbo Kick dvd I brought and did that a few times. The Wednesday after Thanksgiving my little sister Lillie came home from her mission in the Philippines it was good to see her and I probably had the best night that night because I straightened her hair while we had our sister Clara on the phone and it was just like when we were all in college and there was a lot of laughing :) I loved seeing Lillie and all my family but a few days later I was more than ready to be home 2 weeks is a long time and I missed the every day things that we do here. We got home and December was already in full swing!
HERE are pics from Lillie coming home.

slightly overcome with emotion :)

Welcome home beautiful girl!!!

(BTW you should have seen her hair, it's all twisted up but when I straightened it, it was almost to her bum!)