Thanksgiving

A wonderful, relaxing break! Thanksgiving Day was kicked off with the Hamm Turkey Bowl in the cold and then a warm dinner at DD and Big John's. I was bummed to not be able to play in the Turkey Bowl due to the recent broken foot diagnosis (bummer!). But I cheered loudly from the sidelines. Cadie and Lauren were cute doing a film and photos of the game. The entire break was really relaxed and included lots of time playing with friends, decorating for Christmas, and hanging out with family. Colton was living his best life in Christmas PJs at the SMU football game.

Ranger saved the day on Tuesday before Thanksgiving because Colton woke up and said he needed a Turkey shirt! What?! I didn't have a turkey shirt just hanging around. Ranger drew the BEST turkey! I LOVE the shirt.

Snider Plaza Christmas Tree Lighting

One of my favorite traditions! The weather was PERFECT. One small thing that made me sad was that I couldn't get the older two to get a picture with Santa. I think they both might be over Santa... except when he is bringing them presents. The face painters brought their A game this year!

Weekend in Napa

The Friday after Halloween we headed to Napa with friends! Stephanie was Cadie's 2nd and 3rd grade teacher who we all adore. She used a buddy pass recently traveling to the wedding of a friend and she was such a nonrev pro that we asked her and her friend, Zach, last minute if they wanted to come with us to Napa. They said Yes without hesitation! As usual, Grant planned an amazing trip. Every detail was wonderful.

On Friday we went into San Francisco and ate lunch at Boudin's sourdough bread. Then, we wandered around the peirs and saw the seals and went on a Harbor Cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge. The weather was windy, sunny, a tiny bit chilly, and perfect. We met Whitney and baby Wes for dinner near their house and then headed on to our hotel in Napa. 

Saturday was a full day tour in a fancy sprinter van that we had all to ourselves! We stopped at 4 vineyards and had an amazing picnic with food from The Girl and The Fig at Bouchaine where Stephanie laid in the grass in the sunshine after lunch. The vineyards we visited were Madonna Estates, Bouchaine, Laird Family Estate, and Domaine Chandon.

On Sunday we went to one more winery where we got a free tasting. We drove to Muir Woods and did a short hike and then to the airport to head back home. This was our second trip to Napa and we had such a nice time that Grant says he wants to make it an annual trip. Sounds good to me!

 

Happy Halloween!

My favorite part of Halloween this year was spending the day with Ranger at my work. He was a great sport and we had fun watching the Halloween skit show, visiting all the trick or treat stations, eating lunch with my friends, and then hanging out a bit while I did a few work things. Ranger was super nice to everyone and I loved introducing him to the craziness of Southwest Halloween. The theme this year was Beatles so I want as an actual Beatle and Ranger was a spider.

Halloween was a bit different this year because the festival at the church was cancelled due to all the construction. This was the first year ever since we have had kids that we haven't gone to the church fall festival on Halloween. We still had a nice evening. We started off at a UP friends get-together at the Paulsen's house. Then, we went to DD and Big John's and trick or treated with Eisley, Hannah, Parker, Preston, Laura and Austin. We wrapped up the evening passing out some candy at home and going through the gobs of candy that the kids received.