Thanksgiving

    We spent Thanksgiving here in Utah with my side of the family. With so many of us living here in Utah- no one has a house that could accommodate all of us without feeling way cramped. We should seriously start having get togethers at the church! So that being said...This year the Leatham family was a house divided.  My sister Laura and my brother Bob, and their families came to my home for the festivities. We had a great time. Tons of food- everything a Thanksgiving dinner is and then some- the pies were awesome! YUM! It was so fun to sit around and talk and play games while the kids ran around, inside and outside. They watched movies, played wii games and those cute little boy cousins followed Ethan and Jake around while they were shootin' their sling shots. It was so nice to have the cute girl cousins follow Will around and keep him entertained. I actually got to play a game! It was a really good Thanksgiving- everyone happy and enjoying themselves- no stress- and even a good prank made it's way into the day.

The "grown-up' table. Nothing fancy. Simple. 

The kids table. I found the cutest table cloth that had activities printed all over for the kids to be entertained while final preparations were being made. The kids loved it and kept them busy.

Poor Bob! Just after he had filled his plate and sat down, Cole had a blow out diaper. So while he was off changing it, we took advantage of swapping out his dinner for a bowl of Lemon jello. My mom has made this salad every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas for as long as I can remember. I don't mind the salad-I still like it. As for Bob, he hates it! So after talking with Laura the night before, we devised a plan to make him his own mini salad. It just happened so perfectly. What a good baby Cole was to help out with the execution. 

Games!

Great cousins!

Yummy Pie!

More cute cousins!

More yummy pie!

Cute little babies!

After all the fun and festivities, Laura and I went out and had some fun Black friday shopping. We found some great deals and were back home by midnight. It really was a great Thanksgiving!

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Jocelyn was baptized on the 3rd of November.  What a sweet girl! She looked beautiful in her new white dress. She was so nervous and excited. The program went smoothly with some great talks (one of them was mine!) and cute primary songs. I love primary songs- Jocelyn picked "I love to see the Temple". Ben baptized and confirmed her. Soon after we went back to our home for some sweet desserts and to visit. We loved sharing the day with our large family. I love spirit that a baptism can bring into our family.

This was almost the whole family- Bonnie and her family had already snuck away!

Here are a few pictures I was able to take- I hope to get some better ones soon. We took these quite quickly when we were picking up Ben's mom at the temple. I didn't have a whole lot of time- oh well. Some of them turned out cute. I sooo need Scott to take some better ones!

Mummy,and monkey, and bat, OH MY!

Halloween is one of our most favorite times of the year here at the Allen house. And while I thought of just skipping this post and trying to catch up with other ones, I just knew I couldn't. We love Halloween. So, after returning from Disneyland my schedule was a whirlwind with costumes, birthday and party, and a baptism dress to sew, and .... the list went on and on. I was a little stressed at making costumes with everything else that was going on, but it all turned out. The kids picked some great costumes and I must say they looked pretty cute. The night was great for tick or treating - weather was perfect and Ben's mom stayed at our house to hand out candy. Which meant that for the first time in years I went out with the kids and Ben. It was fun. They returned home with full bags and happy faces. The candy was gone in a week! Thank goodness! I must say that Will was the best sport in that he just sat in his stroller the whole time and was content at just watching all the cute kids around him. What a good Monkey!

Riley was finally able to be a red power ranger (I was quick this year and bought his costume I think in august.) 

Jocelyn couldn't decide between a donut or a mummy. I think the donut would have been easier to make. She played a great mummy!

Cute Will! Brought back memories of when Ethan wore this on his first trick or treating night- 13 years ago- OH MY! Will is now addicted to suckers!

Months ago Owen watched Diego Halloween. Diego was a bat. Owen had to be a bat. Not batman- he will correct you! His costume was easy to make- thank goodness! He wore it a lot!

Not the greatest picture of our pumpkins but carving was fun- the boys were introduced to power tools and creativity was endless. Grandma even carved a pumpkin- her first in many, many years, she said.

Oh, Bens last minute costume, that won him a hundred bucks at work. The night before I sent him to Smiths and he returned with zombie attire. not so unique these days but add the pfizer test sticker and those awesome zombie shoes and he was a winner! Yeah for a free date night!

As for Ethan and Jake, they  went out with a large group of friends and had what sounded like a good time. Their bags at least looked like they had a good time. Full size candy bars and sodas. People were generous this year! What a great night for all of us.