Advent Calendars

The kids opened their advent calendars on Sunday.

A magic one

Grinches!

Puzzles! He has to solve daily puzzles to figure out which one to open the next day. We both think they're pretty fun.

Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal

This year to help improve my Spanish (which I'm learning on Duolingo) I decided to read Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal. I finished it while we were in Arizona! I think my Spanish improved a lot. I started reading book 2 to continue my learning. But I need to figure out how to listen and understand Spanish better. I do pretty good reading it, but hearing it is much, much harder. 

 

Arizona

We went to Arizona for a week! The Kenyons were there the whole time we were there and it was so fun to see them! Kimber, JJ, and Alli came Wednesday - Sunday. Sam was going to come for Thanksgiving but didn't feel well so they didn't come. We were sad to not see them!

Kenzie and Nati made a feast for breakfast one day!

My dad put in a putting green awhile ago and it was our first time being able to use it.

Jordan helped my dad and Richard try to fix the sprinkler system. I'm not sure if they were successful or not. I think so though.

Nati putting

Cute Coleman on the bench.

The Kenyons brought Auggie with them. He loves cuddling in blankets.

Jackson came on Tuesday! He was able to fly from Bellingham to Mesa.

Wednesday night we went to Organ Stop Pizza. This guy played the organ while we ate pizza. People made requests and he played many of them. It was so much fun!

Thanksgiving started with a flag football game. We played two games, switching up the teams for the second game. My team won both times! Jackson and my dad were also on my team both times.

Afterwards, Doug, Richard, Jackson, and Jordan jumped in the pool. It was kind of cold water. I think in the high 70s. But they thought it would feel good after a morning of flag football. All but Richard looked pretty cold though.

Doug looked liked this the whole time he was in the water.

My dad carved the turkey!

My mom had back surgery about 5 weeks ago and is still in pain when she stands or walks very much. She rested more than normal during the cooking, but she still made the gravy, and it was delicious!

We made a lot of potatoes. We had about half the bowl left after everyone ate. Without my mom and Ashlee there to say we had plenty, we just kept peeling.  We thought we'd only done 15lbs, but my mom sad we actually did almost 20lbs. But as I always say, it's better to have too much potatoes than too little!

Lots of people in the kitchen!

Jackson was a trooper and did so many of the dishes! Coleman dried them and put them away (and probably put them in the dishwasher until it was full)

Jordan helped a bunch too.

Kenzie wiped the counters and did some vacuuming. I'm glad the kids helped out so much with the cleaning!

The grandkids!

The Kenyons!

The Crabtrees!

Grandma and Grandpa!

Bert, Nancy, and Coco! (Auggie barked a lot at Coco and sometimes had to be put in his kennel while Coco was there. Silly dog!)

The Dances!

All the Thanksgiving gatherers 

The Ridings!

Playing Hearts

Kenzie and Nati had been sleeping in the front bedroom, but once JJ and Kimber and showed up they got that room and Kenzie and Nati had to move out to the family room. 

On Friday, we went to lunch and then Chelle, Kimber, JJ, Nati, Kenzie, Alli, and I went to the mall. The parking lot was crazy! It took us 15 minutes to get out of it! 

They bought some new jammies!

We watched Garfield Christmas because the others hadn't seen it. Michelle vaguely remembered it. We watch it every year!

Doug and the boys played a lot of tennis and pickleball throughout the week. Doug is now ready to live in Arizona during the winter, if not all year round. The boys all think it's too hot and prefer Seattle. Kenzie didn't say what she thinks:) On Saturday we went to Torchy's for lunch and cleaned up the house. Then we went to the airport and flew home. Doug was really happy that I suggested we fly instead of drive this year.

We flew home on Frontier and thought the trays were funny because they were so small. The seats were also less comfortable, and we didn't get free drinks (which doesn't bother me, I bring my own water:)). But the tickets were much cheaper and we still flew safely to Seattle!

Ollie

The Crabtrees had to put Ollie down on Nov 23rd. The day before he started throwing up blood and when Kimber took him to the vet they found he had several tumors. There wasn't any way to heal him, so they made the tough decision to put him down and end his suffering. Konrad and Cam flew to Boise from Puerto Rico (Ashlee had to stay back because they were watching someone's dog while in Puerto Rico) and Alli flew in from Boise so they could all see him one last time. We are all so devasted! We love Ollie Boy!

 

Basketball Tournament

Coleman participated in a basketball tournament Coach Zach put on. There were so many middle schooler participating. For the first hour, they play 4 on 4 half court. Coleman team ended up being the champions in that tournament. For the second hour, they played 5 on 5 full court. Coleman had a lot of fun but was pretty tired by the end. I think he would have preferred it to only be an hour long.

Even though you can't see him, he was the one shooting in this picture:)

And this is just a picture of Coleman and me.