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Monday, November 26, 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we hosted Thanksgiving and we loved every crazy second of it!

We kicked off the festivities by shopping for Ava's birthday with Grandma.

Billy Joel Alec played us a song about the "Piano Man"
 

My Mom and Reed BEAT Scott and I in a grueling game of bowling.  Losers bought Kripsy Kremes.
 

If you are ever our guests and it is above 50 degrees outside...you will be going on this hike.
We lucked out with 70 degree weather, so we went on a little pre-Thanksgiving hike.

These two were showing off the first half of the hike with all their energy.  
Reed was hiking Gangnam style.



Considering it was almost December, we couldn't believe that this was the only snow we ran into.
 




Mom & Reed think that they are part Egyptian after their trip to the Holy Land.

The night before Thanksgiving we kept it simple and ate at Costa Vida.

We stayed up late looking at pictures and hearing stories chronicles about Mom and Reed's trip.

My Thanksgiving tables.  I had chocolate truffles inside the place card boxes.


Kids table.  I made little ships and filled them with m&m's for their place cards. 
We lucked out with gorgeous weather and ended up having them eat outside.

Wednesday night this crazy crew came in.


Early Thursday morning Kim and I ran in a Turkey Trot.

Then we rushed back for a birthday bash for the birthday girl.



Then we moved right into the kitchen and cooked our little hearts out.


Reed's son and his family just moved to Fort Collins, so they were able to join us for the day.
I kept the kids busy by sending them on a scavenger hunt in the backyard and having them color.


Scott with his third child of the day.  Go ahead and ask him, he will tell you that he out did himself this year.  I have to agree, look at that beautiful piece of meat...stop looking at Scott! I mean the turkey!

We had everyone anonymously submit things they were thankful for.  I then wrote them down on parchment paper and rolled them up in the dinner rolls.  We then would break open the rolls before eating then and had to guess whose was whose.  

Happy SEX-GIVING!  
My mom slipped up and called thanksgiving, sexgiving (hmmmmm?) and we wouldn't let it go the entire dinner.

The boys watched football, we played games and chatted the day away.  
I am so thankful for the perfect company that was able to join us!

The next day we took Kim's family to the Wildlife Exhibit.
 

Poor Cody, he didn't stand a chance with 7 girls around him.





Sidney took it upon herself to put on a skunk hat and spray everyone. (and I was worried about the 12 year old having fun)

Love these two girls!

We were able to sneak off for a night and go to the James Bond movie.  Towards the end we heard a lady screaming in the audience that her brother was having a seizure.  He ended up being fine, but we did sit in the theater for a good 20 minutes and thought how erie it was to be interrupted from a "fantasy" crisis to a real life crisis.

We came home at 11:30 to see 6 kids passed out in the basement.  Grandma allowed them to stay up until 11.  Fun times with Grandma and cousins!

German Pancakes

Two little Monkeys jumping on the bed.  Kim and I have waited so long to see our kids play together.

Artwork from the week.

We had a memorable week with everyone and are grateful to everyone that made the trek out to Denver to share in the holidays with us!
Alec completely passed out from sheer exhaustion all of the next day.  A sign of a good time had by all.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Ava's 1st Birthday

This Thanksgiving we had so much to be thankful for!
Among the top of the list was the birth of Ava.
We HAD to celebrate her first birthday on the actual day...so to add to the craziness of hosting Thanksgiving, we also had a birthday bash for Ava in the morning.

At 12 Months here are 12 things that make Ava, Ava

1. Still maintains her reputation as a princess, angel girl!
2. When getting her out of her crib she jumps, squeals and then dives headfirst into her mattress.
3. Loves to be held and then loves to be put down.
4.  Speedy.  
5. Sleeps through the night, with the exception of politely whimpering for a bottle around 4am.
6. Will smile most anytime that I acknowledge her.
7. Clingy...and I love it.
8. Music.  Crawls all around the piano while I play.
9. Squirmy.  Will not sit still in a stroller or high chair.
10.  Cleaner.  Has finally stopped spitting up!
11.  Standing.  Can stand for a good 10 seconds without holding onto anything.
12.  Wrapped.  She has us all wrapped around her little pinky.  She gets whatever she wants!
 

 Could not get enough of this girl!  Poor thing was sick, but that didn't stop her from attending her party.

 


The guests...us, my mom & Reed and my sister Kim and her five kids.



Grandma G spoiled Ava with this beautiful music box. I had one of these as a child and I absolutely adored it.

I think all the girls in the room adored this one too.  She had them all eating out of her hand.



The birthday girl wanted nothing to do with her cake.  
Maybe she was a little too stuffed from Thanksgiving dinner?

This past year has been nothing but pure joy as parents!  
Words cannot express how much love, peace and joy she has brought into our family. 

Here is a little video that we played of her first year.