Oh Christmas Tree

We have been using hand-me-down artificial Christmas Trees since we got married. Nothing wrong iwth that except the trees are old so they drop tons of needles and they take a lot of work to put together. We have been wanting a new tree for a long time but haven' found one we liked at a price we were comfortable with. Well, today we went to Home Depot to pick some things up and saw a Christmas Tree lot - where they sell REAL trees. We went and looked and saw that we could get one for $30. We were sold. Get a new tree very year at that price for 10 years and we'll spend the same as we would on an artificial one that will be falling apart by then anyway. I loved growing Christmas tree shopping with my family when I was growing up, then with my college roommates. Such fun memories. I'm glad I get to make these memories with my family now!

This is Eddie. He's staying with us. That's all.

Pumpkins and Pancakes

Every year the zoo hosts a fall event called Pumpkins and Pancakes. They decorate the zoo for fall and if you want you can buy a pancake breakfast. We don't do the breakfast, but we do take advantage of the free train and carousel rides. It was cold this year, but we still had a great time!

Abby's first circus

A lady from church acquired some free tickets to the Shriner Circus. She had no interest in going so she passed a couple on to us. We started the evening with dinner at one of my favorite restaurants - Torchy's Tacos. It's so good that just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I haven't been to a circus since I was a kid. We all had lots of fun!

Happy Birthday Ryan/Daddy

Ryan's birthday started off a little different than the norm. Over the past several months we have had the opportunity to help one of our friends in her fight against breast cancer. This morning we had a garage/bake sell to help raise money for the fight. I was in charge of the bake sale portion. It went really well, which was awesome! Abby and Ryan visited me.

Later in the day we met up with Ryan's family at a park we'd never been to and played disc golf. Abby was pretty awesome (of course.)

Then we went to dinner at Ryan's favorite burger place - Chop House. I think he enjoyed his birthday. How could he not when he got to share it with this little cutie?

Good Mom

I was informed recently that good moms make pancakes in shapes. I guess making them from scratch isn't enough. Good to know. I want to be a good mom. (Can you even tell what I was attempting?)

Family Date

Since we got Six Flags passes this year we decided to go on  a family date there - it was awesome!

Abby really liked the tea cups - and Ryan didn't even get sick. Bonus!

Abby was so brave when we went on the pirate ship! Look, no hands!

Dinner, yummmmm

Yosemite Sam's Adventure - Kind of like It's A Small World at Disney - not nearly as well done, but still a cute ride

After our time at Six Flags we concluded our date by attending a wedding reception for one of my old seminary students (Sean Cobb.) Abby was so cute dancing, and had a lot of fun with her daddy.