November iMoments

With all my Thanksgiving practice-baking, Joey has been my biggest (and cutest!) helper.

Joey's new obsession is coloring. He likes to spread it all over the house, and does not feel it necessary to restrict this genius to paper and has started to explore other mediums...such as the walls and doors, couches and clothing. 

What I find on my phone when I ask Sophie to watch Joey in the tub for a minute. :)

This kid...he is by far the most destructive toddler we've ever had! And then I find him quietly reading his puppy book. It's moments like this that soften my heart enough to allow him to continue living in our almost-destroyed house.

Clair has been on the student council this year, and has loved every minute of it! This month she got to attend a leadership conference at BYU as a representative of her school. I freaked me out a little to let her go so far away from me, but she loved every minute of it! She's just growing up so fast, and I'm constantly at awe of her confidence...and beauty!

He never falls asleep in my arms anymore! I love it so much...

The front porch looks a little different every fall, and I love it every year!

My very first attempt at a pumpkin roll...and it was perfect! Danny loves pumpkin rolls, and is pretty pumped that I can turn out such a yummy one. Me? Well, I can take or leave eating this particular dessert...but I do love how pretty it is with those Great British Baking Show-inspired chocolate flowers! (Thank you, Chetna!)

This picture was taken approximate 4 minutes after he woke up in the morning. The kid is obsessed! All he says anymore is "Football! Football!" and "Ra-Ra...Cougars!" This apple didn't fall far from the paternal tree, did it?

My sous chef-in-training!

This was about one minute after getting up from his nap, and you can tell because his eyes still look half asleep! I love him so much...he's the stinkin' cutest!

The baking bug has bitten me pretty bad this month. I'm determined to get my pumpkin rolls and pies perfected before Thanksgiving! And I found a bread recipe on Mel's blog that boasted a no-knead rustic bread, so I gave it a whirl. The apple pie was a let-down. The crust was fantastic (thank you, Mel!), but the filling wasn't what I've been looking for...so I must resume my search for the perfect apple pie filling. But the bread was a winner!

I'm not sure I ever had a child fall asleep in the cart...I guess this is what happens with the last baby. I have to get the shopping done before the kids get home from school, whether or not it's nap time! Sweet boy...

Joey hasn't been eating dinner lately, and it took me a while to realize why. He didn't want to eat in his high chair, he wanted to eat with the rest of the family! So guess who's sitting at the table like a big boy now? Good thing we have a dog that like to clean up the floor after him. :)

Claire has been looking forward all year to her Colonial Days project. She decided to make corn read from scratch, and she had to do it all by herself. She did an awesome job, and it turned out perfectly!

And she looked adorable in her apron and mob cap!

Oh, my Poseph wants to be big like the other kids so badly! And I want him to stay little as long as I can...and wear capes every single day.

I love how the house looks all decorated for Christmas...

...and our Poseph-safe tree turned out really nice!! I made sure it could survive a total tree collapse. :)

Sophie got her first love note from a boy in her class. Boy, are we in so much trouble!!

Ah, the 3rd grade economics fair!! Sophie decided on these glitzy Rudolph ornaments and they turned out really cute!

So, that no-knead bread was such a hit that we decided to make a loaf for all 24 Christmas deliveries on Danny's list. I got pretty darn good at this bread, and it was a huge hit with the ward members!

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year was a Call Thanksgiving, and all the aunts were bringing a turkey. So Lori promptly asked Danny to smoke her 20 lb turkey contribution. :) He was happy to do so, and it was quite the impressive amount of bird when it was prepped and ready for the smoker the night before Thanksgiving!

    

My contribution to the family Thanksgiving feast was a couple of pumpkin rolls, and they turned out beautifully! And luckily the tasted every bit as good as they looked. :)

We had dinner at our church building this year, since Great Grandma Call's building was already reserved. Bishop-perks, I guess! :) We had a good turnout of Call relatives, and it is always fun to get to catch up with some of the cousins. The most wonderful part was that our kids are old enough to watch Joseph more, and Joseph is old enough that we're willing to let him be watched...so the kids enjoyed some time "practicing their talks" in the Primary room. :) Unfortunately, I was having so much fun chatting with everyone that I failed to get one single picture...not one single picture of any assemblage of Calls, including our little family! Oh well. 

The greatest thing about the Call Thanksgiving is that many hands make for light work, so it makes for a much more relaxed holiday! After our early dinner, we came home and had nothing else we had to do! So my cute boys fell asleep watching football while I read my Sanderson book and the older kids had a "Liv and Maddie" marathon downstairs. Best. Thanksgiving. Ever!

Our Black Friday was pretty easy going too! Lots of food and football. Seriously, Joey sat in his chair for hours watching the games. He really loves his football! We were planning on buffet and games at my Mom's house that evening, so I spent the day working on my cherry pie. I was so excited to try the crust all by myself, and to attempt my first lattice crust. And it worked out pretty nicely, and was one delicious pie!! Danny smoked a turkey breast for the buffet (since there wasn't a single morsel of that giant 20 lb bird leftover from Thanksgiving dinner), and we had quite the decadent buffet at Grandma Candy's.

It was a different kind of Thanksgiving weekend than we usually have, but we needed the downtime and it was perfect. It was nice to have enough time to actually reflect on all we're grateful for! Family, friends, food, and of course our faith. It really all comes back to our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, and the gift of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Of everything I've been blessed with in my life, I am most grateful for that. 

And with Thanksgiving in the books, we're officially into the Christmas season! Buckle up!!

Calls and Robisons, Together Again!

One evening, Justin called Danny for some help with his computer. Well, due to the complexity of the issue, that simple phone call turned into a very long FaceTime conversation! Wives were involved, of   course, and there was discussion of when they'd be coming to Utah next. The didn't have plans for nearly a year, and Danny and I were so bummed. We started planning a trip to Colorado to see them, but it was still going to be months and months before we'd see them.

Well, apparently Justin and Toshi felt the same angst at the wait that we did, because shortly after the boys finally said goodbye (they're just adorable!), the Robisons made plans to come to Utah for Thanksgiving! And we made sure to clear out some time in our calendars for some time together. We had such a blast! We enjoyed sandwiches and chips for lunch, and then homemade donuts for dessert. The boys (big AND small) played a rowdy game of football in the backyard, and I don't know if the players or the spectators had more fun! We all also learned that Danny does not go easy on the little boys... :)

The moms visited, Joey and James laughed and (mostly) cried together, and the girls did nails and all sorts of girly things. We played and played until we absolutely had to let them go home. We're so fortunate to have these good friends in our life, and hope we can see a lot more of each other!

ROK Skating Night

We love our ROK nights! And the skating night is a real favorite, as it's really the only time the kids get to go ice skating. :) This year we met up with the Schultz for dinner before hand at an awesome restaurant they recommended called The Italian Village. The food was amazing...especially the pizza benders! We'll be going back for sure. :)

We always love when we take the chance to spend some time with our dear friends. It doesn't matter how much time has passed between visits, or how long it's been since were neighbors in the hospital with our boys, we are still such good friends. And oh my, but Stetson and Joseph are just a pair! As we exchanged stories of these two rambunctious toddlers, it seems that both of their older brothers instructed the to live life to the fullest! And it's just adorable that the are the same size! Like, exactly. It's crazy! They're going to be such good buds.

Skating was a blast, though Claire still didn't care of the experience. So she made our pins and magnets with Luke's picture on them. We all love how they turned out! We got to visit with a couple nurses and techs, and of course the ROK coordinators that are always there. We always leave these nights with hearts full of happiness and gratitude of the people that cancer brought into our lives. Can't wait for the summer party!