Thanksgiving & Kyle's Birthday

We spent Thanksgiving 2009 at Kyle's sister & brother-in-law's house (Maile & Parvin) in Sandy, Oregon. Everyone on Kyle's family was able to be there, except one of his nephews. We had a wonderful time being all together and enjoying great food and games. Lucky Kyle got lots of love and presents having all his family with him on his birthday:). Here we all are together before the kids got all dirty eating and playing!

Christine & Charles (another sister & brother-in-law) made the trip from Logan, Utah. We loved getting to have them stay at our house. Thursday we ate way too much food and had a blast with multiple ping pong tournaments. Friday several of us met at our house then went to Riverfront Park in Salem to ride the carousel, play at the park, and play football. I played three-on-three for the first time in forever and surprised myself at how much fun I had! The kids had a ball on the play ground.

Kyle opening presents. I'll have to update later with the massive Costco chocolate cake we had for his birthday! We had our dinner, then a few hours later ate cake & ice cream, then a couple of hours later had pie & cool whip. Warning, do not try this at home!

Daddy & Skyler on daddy's 35th birthday.

Kylene & cousin Bridget:

Kyle's two wonderful sisters, Christine & Maile.

Spencer & cousin Zach trying their hand at ping pong.

Babies & Laundry Baskets

Every one of our kids has loved being in the laundry basket at some point as a baby; wait, they still do! I'm not sure what it is, but it sure is cute! Here's our sweet Skyler at 8-months old taking his turn.

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Our wonderful daddy and husband turned 35 on Thursday, November 26! Yes, he is a Thanksgiving Turkey this year! Yippee. We love you so much, daddy. We are so grateful for all you do for us. We love to play with you, go to the park with you, jump on you, tackle you, and play the ukulele with you. Here are some of our favorite pictures of you taken in the last few months. You are looking GOOD! Has it really been 35 years?!

"I love to pull on your ears, daddy!"

Six years and more in love than ever. I don't know what I'd do without you, babe! Thank you for your unending support and confidence in me. I could not have asked for a better companion to spend eternity with! YEA!

Chillin' with Skyler.

I am definitely my daddy's son!

Happy Thanksgiving!

From the turkeys in our family.

Cricket "Parade" & Christmas Tree

Cricket is a major sponsor of the City of Portland's "Holiday tree." (Forget that: it's a CHRISTMAS Tree!) Anyway, before I digress...every year when the tree officially arrives in Portland, Cricket employees participate in a very small "parade", leading the tree through downtown Portland to Pioneer Courthouse Square where the tree is then put into place. This year we decided to join Kyle for the, albeit simple, festivities. The parade consisted of a small marching band, Santa in a Prius (no exercise for the jolly one, please!), the Kink FM car, the Cricket FJ Cruiser, a mass of Cricket employees, and two semi trucks with the Christmas tree. Woo hoo! Even though it was a cold and rainy day, the kids had a great time and did really well. They loved all the attention, getting to see the huge tree lifted with the crane and put into place, and eating way too many green dye-filled Cricket suckers. Yuck! Good times!

When Santa suddenly appeared next to us after the walk, Spencer kind of freaked out. He pulled his stocking cap way down over his face and buried his face into the side of me. Santa bribed him to come out with the promise of a candy cane. Kylene asked why this Santa didn't give the big candy canes like the one we go visit every year. Man, expectations!