Thanksgiving Sledding

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and other than the exceptionally cold weather, -1 that morning, it was great! Grandma and Grandpa Murray came with Kelly and Marcus and we all had a fun day. (Noelle and Kyle were supposed to come as well, but Landon was really sick so they had to stay home.)

It was my first time "hosting" Thanksgiving, so I was in the kitchen most of the day, which is why I didn't take many pictures. However, I did make it outside to get a few shots of the boys sledding (if you want to call it that)! They were definitely ready for a warm Thanksgiving dinner after this little adventure.

Getting ready to "sled".

Ryon's job was pulling them with the quad - he had just as much fun as the kids!

An action shot

I'm loving Hoyt's face in this one - I think he is enjoying himself!

Winter is HERE!

Would someone please tell this child that it is 10 degrees outside (it was -1 this morning)....which means that it is COLD, and that we should probably go in and have some hot chocolate! Oh how this boy loves the snow!!

Getting ready to head out into the SNOW!

Our neighbor came and plowed our massive driveway - so Hoyt had some snow mountains to play on.

Cold yet....

Nope. Someone is definitely loving this winter in Idaho!

Baby Ava's Blessing

This past weekend we went to Pocatello for cousin Ava's blessing. Grandma and Grandpa Hoyt, Caleb and Isaiah drove to our house on Friday night and then we all left for Noelle and Kyle's on Saturday morning. Due to the first big snowstorm of the season, it took us quite a while to get there, but we enjoyed spending time with family and watching Ava be blessed on Sunday.

Hoyt was a good little traveler and loved playing with all the kids after church on Sunday.

Noelle, Kyle, Landon, and Ava with Grandma and Grandpa Hoyt

Ava finally giving me a little smile!

Reading in Bed

This little guy has become quite the reader lately. After we read books for bedtime, he has to take a few of his own into bed with him and read before falling asleep. I like to listen at the door, and even though he cannot technically read yet, he does a pretty good job of saying exactly what is on the page! (Good memory I guess!)

His newest favorite thing is to tell everyone how to spell his name. H...O...Y...T. He has a letter puzzle and will take each letter of his name out to spell it. He is currently fascinated with letters and reading - OH - a child after my own heart! Let's hope this continues.

A Night out with Curius George

Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat came to the Buhl Library on Thursday night, and Hoyt couldn't wait to go. All day long he talked about going to meet Curious George, that he would give him a hug when he saw him and that he would ask him where he lived!

When we arrived at the library he sat with the other children and listened while Curious George read a story. When the story was over George got up and Hoyt thought he was going to leave. Hoyt turned to look at me and started crying, saying "I wanted to give him a hug....I wanted to give him a hug!" After some reassurance that George wasn't going anywhere, he calmed down and we got to go and take our picture with George. Hoyt gave him a hug and a high-five, and the world was right again!!

After meeting George, the children made a "George craft" and then everyone got...

a banana split!

At the end of the evening there was a drawing, and Hoyt won a new book and Curious George ruler. He is now measuring everything in sight and carrying his new book with him wherever he goes!

One Day...

he'll kill me for this, but I couldn't resist. Sitting on the potty, cowboy hat on, sword at his side...what a crazy kid!

While Mom's Away....

the boys will play! I was a little worried about leaving Hoyt for four days and three nights, but he seemed to manage pretty well with dad. He cried and asked me to come home the first night I was gone, but after that he did OK. He and Ryon got some great "father/son" time in and even had a chance to go fishing once or twice.

I asked Ryon to take pictures of Hoyt fishing, but this was all I got. I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say Hoyt ended up IN the pond not long after this picture was taken and Ryon had to jump in after him. I'm considering NEVER leaving Hoyt again until he is at least 21!

Girls' Weekend

I decided that I needed one last, little get-away before the doctor said I could no longer travel or the baby arrives and I'm home bound! There were a few things planned in Reno the first weekend in November, so I decided to leave the boys at home and head to the land of "lots of friends"!

Friday I got to see so many great friends (thanks Nicole!!), Saturday was Sasha's shower and shopping with Christa, Sunday was a great day at church, and Monday was another day of being with friends. I couldn't have asked for a better girls' weekend!

Some of the girls from the ward at Sasha's shower - so fun!

Due dates = three weeks apart! We've already got them married off - hopefully they like each other!

Christa was my hostess for the weekend - I don't think we went to sleep before 12:00 or 1:00 any night I was there.






Brunch with Julie, Argent and Christa on Monday.

Happy Halloween!!

Friday night was our ward Halloween Carnival. Hoyt asked all day if it was time to put on his costume and go....I told him he could get ready after his nap. I think it was the first time in forever that he actually wanted to go down for his nap!! We had a great time at the carnival - I spent most of my time overseeing the cake-walk, but I did get to make the rounds with Hoyt and Ryon to some of the booths so I could take some pictures!

The pirate and the pregnant witch.....NICE!! The witch hat is pretty much my standard costume - one of these days I will get creative and do something different!

Same can be said for Ryon and his "hunter attire". But....at least we try!

Hoyt making the rounds on the cake-walk. He won a great plate of mom's cupcakes.

Donut-on-a-string. Look at that concentration!




Sweeping the spiders under the witch hat




Playing pin-the-face on the jack-o-lantern




At the coloring table with dad - we have enough Halloween art to last us a LONG time!




The witch at 31...almost 32 weeks!!




On Saturday night we headed out to do some trick-or-treating. (I guess that's one of the perks of living in Idaho; trick-or-treating the day before because Halloween falls on a Sunday!)




This was the first year that Hoyt enjoyed going up to the door, knocking, and saying trick-or-treat. After every house he couldn't wait to go to the next. He also kept saying, "Look at how much candy I have - my bucket is heavy!"




The pirate's booty (that is now safely hidden in a cupboard!)

Sneak Peek

On Wednesday we went to the library for Halloween story time. All of the children wore their costumes, they listened to Halloween stories and sang songs, did a Halloween craft, and then got to trick-or-treat around the library. The sweet ladies that run the program plan such fun things for the children and Hoyt loves to go. Here is a "sneak peek" of our little Halloween pirate!

Aaaaaaargh!!

Listening intently to story-time....if mom would stop taking pictures!

Coloring his craft

I think I have the cutest pirate around - we are really excited for Halloween!!

(Hoyt hadn't seen his costume until the day before we went to the library. He had been telling me for months that he wanted to be a pirate, so I had slowly been collecting items for his costume. When he would ask me if we had his costume I would just say, "I'm working on it," because I knew if he saw it he would want to wear it everyday and it wouldn't make it to Halloween! Well, the day before the library Halloween party I decided to try it on him to make sure it fit. Just as I suspected, when I asked him to take it off we had the meltdown of the century. I finally convinced him to take the clothes off, but he has kept the hat and hook on 24/7 for the last few days. He has even slept with his hook on. You have to love a three-year-old who loves to dress up!!)