Black Friday

Our Black Friday shopping this year was done primarily in the afternoons, avoiding most of the late-night and early-morning frenzy.  I kind of missed that rush but savored my sleep!

Friday night Jon treated all of us to a cheese bar.  He had received an array of crazy-flavored cheeses for his birthday and we all got to try them.  Crackers and grapes rounded out the tasting session.  We laughed so hard at the look on our faces as each person tried the super flaming hot cheese spread.  It was really fun!

Spencer is the oldest grandchild and Collin is the youngest.  Spencer just adores his cousin!

My boys got desperately needed haircuts from Nana and then it was off to the movies!

Beautiful holiday displays made for some cute King family photo ops.

And finally, we got to see the new Muppet Movie!  We loved every second of that adorable show.  Mahna Mahna.

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

We drove to Farmington this year to spend time with the Kings for the weekend.

The turkey dinner was yummy, and Nana even let me contribute a few "Allen-type" dishes: egg noodles, chocolate-pumpkin cheesecake, and holiday jello.

After dinner, we watched movies and browsed the Black Friday ads.  There was also a pretty competitive football matchup happening next door at the Arsenaults.

The teams were: Jeremy and Jacob King vs. Michael and Jacob Arsenault plus Isaac.

Isaac was so happy to be included!  They played for a long time and got nice and tired out.

Later that afternoon it was fun to get a visit from the Bean family for a little while, then the Carlson family showed up to spend a few days with us.  It was so great to pow wow with the cousins!

Fall Festival

I was just thinking that this was our 11th year attending the Franklin Fall Festival.  Goodness.  We go every year to support the school fundraiser and always have a great time.  I think we cleaned the game booths out of their prizes of footballs and basketballs this year.  Isaac and Jacob just couldn't stay away!  In addition to the usual rock wall and bounce houses was a new kiddie train that Isaac loved.  Jacob played percussion with the Intermediate Band in his first concert and ate six snow cones.  And I won a gift card to the Pei Wei restaurant during the Silent Auction.  All in all it was a great day.  Fun times.

Awards Banquet

 The Diamond

Members of the Pit

After all the marching band competitions were over, the band members and their families were invited to an end-of-season awards banquet at MCC. Noah and I got to go with Spencer. We ate our fill of Panda Express food and then were treated to a couple of hours of highlights and awards. It was a memorable evening for these super kids.  They are truly all diamonds in the making!

Time Out for Mom

I love Deseret Book's Time Out for Women events!  Every year it has been such an uplift and inspiration for me in my life.  This year Wendi and I went together and had such a fun time.  We loved hearing Brad Wilcox, Laurel Christensen, Matt Baldwin, Kris Belcher, Macy Robinson, Hilary Weeks, and D. Kelly Ogden as they shared their experiences and testimonies with us.  It was so great to just spend time with hundreds of women, laughing, crying, and feeling the Spirit.