whew - take a breath

I really don't even know where to start! The last couple of weeks have been very busy, hectic, but a whole lot of fun. We had some friends come into town from Idaho that were going to the Seahawks vs Bears football game. We met up with them at a movie theater and saw "Fred Claus." I don't know if any of you have seen it, but I thought it was a cute Christmas movie. It has Vince Vaughn, Rachel Weiss (I think) and a few other familiar faces. It was very clean, with no bad scenes or swearing. So go see it if you get a chance.

We decided to go to the football game, which just happened to be on my birthday. Hmm..not exactly what I wanted to do on my birthday, but Tyler and I got some time away from the kids so I'm not going to complain too much. Then we went to pick up the boys and had cake and ice cream with the family that watched them. I walked in the door that night and the mom, Sarah, said to me, "Umm, Nicole, I need to talk to you about something." I'm thinking, "Oh, great, what did Kaden break/do now?" Then she started telling me that Kaden was getting a little too cozy with her two-year-old daughter. Putting his arm around her, and kissing her (she was kissing him too by the way). Before we left, she gave him a kiss, and it wasn't exactly on the cheek. I could NOT believe it! Where did he get that from? We are going to have to watch those two. And he is only three years old.

The day after the football game we flew to Salt Lake then headed to Idaho to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Tyler's family. It had been almost a year since we had been home, and it was so awesome to be there. Kaden and Jaren had so much fun playing with their cousins, and they amazed us all with how well they got along. We went to the Festival of Lights Parade in Preston in the (probably) 15 degree weather. We went fishing on a half frozen river. Don't worry, we stayed on dry land. Kaden helped Daddy reel in a couple of fish. Tyler, Uncle Rick, and Grandpa all took Kaden on a four-wheeler ride. So he was loving it.

Kaden fishing out the back of Grandpa's truck.

All bundled up for the four-wheeler ride. He thought those goggles were the coolest thing ever.

This is the view from the ridge close to where Tyler's parents live. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see the Grand Teton in the middle of the picture. It's not often that you can see it from where Tyler was at.

Catching a fish! We didn't take any home, just 'catch and release'.

Jaren and I all bundled up. The sunshine sure felt good! It was nice to see the sun for a while. The sun doesn't come out here in this part of Washington very often this time of year. One of the first things Kaden said when we got down there was, "It's so bright!" He's not used to it being so bright and sunny.

Jaren is now walking ALL over the place. If I see him out of the corner of my eye, it is so weird to see him swaggering around. And he does swagger. It's so cute! I'm trying to teach him a few signs (more, please, thank you) and he has picked up on 'more' already.

Jaren trying out a pair of Daddy's boots.

I took this picture one afternoon when Kaden was very tired, but all he could say when I asked him was, "I'm NOT TIRED!" I ended up telling him he needed some quiet time (I did too). I went upstairs later and found him sleeping like this, with the gate on top of him. Funny kid.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break- and it was definitely a break from the craziness that life is right now. Now I'm just feeling the pressure to get all my Christmas shopping done. Only a few more weeks!