Thanksgiving!

We've been having fun with family over the past week! The kids and I don't really know what to do with ourselves today since Jake is at work and the last of the guests went home yesterday. Boo... Back to life! Haha. Mom and dad, Todd, Jenny, baby Amy, Abby, Chris, Dak, and Daniel all stayed at our house to play for Thanksgiving. Fun times! Here are some highlights of their stay.

* We ate way too much food and I think a diet is in order now. Well, for me anyway! Todd brought these ridiculously good chocolate treats that were sitting out the whole time for people to munch on, mom brought yummy brownies and rice crispy treats, Abby and Chris stuffed us with their Dutch pancakes, we made a trip to Cafe Rio, I had a few too many creamies, and I have yet to mention Turkey day food. Yum!! Everyone helped out and we had fun cooking, baking, and roasting together. Here's everyone hard at work... Girls and the pies, boys making the turkey, and my dad really knows how to make tasty mashed potatoes.

Oh, and I cut my hand ON A CAN LID really badly making caramel apple pie. Ouch! Jake and I had a date night in the ER, where they stitched me back up. Such an Erin move to make. Pretty sure I'm the most accident/injury prone person ever. I'm thinking next year I'll buy the pies instead.

* Luke and Ella couldn't get enough of baby Amy. They had fun checking this baby girl out! I did too. She has grown so much since we saw her last!

Luke even said that he would trade Ella for her. Haha. Because "she has blue eyes like me."

Ella takes a long time to warm up to new faces lately, but she loves my mom!

*We all went down to walk around on the strip one night. I think this is the coolest picture from that little outing! If you've ever been to a casino on the strip you may have noticed that in the parking garages, there are footprints all over the ceiling. We were trying to figure out how people get them there and Daniel decided he'd jump to leave a mark of his own. He came close! We think people must just take off their shoe and slam it up there to make footprints because dang... that's a high jump! Here's his good try!

*Other pics from that night...

*One morning some of us went for a hike.

Grandpa Paul let Luke ride on his shoulders when his legs got tired. I got a kick out of these pics. Love that crack! :)

*Todd, Jenny, Abby, and I made a black Friday shopping attempt. We took off to Toys R Us before midnight to get some good deals. When we got there the line was wrapped around the building and people were already arguing, so we left. I'd rather pay a few more dollars then fight the crazies! The girls went to target and did some shopping on Friday. Fun to get out for a bit!

*The boys got their game on. And watched lots of football (Go BYU!!).. *Luke LOVES his uncles. This time he followed Chris around a lot. Chris was working on a Doctrine and Covenants class and Luke sat by him to read his scriptures too. * One afternoon we took pictures. Here are a few. Grandmas, I think my mom is sending some your way. I love my sis and brothers!

Daniel took the pictures for us... Thank you!

Kiddos...



Thanks everybody for making the trip! We love you all!