Thanksgiving 2021

We got to start our Thanksgiving day with a COVID test! Isaac woke up at 3am with some trouble breathing. It was the same hacking cough that I recognized from when he had croup in August. Aaron took a shower with him, and it calmed things down to a mellow wheeze. We went back to sleep, and when we woke up at a more sane hour, he was coughing but otherwise fine. Then, we had to agonize over whether we should cancel our Thanksgiving plans and quarentine ourselves or not. Luckily we had an at home test leftover that we gave to Isaac and it was negative. We deliberated with everyone and decided we would put Isaac down to nap hidden away while we ate and then keep him outside after he woke up. 

I am so glad we got to go to the feast! We made sweet and savory stuffing, cookie salad, and surprise rolls. The Allens, Fosters, and the other Bloods all brought food too, and it was ever so delicous. We took home enough leftovers to eat for two days.

We had to whip out Tetris skills to get everything to fit on the counter 

The kids table

The Thanksgiving unicorn consents to pause her play long enough to consume at least a little bit of pretzel salad (for the record, there was one actual salad to balance the cookie and pretzel salads)

After dinner we cleaned up and then played most of a game of Acquire. We posted that anyone who wanted to could meet us at the park at 4 to share pie and play soccer. We ended up being half an hour late to our own party, but that was ok because the only other family to show up was even later than us. We ate pie, chatted, and then played some soccer. The soccer game ended when Aaron kicked the ball directly into Eowyn's face, completely knocking her on her back. Whoops. 

Thanksgiving sunset

A year or so ago, Aaron and I had a conversation about how we worried that our life was on autopilot. The big decisions of life had mostly been made, and Aaron especially felt like he wasn't being challenged very much. We had watched friend after friend move away, and in the back of our minds we thought that we would end up moving on to something else eventually. We thought maybe the time for that was getting close. The picture changed when Stephen moved here- no way were we going to leave our beloved Sahuarita now that we had family right around the corner! Aaron's job change was the perfect solution to our autopilot angst. Our life might not look that different from the outside, but it feels like we took charge of things. Aaron really put himself out there and worked his butt off to get a job that is a much better fit than what he had before. We had the opportunity to move but deliberately decided we wanted to stay here. We aren't here by default anymore - we are here by choice and digging in our roots. Add a bishopric calling in there, and we are definitely not on autopilot anymore!

Assorted Fall Occurances

I want to document the pile of comic books this kid checked out from the library. He tears through them so fast, but wasn't willing to make the move up to chapter books yet. Hence the fat stack. The problem with that is after a few months of this, he has read pretty much all the children's comic books they have shelved. Luckily he discovered the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, which will hopefully lead to other longer books. 

Isaac climbs like a maniac. If he's not restrained in a high chair or stroller, he can be found climbing to the highest point in the vicinity and then surveying his kingdom. Or scribbling on his kingdom with the pencils left on the table. 

He climbed up here unassisted. This one scares me out the most.

Why yes, this is a perfectly safe activity for a baby who can't even walk yet

This was not nearly as horrifying as the time I found him sitting happily in the toilet. 

Elliot made this game called "hungry monster." The game box doubles as a monster head that you have to put your food and drink cards into, and then you take cards out when he needs to poop. 

Elliot loves his board games. He's pretty good at sweet talking his parents into playing with him. I love that he's at the point where he can play full on games instead of the kid versions. 

We saved our mik jugs for a while and then had a milk jug craft day. Isaac loved his hat. 

The Brady's had some guest passes with their rock gym memebership and invited us to use them! Rock climbing is hard work and most of the routes were way too hard for us. My favorite were the ones with the autobelay where you get to rapel down. 

This was definitely challenging for Elliot! He has gotten better at not quitting when things are hard for him. I credit Prenda for pushing that idea so regularly. 

More pictures of Isaac being the most loved baby

Elliot is always making secret papers like this. Inside is usually some kind of war drawn out. 

Isaac wore a bow tie to church. It was cute. Also here's some documentation that we are still wearing masks to church and some places, but we stopped wearing them to most stores or when we go to the church for volleyball or playgroup. It's a weird in between world when it comes to Covid. They did just lower the eligible age down to 5 years old, so we got a shot for Elliot. We let him pick out a tub of ice cream from the walgreens as a reward. Everyone was happy with this arrangement, and now Elliot is asking when he can go back for his second dose and second tub. 

Gayle and I took Karina and Adriana to the Gaslight Theatre for their birthdays

 

My new year's resolution this year was to run all the way to the lake and back, about 6 miles. It took me until November, but I did it! Side note- Aaron does this run about once a week. He has long been cooler than me. 

Elf Jr & the Snowcone Regrets

Bree was in a play! She nailed her debeut role as an elf and caroler. 

I think Annie was very confused the whole time. She said her favorite part was the candy cane she bought at the concessions stand. 

My little elves

After the play, we were able to catch the tail end of the Founder's Day festival that was going on at the clubhouse. It meant skipping dinner, but the kids were on board for getting in some fun times first.

We got stuck in a line for balloon animals for about 40 minutes. Elliot found some chalk and made a tribute to his new favorite show, Phineas and Ferb. Elliot got a balloon sword, and Annie got a yellow cat that popped within 10 minutes. At least we were consoled by a legit firework show!

The kids each brought their money stashes with them thinking they would buy treats at the concession stand. They insisted on buying a huge snow cone each. My reminders that we were already shivering cold and had no jackets held no sway, and they absolutely did not want to share one. 

And that's how we came to eat snow cones in the car for dinner an hour past Annie's bedtime. #choosefun

Disaster Party

Elliot and I did a project together where we made a reverse video! We worked with the cousins (both Stephen's and Mary's kids) to get a bunch of clips, then we reversed them and put them together into a music video. Elliot helped with the video editing for a while but then lost steam, so I got to finish it up. I love the way it turned out!

A bonus cousin shennanigans video: 

I love finding treasures like this one taped up in my house. Eowyn made this sign.

Mesa Temple Open House

The Mesa Teample temple just reopened after some renovations. The temple is about 100 years old. When we first moved to Arizon 8 years ago, the Mesa Temple was the closest one to us, so we went there quite a bit. Since then the Phoenix, Gilbert, and Tucson temples have opened up which are all closer to us, so we haven't been for quite a while. It was a neat opportunity for us to go back and see this building, but it was even more neat to be able to talk to our kid more about temples and walk through one together. The baptismal font was Elliot's favorite room. 

 

Halfway through the tour we walked by the first aid room. I glanced in the door, and my cousin Savanah Williams was in there! She is a nurse working in the area and was volunteering for the day. She was able to take a break to walk through the rest of the tour with us and take some pictures at the end. Now I'm working on persuading her to come down and visit Tucson. 

Across the street is a brand new visitor's center that had a lot going on!

Coloring on the walls? Yes, please!

More coloring in the kids room. They also had these temple shaped blocks to build with and some touch screens with temple related activities on them.

After that we were hungry so we walked to a nearby burger joint. We passed by a sign that said Pioneer Park and could make out what looked to be a small playground across a field. We decided to check it out after eating. Boy are we glad we investigated!

This is Pioneer Park. Well, part of it- there was also a splash pad, swing area, and roller slide. 

This was seriously the coolest playground I have ever seen. Poor Isaac was so tired and ready for a nap, but we kept him up so that we could play for a while.

After the playground, we hit up the splash pad where the kids got drenched. It was cool because it had a part where rain fell in rotating patterns. Luckily, we had a change of clothes in the car since we had stayed at Mary's house the night before. We are already scheming up excuses to go back to Mesa to see Pioneer Park again!

Elliot's School Pictures & The Beautiful Place

 My friend Aubrey Prestwich does annual school pictures for homeshoolers, and she invited Prenda kids to come get theirs done. Elliot was greatly opposed to this plan, but consented on the condition that he didn't have to change out of his favorite minecraft shirt. I suppose this captures him more authentically than if I had coerced him into wearing a cute outfit. 

Hands in pocket looking oh so natural

Ok now looking a little less natural

Way to pull it back, buddy

There's my Elliot!

It's hard to tell his hair from his skin. We'll call it the "fair as snow" look

"ok fine, I admit I'm amused by your desparate jokes trying to make me smile"

I'd say he's a handsome first grader!

While I was doing the pictures stuff with Elliot, Aaron took the little kids to see if they could find the javelina pack that we drove past on the way to the park. They found the grazing pack and had a great vantage point from a bridge. Elliot and I missed them by a few seconds. 

While hunting for the Javalina, we came across this adorable viney arch thing! It was a neatly landscaped little nook with a whimsical statue and a bench swing. Elliot informed me that this is one of his top 10 places on earth. 

Isaac tried so hard to scale the toadstool 

On our way out we ran into the Evans who were also there for pictures. Elliot really wanted to show his pal Eva Mae the arch, so we journeyed back over to it and stayed to watch the sunset. 

Coincidentally, we ran into the Evans again a couple days later on our Sunday walk. The walking was paused for an impromptu leaf party. 

This is why I love Sahuarita. I love the parks and hidden little places. I love that I have friends nearby and that I run into people I know all over the place, and that there are people who like sunday walks as much as we do. 

Halloween

It seemed like this October had more Halloween activies than we ever have before! It started with an afternoon of Elliot coating our downstairs wtih a layer of halloween art that he taped up while blasting the "wee sing for halloween" album. Next up was a witches brew activity I copied off Instagram. 

Food coloring + body wash + water + frother = a messy good time

Isaac was one with the brew

No, the concrete did not stain, but the kids hands were pretty blue for a while. No regrets. 

 Next up- Marana pumpkin patch! Elliot was super excited to go in a real corn maze. We went in only the easy one which took about 20 minutes. There is a huge one that supposedly takes 1-2 hours to complete. We managed to talk him out of that one this year so we could go on the rides and watch the pig races.

The corn flyer! We also rode the cornado and the super slide, but it was too dark to get pictures of those. 

Riding the train around the corn fields. Elliot had run off with his cousins while we took our littles on the winnie the pooh ride. Isaac spent the train ride trying to throw his sandals overboard. 

Why yes, this indoor digger contraption did make you sneeze if you walked within 100 feet of it. 

Annie was AWFUL at driving around these carts. It was hilarious. She was constantly looking the other way, crashing into the hay, and causing a traffic jam as the cars piled up behind her. The busiest employee at the farm had the job of hauling apart the traffic jam cars. 

Next up was the Barnett's pumpkin painting party! Annie painted hers, but Elliot refrained insisting we had to carve it. He stuck to decorating cupcakes instead. 

True to form, he insisted that we at least start to carve it before church the next morning. We tried scraping the insides of the pumpkin with a hand mixer and it did a pretty good job of losening up the gunk. 

The Town of Sahurita trunk or treat. We waited in line forever to get small bags of candy. The real treasure of the night was that each kid got a helium balloon. No one expected Isaac to react as strongly as he did. He gave a squeal of pure delight when we tied it to the stroller and played with it for days until the helium ran out. 

All decked out for the ward trunk or treat! Elliot was Nemo for the 4th year in a row, Annie was a unicorn (thanks to my parents for giving her the awesome present for her birthday!), Isaac was a dragon, and I was a kid's art project- although a couple people asked if I was Angelina Jolie's colored wedding dress.

The classic "whack-a-deacon" activity. They pop up like moles, and kids get to bop them on the head with pool noodles. 

Aaron's work mailed us ingredients to make monster popcorn and dirt and worms. We made them over zoom with some other kids from the company. Elliot actually chimed in to tell his bat jokes. It was a big hit!

Cielo modeling the Frankenstien head I made for the trunk or treat. Kids stick their hands up the nose to get a treat. 

Decorating cookies halloween day

Halloween itself was on a Sunday this year. I was very torn about how to balance keeping the sabbath day holy with wanting to be a good neighbor. In the end, we decided that we wouldn't go trick or treating on Sunday but we would pass out candy. This felt fine to me since we had already done two trunk or treats and pretty much a month full of halloween activities. The kids were a little bummed, but I think they understood the lesson we were trying to teach. Elliot did really enjoy passing out the candy. He dutifully ran the Frankenstein nose until we ran out of candy.