2 Weeks In A Jiffy

Here is a brief (but lengthy in pics) recap of our last 2 weeks:
Shane, Heather and family came to visit the week before Thanksgiving. We headed off to take a tour of a local candy shop.
Then learned about the Amazon at the Denver Nature & Science Museum
We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The weather was perfect.

One of the only times you'll catch Brooke willingly holding someone else's hand. Notice that it's neither Troy's nor I's.

Getting up close and personal with the giraffes.

Feeding the parakeets.

Getting a little Squishy time in. She really is a the perfect kid cat.

Can't let Wii boxing pass up.

Thanksgiving Bingo
Date night with Shane and Heather to dinner at Steuben's (feature on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives) then off to an Avs game.
Catching a cat nap in between all the action.
Making the dessert for Thanksgiving Day.Squishy and Lexie enjoying the fruits of our labor. (or Libby's)

Cooking up some good grub during the week

Making a delicious turkey.

Enjoying our Thanksgiving feast.

Enjoying the dessert.

And lastly, decorating the Christmas tree.

We have had a fabulous 2 weeks spending time with our families. The holiday season is definitely in full swing here. We just need a little bit of snow for it to feel complete. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

Melting Pot

A week ago we went on a double date with our friends Justin and Kristen to the Melting Pot.

Brooke was a great 'fifth' wheel and enjoyed the bread and kept herself entertained by watching Toy Story 3.

The company was great, the food was pretty good, but the dessert was fantastic.

Brooke hit the wall during the second hour there, but caught her second wind when the brownie bites and oreo crusted marshmallows came out.

I spent a couple of days in South Carolina on business, went to the BYU-CSU game on Saturday, and we generally spent the rest of the week preparing for family to come visit. This is Brooke's welcoming face!

Daylight What?!

As I'm sure everyone is aware (or at least I hope they are by now) daylight savings time ended on Sunday. In conjunction with this, late church, no nap, and Brooke really having absolutely no idea that time decided to play a trick on her, this is what we ended up with. Hope you enjoy!

Happy Day!!!!

Last week went by in a blur but luckily we were able to celebrate Troy's b-day (or as Brooke likes to call it, his "happy day"). I surprised Troy with a date Friday night. The date was supposed to be a surprise but he ruined it by trying to schedule our home teachers to come that night. We left Brooke with a babysitter and headed out for dinner. We arrived to Cheesecake Factory to find out that there would be a little bit of wait. Well, with my finagling I managed to get us a table right away and we even were able share it with some friends. At least I was able to pull off a little bit of a surprise. We enjoyed dinner and cheesecake then headed back home to play some games. Originally I thought about doing a surprise b-day party but decided that was way too much work and that there would be no way that I could hold a secret for that long.

Saturday was a busy day. Our neighborhood had the annual Pumpkin Fest. I totally forgot to bring a camera but Brooke enjoyed petting all the animals at the petting zoo and picking out our pumpkin. Later in the evening was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat party that included a chili cook-off. Brooke definitely got the hang of saying "trick or treat" in order to get candy pretty early on.

Can you tell what Brooke and Troy are?

Sunday, we finally got around to carving our pumpkin and later in the evening we trick-or-treated to a few houses in our neighborhood. All in all the weekend festivities were a lot of fun and now it's just getting Brooke back to being normal and off her sugar high.

Oh, and P.S

The Other Half

So I ran a half marathon last weekend. That's all good and well, but we all know what you really want is to see pictures of Brooke. So here she is painting. It started on the paper and ended on the cheek.

In addition to the arts, she's been dabbling in fashion. Very avant garde.

Tracie's dad came out last weekend. Brooke enjoyed all of the special attention from 'Gong Gong'.

She likes to play at the park.

She climbs pretty much anything and has really started becoming adventurous.

Just hanging out.

Swings are more entertaining when Gong Gong tries to get you.

I ran the Other Half in Moab. The course was beautiful... for the first 6 miles. Nice and flat, right next to the river. Then the hills started...

The best part of the race was crossing the finish line. I was grateful for all of the support from my parents, brothers, wife, daughter, nieces and nephews. I'm not sure I will run that course again, but am willing to train and run one with someone else for anyone interested.

Ice Cream!!!

Because I'm Lazy and It's Cold Outside

Fall has finally decided to show its face this past week. Tempuratures have dropped making the days cooler and the nights even colder. We decided to make a quick trip to the mountains to check out what was left of the fall foliage. We were greeted with this:There was about a 30 degree difference from home to the mountains so we saw some of this.
Good thing I left the Christmas music at home or I may have busted it out.

Because of the colder tempuratures at night, we thought (meaning Troy), it would be best to pick our last harvest from the garden.

All in all our garden this year was eh. We got a lot of zucchini and yellow squash, some odd looking tomatoes, a couple cantelope and watermelon, and 4-5 snow peas. Hopefully next year when we rotate our boxes, we'll be able to produce much more. And lastly, because it's been cooler outside, we (meaning Troy), have been keeping Brooke entertained. Her new thing it to "help" build a tall tower...

then knock it over.

Happy Birthday/Race for the Cure

Has it really been two weeks? This sums up how our last couple of weeks have been. Lots of running around, and lots of relaxation together as a family.

Last week Tracie celebrated her golden birthday. It was generally a relaxed day, but I did surprise her with a dinner out. Brooke helped her open the gifts...

... and to blow out the candles.

This morning Tracie joined the ladies from THE cul-de-sac and 50,000 of their closest friends at the Denver Race for the Cure. They did the 5K at 7 am. It was a good experience and we may have to do it as a family sometime in the future.


Afterwards it was up to Loveland to watch conference with Aaron, Robyn, and Taylor. Long, relaxing, rewarding day.