Gettin’ Ready for Christmas

We got to have a two tree house this year.  The kid’s tree and the mom’s tree. 

The kids classic homemade ornaments

     

REINDEER CHEWI

 

The Mom Tree…

White lights, nice glass MATCHING ornaments

The last Christmas in this house.  :(

Good Ol’ American Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year, since it was the Petzinger’s year for Christmas.  It was a quick weekend trip, but pleasant, as always.  This year, Mom invited one of her right hand men from the shutter shop, Hedy, so he could experience a good ol’ American Thanksgiving for the first time.  We had an early dinner (11 am—I guess you should call it “brunch”) so Curt & Shae could make their flight to NYC.  They made a special trip for the Manhattan Temple wedding of a girl Curtis taught on his mission in Jamaica.   That is something very special that very few returned missionaries get to experience. 

We had much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving…

Good Health – Dad had no sign of the cancer returning

The return of John & Raquel to Boise (from Seattle)

Good Employment –

Uncle John’s business has taken off after SO much hard work & dedication

&

Ben had a project here in the valley to keep him home!

Two new healthy and beautiful nieces – Tawny and London

Beautiful girls Alecia (niece) and Alex (stepsister) successfully off to college

The sale of our CO home – FINALLY

Good Friends here in Idaho that make being away from family bearable

Fun Family Trips –

Moab & Goblin Valley; Genesee, ID; 4th of July Fun; Zermatt; Lake Powell; Alturas

Great school years for the boys

It has been a good year and, as always, look forward with grateful hearts to the coming year.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Far apart, but still the best of friends!

Even though it had been 3 years since we had seen each other, it seemed like we’ve never been apart.  I guess that is how it has to be for friends to stay connected for so long (and still like each other).  23 Years “so long” to be exact.  Yes, a long time.  Carrie and I met in the 7th grade at the start of junior high.  Our friendship got closer and closer that by the time high school came around…we were inseparable, unless we were with our boyfriends.  Since graduation in 1993 when I moved to Florida, we’ve never lived near each other for more than a few months.  I’ve lived in the east and she in the west…then I came back out west and she was in England.  We are now both out west, but still not too close. 
She decided to fly with her 3 kids all by herself from Denver to Idaho to visit.  Crazy, I say.  But, we had a GREAT time here in Sun Valley.  We really need to see each other more often than every 3 years.

 

Colton, Bryce & Anna with Carrie’s three – Riley, Finley, and Oliver

Ollie and Ben often bonded while sleeping in the chair

 

 

Riley LOVED the dogs, especially Chewi.  Wish I could say the same for Finley. :)

She was terrified, to say the least.

Thanks for making the trip, Carrie.  I had a great time.

Happy Halloween

Halloween isn’t complete without the traditional pumpkin carving…

but if you’ve followed our little family, you will know that this is only the 3rd time we’ve ever done it. 

This time we used the patterns.  Much better.

Bryson & Colton carving away at a friend’s who invited us over for a carving party.

All the kids creations…

Colton’s (the ninja) and Bryson’s (the skull)

Anna slept during all of this.  Oh well.  She doesn’t really know what she missed, right?

We also got a great visit from Nana & Pop that weekend.

 

The next weekend was Halloween and

the Hailey Halloween Hoopla—a great chance for the kids to Trick-or-Treat.

We walk around down-town Hailey and trick or treat to all the local businesses.

Mario, unfortunately, lost his moustache before we even got started.  Luigi still looks the part.

Even though it was a pretty popular costume this year, the kids were still stars.  Everywhere we went…

“Hey…it’s Mario & Luigi!”  The boys felt pretty popular.

     And Anna got lots of “Ooohhs and Aaaahhs”….the little spider is so cute!

My spider witch matches the little spider, quite well, too.

Anna is a big Halloween fan!  Like mother, like daughter!