Thanksgiving 2009

Matt actually got to celebrate Thanksgiving with us this year. Yay, it's been about three years since he's been able to have Thanksgiving with us. Smashburger was closed, apparently burgers aren't as hot as a turkey meal at a restaurant. Lucky us.

We went up to Matt's parents this year to have a great dinner. Matt's sister Erica came, his grandma and grandpa Nielsen, Aunt Kristie and family as well as his grandma Stephens. We had a wonderful turkey dinner, well everyone else had turkey. Matt is allergic, so we brought some ham for us instead. Afterwards, we all went out to Newton for some traditional Thanksgiving Day shooting.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Bird Halloween Party

My mom held her Halloween/Birthday party again this year. I love this new tradition. We all get to dress up and have a fun Halloween dinner and play games. This year Matt and I (okay, I made Matt agree) decided to be Ghostbusters and Ethan was Slimer. Let me just give a big "Thanks" to my mom who made the body of the Slimer costume and helped me figure out his hat. Though he ended up looking more like a green pepper from "Veggie Tales," I think everyone got who he was supposed to be.

My brother Kirk dressed up using tattoo sleeves, his wife Heather was a nurse, Seth was a rapper, Dakota a groovy gal and Hannah and Jacie were witches. Justin, Shelly and Ava were the Scooby Doo gang. Justin was Shaggy, Shelly Velma and Ava was a course a cute Scooby Doo.

Jaime came as a fabulous Cruella Deville, Phil a cowboy, Curt Ryan a pumpkin and little Caycee a pink leopard.

Krista, Taylor and Trigger were Little Bo-Peep, Little Boy Blue and a sheep. Check out Krista's blog, House of Payne if you want to see costume pictures.

For dinner we had wonderful onion rings, monster toes (homemade corn dogs), a barf salad (pistachio salad), a graveyard dip and ghoulish punch.

After dinner my parents gave each family a big pumpkin they had grown in their patch to carve. Then the carnival games began. We had bobbing for apples, bean bag toss, a straw blowing contest, and my favorite, the donut eating contest. Ethan was so cute he loved the doughnut contest. I was surprised he got it. He would lay down on the ground with Curt Ryan and Ava to eat his doughnut. He quickly figured out that wasn't going to work then got up and grabbed his doughnut.




Afterwards, my parents had set up a spook alley in the basement for the little kids. Complete with strobe lights, scary sounds, skeletons, spiders, mist and black lights. Ethan loved it and wanted to keep going through again and again.


Thanks Krista and Mom for taking pictures. Our camera is not working.

Pumpkin Carving

Matt and Ethan carving pumpkins for the first time. Ethan was so excited.

September 29, 2009: Witches Outing

My mom and sisters came down today and we met at Gardner Village to check out the witches. Below are some pictures my sister Krista took while we were there. It's always so great when they come down to hang out.

Me and Ethan outside the knitting shop.

Ethan watching Curt Ryan try on Halloween garb.

September 25, 2009: Snowbird's Oktoberfest

Matt and I went to Oktoberfest up at Snowbird Ski Resort back when we were dating. It was fun to see the booths and have their sausage with sauerkraut. We have always meant to go again, but have just never made it. We decided to take Ethan up this year. They usually hold it the last weekend in September and the first few in October. Matt had a Friday off so we decided to go up then instead of Saturday to avoid larger crowds. Apparently, Friday is not considered part of the "weekend" since the booths were all empty and no one was there. We decided to just let Ethan run around on the trails behind the resort buildings. He had a blast just running to his hearts content and had to drag either Matt or I along with him most the time.

August 1, 2009: 5k

So I decided to run another 5k this summer. Actually, Matt decided for me. While we were on our rafting trip in Jackson, Kiera, a Manager at Mimi's and Matt's former co-worker called to see if I would run in a fundraiser 5k for the Taylorsville football team which her son is on. Of course Matt told her I would be glad to do it. And I really was. I needed a goal to look forward to.

I talked my sister Krista into running it with me and she came down the night before to stay with us. Bright and early Saturday morning we went to Taylorville High School track. It was a pretty good course. No large hills or anything. Krista ended up kicking my butt by 30 seconds. Oh well, it was fun. I'll just have to get into better shape for next year.

After the 5k we cleaned up and headed downtown to temple square. We went to the top of the church office buildings, hung out around the reflecting pond and of course had lunch at the Lion House Pantry.

Thanks Krista for coming down.

Ethan hanging out on the track.

Me and Krista after the race.

Reflecting pond on temple square.

Enjoying some dessert at Lion House Pantry.

Fun Autumn Days

Two weekends ago, Ethan and I decided to give Matt a break and go up to Logan as he was finishing a nine day work week. We had so much fun and it was perfect fall weather while we were there. On Friday, we went to the pumpkin walk in North Logan. I have actually never been to the pumpkin walk before even though I have lived in my whole life in Cache Valley. They had some really cute displays. I'd have to say my favorite was the Noah's Ark. (Thanks Krista for letting me snag some of your pictures, I forgot my camera)

On Saturday, we went to the USU homecoming parade to see my little sister Krista and husband Taylor's float for the Animal Science Club. Afterward we went back up to Krista and Taylor's to get a better look at the animals that they had on the float. Ethan liked the friendly little Brahman calf. Amazingly enough I have actually never seen the USU homecoming parade either, so it was a weekend of firsts for Ethan and myself as well.

Ethan on Sunday after we came home just chillin' in his sweats.

Matt finally had a day off on Monday, Yeah, and we decided that it was another perfect fall day and to go downtown to the observation deck of the church office buildings. It was such a beautiful view. Afterwards we had lunch at the Lion House Cafe (yum, we love to get their soup, rolls and pie, at such a reasonable price) and then walked around temple square. Ethan loved the fountains and was upset when we had to leave.

Later that night was the annual Nelson Gross Out Dinner at Matt's Uncle Russ' house. Matt and I dressed as tacky tourists and Ethan was our roamin' gnome (the Travelocity travel gnome). He was so cute in his hat and beard. Our gross out treat were monster eyeballs on a pool of coagulated blood. Very tasty. After dinner we walked down the road to Russ' neighbors who own a nursay and had created a small kid friendly spook alley in their back yard. It was so cute I wish I'd taken our camera. Ethan wasn't scared at all. So far the only things that scares Ethan is his Tickle Me Elmo.