THANKSGIVING WEEK:
Oct. 19-27

I forgot how much I love holidays until they end. Dan and I were lucky enough to get work and school off so we had the whole week off for Thanksgiving. We drove to Farmington Friday night and then we drove to St. George on Saturday. We were able to get a lot of much needed rest before we started the real party.

Hector took us hiking in Snow canyon on Monday. It had rained and the weather was perfect. Hector takes people that want to lose weight on hikes so we asked him to show us one of the hikes. It was a lot of fun but I realized just how out of shape I really am, perhaps Dan and I should join the program. It took us about two hours and we hiked up, down and all around. I knew I'd be sore the next day.

Tuesday we decided to finally do the big climb that Dan had told me he would take me on. It is called Leopard Skin and it's about 350 feet high. After the first pitch we had to wait because we needed to untangle the ropes and fix a few things. Another climber had gotten stuck and so Dan had to climb over and help him out. By that point I was starting to talk myself out of climbing. We were about 200 feet up and I psyched myself out...in essence, I failed. I ended up repelling back down and they continued up the rest of the way. When I touched down I realized that I would be haunted by this until I actually conquer Leopard Skin, so I hereby vow that I will by this time next year have climbed the full thing. I still had a blast and got excited that I married a hot rock climber because then he could teach me all of his vast knowledge. I shall be the young grasshopper. I have really come to enjoy rock climbing.

Hector is contemplating the climb:


We tried many things over the Thanksgiving break, we tried going to a spinning class and we tried going 4-wheeling but our attempts were in vain, luckily for us we have lot's of time to get all the fun in we want. Thursday the whole family got together and I was able to experience a Flores Thanksgiving for the first time. It reminded me of the Bishop side. We both come from big rowdy families so I loved it. For the first time we decided to go out for Black Friday, at midnight, not at 4 a.m. Bbbbbiiiiigggg mistake. I have never seen so many people in my life. We gave up after about an hour of driving around. The next morning we ran to Best Buy (Dan's brother Louise was there) we grabbed our video camera that we've been wanting for months along with Dan's video game he's been really wanting and we were outta there....that, folks, is how shopping is done. We ran to Target as well then we headed back to Farmington. We forgot to take pictures except for a few, we have been getting worse and worse but hopefully we can get back to taking good pictures.

We headed straight to the Cabin which I was very excited about since it has been such a long time since we've been there. There wasn't enough snow to snow mobile but we were still able to hot tub and had a blast hanging out with the family. Saturday we had our big Hockey game we have every other year over Thanksgiving. It was so much fun. This year we were actually able to play hockey instead of weaving in and out of children. I love this tradition.

Saturday night we were going to go to Temple Square to see the lights but it was so crowded we decided to try again another time. It was so fun to be able to spend so much time with both families.

David was trying to suck up flies

Girls (and Dan) Weekend:
Oct. 11-13

So Aubrey decided to come up and partay with us this weekend. She also brought her cute friend Mary Jensen with her. I have been teasing them both for months now about coming to play with us in Logan so it finally happened. Our great friend and neighbor Kenzie Smith brought them up for us and that night we all just hung out. Dan and I were thoroughly entertained watching the youngins' wrestle around with so much energy. It reminded me of when Danielle (Mary's older sister) and I were that age...they were just mini us'. Finally we all went to bed and gratefully we all slept in which felt so good!

Dan was great and made us all chocolate chip waffles and eggs and then the girls decided they wanted to finally conquer their fear of watching the movie Insidious. Even though it was midday it was dark outside due to the rain and sleet, they were still terrified but in the end they conquered their fear. Afterward we went to get facials and Dan went climbing. The girls loved getting pampered and it was only six bucks. We decided we needed to finally be active so we went bowling....Dan and I were certain we would beat them so we made a wager. Losers had to buys dessert. Well after carrying Dan through the entire game we still lost... Afterwards I had to go to work for a few hours so Dan, being as great as he is took them shopping (even though he did stay in the car because he felt weird ha ha)

They had really wanted to go sledding so while I was at work and after the girls went shopping Dan was going to get the tubes filled with air while the girls gathered all the snow stuff. well... Dan left the apartment and got to that gas station across town and realized that he had forgotten the tubes. He had to return to the apartment to pick them up and while driving back decided to play a little prank on them. He opened our front door without them knowing and rang the doorbell. They saw the door and they freaked out so they called Dan scared out of their mind. So Dan told them to lock the door and to hang tight because he was on his way home. So after closing it once it somehow opened again ;) They freaked out and they ran into the main bedroom upstairs and locked the door. They then proceeded to climb into our closet and I got a phone call at work with Aubrey terrified saying there was a man in the house. I got worried until I heard them scream when they saw Dan. They are still freaked out but it has to be one of the best pranks ever. After they were able to gather their wits they picked me up and we headed to Old Main Hill. It was a blast but boy did it make me realize just how out of shape I really am! We had so much fun and after a while we decided to go to Angie's before it closed to clean the sink. Well, Mary and Aubrey were determined to do it on their own, I didn't think they could do it so I challenged them. If they could do it they wouldn't have to pay me back for some of the clothes they bought. Well needless to say.....they did it. they ate the whole thing and I don't think they'll want ice-cream for a very long time. We lounged around at home while they continued to get their extra energy out and finally at 2 a.m they were asleep.

Sunday we went to church and then went over to Mike and Michelle's apartment to make pizzas. Soon enough it was time to take them home. A great weekend with the kids and well worth every moment. I wish I had more pictures but we have became lazy once again, don't worry we'll get back into it sometime soon....especially since Thanksgiving is coming up.