Give Thanks

This year was a monumental Thanksgiving year. We hosted for the first time ever, meaning we were in charge of the turkey. We decided to do it imu-style, and prepped it with ti leaves and Hawaiian sea salt. We dropped it off at the imu, and we were excited to taste it Thanksgiving morning.

Unfortunately, the evening brought downpores, and the imu didn't quite work out. Thankfully we had the extra three hours to cook the turkey in the oven before our guests arrived. The turkey tasted fine, but it wasn't dripping-off-the-bone good. We'll try again next year.Everyone showed up with their dishes, and we had a yummy meal. We had the Giles, Atkins, Ellis, and Clark families over.

We gabbed and watched football all afternoon.

Everyone made Indian hats with names. I don't think this group appreciated the hat-making like the Edwards family...but they humored us and even posed for pics.

1 year old Shay with Heidi--precious little gal!

Zac's picture face:

The day got pretty (although still chilly enough to keep us out of the ocean).

Brand-new baby Macy was the center of attention.

The north shore suffered from the storms--bridges and roads were closed, the ocean was dirty brown, and my surfing hopes for the weekend were thus shot. We made the best of it at Brennecke's the next day.

Zac's sand-stick:

Saturday finished off the weekend with gorgeous bike rides and a win in overtime over Utah.

We're sure grateful for so many things, especially our friends and family. We love Thanksgiving weekend for the reflection, food, and fun.

What happened to November?

I'd like to say it's because I ran out of wit, but that's implying that I think I had it to begin with. Really, I suffered a blogging burnout after all the entries on Spain, but we're back!

The day after we returned from Spain, we forced Zachary to wear his Halloween costume for our ward party. He did not like it, until he figured out that when he dresses up, it results in candy. If you can't tell, we are Merlin, Galinda the Witch, and a little knight.
This picture is for my sister, Natalie. No, running is not always fun for me, and no, I am not always smiling when I run--especially when I run poorly. Next time, right?!?
Halloween night, we prepped for our supposed crowded street of trick-or-treaters. We even did outdoor decorations--which in my book are sort of a crime. Well, we got two beggars, and ended up with a lot of chocolate in our freezer.
Zachary was pretty stoked with his first real stash.
He'd pick up a piece of candy, bite from one end, turn it around, and bite it from the other end...every time. Too cute.

Most of November involved spending mornings at the park and beach. Zachary is our little jumping maniac lately, and jumps on, over, and from almost anything. (Today, he has quite the bang-up job on his forehead to prove that he doesn't always do this successfully.)
When he lands the jump, he throws his hands up in the air and yells, "YAY!"
We've also visited the beach, but not enough! Besides weather issues that always abound in November, Brady's been working quite a few Saturdays. The Saturday below, we went to Hanalei for some winter waves. It was cloudy and overcast, but still fun. The best part of the day was when I was waiting on a wave and it started poring rain. I heard shreaking from the beach, and looked over to see Zac and Brady having the best time running around in the rain and sand. Precious.


I would show you pictures of actually being up on the waves, but I wasn't wearing my surf shirt...
How cute is this shot?
Some of the November weather this year involved lightening! Lots of it! We don't get lightening and thunder very often, so it was a treat to watch the storms. On this Friday night, we took a long walk and then sat at the beach.
Zachary was not content to just sit on the beach. He immediately bathed himself in sand.
I also got to play Mommy for a girl! It is a very different experience! We watched Linnaea, a 17-month old, while her parents (Matt and Megan) went to Singapore and the Phillipines. They are the ones who watched Zac while we were in Spain, so the kids were already well aquainted. They fought and played like siblings. It was a terrific week, and convinced me that I really can handle two kiddos.

I almost cried when Matt and Megan took her back. Zac literally did. The next morning after her departure, he ran into her room, saying, "NAYA!" When she wasn't there, he bawled his eyes out. Other than that, it's chasing balls and doggies for us, as well as Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I left those pictures out of this post by mistake, so I will have to post Thanksgiving later.