Thanksgiving 2012

We had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving this year. The holiday's are always a great time at work for Sean because things are so slow, so he was able to take Wednesday off and we went to the zoo.

It was a beautiful, warm day.

On Thanksgiving day, Sean and boys enjoyed the turkey bowl in the morning with no injuries to report- always a good thing. While dinner was getting ready the kids made some crafts and played games.

 We had a great turkey dinner of course!

 Football, football, and more football. What would Thanksgiving be without it?

And some wonderful pie to end the day.

Preschool Thanksgiving Party

I love our kids! I felt so blessed that I was able to go and help with Isaac's Thanksgiving party at his preschool. I love going in and volunteering because I feel it's the best way to get to know the teachers and what's actually going on in the classroom. I wish I could do it more, but unfortunately my schedule has gotten way to busy lately. Isaac's party was a lot of fun. They started with a snack, and then we broke them up into groups for stations, two games and two crafts.

My boy who is reluctant to smile.

The long table.

I put together a turkey bowling game that the kids enjoyed.

After the activities the kids sang us a silly turkey song. Sean and I have discovered that Isaac has developed a shy side recently.

Isaac and I. Again he didn't want to smile. He doesn't like being in the spotlight. We love him anyway! Ignore the pic of me. I feel like I'm going to pop anytime now, and I'm not sure I'll make it to the induction date.

Halloween 2012

We had a fun Halloween! We started out with our ward party the weekend before. Since Sean and I are both in YW/YW  we helped them set up their booths for the carnival. The kids were excited to wear their costumes and Hannah loved the balloons that were the centerpieces on tables during dinner.

She spotted the donut eating contest right away. 

Josh had a lot of fun too. I think he did the cake walk three times.

Isaac trying it out.

Nathan at the fishing pond.

Carving the pumpkins is always a hit!

Hannah had fun doing it her first time.

 Hurricane Sandy was still hanging around so Halloween night was cold and wet, but the kids braved trick-or-treating anyway. They actually lasted longer than they ever have and got lots and lots of candy!

Three ninjas and a butterfly princess, all ready to head out!

Enjoying some after they got back. This is the one night this diabetic family is allowed three pieces each in one night.

Romney Rally in West Chester

Over the past several months we've gotten phone calls inviting us to "victory rallies" and other events with Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan or both in the area. They've always been on times that we couldn't go, or the kids were sick etc.  This was one we were finally able to go to! It was definitely the biggest event by far here in the Cincinnati area and included Mitt, Ann, Paul and many others like, Condoleezza Rice, Rudy Giuliani, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, John Boehner, Rob Portman, and more I can't remember. It attracted over 30 thousand people. Having never been and not knowing what to expect, we pulled in about 40 minutes early, which turned out to be not nearly early enough. The line was wrapped around the event itself, out past this pond in the picture below, and soon after we got in it started going around the block. It was awesome.

 We saw Mitt's bus go by. They honked and everyone was cheering.

 We finally got in almost two hours later as Paul Ryan was speaking. We stood in the overflow area and watched it on the big screen. After Paul spoke, Mitt and Ann came in and spoke.

 After it was over we decided to get in closer. We found out later that a friend of ours was a star in this flag.

 The stag they spoke on. We saw Mitt and Ann as they were walking off.

 While we were waiting for the crowd to clear out so we could get into the main area, John McCain walked right by us! I tried several times to get pictures, but they were mostly of his back or too blurry. He walked up   onto a media stage that was in the back opposite the main stage to do interviews.

 After he was done he came down and started shaking hands. Sean got to shake his hand! This picture below is right before he did. He noticed Sean's hat and said, "Oregon!? No, it's ASU!" That made our night! We were glad we waited afterwards.

We felt really grateful that we were able to be part of this historic event. It was amazing to see the size of the crowd, their excitement, and of course Mitt Romney. Living in a swing state has definitely been a new experience.