Monday, November 16th, we enjoyed dinner at Matt's parents' house. Shawn and Roxanne were over to see Jackie and Curtis one last time since they flew out for Korea the next morning. It's always so fun to spend time with family. And it's always nice to not have to prepare dinner. Since moving back to Utah, we've had a lot of dinners at Larry and Carrie's house! I'm glad they don't mind :)
Sunday November 15th, we had our first Sunday back in our old ward. It was so good to see old faces, and have the meeting in English :)
Another blessing was finally finding our silverware!
It was also Andrew's 8 month birthday! We sure love having him in our family. He loves Henlie, and she loves him, too.
Saturday, November 14th, we had an early Thanksgiving dinner with Matt's family while we were all in the same place still. Thanks to Curtis and Jackie's visas for Korea, they ended up still being in Utah for a couple weeks after we moved back from Peru. Originally, we were just going to miss them, so for once, a government worked in our favor so we could see them again :)
The Thanksgiving crew!
Mom wanted a musical number by Curtis and Jackie before they left.
The rest of the crew.
Yes, Mocha attends family events.
Poor Charlie wasn't feeling well.
Mom had us all make pies. We decided to combine Henlie's birthday with dinner, so I let her choose what pie we made. She picked apple. That was a fun adventure as neither Matt nor I had made an apple pie before. It turned out yummy, though. Fun story, at dinner, there were also some chocolate options....and so Henlie had chocolate and no apple pie...
The vents in the pie spelled out "Happy birthday Henlie!"
Aunt Lynell and Uncle John got her some fruit snacks and some cowgirl dolls with horses.
It was so fun to be able to celebrate with the whole family. Michelle and Jennifer also brought their boyfriends, who are both named Braden lol. Michelle's Braden actually is a friend of mine from work, so that's fun. Jennifer's Braden was such a doll playing with the kids. Both of the girls probably read this, as does my mother-in-law, but I'm just going to throw it out there that if they both stick, I'm totally okay with this ;)
Henlie petting Devan.
Braden and the girls.
Andrew had been watching football on the TV :)
Ring-Around-the-Rosie with Jenn, Kayla, and Charlie.
I am so grateful for the family I married into. They are wonderful and warm. I love them all so much. Really, I don't think a girl could ask for better in-laws :)
All of the grandkids together.
Andrew, Henlie, Charlie, Danica, Christopher, and Zachary
Other Braden, Jennifer, Michelle, Braden the First
Friday the 13th. We didn't really have an unlucky day, though :) We picked Matt up at the airport (my first time using the park and wait area :)) and visited Matt's old boss and an old colleague. Aside from the waiting (we didn't go in the first stop), it wasn't too bad. It just took forever :) We went with him into Rustico, though. Those guys are pretty chill, and they loved Henlie. She appreciated the colored pencils and paper while we talked too haha.
Pretty fall leaves outside Matt's old work.
Since we were out and about, we opted to eat out for dinner. Henlie chose Peruvian ("Purple drink!"), so we went to La Carreta in Orem. Sadly, Peruvian food is better in Peru. Darn crappy produce in this country :) Also a downer, the TV on our side of the restaurant doesn't work, so we couldn't even watch the Peru game :)
My, rather disappointing, pollo saltado.
I seem to recall not having a very productive day on Thursday, but I did make it to the store. I was happy to go without Matt. A - he hates Walmart. B - I could wander up and down aisles to my heart's content :) Andrew was so good while we shopped, too. Henlie didn't complain, either. I love that I can stick them both in a cart currently, even if the car seat does take up most of the cart space :) I am also grateful for the space at the bottom of the cart when I run out of room haha. Another bonus to our trip was discovering Walmart offers self-service bakery donuts. We totally got a half dozen and enjoyed some after lunch....which was from Costa Vida. I am so happy there is a Costa Vida in Payson now, too!
Snuggly kiddos first thing in the morning!
I sent Matt a picture of us with our donuts. He said we were having a better time than he was :)
I'm thankful we came home with Matt having a new job. It is nice to know we still have income :) On Wednesday, November 11th, we had to drop him off at the airport for a couple of days training in San Francisco. Not gonna lie, it was really nice having the car available when I wanted it :) I also had a super productive day Wednesday and got way more house stuff done than I had hoped for. I love productive days. They make me happy :)
The 10th was a magical day thanks to my kids. I could have done with a little bit more time before our first snow, but that's okay. Henlie was so excited. Whenever it snows, she asks if there's enough snow to build a snowman. (There hasn't been yet.) I quickly got over my romanticized notion of snow and fondly thought back on the weather in Lima right now haha. It was also Andrew's first snow. Even though snow may be less than pleasant, it's always fun to experience baby's first.
Snow!
Andrew's first snow!
Baby Boy in his second chullo.
"Mom, can you take a picture? Mocha, say 'cheese!'"
