Sant-y Clause!

We decided to give old St. Nick a try this year. Last year we made an attempt at the Dickens' Festival in Salt Lake, but they wanted our next born in return for an actual picture with the man.

We declined.

This year he came to our local library! And the convenience of it all was TRULY a
Christmas miracle.

Waiting in line, looking handsome.

Hold up, wait a second. Who is this?

Mom? MOM?

 All in all, not that traumatic for the young buck.

Later, we went home and made some gingerbread-men. Tyson thought it was just an M&M eating contest.

 By the time he got to eat the actual cookie, he was pretty sugared-out, I think.

Thanksgiving/Mitchell's Home

Not necessarily in that order.

We had a Turkey Feast with all the fixins' thanks to Cambo and some other vital helpers. This was the 1st Thanksgiving feast I have ever hosted, and if I do humbly say so...NAILED IT.

Guys, I made a Turkey.

Oh, and this one's home from Honduras!

They met for the 1st time and really hit it off.
 I'm thinking they are going to be "bromies".
 Is that  a thing? It should be.

And this kid LOVES Papa. Like, loves him.
Sorry Nana. You're a chick. Not cool.

Also, Lauren helped.

Trick or Treat!

Our little Turkish Sultan. We bought this at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. 

I believe it was made in China.

It started out rough...

...but talk of candy brought a slight smile through those teary eyes.

 I don't think he realized Rem was the 

reason his knocks were so loud.

 Spoils

Dang it Lauren!

Farfrompoopin was supposed to be MY blog post title.

Mediocre Title: GIRLS TRIP!

Joce, Linds, Carrie, Lauren.

These 4 ladies and I spent the weekend in Keystone, CO at my Aunt's condo, and it was such a blast. No kids. Just laughing, eating, and a lot of classy conversation and cigars.

And I'm sure a little TMI about child birth for our two non-mother friends here.

They were laughing all the way to the skinny-jean section of J-Crew. 

I love us. And I cannot afford to miss this ever. 

PS: For those of you who couldn't make it this year, PLEASE PLEASE come next time. You will die of happiness. We missed you. 

(Also, thank you Lauren for the pictures. I literally stole them right off of your blog...like a cyberthief)

Pumpkins

We probably did what 90% of other families did for FHE the Monday before Halloween: 

Pumpkin Carving!

Tyson, very interested in the process

 Here are the finished products.

I'm not going to lie, Tyson's was the worst. But we'll cut him some slack, cause he's 1.

Side note: He has been carrying that green candle around with him all morning.
He loves the way it smells.

Also he may have eaten a bit of it. I'm going to be more on top of that, starting now.

Tyson, the mummy

The Young Men and Young Women in our ward threw a little family activity night for the kids. It was a lot of fun, and Tyson even got into it. Here is a picture of the mummy-wrapping contest.

He was surprisingly calm the entire time.

He ended up looking a little like a Muslim woman.

I think he should have won for cuteness alone. But what do I know?

Patio

Rem and I have been saying that we should have had more people over to our house before making all of these improvements. No one understands why when we show them our now average-looking bathroom, we tend to talk it up like it was transplanted here from Celine Dion's home herself.

They didn't see it before.

I don't have a before picture of our "patio" out back, but take my word for it, it was crud-city.

 Here's the crew

 Spectating is key to projects like this

 We put Tyson's hand print in the garbage can pad we poured on the side (you're welcome future owners of this home). Also, thanks Weston for your precision in writing his name and shaping the blob that was his "handprint" into an actual looking hand.

 Stamping

Joe just threw his shoes away at the end. We all sacrificed. 

 VOILA! Finished product.

 What the...? How did that get in there?

Oh man, now everyone thinks I'm the type to post cute pictures of this

 kid unnecessarily all the time. 

He must've gone back and added this.

So thanks again to all of our crew, you are the best, I LOVE how it turned out!