Thanksgiving Weekend

Well I don't have too many pictures to show of our Thanksgiving, but I might as well share since we all really did enjoy our long weekend! Luke's parents came in Tuesday and so we took care of all of our grocery shopping then.

On Wednesday Luke still had to work so his parents, Jacob and I went for a drive down south. We first visited their old friends who now live in Colorado Springs, then we hit the outlets on the way back in Castle Rock. We were all able to find a couple christmas gifts down there so that was fun. Later that night we ran a couple errands, went out to dinner at Smashburger, and came home and played several rounds of Dominoes and Rook.

Thanksgiving was nice and relaxing. Even though we had a lot of cooking it made it a lot easier since Luke decided to cook the turkey in his smoker, so that really helped free up the oven. Luke and his dad were very proud of the progress of the turkey throughout the day, and it only took about 7 hours to smoke.

they moved the smoker to the shed to keep the coals warm

all ready! it was very moist and tasty all around

Our dinner feast! We had turkey, a small ham, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, homemade rolls, mixed vegetables, and a fruit jello.
Jacob just starting off, excited to eat! And I guess I didn't get a picture of him eating the turkey, but he did and we were so proud since he usually hates meat!
turtle pumpkin pie and traditional pumpkin pie for dessert

We ate dinner by 3:30 since we didn't have lunch that day so we were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day. I spent most of the week reading in my spare time (I just finished the second book of the Hunger Game series and I can't wait to read the third- they're really good books!)

So on Friday we didn't have many plans, but we did do a little bit of shopping and did actually end up buying a new desktop computer- which we were planning on getting for ourselves for christmas. So we got that all set up and we were excited about that, didn't take a picture though. We also meant to go bowling together but went a little too late so we missed out. But we went out to eat at this mexican place Luke likes and took it over to McDonalds so Jacob could get some fries. And our burritos were all so spicy we got sundaes after so we could cool our mouths off. And this picture was just too funny of Luke's dad feeding Jacob the ice cream- he was opening his mouth so wide in anticipation, haha! Yum! Anyway, so it was a good weekend to relax and eat good food and enjoy our company. His parents took off Saturday morning back to Virginia, but it was nice to have them for a few days this trip- we all had a good long weekend!

Bye Bye Brielle

These pictures are a little overdue and even outdated now but I've been meaning to post some of these for my friend Jessica of her daughter Brielle and of Jacob. For a couple months I would babysit Brielle once or twice a week and Jacob and I loved having her over! I stopped watching her last month or so since they are getting ready to move to Utah, but they aren't gone yet so we're still hoping to get another play date in before they're gone for good!

Anyway, Jacob and Brielle became really good friends and they were so sweet and cute together. The best part is they are only 5 days apart too, so they played great together and liked a lot of the same things. So here's a bunch of pictures I've taken throughout the time they played together here. Some days there were more pictures than others, but here's some things they liked to do together:
I've mentioned this before but they both loved Elmo, and I'm pretty sure Jacob was the one that got Brielle hooked on it! But it was also a great distraction for Brielle in the beginning when she would cry, all I needed to do was turn on Elmo for a bit and then she was fine!

Jacob was always soo excited when she was over! Here's them just having a quick snack.

Coloring pictures :)

Playing with puzzles together

Just staring and pointing at each other... :)

Playing "night night"

Brielle reading to Jacob

After awhile Jacob started to really like Brielle and he initiated his first hug! He kept giving her hugs and I still think it was the sweetest thing ever! Brielle seems a little surprised at first but she was happy too and gave him hugs back- too cute!

They loved eating their granola bars at the bottom of the stairs

I thought it was funny how Jacob kept scooting closer to her, haha

They also liked playing in Jacob's crib and running around..

And playing more "night night"

just sitting down to read :)

Brielle also loooved Jacob's truck and was usually pushing it around- but here they were trying to push it together with all their animals inside! Haha Brielle loved all those stuffed animals too :)

They also liked exploring outside together

I love this picture of Jacob throwing the ball- he looks like a pro! And they were both being silly and giggling when I was trying to get a picture of them together :)

I'm so glad Jacob was able to have so many "playdates" with her and make such a good little friend!

We're going to miss you Brielle!

Kim's Baby Shower

On Saturday my friends and I threw a baby shower for our friend Kim at my house. She is expecting her first baby boy at the end of January, so we are all really excited for her! And everything turned out really well and everyone seemed to have a good time too!

Here's the cute bath toy diaper cake!

And the yummy blue punch!

We played a couple fun games too, and most of them were new ones that we hadn't done before so everyone seemed to enjoy them. The first was a diaper changing relay done in two teams, but the catch was they had to change the diaper blindfolded, haha.
And this game seemed to be the hardest- the bags spell out baby shower and each bag held a baby item that started with that letter. But the most anyone got was 4 right- so it was a little tricky but fun!
We also then played a little "how well do you know mommy" game where they had to mark which attributes they thought she would want for her baby from either the mommy or daddy side. And then we also played a memory game where I had 16 baby items hung on a clothesline and after we took it away everyone had to write down as many as they could remember- and a couple people did surprisingly well with that one! Anyway, so those were all a lot of fun!

Then it was time for Kim to open her gifts! It's always fun to see the cute little things people get- and she got a lot of good stuff!

Here's the cute little bath robe and hooded towels I got her :)

So it was a little work to get everything all together, but I'm glad that it all went smoothly and that Kim was able to enjoy her shower! Can't wait to meet her sweet little baby boy!