{Thanksgiving in Utah} Turkey Feathering the bishop's office

The night before Thanksgiving Boppa (that's what my kids call my dad) had to spend the evening across the street at the church fulfilling some church responsibilities.

My kids, along with my uber creative niece, got busy creating a paper turkey and they "Turkey Feathered" the bishop's office door while my dad was inside the office unaware.

Each feather had a reason that they loved him and there were some great feathers in the lot!

Love those kiddos!

Love that bishop!

{Thanksgiving in Utah} SNOW!!!

We don't get much snow in Oregon and, as much as we wanted snow while we were in Utah, our desire for snow was tempered with the fact that a snow storm would have kept us from being able to make the trek home for the holidays.

Perfectly, the snow waited to fall until after we were safe at my parents in Utah....in fact, it fell overnight and we woke to it on Thanksgiving morning.  There wasn't much snow but that did not stop my boys from scrounging what snow gear they could from grandma's stash and getting outside to build a snow man....or make that a "snow mound man".

{Thanksgiving in Utah} Gingerbread Houses

My parents always provide Gingerbread Houses for the grand kids to decorate after the Thanksgiving meal.  

With my kids in Utah this year, there were ten grand kids that all teamed up and spent a surprisingly long time putting together their best creations.

{Thanksgiving in Utah} Tree Decorating

For the first time in (so long that I can't remember how long) we went 

HOME FOR THANKSGIVING!!!

The trip was tentative until the minute we left because of weather but, in the end, the weather cooperated and we got to spend a wonderful week with my parents and brothers.

I loved that my kids got to participate in some of my family's traditions that they have either 

1) never participated in     -or-

2) been too young to remember participating in

The first tradition was the decorating of my parents Christmas Tree.

My parents have collected so many sentimental ornaments over the years and I loved that each ornament that my kids touched had a story behind it.  

(I have committed to creating the same kind of sentimental tree....starting 2015)

CFP

Imagine a stack of books like this...

(well, okay, not quite that big but close!)

Then imagine a calendar for the past four months that looks like this...

with each check mark representing hours and hours of study.

And little boys who want to spend time with their dad have to do this....

and this....

Now you know what life has been like at our house.

Rich has been preparing to sit for the CFP (Certified Financial Planner) exam and it has been a HUGE commitment on his part.  

He began reviewing this past summer with 2-3 hours of study a night but these past 6+ weeks he has been committing closer to 4-5 hours a night with even more hours on the weekends.

And through it all he has continued to work.

And he has continued to be at the kid's sporting events.

He has been organized!

He has been committed!

He has been disciplined!

(He has been MIA!)

Yesterday we sent him off with lots of "good luck"s and "you can do it"

 And you know what? 

HE DID DO IT!

He passed!

We are SUPER proud of Rich and pleased that all of his effort and time paid off with him accomplishing a goal that he set for himself nearly seven years ago.

Love you Rich!

all shapes and sizes

T found the LARGEST leaf on our hike in Portland last week...

Then yesterday he came inside with this TINY leaf and we couldn't help but compare the difference between the two...

Wildwood Trail Hike

J, T and I enjoyed Veteran's Day with a quick morning hike with Aunt Kathryn and cousins Riley & Wilco.

We started at the Audubon Society and took the Wildwood Trail to the Pittock Mansion where we enjoyed a fabulous (and mostly clear) view of Portland.

Man I love the Portland hills!

Father & (one) Son outing

Rich and C have enjoyed attending sporting events together for years.  

Recently J and T have begun to have more interest in sports as well (with C's encouragement).

This past weekend Rich was offered tickets to go see OSU get thumped by UCLA and C passed on going so J got to attend his first one-on-one sporting event with his dad and I think that they had a nice day together.

They took their bikes with them with the intention of showing J the campus but it was simply too wet to ride bikes so J didn't get to see quite as much of campus as he otherwise would have.  J did report that he got to explore/see the library, the institute building, the stadium and the pizza parlor :)

No complaints from this guy!