Snowy Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving Day we decided to head into the woods to cut a tree for Christmas. My brother Roman came to visit from Utah, but since our group was still relatively small and we were going to have a big Thanksgiving dinner with the Rubalcava family the Saturday following, we decided to spend the day playing rather than cooking and eating.

We headed over to Mt. Pilchuck on the snowy Thanksgiving Day. Luckily the weather had warmed up so, although it was snowing, it was warmer than it had been for the past few days. We really had slim pickings when it came to finding a tree. We later learned that we had not reached the elevation required for tree cutting anyway. Maybe we would have found a better selection had we gone higher. Either way, we had fun hiking in the snow, throwing snowballs and doing a little sledding.

Little Ava was quite a trooper too. We just bundled her up and she cruised around in the baby carrier. Although, in the picture below she has this look like, "Really, you dragged me along on this little adventure dressed like a purple bear!" Could she have more cheeks!

Once we got the tree into our house we realized how large it really was. In the forest next to the giant trees it seemed quite small. We obviously had some tree trimming to do … and it was a bit of a Charlie Brown tree.

The Saturday following Thanksgiving we met up with the Rubalcava side of the family at my cousin’s home. More than enough delicious food as usual! Ava had plenty of willing hands to hold her, giving mom a nice break.

Ava with Aunt Stephanie.

Ava with cousin Alexis.

Ava with cousin Dawna.

Blessing Ava

Ava was blessed the first Sunday in November. She was beautiful and patient as usual. Her blessing dress was the same I wore when I was blessed and was made by my aunt Alice. It was a beautiful day and we thank Heavenly Father for blessing our home with her.

Wild hair even on her blessing day.

A proud brother.

With grandma and grandpa Rubalcava.

Raking

Ethan is actually very diligent at raking. When I mentioned that we were going to rake leaves he kept asking me about it until we finally got outside to do the job. He even came up with the idea of getting his stool so he could help put the leaves in the trash. It would be nice if this worker attitude continued through his teenage years.

The work of raking.

The joy of jumping in the leaves.

The dedication of finishing the job. Way to go little man!

Our Knight and Skeleton

Ethan wanted to be a dragon or monster for Halloween, but mom was not on the ball in making, buying, or putting together a costume in a timely manner. When I finally got on the ball he got what was left during a visit to Costco … luckily I could talk him into the knight because, how cool, the knight gets to slay the dragons. He thought that was great, but what really sold him on the costume was the sword. Ava was easy … no picky 3 year old brain to deal with at the moment. She was almost a little green dragon to compliment Ethan (how cute), but then all I could picture was him pummeling the poor innocent dragon with his sword.

This year Ethan was brave enough to go to the doors himself. He did have a scare at a more spooky house, but was able to pull it together and keep going.

What's really scary about Ava's costume is her hair!

Jairo got creative with our pumpkins again this year. Only he has the patience to do this.

Fall at The Farm

One of our favorite fall traditions is a visit to The Farm. This year we made it there twice and Ethan could not have been happier about that. There is so much for the kids to enjoy. Ethan had a blast with all the animals and activities. Ava joined us both days but was strapped to me so we missed getting pictures of her.

Here Ethan is loving the animals a bit too much. Lucky for us all the animals are so patient.

Corn to eat and corn to play in. The Farm has the most delicious fresh roasted corn on the cob and the corn kernel pit is the best place to play.

Playing on one of many tractors with his friend Natalie.

A few fun action pictures.

One happy little boy after a day at The Farm.