A Simple Thanksgiving

This year for the first time in our marriage we didn't travel to Utah or Colorado for Thanksgiving.  Instead, Taber's parents flew out to NH and we hosted a humble little Thanksgiving at our house.

Taber took care of the turkey so there was no pressure on me. This was his 4th time grilling one and he's got it down to a fine art. 

 

The smoky, flavorful, juicy masterpiece.

The Draschils came up from Boston and Mel brought some amazing pumpkin, chocolate silk, pecan and banana cream pies. 

We kept it was very casual and low key but the girls decided they wanted to wear dresses. : )

 Teya even fixed her own hair with a bow to match.

Melinda brought Thanksgiving coloring pages for the kids to keep them entertained at the kids table.

We ate all the traditional Thanksgiving fare, although this year I tried a new sweet potato recipe and it was AMAZING! I will definitely be making it again for Christmas. You can get the recipe here.

It was a simple Thanksgiving. 

We ate on paper plates. 

But the food was incredible and the company was even better. 

My belly and heart were full. 

I really couldn't ask for anything better : )

The Ultimate Granny Nanny (and Grandpa ; )

Earlier this month Taber and I left the kids for a week to celebrate our 10 year Annivesary. You might think, "Oh those poor kids! Left behind for a whole week!" but don't feel too bad for them, I'm sure they had more fun than we did thanks to my parents, (a.k.a. the ultimate babysitters. : )

Grandma and Grandpa got in late at night, so when the kids woke up and saw they were there it was like Christmas morning.

Even our dog was excited to see them.

 We took them out to dinner the night before we left as a pre-THANK YOU! for being brave enough to watch our kids for a week. (we figured it might be good to butter them up before we threw them back into a such a demanding stage of parenting : )

We really had nothing to worry about though. My parents are seasoned pros when it comes to kids (and grandkids.) They're kind of like the Olympic gold medalists of child rearing. (Seriously.) Here are some of the things they did to earn their gold medal status.

Chuck E Cheese, with 3 small children, on a Saturday night. 

That takes guts! No pictures but the kids mentioned it several times so I know they had a blast. : )

Making and decorating sugar cookies. (the secret to a 5 and 3 year old's heart)

Crafts, crafts, and more crafts! Including coloring and putting together this playhouse that Brinley's preschool teacher brought over. A week after they left Teya was still talking about how much fun she had doing crafts with Grandma. 

McDonalds' playland. Another brave adventure when it comes to keeping track of the girls and keeping wild man Cam off the floor when all he wants to do is crawl around.

A visit to the doctor's office for poor little Cam who was struggling all week with a terrible chest cough and wouldn't sleep through the night.  My mom thought he might have an ear infection but the doc said it was just a very bad cold.  I really appreciate my mom for taking him in to be sure, and I really appreciate my dad for getting up with him in the middle of the night every night! That's love : ) 

Another act of love was my Dad's personal mission to take care of every fix it project in our house. He fixed our mailbox (which had rusted off the metal and completely broken off after the snowstorm) he fixed all my curtain fixtures that the kids had pulled down or out of the wall, he tightened all my loose cupboards, mounted toilet paper holders and towel holders in our bathrooms, cleaned out, vacuumed, and scrubbed our cars and shampooed all the carpets and stairs. It was so amazing to come home to a clean and organized house. My dad is the coolest : )

Of course my mom did her fair share of cleaning too, including mopping my floors, cleaning out our garage, washing all the laundry, washing all the bed sheets, the comforters, and even my curtains! 

 She also helped the girls make me a birthday cake, decorate the house with balloons and birthday signs and wrap little presents so I could celebrate my b-day with them when I got home.  

I was already just so happy that they were watching our kids, I couldn't believe they did so much on top of that. I really feel blessed and lucky to have such amazing and thoughtful parents.

 Even though we had a snowstorm the week before they came, the weather warmed up and they were able to spend a lot of time outside and at the park.

I found these pictures of them playing with the kids at the park and they just about melted my heart.  Seeing my Dad so relaxed and in his element as a grandpa is the best.

And I LOVE this picture of my mom and Cam. You can tell they're both just so happy.

Little man didn't miss me at all with such a wonderful grammy to snuggle.

The smiles on the kids faces say it all. 

Grandma and Grandpa can babysit any time!!

S is for Sista!

Before I had kids, when my sisters would come out to California to visit me it meant time to play hard! We would hit the beaches, go to theme parks, restaurants, and do some serious shopping. Now that we have kids our sister visits have changed quite a bit. Since small children do not love shopping, don't do well in restaurants, and have to take naps, we adjusted our agendas. Our motto for Sarah's visit last week was Mother's by day, Sista's by night!

During the day we planned fun activities for the kids, museum visits, kid friendly food joints, apple picking, etc... Then at night, Taber would stay with the kids and we'd go out for ladies night fun! We managed to fit in a couple late night movies at the theater, hit up some great restaurants for appetizers and dessert, enjoy haircuts and manicures at the spa, and get in some good shopping! The whole week was extremely theraputic and I can't thank BOTH of our husbands enough for making it possible! Here are some of the highlights of our week together.

MOTHERS BY DAY:

First I introduce you to my sister's cutie bug Noa, he is 4 weeks younger than Brinley so it's kind of cool that we were pregnant at the same time.

And now on to our week! We took the kiddos to the Minnesota Children's museum on Wednesday. They played so hard that on the drive home all three of them spontaneously burst into tears and wailed all the way home. It was so crazy and funny at the same time, all we could do was laugh. When we put the kids down for naps we attempted to learn the Beyonce Single ladies dance. haha! yeah...

On Thursday we had a kid friendly lunch with a some of my friends and then met up with Taber at his work so Sarah could have a tour of the headquarters. I was so glad we brought the kids because Teya was THRILLED to see her Daddy at work and clung to him the entire time.

On Saturday after some girl time in the morning we put the kids in their Halloween costumes and went to the Mall of America to do some trick or treating at the theme park.

We met up with our friends, Cameron and Wendy and their cute little lady bug, Miley.

It was great to have our friends there to take a picture of all of us together! The kids weren't really feeling the photo op but we'll take what we can get : ) Sarah got some shopping in and we hit a couple roller coasters with Cam and Wendy. Teya also rode the some kiddie rides all by herself for the first time!
On Sunday we went to church and then took the kids on a walk to the little jungle gym by our house. It was cute seeing Noa and Brinley play together.

On Monday we went to our favorite apple farm for apple picking, fresh apple donuts and cider. Some of the apple's had frost damage from the snow earlier in the week, but most of them were still good and we got a pretty decent loot.



SISTA'S BY NIGHT!

Taber is THE MAN and happily stayed home with the kids every night so Sarah and I could go out and par-tay! It was the most liberating thing to put the kids down, change out of our mommy clothes and go out at night. I forgot how fun it can be to just drive around in the car when you don't have to wrestle kids into car seats or throw snacks into the back to pacify fussy children. It was also so awesome to plug in my iPod and BLAST my own music while we drove. I used to love rocking out in the car but Teya isn't a fan of my music and definitely doesn't like it loud. We usually just end up singing kid songs till my voice box is swollen and my brain has turned to mush. So yeah, rocking out to my own music was blissful liberation.

One of the best parts about going out later was that we weren't battling any crowds at the restaurants or theaters. On Tuesday night we saw My Sister's Keeper at the dollar movie and had the whole theater to ourselves. It was like our own private viewing and we definitely got a little hyper ; )

On Wednesday night we hit a big sale at Kohl's and stayed there till they closed at 10pm, then we went over to the Theater to see the 10:30pm showing of Fame. Once again we had the whole theater to ourselves and took advantage of the chance to stand up and dance to the music, boo and cheer out loud, yell at the characters, and just act like nerds. I know I'm getting older but hanging out at night with my sister made me realize that I'm not THAT old and that I can still go out and get a little crazy. Here are some pics of us in the empty theaters, we couldn't resist ; )

Friday we had a spa day and Sarah cut 8 inches off her hair. With our new matching hairdos we got dolled up to go to Biaggi's for appetizers and dessert.

It was funny to see people react to how much we look a like. The guy pouring our water looked at me and smiled, then he looked at Sarah and did a double take to look back at me and said, "okay, I'm confused now." Then our waiter asked us if we were twins. We said, "No, just sisters." And then he said, "Oh, so are you the same age?" We were laughing pretty hard at that one.


Later in the trip we went to Redstone, my favorite restaurant for fondue, and we also stayed up a couple of the nights to play Pounce and watch some chick flicks at home. By the end of the week I was definitely tired from all the late nights! But it was soooo worth it to feel so girly and to have such great bonding time with my sis. : )

Friday Foto: Sister Time

My little sister Sarah is in town.
I'm definitely getting my fun fix for the week.
Yay for family!

Great River Ragnar Relay

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

2 Vans, 12 runners, 36 legs, 195 miles.
One Amazing Relay Adventure.

Last weekend Taber and I joined up with my brother in law Kevin and 10 of our friends from church to run the Great River Ragnar relay. It started in Winona, Wisconsin and ended in Minneapolis. We each ran 3 legs ranging in mileage and difficulty. It took us 29 hours, we ran right through the night. It was crazy, exhausting, exhilarating, empowering, fun (funny!) and just a really great time.

Taber's legs looked like this: leg 1: 7.9 miles, leg 2: 5.9 miles, leg 3: 4.3 miles,Total: 18.1miles

My legs looked like this: leg 1: 8.3 miles, leg 2: 7.5 miles, leg 3: 3.9 miles, Total: 19.7 miles

We were split into 2 vans, 6 runners in each. We were in van 1 so we had to leave at 5:30am to be at the starting line by 8:30am. I was a little worried because due to some bumps in the road we only got 2 hours of sleep before embarking on our 24 hour race. Once we got out there though the adrenaline and the support from our team carried us through. We watched Jacey, Spencer, and Doug run their first legs then it was Taber's turn.

His first leg was a long one. 7.9 miles. He handled it like a champ though. Keeping a great steady pace the whole time. He passed by gorgeous tree covered hills, small lakes and even got some peeks of the Mississippi. The weather was cool and overcast, perfect for running. It started to rain at one point but he soaked it all in and had a smile on his face every time we stopped to cheer him on him.
He finished in 1:22 minutes and then passed the baton to Kevin. Kevin ran 6.9 miles in record time and before I knew it I was up! My first leg was 8.3 miles. I ran through some pretty gorgeous countryside and really enjoyed the views.
The van stopped every couple miles to give me water and cheer me on. It really helped me to see that van and my teammates on the road. Every time I saw them I straightened up and ran harder.
I had a good hill at the end but I pushed hard and finished in 1:16 minutes. One leg down, two more to go!
Here are some action shots of the runners in our van. Spencer and Jacey were celebrating their 12 year anniversary. I'm sure it was a memorable one!
While we waited for our runners we tried to stretch and get pumped for our next runs.

After I finished my first leg we passed the baton off to our teammates in van 2. It was the first time our whole team was together and it was a lot of fun seeing them. We leap frogged their first runner for a little while and then we decided to head to a park to try to sleep a little before we had to run again.
Vans 1 and 2 unite! It was cool being the 6th runner because I got to see the whole team every time I finished!
When we got to the park we ate some food and then set up our sleeping bags. It was still light outside and there was a lot going on and it was really hard to sleep. I laid there for an hour and finally Taber gave me some earplugs and I fell asleep. I think I got a good hour in before it was time to go and start running again.

Our second legs were at night so we had to wear reflective vests, flashing lights on our backs and headlamps. We also got to shadow our runners on a bike as an extra safety precaution. The night ended up being my favorite time to run. I had 7.5 miles to do but a good part of it was down hill so that was nice. Taber shadowed me on the bike and I loved having him there. He kept saying, "You look great babe! You make it look so easy! Good form!" It was really motivating hearing him say that and knowing that he of all people knew how far I had come to be there. I'm sure 9 years ago when we were dating he never thought I was a girl he could run a long distance race with! Glad he still saw the diamond in the rough : )

Here's a cool pic of Taber passing off to Kevin during our night runs. Taber finished his around midnight and I finished mine around 2am.

After our night runs we went to a high school that had set out wrestling mats in the gym for the runners to sleep on. We were so exhausted that I didn't even eat (even though the last decent meal I had was 8 hours earlier) We just hit the ground and were out. We got 2 good hours of sleep and then it was time to run again.

I spent the morning watching my team finish their last legs. They all seemed so happy and relieved to be done. I couldn't wait to feel the same way. Taber had 4.3 on his last run and he had a HUGE hill about a mile long at the end. When we passed him in the van and saw what he was up against we were sure it would take him awhile. But before we could even hit the port-a-potty Kevin saw Taber and yelled, "Here he comes!! It's Taber!" We couldn't believe how fast he destroyed that hill. I mean it was insanely steep and long. But there he was, coming in at full speed! Definitely an awesome awesome moment! (above:Taber passing off to Kevin, below: Taber right after conquering the hill, and me in awe of my man. )

When it was my turn to run my last leg I thought I would kill it like Taber and Kevin and everyone else had killed theirs. I only had 3.9 miles to do and I thought it would be a piece of cake. Once I started running though my body just kind of shut down. Every step felt like I was pushing against a mountain. My legs were like lead and it took so much energy just to put one foot in front of the other. I hadn't been able to eat much and that combined with the lack of sleep and strain from already putting in almost 16 miles just left me with an empty tank. My team rallied around me and really cheered me on. Taber gave me a great pep talk and I switched over to my marathon survival mode and just started shuffling. I shuffled through it, didn't stop, and after 38 minutes it was over! I had finished and it felt GOOD!
When we were done with our last leg we passed the baton to van 2, wished them luck, and went off to celebrate and relax. We hit up a bagel shop for a well deserved breakfast and then changed our clothes and freshened up. Then we went to the finish line to wait for our team.

My mom and Dad came to the finish line with the girls. We ate lunch with them and my mom gave me an awesome massage! The girls were getting tired though so they had to leave but it was great seeing them there.
Around 2:30 p.m., 29 hours after we started, our last runner was coming towards the end. We all joined him for the last 50 yards and ran across the finish line together.
There were lots of high fives and hugs, smiles and pictures. It was fun for me, Taber and Kevin to take a picture together and know that 10 months ago we took the same kind of picture only it was after our first race ever, and we had only run 2 miles. : )
Here is a picture of our whole team. You'll notice that there are only 11 runners. Darci, our team co-captain and the person who invited me to do this was unable to run due to a death in her family. We really missed her and wish she could've been there.

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

It was crazy, but if my team is up for it, I will definitely want to "repeat" this experience next year.