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My family had an awful lot of fun during November, but I didn't pull out the camera for any of it. Holly joined my brother in England for about five days since he was there for work and it would be years before they got another opportunity to go without the kiddies (they've another baby coming), so Hailey and Hunter stayed behind and were shuttled between Holly's mom and sisters for the week. Hailey is in kindergarten and we didn't want her to miss any school, so I got to help out with her as well. Hailey got to sleep over two different nights and Grayson and I picked her up from school one day, dropped her off again, and everything in between.

We had loads of fun while she was here. She's a very generous little girl. We went to Wendy's for lunch one day and she was nice enough to give Grayson the toy when I wouldn't let her share the fries. And she was insistent that we make cupcakes for all the cousins she was going to see over the weekend when she left my house to go to another aunt's. So we headed to the store in search of the perfect sprinkles and we found them! She helped mix the batter and pour it into the tins, and when the cupcakes were baked and cooled, I frosted and she sprinkled. They were super yummy and tons of fun to make together. I sure do love that girl.

Cupcakes! November 13

My folks came up that same weekend for Christy and Brett's wedding and stayed with us. Grayson couldn't get enough of all the attention, lucky kid. We met Maryann and her girls at the reception and everyone came back to our house for a quick game of Golf. We went for a walk the next morning, met Maryann's family for breakfast at IHOP (my first time there - it was good, but not good enough that I'll go back), came home, went to a neighbor's boutique, then my parents left that afternoon. Poor Grayson looked so confused after having been entertained by first Hailey and then Grandma and Grandpa, it almost made me want another baby just so he'd have a permanent playmate.

My parents also came up the following weekend for the BYU/Utah game and we all got together again. We played games Friday night at Don and Holly's, but having learned our lesson the week before, Josh and I had everyone over for breakfast Saturday morning at our house instead of going out. We made waffles, cinnamon and orange rolls, OJ and scrambled eggs. Mmm mmm good! Definitely more fun and much cheaper than IHOP.

After breakfast we cleaned off the kid's table so they could draw. I gave them some paper, stickers, and markers, and soon the big game's excitement crept into their artwork:
Hailey predicted the Utes would win because according to her calculations, there were more people cheering for them than for the Y. Josh and I have the luxury of not really favoring one team over the other, but I gravitate more toward the Utes because of my brother, and Josh gravitates more toward the Y because...well, all good Mormons cheer for the Cougars, right? So we purposefully dressed Grayson in a non-partisan onesie to show our support for both teams. (Sorry Don, but sometimes sacrifices such as this must be made in order to preserve harmony in a dual-faith household.)

Sweet Memories

Don and Holly had us up to their house for Thanksgiving dinner, and I'm lamenting the fact that I once again didn't pull out the camera to capture Grayson going to town on all that turkey. Dinner was so delicious and our contribution was a fruit pie and a pan of rainbow jello, both of which were fun and fairly simple to make. Instead of doing a regular rainbow, though, I used only red, yellow, and orange to keep a 'fall' theme for Thanksgiving. I also cut my usual 12 layers down to 10 (more room in the pan for whipped cream!):I wish I'd taken a picture of the kick-ass raspberry cream pie I made to share. Oh my, it was sooo good - the perfect balance of tart and sweet, yummiest pie crust ever, and it looked all professional cut and served on individual plates. I will definitely make it again, and I already know that I'm going to up the amount of fruit I use in the topping.

The last thing I'll share with you today is the video I started taking of Grayson climbing up Don and Holly's stairs. Hunter and Hailey were playing at the top and Grayson started heading up there to join them, but his pants were falling down and making him slip, so Josh went in to pull them up. Right when he did so, Hailey tumbled down the stairs and straight into Grayson. Thankfully Josh's presence broke her fall for the most part and Gray only fell off one step. It didn't hurt him, though, and everyone was okay. Whew!