life lately

sister-sister date at bangkok garden.  our first time eating at this restaurant but definitely not our last.

it was so delicious!  and to make the evening even better, a nice gentleman paid for our entire meal.

(okay, that nice gentleman was my sister's boss, who just happened to be getting takeout and saw us)

mom and daughter(s) night out.  we went to dinner and then saw a movie (the hunger games mockingjay).  then on the way home my mom spontaneously decided we needed a pumpkin pie blizzard from dairy queen.  i don't really like pie, but this was really yummy.

it's not secret that i love our town, ogden.  sammy brue is a local musician who is talented beyond his years (he's like 13 or 14!).  he arranged a show in ogden with the artist grace and tony headlining.

it was amazing!

all performers were fantastic.

and we got to hang out with them afterwards which is always a bonus.

(they are all VERY awesome people)

little man turned 6.  we had a birthday sleepover with him and took him to see a favorite of ours,

teenage mutant ninja turtles.

it was pretty good.  not as good as the original (what is?).

he enjoyed it a lot.  he laughed at all the jokes. and got his own personal snack box.

later than night little man noticed gordon's guitar in our downstairs living room.

he asked gordon if he knew how to play.

and then we proceeded to have a dance party.

it was fantastic!

oh where to begin with this little miss.  she is so dear to my heart. 

she invited me to be her special guest at her thanksgiving feast at preschool.

she created our placemats (a thankful turkey which said she was thankful for her bed and birthday cake).  she sang a couple of songs, one of which has a part that talked about being thankful for her friends at which she paused, looked at me and whispered "you're my friend." my heart almost burst.

she is just the sweetest and i love her so much!

i love the holidays.  holidays bring out of state family together.

i hadn't seen my cousin monika for six years.  when i found out she was coming into town

for thanksgiving i was beyond excited.  i knew i wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

and i did.  we saw each other every day she was here except for one.  we got warm beverages at my favorite cafe. we went bowling. we ate at the delicious taco carts.

we went to the temple. we went to yoga.  it was the best week ever. 

(sorry, not sorry for the blurry pic)

our california niece and her family were also here over thanksgiving. 

we made sure to get some one on one time with her in hopes that we will be her favorites, too.

i think it's working.

my sister and i have a thanksgiving day tradition to run longer than we normally do our morning runs.

the weather had been perfect for our trail run.  the snow stayed in the mountains for gordon to snowboard on thanksgiving morning and off the trails for us.

thanksgiving day was spent at my moms (the day before thanksgiving we got together with all of my mom's side of the family, which was pushing 100 of us, for a pre-thanksgiving dineer).

it was terrific.

i got to have one last chance to have my cousin's little girl warm up to me.

her little boy wasn't shy at all and loved playing with gordon.



all my hardwork paid off and her sweet little girl decided i was pretty fun to play with.

the day after thanksgiving we went to temple square with gordon's family to see the christmas lights.

christmas lights and the slc temple are two of my favorite things.

i played princess with little miss practically the whole time we were there.

it was perfect.



i love food and i love trying new places.

our town opened a new thai restaurant that is so fresh and tasty, i could just eat there everyday!