November, Up To and Including Thanksgiving

And just like that, all of November (and half of December!) has slipped through my fingers, too!  For the most part, November was a really warm month, which was nice.  I wasn't ready to face the cold just yet.  I took a long walk in the woods one day and discovered this totally sketchy bridge:

Because I was by myself and the trail didn't really seem to go anywhere after the bridge, I didn't venture across.  But I sort of loved it just the same.

The trail I was on just led further and further away from civilization and finally I had to turn around because I was starting to worry that I might actually get lost.  But clearly I need to do more exploring in this area!

Around the time that I was trouncing around in the woods, Craig was hard at work fixing our porch railing.  We've known it was in bad shape for a while, but in the grand tradition of homeownership, we just kept ignoring it.  Until the day that Craig noticed a vine growing across the porch, and leaned over the rail to try and pull it off the house and the whole railing collapsed.  Luckily Craig managed to jump-fall off the porch (there's a quite a drop where he was!) and he didn't get hurt at all.  But now we had a problem that could no longer be ignored.  And then, as Craig began taking off the rotten pieces of wood, he just kept discovering more rotten parts.  It was pretty disheartening...

So Craig had a project!  Around the same time we found out that Aunt Lynda and Uncle Greg would be coming for Thanksgiving!  This was PERFECT both because we were excited to get to see them again, but also because it gave Craig a deadline to work towards.  And, as he always does, Craig came through in marvelous fashion!

First he had to patch up this pillar

A lot of times when Craig was working, the kids would decide to rake leaves near him.  They'd demand payment for their work (fair), and then invite all their friends to come help and suddenly we were paying half the neighborhood.  Quite the racket...  Also, I think it's funny that Camille has paired a heavy coat with barely-there-shorts...  'Cuz that makes sense!

Also happening around the same time-- Kendra and I joined my friend Megan and went and saw Six: The Musical, which was so fun!  I had wanted to take Kendra but when we initially looked at tickets they were asking $200 a pop!  And I think it's a really fun show, but it's essentially a 90-minute rock concert with no intermission, and I just couldn't justify that kind of expense for that.  So when Megan found tickets for $68, I told her to buy them fast and we had the best time together!  Really, the singing was fantastic, and actually, I really loved the lighting effects, which was fun to tell Craig about (he took a lighting design class at BYU and has considered himself an expert ever since).  So that was great!

Megan drove, which was really nice because I was driving all day beforehand and all the next day for a wedding.  I didn't really want another 2 hours behind the wheel!  (And as it was, I had to have Craig do the last driving shift for me-- look at me outsourcing my business!)  She actually managed to find street parking, and we walked to a little diner and waited outside for about 45 minutes until they could finally seat us.  That gave us just enough time to shove our food in our faces and pay the bill as we were still chewing, but it worked!  I was so happy with the entire evening!

The next week I planned a whole activity for the Young Women to learn flower arranging only to realize that it was the same night as Kendra's band concert, so I had to miss it!  I hate it when I mess things up like that!  But it looks like the activity went well, so that's still good!  

Look at all those cute girls and those flowers!  (l-r: Teagan, McKinley, Marianne, Sis. Nesbit, Violet, Sabrina)

And Kendra's concert was great-- she did wonderfully, of course!

Did I ever explain that Kendra has gone back to playing the French horn?  She played all through middle school, then in 9th grade she decided to do color guard with the marching band and stopped doing French horn.  But she missed her instrument, so this year she's still doing color guard with marching band, but is playing with the wind ensemble.  She keeps busy, that girl!

And speaking of busy girls-- Camille wrapped up her awesome free tennis lessons!  They gave them all this swag on the last day.  Who pays for all this???

I love that confident grin.  Never change, Camille!

Shortly after all this-- on the Thursday before Thanksgiving-- I completely lost my voice.  I also had a very sore throat, so I was actually sick, not just mute.  I almost got tested for strep, but when I learned that laryngitis usually accompanies viral (not bacterial) infections, I didn't bother.  But it all slowed me down a bit and I had to miss Pie Night at the Huff's, which was a total bummer.  (It did give me a chance to finish watching the first season of Severance finally!)  I still took the kids to our neighborhood party, Foxtoberfest (which was originally scheduled to happen in October, but due to inclement weather got pushed back to November 😂). 

Ryder and Camille's friend Liam enjoy juice pouches together

I don't think this is how bouncy castles are supposed to work...?

The kids also had their piano recital, which I took videos of, but no pictures.  So I'm not going to post those here.  Sorry!  Craig was busy working on the porch railing, so he didn't come.  His parents met us there, but I didn't want to get them sick, so I sat behind everyone and wore a mask.  I come across as a real downer when I don't have a voice!

By the following Wednesday, when we had family coming to town for Thanksgiving, I could talk and was feeling better, but I was still coughing a lot and definitely not 100% healthy.  But-- Craig finished the porch!!!  All put back together and painted!  And it looks so nice now!

We both agreed it just made sense to replace all the railings, even though some of them were still kind of okay.  Craig is such a hard worker!

And then we just had to clean the rest of the house to be all ready to get cooking for Thanksgiving!!!  We did our usual thing and spent Wednesday brining the turkey and making pies (and getting pizza at Mellow Mushroom) and then of course, all day Thursday cooking.  My other tradition on Thanksgiving seems to be getting up early to start my rolls, and then doing the neighborhood 5K while the dough rises.  It's nice to get some fresh air on such a busy day!  And I was very pleased that everything we made turned out right-- doesn't it seem like there's usually one thing that doesn't quite work?  Well, not this year!  (I even managed to get a short nap in before the gravy rush at the end, so really, what more could you ask for?)

So. Much. Food!

And one that includes Craig!

We decided to take a nicer picture after the little kids had already gone to bed.  (Bentley's shirt cracks me up.)

And Craig managed to set the timer on his camera so I could be in the picture this time.  (I think I bring some much-needed green to this!)

Thanks for making the trip to see us, Lynda and Greg!!!

Next up: my house gets thoroughly decorated for Christmas and acquires a freshly minted teenager, bringing the total to a whopping three!!!  😬  (<---  And I LOVE that you can italicize emojis!!!!)