The Season of Many Santas...

Brinlie telling Santa she wants a scooter at LHS Christmas party.

Grayson did great for his first visit on Santa's lap!

They very next night they saw Santa again at the LB Christmas party.

Brin, Grayson, Santa and his helpers at the LHS Christmas party.

Cousins with Santa at the mall in UT.

This year the kids got the opportunity to see Santa, not one but THREE seperate times! Each time was a new adventure for both Brin and Grayson. The first Santa encounter was at the LHS family Christmas party. Santa and his elves knew that Grayson had an early bedtime and had them sit on his lap first. You should've seen Brinlie's face when they called her name as the first kid to sit on Santa's lap! It was hilarious. I thought for sure that I'd have to drag her up there and plop her on his lap. Boy was I wrong! Little Miss Independent just looked at me for approval, and marched straight up there! She was especially excited to open her gift of a book with Disney Bedtime Stories. (And I was surprised that she was one of a small handful of kids who got a book as a gift! Am I just old fashioned or what?!)

The very next night we went to Brinlie and Grayson's preschool family Christmas party where Santa made yet another appearance. Brinlie was almost stalking the poor Santa and wanted to make sure that he remembered that she wanted a Scooter and Barbie for Christmas!

The last Santa visit came when we went to UT for an early Christmas with all of the family. All of the cousins went to the mall to get a picture on Santa's lap. Jade was a good sport and agreed to get her picture taken too!

Thanksgiving 2010

Grayson admiring the Thanksgiving table.

Brin and Kate had their own little table complete with real plates and silverware!

Mommy and Grayson getting ready to eat!!

Brinlie standing by our "Thankful tree" where we all wrote our blessings on the leaves and then taped them to the tree.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends and neighbors, the McCallister family. Mommy McC and I were very busy baking and cooking all day to make a successful, delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Earlier that day I also baked a breakfast casserole and planned out my Black Friday shopping route. I was thrilled to have Mommy McC to join me this year! We decided to brave the weather and stand in line at ToyRUs at 10pm. The line was enormous! We stood in line for over an hour and hardly moved. We decided to ditch this store and go home to get 4 hours of sleep before standing in the freezing cold at Target. What item were we willing to stand in line for? A flat screen TV for Daddy McC. We had a very successful shopping day and were exhausted the rest of the day! I wonder when Brin will ask to join us?

Utah vs. AFA 2010

Brin and Mommy showing their Utah spirit!

Grandma and Grandpa Nosker with grandkids.

Nosker family Utah fans!

Brin and Kate coloring at the tailgate.

Every fall we look forward to tailgating with our friends, the McCallister family for the AFA football games. We make sure not to miss the Utah vs. AFA games, if possible. Luckily we have some great connections who help us to get tickets to this game. This year Grandma and Grandpa Nosker got to join in the fun! Utah just barely beat the Falcons, but a win is a win!

Halloween

Brin and Kate attend yet another LHS Halloween Safe Day.

Even Grandma and Grandpa Nosker came along for some fun.

The Nosker family at LHS.

Halloween is probably one of my favorite holidays. I love seeing all of the little kids dressed up and of course, CANDY! This year we invited some friends to join us for the LHS Safe Day of trick-or-treating. The Donahoe family and McCallisters all joined us for some safe candy, fun carnival games and fun.

Grandma and Grandpa Nosker came over that weekend for a visit and we ran them all around town. That weekend we went to "Boo at the Zoo" on Friday night, LHS Safe Day on Saturday, and then off to the Utah vs. AFA football game later that afternoon! Whew! It was one busy weekend full of festivities. They traveled home on Sunday and Brinlie and Mommy went out trick-or-treating while Daddy put Grayson to bed.

Boo at the Zoo

Getting ready to start "trick-or-treating" at Boo at the Zoo!

Daddy and Grayson with Star Wars characters.

Grandpa, Daddy and Grayson with the 501st Legion members.

The grumpiest fairy at the zoo!

I'm sure you can only imagine the happiness that Daddy Nosker felt when we realized the 501st Legion was at this year's Boo at the Zoo! I think he was on cloud nine and didn't mind that the kids were a little grumpy (which made the mommy a little grumpy too!) The funniest part was when we all went in the giraffe house to see/feed the giraffes. Brin desperately wanted to feed the baby giraffe, but a bigger giraffe had other ideas. He went over our heads and then swooped in for the cracker, scaring us in the process! I bet we were hilarious to watch because we were so focused on the baby giraffe that the older giraffe completely took us by surprise! It was total chaos in that giraffe house and we quickly fed them our crackers and proceeded on our way. Luckily it wasn't too cold that night. You just never know how the Colorado Halloween weather is going to be!

October Family Fun!

Grayson posing with the pumpkin.

My two kids in their skeleton pjs and pumpkin.

Proud Grandma with Brin and Grayson.

We are so lucky to have family that's willing to fly over for a weekend and watch the kids while we get away for our anniversary. Can you believe it's been 7 years??!! This year we decided to stay at the Bed and Breakfast where we got engaged and go out for a really nice dinner. Grandma W. flew over and watched the kids overnight. While she was here we went to a Fall Festival at a local school and had lots of fun. We also got to bring home a great big pumpkin to carve. Grandma and Brinlie had lots of fun baking muffins and taking care of Grayson while Mommy and Daddy were across town for the night.

Fall 2010

Here's one of Brinlie's best "smiles" for the camera!

This one's not too bad, if only someone was there to get Grayson's attention

This one melts my mommy heart! Scott teaches Brinlie how to skip rocks across the pond.

Every fall we enjoy traveling up to Mueller State Park to see the changing leaves and of course take some family photos. This was Grayson's first trip and he really seemed to like the atmosphere and being outdoors. They have a short little hike around a pond with informational centers for the kids. Brinlie liked lifting the flaps and learning all about the pond life. This trip the leaves where we normally take our family photos were all gone, so we found a new favorite spot. This one is down by a pond with great rocks nearby. We ate our picnic and proceeded to attempt a family photo with only a tripod in hand. The wind was blowing like crazy and the kids were just not cooperating. Brinlie was being a typical 3 year old and giving her cheesiest smile for the camera. Seriously, what does it take to get two kids and two adults to all smile and look at the camera at the same time? A miracle, I guess. That or a professional photographer to take your picture instead of a tripod and self-timer!