November - Thanksgiving

November has been crazy in weather...some days it was in the 70s, and then a week it was in the 40s. We can't seem to get used to anything around here.

traveling is always hard on these two.

Ethan and Dominic had little class parties for Thanksgiving day, so the only thing I donated was food....I was not about to help set up. I feel so busy these days. I felt bad, but there was a lot of moms willing to do it, so I stepped down. I will have to gear up for December, those...I do have to actually help with. I didn't get any pics of Dom's party because parents were not invited, it was only between all Kinder classes (125 kids!), but he said he had fun.

The only big thing we did this month, was travel for the holiday  to visit Spencer's older sister. It was only about a 9hr drive (less since Spencer drives haha) and we had heard that several other siblings were doing the same thing. He thought it was a great opportunity to visit family. Spencer really does try to visit as many siblings as possible during the year, but because everyone is so spread out, it's quite challenging....so this made it so much easier for him.

Oh geez...Kansas

he finally crashed 5 hours in 

He crashed 6 hours in

The drive there was ok. The kids did ok. My children don't sit, so I put the middle seat on the van down and put the car seats in the very back, so they had all the space to themselves. Oddly enough, nobody took naps, which drove me nuts. They each have an Ipad and helped my sanity. They sometime watched movies, or played games. We ate too much fast food and they loved having soda.

Stopped for food....the kids totally took advantage of it.
The ony thing they requested was fries and soda. 

I was trying to explain to them that the thing in the corner
was an old phone...they didn't get it haha. 

Once we arrived, we were the last to arrive, it was a full on party and craziness. Most of the cousins are around the same age. So it was interesting to see what they were like together..in a pack haha. Dominic got close to Evan...mainly because he had so many cool lego sets. Ethan got close to all the puppies that were around. He loved saying "oh he's so cute" "he's so darling". He's my animal whisperer- loves nature and animals. He's the one to run barefoot and talk to the birds in the backyard. But he was also fascinated by his baby cousin J who is close to 18 months. He kept following him around.

Since my kids get cabin fever, family decided to take us out to visit the outskirts of Colorado. it took us about half an hour to get there, and the elevation made my ears hurt. But at least my kids were out of the house.

Thanksgiving Day

Food

Food

and more food. 

Family took us on a ride to Red Rocks Amphitheater, which is definitely something to climb haha. I don't know if anyone else felt it, but I felt like my lungs had minimal capacity. Then, I had to go to the bathroom and was running around trying to find one...which meant, I walked even more. But once we got in the car, I was fine. I think it was just the elevation...but again, it was only during actual walking....so I wasn't worried. Colorado is a lot more brown that I thought it would be. For some reason, I was expecting snow....or a forest of some sort. I guess you have to live super close to the mountains for that. It was still pretty though, and the weather was really good for exploring. Even the kids were able to walk and climb.

At one point, we were going up to the theater, and I told Dom..."look, we can do lunges while we climb up" and he just looked at me and said "yeah....lunch...I could go for some lunch" haha. By this point, it was already noon, so you could tell where his mind was at.

went off to explore the trails

saw the temple from the distance. 

Thanksgiving itself was fun. We all contributed and brought and made our favorite dishes, and had extra company and had a blast and ate too much food. In case you see pictures, no... I didn't eat the whole turkey...we're happy to announce that we're expecting our third little boy in late February. I'll post more details in another post.

we came across a cute little town in the mountains

how darling is this?!? they had their own post office.
We got lost and stopped there for directions.

Finally reached the trail and saw some water....and it was
freezing.

Red Rocks Amphitheater. 

My kids love climbing, so this was a blast

it's hard to see, but the way to get up there is so steep.....
My hammies and bum were feeling it. 

going down wasn't nearly as bad. And luckily, I didn't hurt
the next day. 

December brings a lot of good times for us...we have two birthdays, two class parties (one that I'm in charge of), a house birthday party (combined...I'm not that crazy), Christmas celebrations, a ward party, and a surprise that I will share on the next post....yes, it's another one....2018 is definitely going to be an adventure for these Coffeys!