18 Days Left 'Til Christmas - Are you Ready??

Can You Believe It??

Can you believe that we got snow in Houston and that it stuck for a few hours? We could hardly believe it so of course we had to snap some pictures. Asher seemed to love it!!

Thanksgiving Recap

We had such a great time in Arizona this year. Asher was really great on the plane ride and I was so glad that he had is own seat even if he only slept in his car seat for 20 minutes at landing. When we arrived Asher finally got to meet the rest of his uncles, great grandma Grace, and lots of extended family. The time seemed to fly by with almost every day planned with something to do. One of Asher's favorite things to do was play in the car in Grandma's backyard. I think Santa may have seen how much fun he had in it! We enjoyed the weather playing outside a lot, having smores,playing tennis and going to the zoo. At the zoo Asher had his first ride on the carousel. He didn't seem to really like it - he had a death grip on my neck the whole time! Once Ryan came to town the McKinnon Thanksgiving festivities began. We had a wonderful dinner at Holly's Wednesday night and filled up on Korean beef and caramel brownies. Thanksgiving morning we started a new tradition and ran the Turkey Waddle. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed a donut breakfast afterwards. Who knew Dunkin Donuts would be so packed on Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Tana's and of course everything was fabulous including the weather. Ryan and I headed to the mall at midnight and got a few things (of course I had to make a deal to stop at the bike shop on the way home from the airport to get him to go with me!). Friday we were able to take a four generation extended family picture and have dinner at the park. Saturday is the annual Christmas Party and once again my mom didn't disappoint. The mexican food was delicious, the kids loved the pinata (it was Asher's first time to join in the fun), and the adults loved the game. It was nice to have one more day to spend with the family on Sunday and go to the temple lights. The Mesa temple always looks good, but it was even better this year. I can't wait until next year!!!

update

here is what i have done this week:

carpets - clean
Asher's fan - works
oven - clean
granite - sealed
chicken coops - halfway done
garage - spot is not clean but i got a new trash can
car - fixed the a/c and lumbar
lights - changed out
bills - paid
bike rides - zero
mario bro's wii - up to level 4 with brandon & aaron
free dinners - 3
HEB jalapeno cheese dogs - 4

highlight of the week (besides doing webcam with Brianna & Asher) - going to Bartlett's house on thursday night to hang out with the bike mechanics. mike has 8 or 10 bikes so we rode around the neighborhood at about 9pm and did laps around the cul-de-sac. it's almost as fun as a merry-go-round. i felt like i was in high school again.

it has been a very busy week, i haven't been bored or lonely. thanks to everyone who invited me over. can't wait to see Brianna & Asher on Wednesday.

bachelorhood & tooth

Thisis Ryan filling in for Brianna while she is out. Brianna and Asher left for Arizona last Thursday, so I will be a bachelor until Thanksgiving. Actually I am a bachelor with a married guy's to do list. At least the list will keep me busy, it's not as boring being alone when I have a months worth of work to do in 2 weeks. Asher got his first tooth in the day they left. I have talked to him a couple of times on webcam, not sure if he knows it is me. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the new tooth.

Today was nice and relaxing, just what i need to prepare for my week of work and chores. here is my plan for completing all the chores:

Monday - clean the carpets
Tuesday - no chores since I have scouts and basketball
Wednesday - hopefully someone will invite me over for dinner so I don't have to do any chores
Thursday - take the car to the dealer for a couple minor fixes and put my single speed bike together (dad's old pink bike)
Friday - go on a bike ride, fix Asher's fan, seal the granite, clean the nasty spot in the garage
Saturday - another bike ride, attempt to do something with the chicken coops

I'll report back in a week with updates.

Dear Jack

Dear Jack,

My dad saw your awesome new toy so look what I got from Target with my grandparents halloween gift card:

Yes, I think we are destined to have very similar childhoods regarding sports! I haven't quite figured out shooting the ball, but I love to hang on the net and eat the balls!! We definitely need a playdate one of these days when we aren't in opposite states. And thanks Grandma and Grandpa Reed!!

Trick or Treat!

We had a great Halloween this year. We spent the night with some of Ryan's family and Asher had lots of fun with his Reed cousins. We had our traditional dinner in a pumpkin and went to a few of the Peterson's neighbors trick or treating. Asher was the cutest little monkey and seemed to love eating the trick or treating bucket I made him that day - good thing since he only got 3 pieces of candy which we ate! Thanks for sharing the night with us everyone!