"Well, THAT was an easy quest!"

We recently returned from our vacation in North Carolina.  Harrison was pretty bummed last night.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, "It's just . . . sometimes we go on vacation and we have lots of fun and then we come home and act like we never even went on vacation."  I hear ya, man.

We had a great time at Jeff's parent's house.  Chloe helped Grandma in her quest to remove all of the acorns from her yard.

When she finished the job, she came in and said, "Well, THAT was an easy quest!"

Miles found plenty of things to amuse himself.

After the acorn quest, I took the kids on a tour of my life.  My dad likes to take people on a tour of his life in Pocatello, ID.  It goes something like this: "This is the parking lot that used to be the hospital where I was born. . .  This is the parking lot that used to be my elementary school. . . . This is the parking lot that used to be, bla bla bla . . ."  I figured I'd better get pictures of the important places of my childhood before they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.  Everything looked very different.  The new owners of my parent's old house painted the front door a bright, lime green.  Who the %&$*#@! does that?  The tour ended with the bakery where I had my first job.  It was delicious.

Monday night the kids put on a puppet show with Grandma.  They told the story of Jesus' birth.  This is Mary, Joseph, and their donkey.  My favorite part was when Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus and Patti pulled a smaller puppet out of the Mary puppet.  Harrison's idea.

The weather was incredible all week.  The colored leaves were still on the trees and it was cool and sunny.  Pie tastes better when it feels like Fall.  Our Pie Day was very successful, you'll be glad to know.

On Thanksgiving Day, Jeff and his brother Brian headed to the church Turkey Bowl and the kids and I came to watch for a while.  Harrison and Miles had fun playing with the big boys.

Busted!  I knew they liked each other!

Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic!  I ate my weight in mashed potatoes and gravy.  Just as we sat down to eat, the Plautz family stopped by so Pops could release their son as a missionary.  Jeff offered his seat to Doug Plautz.  Big mistake.  Doug sat down and ate Jeff's whole plate of food.  Also, he held that pose for five straight pictures.  Classic Doug!

Thanks for everything, Pops and Patti!