Thanksgiving 2009

I think it's pretty safe to say that when Thanksgiving is held at our house, it makes it near impossible for me to even think about taking photos. Case in point ... the measly six photos I took this past Thursday. What the heck? I'm bummed to say the least. Not a single photo of Shawn, Roy, Zack or me. Buzz was there, too. He is pictured, just barely, in the first two photos below. Note to self: never have Thanksgiving again. Haha. I'm just kidding.

We had a wonderful day with family and friends. Thank goodness for Shawn, who prepared both turkeys (one in the roaster and one on the BBQ). He assigned carving the birds to Buzz, so I didn't have to worry about turkey at all! Thank goodness for Mom and Tiffany! Oh my goodness. First off, they helped big-time with bringing goodies along. Mom brought 4 pies and Tiffany brought veggies, rolls, sparkling cider, salad and a veggi tray. So much food! Plus, these two ladies are epic in the kitchen. They helped me through the gravy and mashed potatoes big time. And then Mom being the rock star that she is proceeded to hand-wash every single dish afterwards. Crazy lady, I tell you. I kept telling her there was room in the dishwasher, but she just wasn't listening! Haha.

We also had the usual staples: stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry/whip cream dish, mashed potatoes, gravy. It all turned out great. We are so thankful to have had everyone here with us.

Pleased. And a little bit proud.

I started Weight Watchers last Wednesday, 11/18/2009. I've been following the plan this past week, and I have to say it wasn't too bad. Really not difficult at all. I almost never felt hungry. Such a good thing. I didn't weigh myself all week, and I went in today for my 2nd meeting and weigh-in. And guess what? I lost some weight. Five pounds to be exact. Dang. I'm happy about that, and feel like I can definitely move forward with this plan. Even with Thanksgiving tomorrow, and all the upcoming holiday goodness. I really feel like I'll be just fine. I will definitely keep you posted. :)

BOTB - Nervewracking and Amazing.

What an incredible three days! The Battle of the Band started on Thursday night with 10 bands. It continued Friday with another 10 bands, and then finally on Staurday CV got to play along with 9 other bands. So, a total of 30 bands competed. After all was said and done, we were nervous, and a little doubtful. Not because we don't have faith in these boys, but because there were ALOT of bands to contend with. There was definitely some talented bands and it made us nervous. But in the end, the boys prevailed and took home the grand prize of $2,500! Wow. Crazy, good stuff. The pictures that follow are from the night, in no organized order (which, yes ... will drive me crazy, but it's gonna have to do).
Our good friend Dave LaPlante and his daughter Michelle (middle girl) came out to support the boys, along with 4 of her friends and one of their dads. Yes, they were rockin' one of the new CV t-shirt designs.

Will and several of the guy's friends hanging out during the show.

The crowd as the boys took the stage.

This was actually taken after they had won.

Nice big group shot, with a few of their friends and fans.

What $2500 in very small bills looks like. Haha.

Whole group shot. They were super happy! Haha.

Before the announcement. Making us all wait.

Hugging and thanking the judges.

Kale and his BFF, Scarlett.

More of the crowd. Pretty busy night.

A final shot of the crowd.

Happy Anniversary!

To these two special people. Nathan and Jodie. We hope you have a spectacular anniversary! Any big plans??

We love you,
Shawn, Kristen, Austen, Kale and Bailey

Halloween Night.

All three kids were doing something different this year. Austen was at a CV show in Marysville, Kale was out strolling the streets of our neighborhood (and nearby neighborhoods) with his friends, and Bailey went to Lauren's to trick-or-treat over there and then spend the night.

This was Miss Bailey before I took her over to Lauren's. I love her hair! We curled it for Halloween. We had hoped to curl it for her party, but ran out of time. This was taken in our courtyard. Shawn and Kale had done up a little spookiness. They put up black plastic to darken the whole area, and then created a torn "door" that people had to walk through. They placed our creepy guy on a box (he's a little too short to be all that scary), and then had the huge light up pumpkins on each side. Lots of black lights, a single strobe light, the fog machine, and a "ghost" that flew back and forth. Just the perfect amount of scariness. Everyone who came through, kids and parents alike, really liked it.

This is just an adorable picture to me. I love her pretty face, her curly hair, the touch of make-up and the fog adds a nice touch.

This is my Halloween wreath. I copied the idea from Darcy and Alexa (thanks, guys!) It needs something. But this is how I put it up and figured maybe next year I'll add something to it.

Bailey's Halloween Bash ... October 30th.

Bailey's party was a great success. All the girls got along great and seemed to have a fun time.
Bailey had Lauren arrive a few minutes early. I guess that's one of the perks of being the BFF. :)

I tried using my 50mm lens inside (when I could). I really, really dislike using the flash, so most (maybe all??) of the photos were taken without a flash.

Here's the whole group: Bailey is a pirate, Maddie is a 50's Sock Hop girl, Lauren is Raggedy Ann, Alyssa is a Dark Angel, Cami is a Teen Pebbles, and Ridge is Tinkerbell.

Eating dinner: Spaghetti and Eyeballs.

Bailey had lots of games, activities and crafts planned. Here they are decorating fake pumpkins.

They also played hide and seek, some relay games, decorated cupcakes, played twister and watched movies. I was up super late (waiting for Austen to get home from a show in Elk Grove). I finally went to bed at about 12:15am. I was sooooo tired! The girls went home the next day between 9am and 10:30am (a few had soccer). I think Bailey was very happy with how everything went.

Carving Pumpkins ... last weekend.

Bailey had Lauren over last weekend to carve pumpkins and spend the night. They decided to work on the little pumpkins that we had picked out from the pumpkin patch.

This is Bailey's cute pumpkin. It kind of reminds me of Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Here are both of the girl's pumpkins. Pretty darn cute.