Christmas Tree

I had high hopes of putting up our tree before our vacation, but packing always takes more time than I expect, so we did it when we got home.

Marcel isn't a fan of putting up/decorating the tree, but he helped his mom do her tree, and as a way to start our own traditions, he was happy to help this year :)

It has ornaments on it now, but we took the picture to see if I was happy with the lights, which I don't think I am, but I won't fix them now.  One day I'll update this post with a picture of our decorated tree, which Lilli is fascinated with.  She didn't go near the tree last year, but after just 2 days she's decided she likes the ornaments and presents!

Thanksgiving

This year, we headed to Puyallup to spend Thanksgiving with Marcel's family.  I wish I could say it was an uneventful trip, but that isn't the case.

Our 8 hour drive took us 12 hours because Snoqualmie Pass was closed for avalanche prevention work.  We didn't know that is why it was closed until we were stopped on the freeway amidst a million other cars trying to get somewhere for Thanksgiving.  It is absolutely miserable to be on the freeway with your car in the parked position (yet still running just to stay warm) for 2 hours, only to get to go a few miles, before being stopped for another hour, while having to go to the bathroom more than you have ever needed to go.  Of course, pretty much the only bathroom where we were knew they were the only gas station and thus limited their bathroom to paying customers only.  You better believe those were the best Hot Tamales I've ever had :)

Luckily for us, we had a camera with fully charged batteries, so Marcel took lots of pictures trying out different features on our new camera.

 I like this picture because it actually looks like the snow is falling.  I didn't think there was that much snow, but I guess I'm not in charge of avalanche prevention, so maybe it really was a lot of snow

 Thank goodness our car has a power outlet, because I nearly drained Marcel's computer battery while playing solitaire.  We tried using the time for talking, but really ran out of things to talk about ;)

The very next day I went to Old Navy for their save additional 50% off clearance prices and when I got home we had a flat tire.  In the rain (because don't forget we were in Washington!), Marcel changed our tire.  I'd never learned how to change a tire, but I honestly think I could do it now just from watching him.  We drove with our spare tire to Sears, where we bought the tires, only to find out they had a 5 hour wait.  It was the day before Thanksgiving and they had 1 guy working, at least that is what Marcel reported to me.  We drove sort of aimlessly (well with okay directions from the Sears guy) through Puyallup until we landed upon Les Schwab.  Our tire was fixed for a fee all while we enjoyed lunch at McDonald's.

After that, our trip went well.  We enjoyed delicious food, even though I don't care much for Thanksgiving or its food, besides my chocolate pudding pie, played plenty of games with Snoh and even more solitaire.  Something we didn't do was take a single picture!

I was bound and determined not to go home via that evil pass again even if the weather report was good, because we didn't think we'd run into weather on the way there.  That means going through Portland and once I checked with Amy & Kelly about having Saturday morning free to meet up, there was no way my mind was being changed; we were going through Portland.

We had a delicious breakfast with Amy & Kelly and even got to see where Amy lives.  It was so nice to be able to spend just an hour or so together and catch up.  It is wonderful to remember that even though we may not talk to each other often enough, when we do it is like no time has passed and we're just as close as we ever were.  That is something I am thankful for :)

Halloween

My Halloween celebrations started a few weeks ago with a trip to the pumpkin patch with Lilli and our church's Mommy & Me group (yes, they understand Lilli isn't actually my child!).  We got there early and she kept saying "Wanna go pumpkin patch."  And every day after when we talked about Halloween it was all about "pumpkin patch"

waiting for our friends

a little boy we went with did this and then Lilli wanted a turn, which was fine except she doesn't like getting her picture taken anymore.  She is WAY more interested in seeing the picture after it has been taken

No pictures of the actual pumpkin patch, because the terrain was so bumpy for Lilli's little legs, but it still wore her out

Lilli didn't want to get a pumpkin because they were so dirty, so I just chose one for her and promised her we'd give it a bath when we got home...

Then Marcel and I redeemed our LivingSocial voucher and visited Linder Farms.  Before we went to the farm, we went to our favorite place to eat in Oregon, that finally came to Idaho: Chipotle!!  It was very bit as delicious as I remember it but I'm very grateful that it is in Boise so it isn't so easy for us to go there :)  I think going to Linder Farms will be our October tradition as long as we're in Idaho.  We had a great time getting lost in the maze but still finding all the checkpoints.  We also visited the petting zoo. 

Trying to replicate the photo from last year...

but I like the ghostly lightig of this one better :)

Baby zebra

and the highlight of the visit: the baby kangaroo.

However, Marcel has always asked, mostly serious, if he could have a kangaroo.  Naturally, he asked the trainer all sorts of questions and learned we'd only have to travel to right outside of Las Vegas to get one and that if they are raised around people, they are actually very people friendly.  Now Marcel is convinced there is no reason for us not to have one :)

We also carved pumpkins but we took pictures with my new camera and I have yet to download the software I need to put the pictures onto the computer.