We started off the month with a Thanksgiving feast. We hosted Fran’s side of the family in the wee days of November and had a dinner fit for a king. A good time was had by most.  Party number one- check. Tip: You can fit twenty five people into a room meant for six.

We recently acquired more warehouse space in the building where we currently operate BHQ. This allowed us to consolidate some of our assets and we decided to turn our detached warehouses back over to the landlord. Since we had some of our personal effects in these warehouses we moved them into our new home. We had almost no storage space in our last house so this was super exciting for me (I like having things together). Randall and Catherine showed up with a mega trailer and  many of our friends came by to help and we made short work of the move. Thank you guys! Couldn’t have done it without you. Tip: Nothing builds character faster than hauling giant metal shelves down stairs.

Another trip to the Museum of Natural Curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat, but so far it seems no children have experienced the same fate at the museum. Tip: Shaving cream- not just for shaving.

A fun little dessert party with Erin and Doug and my parents. Eat, eat, eat. Seems like there’s a lot of that this time of year. Luckily conversations with the family are calorie free. Reading with Grandpa- also calorie free. And erasers shaped like food from Grandma- very cool and calorie free. Tip: Don’t ingest calories.

This year we decided to add an extra holiday event at work. I’ve always felt like there’s just not enough stuff going on. What better way to address that than by having a bowling night? So we rented out the VIP room over at Jack & Jill’s (Lehi) and bowled the night away. I’m pleased to report that nearly all of us had scores over thirty. Or maybe I’m embarrassed to report that. Out of the eighty attendees the highest scores of the night were in the 160’s. Not too bad. The lane my family played on had broken bumpers but we suffered though endless gutter balls with dignity and long-suffering. Tip: When you write a blog historical accuracy is subject to foggy recollection.

Moving in feels like an endless process. But we’re getting there, little by little! We liked the built ins from our last house so much that we decided to go that route again. It took about two months for them to make and install the shelves and desk but we were finally able to unpack most of our office items. That felt good. Tip: Every office should have a little girl reading in it.

The Living Planet Aquarium… again. Do these kids ever get sick of this stuff? More importantly- do the appreciate that their mom takes them to do these things? I’m out of tips.

In preparation for another dinner Fran made pies and rolls. Claire is turning into a great kitchen helper!  I wrangled out some long lost roll-making skills from my Great Harvest days. Chloe made a mess.

And here is another dinner. Thanksgiving with the Hughes family (and my wonderful grandmother who is technically a Francis). We dined, we laughed. Mike’s plate of dessert made me question the meaning of life.

Here’s a collage of us eating some more. Do we we go out and eat enough? I seriously can’t even describe how sick I am of food. Maybe this seems like a ridiculous thing to say but I have a really hard time controlling myself when there are group feasts, when we go out to eat or basically any time I see food. I would like a food break. Is that too much to ask? Give my food to someone who needs it please.

Cocoa before trimming the tree. And then the decoration ritual. Here is the only picture I have of Chloe not pulling off ornaments. She looks concerned (probably contemplating ornament trajectories). I was sick that day so I sat on the couch and complained about tangled garlands. The holidays always bring out the best in me.

Other November highlights. We put up a growth chart to keep track of the kids. If any of them hit the seven foot mark we’ll buy them ice cream. We had the first snow of the year and Claire made a snowman! He was very cute but in the sun he melted, melted. And somehow we made it to to the Lehi Legacy Center to run with the Sabins. It’s like running with the bulls except usually no one gets gored to death. November- a month of miracles.