Where did November go?

I can't believe how fast November has flown by. 

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, we were too busy having fun that I forgot to take any pictures. My cousin Leslie and her fun family came up to celebrate with us. They came up Thanksgiving Eve and spent two nights with us. The boys loved, loved, loved having so many kids to play with. We played games, ate tons, and spent a lot of our time outside playing in the street. In the end we were all sad to see our cousins go. We loved having such fun company!

My first time cooking Thanksgiving was a success! We feed 16 people in all. I can't say I pulled Thanksgiving off as flawlessly as my mom does, but I can say that there were no food disasters. I can't believe how much work goes into making Thanksgiving dinner, mom makes it look so easy. Thank heavens I had Nate and Leslie to help pull it off.

The day after Thanksgiving our Christmas tree went up. The kids were thrilled. I love watching the magic of Christmas through my kids eyes. I look forward to the next month of creating new Christmas traditions with our boys.

Christmas 2012 at the Franci casa.

My little Halloweenies

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and is even more fun now that I have kids. I love watching them decide on their Halloween costumes, seeing their anticipation grow as the BIG day approaches, and seeing them all dressed up.

 Ash as a zombie.

 Coach as a vampire.

 Little B as a sweet lion.

 I love the back side of the lion costume.

 This is what the boys looked like when they showed up on a porch. For all of those family members who missed out on my boys trick or treating this year.

Little B was so cute this year as he was totally into trick or treating. He knew if he showed up on someone's porch and say twick or tweat he would get a sweet reward. He was always kind enough to say tank tou after receiving his prize. Our plan was to take Little B to a few streets in the neighborhood and then he would stay home to hand out candy with me. When we got home to do the switch off he was upset and knew he was being cheated. My little man gave it his all and almost made it the whole evening of trick or treating, but in the end tiredness won out.

Saying Goodbye

We lost our dear sweet Cookie Grandma (Nate's Grandma) at the end of September. Cookie grandma loved her grand kids and great grand kiddies so much. We always loved to visit as she always had cookies and the best hugs for us. We are going to miss you dear sweet Cookie Grandma and are glad that we will be able to spend the eternities with you.

We headed out to Utah for the funeral. It was a beautiful funeral full of sweet stories and lots of love. Even though the circumstances were sad we were glad to be home in Utah with so many loved ones.

 Nate, his cousins, and grandpa.

 The cousins decided to recreate a family portrait that cookie grandma loved. Silly cousins.

 Three generations of Francis boys. Nate, his brothers, his dad, and grandpa.

 Four Generations of Francis boys. Our boys, Nate, his dad, and grandpa. So far Nate and I are the only ones carrying on the Francis name. Lol! I think we are doing an excellent job!

While in Utah we had to check out the beautiful fall colors with a hike.

 I love Utah in the fall!

 We also made a trip out to Gardner Village to check out the witches. So fun!

Best buddies! I love that these two get along so well.