November

Once in a while, the boys take a turn on the pottery wheel. I admire Jared's courage to let them get this messy...I still haven't let them have play dough at our house. But they both find it fun and I love how eager they are to try it. I have done it once since college and I am certainly out of practice...my pot wasn't any bigger than what the boys can make. 

On another note, we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with Jared's siblings but I don't have photos to show. Maybe one of the sisters has some to share??

These pictures are from a unique trip we took with our neighbors to their family's farm in Idaho. They invited us to come and spoiled us the whole time. It is a beautiful, quiet location with wide open space and an impressive home. Our neighbor's daughter totally entertained the boys with the rope swing, four-wheelers, and movies galore. We've always been grateful to have wonderful neighbors and our relationships with them continue to grow into friendships. 

  

Paxton enjoyed this great rope-swing. Thanks to Dad terrorizing him on another neighbors' circus-like contraption, he's gotten used to this sort of thing. He adores the attention from our neighbor and we think she is a fantastic girl.

The temps were mild the first day and Bennett played in this patch of snow. Maybe some day I'll have the enthusiasm for snow that our boys do. I had been feeling under the weather but was able to relax while everyone else did the cooking and clean up.  Thanks guys!

Our neighbor and his son entertained Jared with pheasant hunting. He had never shot a pheasant before (after a few attempts) so he was determined to get one. The second day he did get two. The neighbor's son is very good and had success every time he went out. We were impressed with his discipline and knowledge. The picture below is of a pheasant farm that we visited. The owner let Paxton try to catch one with a net but they were pretty quick and the enclosure was large enough to give them an advantage.

Bennett here was making my squash look good. This variety of butternut grew large (27+llbs for one) and plentiful. We have way too much.

To sum it all up, we have a tremendous amount of things to be thankful for. First and foremost is our family; our boys. They are precious and challenging and a joy. And then of course our parents, (we're so excited to see the missionaries soon) who all provide amazing love and examples to Paxton and Bennett. We love you all!