Eli was pretty excited to see Santa this year.
Last year was…
This year he was…so excited!
Saying good bye to Santa.
He repeated over and over what he asked Santa for Christmas. A ride on his sleigh, A nerf gun, excavator, and backhoe. I think Santa can deliver one of those 🙂
Seeing the lights at Temple square is always a family tradition.
This year we took the train downtown.
No snow yet for this year, but it was raining.
We were really wet.
Floating candles.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I ran the Thankful 13 1/2 marathon this morning.
What does a 4 year old do while waiting?
Finished 2:20. 5 minutes faster than Las Vegas last week. I’m pleased with this time, because I wasn’t in a rush, but kept my pace throughout the full race! No walking. I also finished with 2:20 while running a couple miles up hills! A few hills in the beginning and then 2 hills at the end! I ran my pace up EVERY hill. I took it easy at the end, because I didn’t want Vegas to happen all over again. Running with my Gatorade bottle helped with that issue.
I’m planning on running this marathon again next year. Note: MUST bring my Gatorade bottle again. This race had poor aid stations. I wouldn’t have made it if I relied on hydration stops.
Dinner, well more like a late lunch. 2:00pm dinner. No need for pictures of our dinner. We all ate the same thing 🙂
We played games after. Eli picked this one. Rampage. He loves the dinosaurs.
Went to Paul’s parents house for dessert. But first it is gingerbread house decorating time.
My job was to hold the end of the bag closed so the icing didn’t come out.
Eli did a fantastic job!
We had a wonderful time with family.
Eli stepped? I guess he stepped… Not sure how he got in those!
Those black tubes are what fast food cups slide into. So when you take a cup out, a spring in the bottom pushes up the cups. I don’t know how else to describe them, but those are the black tubes.
We really don’t know how he got into them. How did he get one leg in and then the other? How did he get in and stay standing?? When Paul turned around Eli was already in them.
We finally made it to the train museum.
Switch board.
What did the passengers do back in the day without watches? When did they know when the trains came? Good question. The passengers only knew the train was going to be there either in the morning, noon, or evening. So they would just come to the platform around these times and wait.
Time zones didn’t matter either. Because it took days to travel from state to state.
Learning how to skip 🙂
After the trains, we went to one of my favorite restaurants.
They are known for their homemade pita’s. I always get a sandwich on pita bread. Everything here is excellent. Including dessert!
Need a close up!
On the way home we passed Devil’s slide.
What is Devil’s slide? “Devil’s Slide is an unusual geological formation. The slide consists of two parallel limestone strata that have been tilted to lie vertical, protruding 40 feet out of the mountainside. Intervening layers have eroded more quickly, forming a channel some 25 fee wide running hundreds of feet down the mountain.”
Another fun day!
When you pick up leaves, it’s officially fall!
I love to see that smile.
I am so grateful Eli came to our family! I’m so blessed to hold the coveted, exhausting, glorious position of being a mother.
We didn’t know if Eli was going to dress up or go trick or treating due to his surgery yesterday. We gave him some Tylenol and he was ready to go.
Mormor came to his school dressed as a witch. Everyone loved her glasses. They had skulls on them that moved. They were pretty fun.
Eli didn’t go to school today, we only came for the Halloween parade. Which we missed.
Wait, what? Another batman?
Mormor and morfar 🙂
Eli wanted me to be a butterfly and Paul a lion. I found fairly wings at the dollar store for me and a pirate hat for Paul. Sorry, no lion outfits for $1.00.
For some reason we don’t have any pictures of Eli Trick or Treating. The only picture we have of the night is going to Paul’s parents house. I document EVERYTHING and take hundred pictures. I guess this night is an exception.
Paul and I enjoyed every minute of Eli’s first trick or treating. Going to each was so much fun! We took the wagon so he could ride to the door step and not have to walk very far. After a couple of houses doing this, he didn’t want anything to do with the wagon. He started running to houses with groups of other kids. After 2.5 hours we had to call it a night.
Eli went into surgery today to fix his hernia. Primary Children’s hospital is seriously the best hospital.
All the doctors and nurses were the best!
Waiting for him to go in the was worst. Just the waiting and anticipation. We were also SO hungry. To keep Eli occupied they had oodles of toys to play with and cars to ride in.
His surgery was pushed back. So we kept walking to keep him busy.
And walking!
And then his surgery was pushed back again. He was supposed to go in at 10:30 am. It’s now 1:30pm. Eli took the waiting very well, even without food!
Walking and walking! Good thing I wore the most comfortable shoes!
Then it was time. They picked him up in a wagon and off they went.
His surgery was an easy fix and we weren’t expecting any complications. That was the only thing keeping us calm.
45 minutes later we were able to see him.
His surgery went well without any issues like we hoping and expecting.
They asked him if he wanted a Popsicle. And of Course he wanted the red one. This boy was starving! He ate 4 Popsicles.
This was his ride out of the hospital.
Onto the couch. He was only down for about a half hour and he was up running around. Literally running around. I would love to have that kind of resilience after my surgeries!
We had a fun Saturday watching the Bison Roundup at Antelope Island.
Volunteers ( that pay to round up the bison 🙂 ) Come with their horses. They ride throughout the island and round up the bison.
They round up all bison except for the bulls. They are too strong and they break the holding pens.
They round up the bison to a large pen. They let a few come down at a time.
Waiting for the bison to come down.
They used a large front loader to push the bison down.
The veterinarian tags the bison.
They were so loud in the shoot.
holding the bison so the veterinarian can check him out. Then they release the bison and off they go back to to roam the island.
It was a long fun day. Eli was getting tired.
But not tired enough to play in the sand. Lots of sand.
We ended the day at the Burger Bar. Paul likes their burgers because they have specialty meats like Elk burger, buffalo burger, ostrich burger, alligator burger, and wild boar burger. The burger of the day was alligator. Paul didn’t see it until after we ordered. Too bad, I would have tried a bite of that.
After dropping Eli off at school I went for a run.
Today is my short run. Almost ready for my 1/2 marathon.
Came home and did a little decorating for fall.
Sat down an did a little work.
Picked up Eli and Aaron to go Christmas shopping. Yes, Christmas shopping. I need to get this done by the end of the month so I can enjoy the remaining of the year. The last two months seem to fly by.
Eli is still into cars and trucks. The bigger the better!
He also loves to sing. he is the loudest singer in the primary! One day he may get something like this for Christmas. All of Sam’s club could hear him sing. He had the best time!