Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year.  The kids and I had the week off from school which was much needed, and Wes decided to take the week off as well, so we had a little mini vacation at home!  At the start of the week was our Black Hawk trip and the Broncos game, so on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we tried to do a few fun things with the kids.  We went to the theatre to see Wreck It Ralph.  We went swimming at Lone Tree, and went to Jump Street with all the uncles, aunts, and cousins.  It was great fun!

We offered to host the Thanksgiving celebration again this year.  We enjoy having everyone over, and after looking at last year's pics in our old kitchen, we were excited to take some new ones with a prettier back drop.

Everyone came over around noon (before naps) so we could take a family pic for my parents' Christmas card.  Given the fact that there are 18 people in the picture, half of whom are under age 8, and we took it on a timer, I think it turned out pretty good!

A silly shot...

And one in honor of Uncle Bradley and his Movember Moustache...

Grandma Tammy provided some amazing appetizers, which we ate almost all of before dinner.

And because everyone came early, we had to do a little cooking.  Wes made some sweet potatoes, Mark is making homemade mac and cheese!

All that work requires some beer, relaxation, and football.

Mom and dad cooked the turkey at their house (thank goodness!) and brought it up to carve.  Don't they look great!

Sittin down for the meal.  We had everyone I mentioned in the picture above, plus Sue, Dave, Grandma Inge, and Grandma Tammy, 20 total!

Dig in!

After our delicious meal, we got to play Aunt Sue's traditional turkey game.  This is one of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions.  Roll the dice, move your turkey, win prizes!

And this little turkey shared his 3rd birthday with Thanksgiving.  Happy Birthday Heath!

And no holiday is complete without some Star Wars.

Arie didn't eat too much Thanksgiving dinner, he just chilled and watched all the craziness.  But, he's pretty used to it by now :)

Cheers to Broncos & Volleyball!

As if watching Brady play hoops and spending a night away in Black Hawk wasn't awesome enough, about 15 minutes after I got home, I jumped right back into the car to attend my first ever Broncos game!  Way back in August when the volleyball season started, the sophomore coach Molly asked if all of the coaches would want to go to a game together at the end of the season.  She and her husband have season tickets, so we put November 18 on the calendar.

Molly, Jordan, and I drove down and parked at the Pepsi Center.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we had a little mini tailgate party while we waited for Callie.

Molly and Jordan.

When Callie arrived, we snapped a quick pic and headed over to the stadium.

As I said before, I have never been to a Broncos game.  It was so much fun.  All the hype, music, food, drinks, crazy fans, and of course, Payton Manning made it an absolute blast!

We had a lady take our pic.  Molly had he eyes closed in this one...

And Jordan thought she was Daniel LaRuso in this one!

Sky divers carried in the flag.

And fans are selected each week to carry the Broncos mascot and USA flag.  Molly gets to do it next week!

And kickoff time...

The game was great.  The Broncos beat the Chargers so that was good.  I also have Demaryius Thomas on my Fantasy Football team and he scored a touchdown so that was good.  And, I got to hang out with good friends, relax, and enjoy an amazing day.  Thanks Molly for such a great end of season gift!

A Night Out

Going back to teaching full time, coaching volleyball, and trying to stay on top of all of the home stuff (you know, things like parenting), made for an extremely busy and stressful fall.  The extra moola was nice, but I didn't sleep very much or do any of my three roles exceptionally well.  I definitely won't do all three again.  

So, to celebrate the end of volleyball and our friend Trish's birthday, Wes and I headed up to Black Hawk for the evening.  We booked a room at Ameristar which is a beautiful hotel.  Wes and I got there mid afternoon, checked in, and watched the Notre Dame game.  The best part?  I did not have any of my children saying mom mom mom mom :).  I know I am so blessed to have three kiddos saying mom mom mom mom, but an afternoon off was outstanding.

We met Nate and Trish as soon as they arrived.  While they checked in, we munched on free cookies and free wine.  I was a little excited about these cookies...I'm pretty sure Nate and Trish thought I was crazy.  But here they are in all of their crunchy but squishy free glory!

After a quick hotel tour, we headed to dinner.  We had a lovely meal and some great conversation.  At this point in the evening, I only took pics of the food.  Apparently, I was really hungry!

After dinner we headed out for some gambling and pics of people.

Trish and I.

Ameristar is expensive for gambling, so we walked down to a few other hotels for some 5$ roulette and craps.

Trish and I both tried to take a picture of the hotel from a distance.  It's so pretty at night when it's all lit up.  This was the best I could do...

 

You aren't really allowed to take pics near the gambling tables, so here are Wes and Nate by some slot machines.  They love to pose for pictures!

Because it was Saturday night, every casino had a live band.  This one was my absolute favorite.  What's better than an older women singing Lady Gaga next to a man playing the sax?  They reminded me so much of a SNL skit, I had to snap a pic.

We gambled off and on, but mainly we watched football!  It was a night to remember with both Kansas State and Oregon losing.  With 1 and 2 out of the way, our Irish moved right up to 1, wahoo!

Nate and Trish were definitely luckier than Wes and I.  As you can see by Trish's wad of cash :)

After a few hours of gambling, we headed up to the Ameristar roof and sat in the outdoor hot tub for an hour or so.  It was definitely my favorite part.  We ate milk shakes, drank a little more wine, talked, and relaxed.  After that, Nate and Trish went out gambling and pretty much paid for their hotel.  Wes and I, boring old farts, crashed and went to bed.  But, that was a much needed part of our mini vacation.

We had a great time.  Thanks for inviting us Nate and Trish!  Should this be a yearly tradition!?

Brady, AKA the Slam Dunker

This fall, we signed Brady up for his first season of basketball.  He is playing for the YMCA, and the boys voted that their team name would be the Slam Dunkers.  They practice on Monday nights and play on Saturdays.  He has been going now for several weeks, but due to volleyball, this was the first week I was able to go and watch!

Brady is doing a good job.  He had zero basketball experience going in (except for shooting nerf balls on the hoop in his room).  We really don't watch basketball on tv, so dribbling, defense, etc. was all pretty new to him.

Before the game, both teams line up and recite the sportsmanship pledge.  Brady is second from the rigth in white.

 

The pre-game pep talk.

Getting advice from coach.

Oma and Opa came to cheer on the team.  Landon just goes into the hallway and works on his own basketball skills.

Or finds a pretty lady and plops down next to her!

Brady scored TWO baskets on Saturday!  He hadn't scored any before that, I guess he was waiting to impress his mom :)

Trying to get open...

And, Wes saw this and told me I had to document it, digging for treasure on the bench!

The boys (and one girl) wear colored wrist bands so they know who to guard.  Brady is actually quite good at defense!

 

Saturday was a double header, so here we are chillin' between games.

More action shots.

This one is my favorite...look at that form!

Brady guarding the one girl on the other team.  She's really fast!

 

And the post game hand slap.

 

And some video footage.

Brady Hoops from Cara Syers on Vimeo.

It's great to see Brady playing on a team where he was brand new and didn't know anyone.  He's pretty shy, so he's doing a great job.  The team is getting better every week, so it's fun to watch them learn the game.  Way to go Bradster!