November 2024

The first day of November hit hard after a long night of Halloweening! We let Bryn skip early morning Seminary but still made her go to school. I don't envy teachers the day after Halloween. Tyler impressed the heck out of me though by getting up VERY early and going to the temple to do initiatories. Wow. That is dedication. But then he took the rest of the day off of work!

It was set-up day at Midtown Market for our Holiday Open House and it was a big one. It's our biggest yearly event... by far! It was pouring rain and I had furniture to move in. Tyler was a huge help and I am so grateful that he was willing to take time off of work to help me. It was an all day process. I wasn't done until around 8pm!

The Holiday Open House was a huge success! My best sales day yet! All of the work was worth it. Reilly met me early in Coeur d' Alene before the second day of the open house to help me fix up my booth and bring in more inventory. We stayed for a bit after the doors opened to do some shopping ourselves. I saw Carl, my friend Pam's husband. Pam was my next door booth neighbor at the store. She passed away last year from cancer. It was good to see Carl, to catch up with him, and to give him a hug.

Reilly and I did some more early Christmas shopping in CDA and then went to our favorite health food market and had lunch. It was so fun to have some one-on-one time with her!

After the show I put away all of the Halloween décor and decorated our house for Christmas! We aren't going to be here for Thanksgiving and I don't enjoy Thanksgiving décor so why not just move right onto Christmas? Plus all of the lights and Christmas cheer help with my seasonal depression that really kicks in after daylight savings. 

Election Day came and went. Trump won. By a lot. Including the popular vote and all the battleground states. The tides have turned in the House and Senate too. I have to stay off social media. People are too much.

Reilly turned 28!

We babysat Karson on Reilly's birthday so that Reilly and Hunter could have a day of fun! They brought him over around 1pm. He is so funny and has such a hilarious little personality now. We were doing yard work and raking leaves and he was a little wild man! He loves being outside and running around. He had fun playing in the leaves. We put him in the stroller and went on a long walk in our neighborhood with Beverly and he loved that too! We babysat him until late that night. He was so good and just loves playing and hanging out with us. No crying for mommy and daddy. He is so loving and cute! It was so fun to get all that time with him and so nice for Reilly and Hunter to be able have some time together too. I remember those days.

Karsy hanging out at Lovey and Pops! Is there anything better than kids fresh from the tub and in their jammies??

The next day we had a family birthday dinner for Reilly. She requested my Pad Thai, Brazilian Limeades, and Cold Stone for dessert. We had a fun time celebrating her with her little family.

Two days later it was Kameron's Birthday! He turned 24!

It's crazy to think that he is a married man with a wife to plan his birthday celebrations! We sent him his birthday gift and we facetimed with him that morning. His birthday is on Veteran's Day so Bryn didn't have school and Tyler took the day off too. Kam and Erin had a fun day planned. I love that Erin is so good at celebrating him! She is a dream! 

We celebrated the glorious day of his birth by going to the movies and out for ice cream...his favorite treat! LOL. We stopped at Baskin Robbins and got the weird ice cream flavor that he told us about...Brie with Apricot and Pistachio...it was delicious! Then we went to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I loved that book as a kid and my kids loved it too. It was really cute and it even brought some tears to our eyes!

Happy Birthday Kamers! We had a great day celebrating you! Ha ha!

This month Ailey and Luke were headed to Utah for Luke's Grandpa's funeral. A sad event for sure but Ailey got to meet a ton of Luke's extended family. Including Luke's mom, dad, siblings, Grandma, and all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins on his dad's side. He has a gigantic LDS family. His dad is one of eleven kids. They were able to squeeze in a BYU basketball game with Kameron and Erin while they were in Utah too. Kameron and Erin also got to meet Luke's mom and a few of his siblings. Luke is one of eight kids.

Bryn is between sports right now which is a little weird. She decided that she didn't want to play basketball this year. Three sports was too much. It's nice having a break for all of us. It was our week this month to provide breakfast for Bryn's Seminary class. Bryn requested that we bring Krispy Kreme Donuts and Apple Cider. Done. Tyler was best dad/husband ever... he purchased all of the food, brought it to Seminary, set it up, and cleaned it up too. Woohoo!

Ailey also got her second iron infusion. Unfortunately she started having an allergic reaction after she got to work. Hives. She called the office and they told her to take some Zyrtec and to come in the next day. Frustrating.

Reilly, Hunter, and Karson got some cute new family pictures taken! Bryn went with them to help wrangle Karson and it get him to smile. 

I love these!!

Reilly, Hunter, and Karson came over for a bit after their pictures. Karson looked so cute in his pearl snap shirt, cowboy boots, and wranglers.

This month we winterized the boat, deck, and yard. Tyler hung up our Christmas lights. Our house is now fully decorated for Christmas inside and out...all weeks before Thanksgiving. LOL. I got summoned for jury duty...Federal Jury Duty...it was for right after I have my hysterectomy, so thankfully, I was able to opt out.

Tyler was in charge of providing dinner for all of the Stake Council for their giant yearly planning meeting. Good grief. He had David's Pizza (a gourmet pizza place) cater it. It turned out nice but why are we being asked to plan bloody everything these days? We got asked to plan the ward Christmas party and had to say no to that due to scheduling conflicts. Every time I turn around we are being asked to plan large events... how about 2 weddings in 9 months... surely there are other people in our stake/ward who can do things like this?

Kameron, Erin, and I all got new callings. Kameron got called as the YM's secretary, Erin got called to be the ward choir pianist and a missionary mentor, and I got called to be an advisor in YW. Erin and Kameron also had to speak in their ward. Erin's parents were in town and got to go to church with them and hear them. I love that! I am happy with my calling. I enjoy working with the YW and I like being in there with Bryn. She was happy that I was called to YW too although I will be over the littlest girls.

I was busy prepping for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Small Business Saturday at Midtown Market. I feel like I am just madly rushing around...barely keeping it all together...and we haven't even hit the holidays yet! Bryn and I have been going to the gym as much as possible and Tyler and I have been doing walks as much as possible. Anything to help keep me grounded and my mood on an even keel.

Tyler had his endocrinology appointment and it went well. His A1C was down and that is good although with the holidays coming it will most likely go up again. He also had an eye appointment and his eyes after his surgeries look good. He doesn't have to come back for another 6 months. Great news! Tyler's mom and sister bought plane tickets to come visit us in February for Tyler and Karson's birthdays. That's not too long after I have my surgery... I hope I will feel better by then. 

We got our first snow. BOO. Bryn also had seminary cancelled for a few days due to icy roads from the snow bomb cyclone that hit WA state. (Where are they getting these names?!) She's been busy hanging out with friends, various birthday parties, and a big service project for FCCLA. She has been awesome helping me prep food for Thanksgiving! Love her! She made all kinds of things to take to the lake.

Thanksgiving is so late this year. Ailey and Luke are driving to Utah. They will split their time between Luke's family and my brother's house. Kameron and Erin will be splitting up the holiday up too. Erin's family will be in Utah so they will see them and then also go to my brother's for Thanksgiving. Kirk has his Thanksgiving celebration the day after Thanksgiving so it works out nicely for our kids to go to all of their different places and celebrations. Tyler, Bryn, me, Reilly, Hunter, and Karson will be renting our favorite house on Lake Coeur d' Alene again. We were there the year before last. We love it! It is such a nice getaway without going too far.

We are already on our Hallmark holiday movie watching kick. They now have Thanksgiving movies and the Hanukah movies are out which we weirdly love. They take me back to my Kansas City days and going to Hanukah parties with my Jewish friends. Good memories!

Kameron and Erin got each other an early Christmas gift! A darling golden retriever puppy named Dwight. He is adorable!! Look at that FACE!!

Onto Thanksgiving!

November 2018

November and Thanksgiving

Where did November go? I blinked and it was gone. We started our month off with birthday celebrations. Reilly turned 22 years old and a few days later Kameron turned 18. Eighteen and twenty-two?? Already?! Where did their childhoods go? The saying, "The days are long but the years are short" is so true but now even the days feel short.

We had a birthday dinner for Reilly on the Sunday near her birthday. She requested broccoli divan, teriyaki green beans, homemade cherry pie with homemade whipped cream, and a special sparkling drink concoction. It had club soda, raspberry syrup, pink lotus syrup, and orange juice. It was delicious!

Hunter came over and we had a fun night of celebrating and playing games. We introduced Hunter to Chicken Foot!

Normally Kameron and Reilly celebrate their birthdays together but since this might be Kameron's last birthday with the family before he heads out on his mission; he decided to have his own birthday dinner the next weekend. We had a big family outing to celebrate both of them then too.

Our lovely TWENTY-TWO year old!

A few days later it was Kameron's big day. Kam turning 18 hit me pretty darn hard. Just like it did with Reilly. Ouch...

It was the last Fast Food Birthday Lunch delivery at school for this kid. He requested Taco Bell for the millionth year in a row. This has been a fun birthday tradition to do with our kids. I'm 99.9% sure that Kameron has requested Taco Bell every single year. I told Kam, "I think I'm going to cry" when I handed him his lunch and he said, "Please don't." and laughed as he walked away.  I *may* have cried when I drove away. This boy has grown up too darn fast. I love this kid so much!!

Yes, I made him pose with GIANT balloons and take many many pictures...in our drive way no less!! Ha Ha!! You only turn 18 once!!

Kameron's actual birthday was on a Sunday and he got very celebrated by his teachers and leaders at church and he had treats dropped off at our house too. It was so cute! Kameron also received his patriarchal blessing. That was an incredibly special experience. It was so neat to share in that with him.

We had a family dinner and outing that weekend for him:

Kameron is going on a school trip this spring to Hawaii so all he wanted for his birthday was cash for his trip...hence the pineapple decor...but he ended up getting a few things too!! Kameron requested street tacos, cream soda, and my homemade cherry pie but with ice cream for his birthday dinner.

We went bowling as a family to celebrate both Reilly and Kameron's birthdays. We tried a new place and had a great time. The bowling alley that we normally go to is fancier and brings fancier food to your lanes but this one was SUPER cheap and not crowded and our kids LOVED their pizza and they ended up liking this place even better!

The birthday kids! 

Reilly got us all crying in the bowling alley thinking about next year when Kameron will be off on a mission and she will be celebrating all on her own.

Who even wins at this STUPID game anyway?

Ailey does!!

She joins a select few in our family who weirdly have good luck at that game...Kameron and my sister Kelley.

Please enjoy Reilly's bowling ensemble!! ;)

Kameron's Wind Ensemble performed at the Veteran's Day Concert downtown at the Fox Theater. I love this concert. It is a gift to the men and women of the Armed Forces in our community and it is so good and very patriotic. Veterans from all of the branches stand and are honored as their songs are played. There were guest speakers and touching dramatic readings. I loved it when the audience sang the national anthem. It was an absolutely wonderful night!

Last year Tyler had just barely been released from the hospital and couldn't attend this concert. The girls and I went alone and it was the first time that I left Tyler's side after his hospitalization. I was a nervous wreck last year. I was so glad to have him with me this year!!

Jonathan doing one of the readings. He did a great job. They also had a local announcer do the main narration and at one point even he was moved to tears. I loved that. It was a great night!

I clipped the last of my roses. There is something EXTRA special about a November rose!

We voted! Tyler did a special FHE all about voting and we went over all of the issues and people we would be voting about with the kids and then Tyler, Reilly, and I filled out our ballots. Kam was bummed that he missed out on voting for the first time by ONE WEEK!

One Saturday I met my mom in Coeur d' Alene. We went to the grand opening of our friend Megan's new store Lovely Chaos. Megan also owns another great store across the street called Junk. Both stores are great! My mom is a vendor in Junk now. She's not going to be doing vintage shows in the future and this gives her a great outlet to sell her cute things but isn't quite so much work. We had a great time shopping and going out for breakfast.

We met some extended family for lunch at the Daft Badger. Tyler met us as well. It was so nice to see my Uncle John. It has been awhile since I last saw him. It was great to laugh and hang out with him.

Love him!

The next weekend I met my mom downtown and we went to the Christmas Open House for the store owned by Fielding and Dianna, a mother/daughter duo, that we have known for years. We used to do their vintage Christmas show years ago. They have a big vintage/antiques store in a new location and they had some darling Christmas items. Between their store and Megan's store I found all of this year's Christmas ornaments for my family. Tyler met us for dinner. We went to a great Pho restaurant.

One Saturday morning after the Stake Primary Baptisms, Bryn and I went on little Starbucks breakfast date for Snickerdoodle Hot Chocolates and pastries. Have you tried those? They are so good!

Stacey and my mom were vendors at a little Christmas show in Bonners Ferry, Idaho which is about 2 1/2 hours from here. Bonners Ferry is a little town in North Idaho near the Canadian border where my mom was raised. It is so cute! It looks like one of those small towns from a Hallmark Christmas movie and it brings back such great memories of my grandparents. Tyler took off half a day from work and we went on a little day trip.

We went to the Christmas show and found some really cute things. My mom and Stacey's booth was darling. So was my friend Jennifer's booth. I LOVE vintage Christmas!!

Tyler and I bummed around in Bonners Ferry for a bit after we visited the show. We stopped in at the Catholic church that was also having a Christmas show and ate some amazing homemade tamales... AND...some absolutely delicious Lefse!! Ty's little Norwegian heart was thrilled. It was especially good super thin Lefse. Yum. We also bought some homemade huckleberry jelly and huckleberry syrup. It was not as good as my grandma's but still delicious. We drove home through Priest River. We stopped in to see my friend Deb who was participating in a Christmas show in Chattaroy, WA.

It was quite the Christmas Palooza that day! Tyler and I went out for dinner before heading home and had a great date day/night!!

Kameron was one of a few high school musicians from our school invited to participate in the Festival of the Arts. It was amazing and each different group was conducted by a special guest conductor. It was really cool for Kameron to be invited to participate. He had a great experience and our family had a fun night downtown.

We had to stop and hang out at the Davenport Grand for a bit.

We celebrated with... you guessed it... more Starbucks Snickerdoodle Hot Chocolate!!

After that Thanksgiving was just around the corner and it was time to pack and head to Portland!! We spent Thanksgiving with Paul (my cousin) and his wife Whitney, their two daughters, and Whitney's parents. We had an absolute blast! The only bummer was that Reilly couldn't come with us. She wanted to go to Hunter's family's house for Thanksgiving as there were some out-of-town relatives that were going to be there that she wanted to meet. It worked out that she was able to do a double Thanksgiving. She went to Hunter's house (they eat early) and then she and Hunter went to my mom's house (my family eats late) and it sounded like she had a good time at both places.

We stopped along the way and did some shopping for Sisters Creed. We got there in time to hit our favorite French Bakery for some treats and dessert for Thanksgiving. We also went to some amazing specialty gourmet food stores and markets and found some great food and cheese to contribute to the feast the next day.

Bryn found a friend!!

We got an Airbnb for our stay and it was awesome! It was on a little lake and water way that was so pretty. It had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a beautiful deck overlooking the water, a nine person hot tub, and even a baby grand piano!! It was also only a mile from Paul and Whitney's house which was perfect!

Out on the deck. There was even a canoe that we could use to paddle down the water way.

Bryn and Ailey loved the room that they shared. The owners left all kinds of snacks, drinks, and fruit for us. It was so nice! We will definitely stay there again!

We did a bunch of shopping that evening and then went out to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant that Tyler and I found the last time we were in town. OH.MY.GOSH it is SO GOOD!! It is quite authentic and you can order delicacies like jelly fish and all kinds of other interesting things.

We were so excited for the kids to try this place!

There is NO GOOD Chinese food in Spokane! So this place was an especial treat! Everything is served family style and we ordered a ton of food!! It was out of this world amazing!!

Bryn tutoring Ailey on her chopstick skills. Brynnie is quite the expert! The kids LOVED the food and the restaurant. We had such a great night and brought back a ton of leftovers to our airbnb which we ate every single bite of!! We also all soaked in the hot tub and relaxed until super late that night!

The next morning we slept in and watched some of the Macy's Day Parade while we got ready to head over to Paul and Whitney's house to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Just some wildlife right outside our bedroom window.

Whitney's parents... Susan and Dan...had arrived from California. We LOVE them!! They are awesome and it was so great to see them again. It was such a fun day spent talking, laughing, cooking, and hanging out.

Paul is a chef and so, of course, the food was amazing! Whitney and Susan are great cooks too and it was fun to try some of their family's specialty dishes!! So good!!

Paul did two turkeys on his Traeger grill and they were FABULOUS!!

Zoey with Bryn and Ailey

Quinn and Whitney

Kam LOVED talking politics with Susan!! They are bonded for life! He was THRILLED to be amongst conservative republicans!! We are a rare breed in Washington, Oregon, and California. Kameron is our very own Alex P. Keaton and it makes me laugh. He takes after Tyler's dad who had a masters degree in political science. Tyler's dad even ran for local office in Utah. I love seeing these character traits passed down through the generations from grandfather to grandson. It is especially poignant as Tyler's father passed away when Tyler and I were dating and our children never got to know him...and yet they are like him in certain ways which is fun to see.

We had so much fun with Susan and Dan! They are so awesome. Wish they lived closer!!

Paul had a copy of the flight log of our Grandpa Ellersick. He was a B-17 bomber pilot in WWII and flew bombing runs over Germany. Reading Grandpa's words was fascinating and brought tears to my eyes. It was so neat for Kameron to read this and me too. Our Uncle Steve made copies for all of our boy cousins... I guess he ASSUMED we girls wouldn't be interested?! WRONG. Paul is going to make me a copy and I will share it with my sisters. It is unimaginable the danger that our grandpa was in and to read about each mission...some of them were truly terrifying and heart-breaking. It really hit home to me how old my grandpa was at the time. Not much older than Kam. It was pretty sobering especially since Kam just had to register for the draft.

Susan and Dan have two of the cutest dogs...they have a Bichon Frise and a Bichon Havanese. We absolutely fell in love with them...especially the Havanese. That is going to be our next dog!! Janie was the cutest!! Susan and Dan rescued both of them and they are super involved with Bichon rescue and have done it for years. Susan was giving us all the info and details to find a great rescue dog.

We stayed late and had such a great time! It was one of our very best Thanksgivings...despite missing Reilly. Even Kameron said as we left..."Hands down the best Thanksgiving EVER!" That is an extremely high compliment from that boy!! It really was so nice to enjoy good food, good conversation, and good company!!

The next morning we slept in late and ate some of the best donuts for breakfast. What up Portland? Why so many good donut places? I FINALLY got a good crueller. They are super hard to find in Spokane and the ones you do find are terrible! We did some more shopping that morning for Christmas and for Sisters Creed. I found some great things for my Christmas show that was coming up the next weekend. Then we went out to lunch at our favorite Cafe Yumm!

You cannot beat one of their Yumm bowls and their tempeh sticks!! I had an extra fun surprise the week before when my friend Stephanie told Kameron to stop by her house because she had something for me and low and behold it was a bottle of their famous yumm sauce that she had brought back for me from Portland! Our whole family shrieked with joy! It is so good!

After that we went back to Paul and Whitney's house to hang out. Paul was making his famous Turkey Noodle Soup. It is a take on our Grandma Ellersick's famous Chicken Noodle Soup. He makes the homemade noodles and then kicks the whole soup up a notch. It was fun to reminisce about our Grandma and our memories of her kitchen and past Thanksgivings at the lake while we ate this delicious soup and Thanksgiving leftovers. Paul also made THE BEST pomegranate punch that we will be drinking at Christmas this year. Kameron was his little sous chef on the punch making and took notes.

That night we all rode the Max (light rail) down to the zoo to see their famous Zoo Lights. Riding the Max is an experience all unto itself. It was such a great night!! The zoo in Portland is amazing. We had just gone the year before and so it was extra fun to see it all lit up in beautiful Christmas lights!!

This year was Paul's year to host Thanksgiving for his in-laws. His mom was spending Thanksgiving in Spokane with my cousin Justin and his family and Paul's sisters...Wendy and Jennifer...and their families were spending Thanksgiving together at Wendy and Ben's house. They live about an hour away from Paul and Whitney. We were able to meet up with them at the zoo and spend about an hour together catching up in the elephant house which was really nice.  I hadn't seen Wendy and Jennifer and their kids since my grandma's funeral.

Wendy's daughter Brooke with Zoey and Bryn

After visiting for awhile it was time to head back out and look at more lights and get hot chocolate!!

Then we jumped back on the Max and headed for home. We got back to our airbnb super late but Ailey, Bryn, and I still sat in the hot tub for awhile. The weather was perfect...frosty and cold...and a clear sky full of stars. It was perfect!

The next morning we slept in again and then slowly got ready. We had already said goodbye to our family late last night. We had a few places that we still wanted to hit in Portland before we left town.

The kids enjoying the baby grand piano before we left! Ha ha! We played that thing like crazy. Who knew?!

I had a bunch of Christmas stuff that I wanted to get so we headed out for a bit more shopping. Kameron had one request...Chik-Fil-A...which we honored. :)

Then it was on to IKEA:

I've never been there around Christmas time. Kind of fun! I got all my teacher gifts there this year and I got my friend Mary's birthday gift and some Christmas presents for the kids. I guess it will be a very IKEA Christmas this year!!

We picked up some snacks and weird candy for the road and headed for home. We had a good trip back and made it home by about 7:30 pm. It was such a fun trip and getaway. The next day we all seriously crashed and stayed in our pajamas all day. We found out later that evening that my mom had fallen down at the lake. She was putting away some Thanksgiving decorations and tripped over her boots that were on the floor. She whacked her head against the basement door that was partially open. She ended up in the ER with a concussion, sprained neck, and sprained wrist. My sister, Jordin, who is a nurse took good care of her and got her all situated. She is doing okay now although it has been a pretty slow recovery. She missed over a week of work and still isn't 100%. Sheesh.

We had our Thanksgiving Family Home Evening and did all of our little traditions...like our Thankful Tree and our Thanksgiving Journal.

Bryn clipping off and reading our Thankful leaves.

We managed to get both of our Christmas trees up but didn't put ornaments on them right away. I had a HUGE Christmas Show the next weekend and I was crazy busy preparing for that and finishing up projects. I did manage to decorate the house for Christmas but didn't decorate our Christmas trees until after my show.

I also managed to squeeze in a cooking group meeting. We meet each month and talk about/demonstrate/share recipes for different types of cooking. This month was freezer meals. I am not a freezer meal person but I look forward to trying some of these tried and true freezer meals...maybe in January.

I also had book club this month. We read:

It was my turn to lead the discussion. We had an awesome time discussing this book!! It was one of our best book club nights if I do say so myself!!

I also managed to squeeze in a Starbucks date with a friend and ten tons of Primary stuff while we planned trainings for the new curriculum and classes for 2019. All while painting, packing, and glittering away. Set-up day for my Christmas show was the last day of November. That was also the day that Tyler's boss finally retired!! HALLELUJAH!! Let's just say that Tyler was THRILLED!! :)

Onto December...