November 2015

November was busy with preparations for Thanksgiving.  But before I get to that, here are a few more fun autumn photos.

On November 10th I was able to take my cub scouts to visit a fire station which is located within a water tower used to store water for the city.  The boys and I were pretty impressed by the engines, fire station, and all that the firefighters do to serve in their capacity.  It was very cool!

During a large part of the month of November we undertook the project of refinishing more of our basement.  We wanted to add a 3rd bathroom to the house as well as a family room in the basement.  I found a great company that was able to put the bathroom in (including installing a pump in the concrete floor).  It was NOT a small job.  I am so glad we decided to hire this project out since it took over 2 weeks with professionals working on it full time.  I am so grateful that this company worked hard to keep their commitments, were friendly, reliable, and did great work!  Such a relief!  Construction can be stressful enough on its own, and I'm glad I didn't have to relive my previous experience from last year!
Matt and I decided to frame and dry wall the other room on our own and were just able to finish it in time to have the finishing work done (by a subcontractor of the company we used).  He finished most of it before our carpet installation, and then wrapped it up a day before company came for Thanksgiving.  This gave me a day to dust, vacuum, and clean up.  I am hoping to do a stucco finish on the two cinder block walls in the future.  Matt also did the electrical work and is planning to set up a projector so we can watch movies in this family room.  I am SO glad that most of the work was done so we could have a bit more space for our guests. 

For Thanksgiving we were able to have Michael and Taralie's family and Kelly and Marcelino's family come to visit.  It was great to have all of the family around us!  It was also so nice to have so much help with the cooking from everyone!  We had some beautiful weather for Thanksgiving day!
Here are pictures of the football games in our backyard.

Here are pictures of the feast!

The day after Thanksgiving, the moms got in some shopping, Matt and Mar took the younger kids ice skating and others went to the gym or to the movies.

Here we are reading scriptures together in the evening.

On Saturday, the adults all got to attend the temple.  We did sealings which turned our pretty cool since there were other patrons who brought family names and we were able to participate in them.
In the evening, the guys all went to watch the BYU bowl game.  It was so fun for them!

Sunday everyone headed back to their homes, (the Sanchez family left after church).  We are so thankful that we could be with family!  We are grateful that we could host them this year!  And we are grateful that we are all healthy, happy, and have the gospel of Jesus Christ which brings us a fullness of joy!