Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we spent with the Nelson's. Luke's parents drove up from New Mexico and then his sisters met us at our house for Thanksgiving. We had 12 family members over for Thanksgiving in our little house. I was afraid that it would be tight, but it actually worked out very well. We moved our couches out to the garage and set up the tables in the living room. Our guests included Luke's parents, his two sisters Nakita and Sasha along with her fiance Dave. Luke's grandparents, my parents, and younger brother Casey. It was fun to have everyone together.

Prior to Thanksgiving DAY, Luke made an announcement that if our family wanted to come to thanksgiving at our house then they would all need to participate in the Turkey Trot 5K race. Everyone agreed, minus grandma and grandpa Nelson. We had runners, walkers, and a little of both. It was a lot of fun to wake up and go out for a run/walk on a beautiful brisk morning. After the race we hurried home and began getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We ended up soaking the turkey in a Brine sauce overnight, it was from a recipe that I found from the pioneer woman. I love her website and have never gone wrong with any of her suggestions. I was a little worried about the turkey because it was the first time I had really cooked one, but it turned out tasting great. The dinner turned out well, but it seemed to be over so quickly that I was kind of sad when it was done.

We had a great time visiting with family and having so many in a small space, but not that everyone has gone home, it is a little too quite around here.

Bonfire for SNOW

Last night we went to the annual Bonfire for Snow at Luke's Bosse's house. It was a lot of fun, and we were happy to have snow already on the ground. We warmed up by eating good chili and then headed outside to enjoy a large bonefire. This bonfire does have an unusual twist, so don't tell your enviromentalist friends, but there are many old skis, snowboards, boots, and a few bikes that get burned. They are an offering to the snow gods to help give us lots of snow this winter.

Staying warm by the fire.

Group gathered around the fire

Several skis and boots.

If you look real close you can see the back of a bike.

Fall Photos

I was playing around with my brother's camera the other day and got some cute photo with Brynlee. It was one of the last nice sunny days we had before a little bit of snow came.

Meeting Pioneer Woman- Ree Drummond

One of my favorite websites is thepioneerwoman.com. She has 5 different sections to her website and my favorite is the cooking section. She has great recipes and photos with each step. I highly recommend visiting her site.

She came out with a cookbook and had a book tour, but the closest she came to Idaho was SLC. Erica, a good friend of mine, and I decided to take a trip to SLC for a afternoon of window shopping and book signing. We should have know that people in Utah seem to be obsessed with people and that we should have gotten to the book signing venu hours and hours before it started, but we did not. We arrived at 6 and did not get our cookbooks signed untill 11:00 at night. Yes, we were a little crazy considering we got back into Pocatello at 2:00 A.M. and had to be to work by 8:00. All and all it was nice to get out and have girl time...and not to mention it was neat meeting Ree.

New Shutters

Luke put new shutters on our house this weekend. It is hard to tell from the photo,but they are ceder shutters. It dresses it up a bit more, and I think we will also be adding them to the other windows.

Brynlee's first dental visit

I had some down time at work this week so I figured I would take Brynlee in and try her first dental "Happy Visit." Being the daughter of a dental hygienist I was hoping that she would do good and let me touch her teeth. At first when she saw the dental chair all covered in plastic she wansn't sure what to think, but as soon as I turned on the t.v. to cartoons, she didn't care what I did. I am happy to report that it was a successful visit, she let me remove the plaque, polish, and even let me give her fluoride, which most kids hate. Way to go Brynlee!

Fall Updates

Luke accomplished a major goal this running season- He ran the Bear 100! He did an amazing job as well. He ran 100 trail miles in 21 hours and 55 min. The race went from Logan to Bear Lake and had a ton of vertical climb and drop. I can't remember how far exactly, but it was a lot. He finished 4th overall in under 22 hours. The crazy thing is that only 9 people ran 100 miles in less than 24 hours. 99 runners completed the race and most of them did it in 30+ hours. This photo of Luke finishing was taken at 3:55 in the morning! What a fun and super crazy event! Nice job bud.

The Allred family reunion was again at Medow Lake. We lucked out this year and had really good weather. It was really fun to have the family together and it was very relaxing. Brynlee is getting older and loves camping and spending time with extended family. She also had a good time telling everyone what to do- you know, as a 2 yr old would.

Brynlee and Pappa Allred on the lake with a mighty squirt gun.

Brynlee and Uncle Jake fishing. She wasn't sure if she really liked the fish or not.

Brynlee and I were lucky enough to make it to my dad's grain harvest in Rigby in September. Brynlee enjoyed riding with Uncle Casey in the big grain truck. She was a little shy and did not want to ride in the combine, but maybe next year she'll be ready.

Brynlee and Mommy hanging out in the grain truck.

Brynlee and Pappa Allred watching the grain on the farm. Brynlee has a sad look on her face because she had only a few hours eariler received a very short hair cut from Grandma. So long hair. We are crossing our fingers that it will grow back soon and that Brynlee will stop twirling it and breaking it off.

Brynlee and Uncle Casey driving the grain truck.

I spent a little time this summer finishing those projects that never seem to get done. This is a dress I started making for Brynlee last fall and finally finished it this fall.

Luke and Brynlee's first day of school. Luke headed off to his first day on PA rotations and Brynlee started back into full time school at ELC. (So sad that summer is over).

Keiko, a friend from work, and I ran the Pocatello 1/2 marathon this fall. I ran it in under my goal time so I was happy with the results. (Now we'll think of running further next year). It was fun...well kind of. I was glad that I did it, but running on the road really isn't that fun. I am realizing that I am becoming a trail runner and that my body doesn't hurt as bad after running on trails.