Our Cabin Getaway in Tennessee

The Clarks treated Mom and our family to a getaway in Tennessee for a few days at the beginning of November and it was absolutely wonderful! The kids had several days off of school so we headed down on Thursday afternoon and didn't arrive until the evening. We grabbed some pizza to eat back at the cabin.

The rest of the evening was spent having some fun exploring the cabin and getting situated.

David and Ciara ended their night playing games...

and started the next day doing the same thing!

We had a really late start but finally made it to IHOP for some breakfast.

Look who we ran into on our way out, ha ha!

Back at the cabin we had to grab some pictures of the beautiful view.

Ciara was a very willing model.

Hanging out as we figure out what to do next.

We decided to spend the afternoon at Anakeesta. It was quite the ordeal finding parking as we battled the millions of people that were in Gatlinburg. Okay, maybe not millions but holy cow, there were a ton of people. While waiting in line for the chair lift, Heidi and David got a little goofy trading sunglasses.

While riding up we caught a glimpse of Big Foot running through the woods.

Anakeesta, a really cool amusement park on top of a mountain!

While Ryan took most of the kids on the mountain coaster, the rest of us relaxed in some rocking chairs, enjoying the beautiful views.

We also checked out some of the fun little shops they have.

We took a walk through the beautiful trees on the suspension bridges...

and finished up our afternoon with some ice cream. Noah found some interesting treats while waiting in line.

Some fun pictures with the snowman family!

All too soon it was time to head back down. Wow, what a view but not gonna lie, I always get super nervous on these things.

A few fun things we saw as we wandered back to the cars...

Never tired of the beautiful views!

And what a sunset!!

Playing some games...

and swimming. The cabin has so much fun stuff!

We ended our day with dinner and a show at Dolly Parton's Stampede. It was so much fun! The dinner was delicious and the show was highly entertaining.

The pig races were definitely everyones' favorite event of the night!

Finishing the show with a visit from Santa.

Back at the cabin the boys just had to play one more game...

Dia de los Muertos

Although Dia de los Muertos is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, Halloween fell on Sunday this year so I thought it would be fun to have a family dinner and celebrate both days together as a family. The Clarks and Mom came over for dinner and then we watched the cute movie Coco.

Heidi's cool earrings.

My attempt at an ofrenda. I know I was missing components but for our very first time celebrating this I really just wanted to put up pictures of our ancestors, most especially my dad. He really is the reason I wanted to celebrate this day.

We sure do miss him!

Trunk Or Treat and Some Football

Friday, October 29th was the ward Trunk or Treat and Noah, Ash, and Kellan all looked awesome in their costumes!

That is one tough looking police woman!

My 12/13 YW class did a great job decorating our room for the younger kids of the ward.

They had made boxes filled with all kinds of gross things that the kids would be able to touch - eyeballs, mummy skin, bones, worms, etc.

That Friday night also happened to be the first round of the playoffs for Xander's football team so we made Ryan take all kids to the church and David, Heidi, and I headed to Centerville High School to watch the panthers take on the elks!

Yeah, it rained or drizzled on us most of the game.

Although we had a few shining moments here and there, the elks pretty much owned us and we lost.

Apparently emotions ran pretty high in the locker room after the game. I know it was rough for Xander, especially because he didn't get a chance to play with his senior friends. And just like that, Xander's junior year of football came to an end. It definitely wasn't the season we had wanted for him but as he continues his hard work, hopefully he'll be ready to go next year!

Family Halloween Party

Last year it was horror movie monsters, this year we decided on classic monsters for Halloween. But sometimes kids just want to dress up as what they want to be so we made it the theme for our first Family Halloween Party that we held toward the end of October! Of course we had to take pictures of all the amazing costumes. Ciara was a witch...

and a super cute witch she was with a crazy photo bomb, ha ha!

Ashlyn was a skeleton and she did the amazing makeup herself!

McKenna was a vampire,

Kellan a werewolf,

Noah was Van Helsing, the famous monster hunter,

Xander was a mummy,

Heidi and Ryan were the ghost couple,

and David was Frankenstein. The Bride of Frankenstein was the photographer and never thought to have someone take a pictures of just her, ha ha. We also teased that Savannah was there as the Invisible Man.

LOTS of fun pictures!

When all the picture taking had been satisfied, we headed inside for delicious food, fun times, and watching the Ohio St. football game. Another amazing spread by Heidi!

Uh oh, spider!!

A mummy with his mommy!

Ryan was a ghost but he could have easily passed as a mad scientist as well, ha ha!

Having some fun with the gummy teeth.

A few pictures with Heidi...

before Ciara stole her wig!

Definitely a fun night together!