Happy Thanksgiving {a little Christmas too!}

 We braved the blizzard and drove up north to Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving.  My brother Chris and his family were there also so we had the whole family together!  We were excited for a break from school and the chance to hang out with family and eat some good food.  We are so grateful for family and the opportunities that we get to see them.  

My dad and the bird.

The gorgeous table.

The food!

Everything was delicious.

 The after turkey effect.

I had fun playing with my little buddy, Logan.  He is warming up to me and thinks I'm quite the goofball.

 Getting cozy to go see Christmas lights.
On Thanksgiving night we went and saw a house that synchronizes the lights to music, way cool!

The day after Thanksgiving we went shopping on Black Friday... at 3 a.m.

I know, we're crazy.

It's a tradition.

And I love it.
We saw some crazy people, found some great deals, and got ALL of our Christmas shopping done. Now that's impressive.

On Saturday night we had a early Christmas since we won't all be together for Christmas this year.  We each opened a few gifts and watched Logan play with his new toys.

 Girls got us cookbooks and aprons!

 The boys got new jeans and new socks!

 Logan got a lot of toys, he was so fun to watch open presents!

 New toolbox.

Logan got a remote control train, it was so funny to watch him.  He loved it.  He would make it go between his legs and watch it go!

It was worth getting up at 3 in the morning to get that stinkin' train :)

I love my family!
We had a fun weekend, not thinking about school, playing games, watching football and basketball, and eating good food.

My new niece {Estee}

Congrats to Amber and Mike, what a beautiful little girl.

I am a proud aunt!

Here she is! Estee Alice Gunter

Born on November 15th at 12:50 pm 

8lbs 1oz

 Getting ready for her first bath.

Beautiful girl.

  Gotta love those cheeks!

Her proud aunt Courtney and cute brother Camden!

MAE is his {favorite} band

MAE is Jake's favorite band. 

 They are also a band I like a lot.  

The are on tour for the last time, so of course, we HAD to go.  If you don't know MAE, get to know them because they are awesome.  I can recommend a few songs or even make you a CD.  They put on a spectacular show, played all their best songs.  We had a great time!

Here we are, loving the concert :)

My good friend from school, Mandy, and her sister came with us, they love MAE too!

After the show, they told us that this was the best crowd ever.  I honestly believed them because they were so sincere, even a little emotional.  They wanted to stay and have a meet and greet, because we were so awesome! 

So we met them!

They were all so nice, they were so gracious and humble.  They thanked us for being such a great crowd and we thanked them for their awesome music.  They signed my MAE shirt and a CD for us!  They seemed just as excited to meet all of their fans as we were to meet them.  They talked to us for three or four or five minutes.  I feel like we are buddies :)  

 Jake and I and the whole band.

Jake, Dave and I.

Best day of Jake's life. 

 (well hopefully 2nd best day)

This was Jake's best most favorite concert ever.... 

my vote is still Keith Urban, but MAE is a close runner-up :)

Carmel, Apples, Wind, Murder, Mystery

 To kick off the Halloween holiday, we went to a dinner party at Landon and Amanda's house.  We had a great time, ate good food, played some fun games and made CARMEL APPLES!  I tried a homemade carmel recipe and it was so delicious!

About to dip....

 Amanda and Landon, thanks for the great party!

 Jake's perfect carmeled apple.

 We had to go outside so the carmel would cool.

 My masterpiece.  Carmel, chocolate, white chocolate, nuts and toffee.

MMMMMM so delicious.

 I shared mine with Amanda :)

Friday night was our ward Halloween party and we had to think of a costume we could throw together really fast, like in the parking lot.... We got into town just in time to say hi to everyone... 

wind blown and all

 Some of our good friends from our ward.

 We stopped by the grocery store and there was a thundering rain storm by the produce... weird.

Saturday night there was a murder.... and it was a mystery....  there was also dinner....

 We had a Murder Mystery Dinner party!  It was a lot of fun!

 We ate good food, got a little suspicious, and solved the murder!

 Katie/Princess Idelle was the victim and also the killer.... don't ask.

Thanks for coming everyone!  It was a success!