November

November was so fun, and it went by so fast! I started off the month with a fun girls night out with my friends from study abroad! Katie, Sara and I became fast friends on the plane ride to London back in 2007 and had a wonderful experience there together. We haven't seen a lot of each other over the past 8 years, but it was so fun to get together at Cheesecake Factory in Salt Lake and chat and laugh the night away! It was fun to reflect back on where life has taken us and all the amazing memories we shared (and that we all equally still shudder at the thought of the hostel we stayed in Dublin!)

 I watch Nora at some point most weeks and we all love it. She's a treat to have around and the boys adore them (and she adores Chase, and to a less extent Hudson). My mom stopped by one afternoon and was reading to the boys and ALL THREE kids insisted on sitting on her lap, even easy-going Nora wasn't content until she'd staked out some real estate on Nana's lap.

The boys are obviously super enamored with fire trucks, and we were lucky enough to get our own personal tour of the fire station courtesy of a "Jack's dad" (Jack is Chase's little friend from Primary and his dad is a firefighter). We went to the fire station open house last month, which the boys thought was great. But having the whole place to themselves, with free reign to play in and on any of the fire trucks and ambulance was pretty much the best thing ever! Hudson "drove" the ambulance for a good 20 minutes, and was a little appalled that no one would give him the keys and insisted he just pretend.  It was a pretty awesome day!

Chase got invited to a birthday party at the Aquarium! It was on a Saturday, and our ticket into the Aquarium for the birthday party covered Chase and one parent (me) for the whole day there! So we went 2 hours before the party started and enjoyed the whole aquarium, which Chase was super excited about. Then he loved the actual birthday party (which included cake and playing on this super awesome play structure with all his little buddies!). I take my kids to do fun activities all the time, but rarely with just one of them. It was so fun to have a whole day with just Chaser! By the time we drove all the way to the Aquarium, stayed for four hours, drove home and stopped at the grocery store, we were gone most of the day!

Since we didn't want Hudson to feel left out, Ben planned a special day with him. They went to the train museum in Ogden, which Hudson loved (although he still reminds me that he would also like to go to the "Karium") Hudson loves trains and Ben had a great time with him. I'm pretty sure their date also ended at the grocery store, just to pick up a pack of cookies for a special treat for Huds. It was such a fun Saturday for all of us!