May the Force be With You

We had a blast trick-or-treating last week!

So I thought I'd share a few pictures
and at the end you can find
a fun video of our sweet Star Wars Characters!

We packed the car with the cutest Characters we could find!

 And the evening before Halloween
we went to Cousin Fred's office building
to trick-or-treat from office to office!

It only took Jacob two offices before he knew what he was doing.
Here's Darth, R2D2 and Leia with a Queen and Leonardo the Ninja Turtle.

What a great guy Cousin Fred is!
His co-workers truly seem to admire his hard work!

On Halloween morning
we got all dressed up again
and headed to Boo at the Zoo!

With our annual membership
we got to skip the hour long line to get in,
and had a enjoyed ourselves, despite the wet weather.

After some naps and downtime,
we got all dressed up again
and headed to our Cousin Marianne's church
to do some trunk-or-treating in the parking lot!

This Elsa trunk even had "snow" falling around it!

Then we headed over to Grandma's
and enjoyed some Jack-a-dilla's with homemade soup!

Needless to say,
we now have PLENTY of candy,
and were well tuckered out by all the Halloween fun!
I really enjoy these people!

 Here's some more close-ups of these characters!

Auntie Han(na) Solo!

 Watch out R2D2! Lord Vader is gonna getcha!

Here's a look at how I made Jacob's costume!

A Pillowcase and some puffpaint...
And his hat? A bike helmet and some ducktape!

Lord Vader and his trusty Storm Trooper Mommy.

Watch it- he'll choke you with the DARK FORCE!

Looks like Han(na) Solo has forgiven him for his crimes!

Princess Leia may not have front teeth,
but she's got the most contagious grin ever!

What a beauty!

Loved that Auntie Anna got to join us for the day!

May the Force be With You!

And here's a video of our shenanigans!

Remember, to view the video
you will need to go to our site!

hickles.blogspot.com

What a weekend!

#TBT Thanksgiving

As today is Thanksgiving
and we have people showing up in about an hour
I thought I'd just,
since I miss YOU so much,
put a few fun TBT (throw-back-thursday) photos
onto the blog
and then remind YOU that you're loved!

 



 

We'll start with Thanksgiving 2003,
when I flew ti Arkansas,
played Disc Golf with my brother,
then he picked his girlfriend Laura up at the airport
and we drove together to Texas
to see my wonderful grandparents
and aunt and uncle!

 

(We also got to go visit my Great Grandma Gowan!
It wasn't much after that that she went to dance with Jesus.)

 

(And I took this GEM of a photo
of Grandpa working on his art projects.
He's "famous" for the old buildings he carved/painted
in that neck of the woods.)

 

Bonus:
Since I was engaged,
We went out dress shopping
just for the fun of it!

Doesn't Neil look nice in a veil?

 

Love you G&G Gowan!
And thankful for you!!

 

 

Then for Thanksgiving 2004
we were newly weds
and went up to Folsom for Thanksgiving
where we donned the appropriate attire!

 

 

For Thanksgiving 2005
we went back to Folsom and brought Caleb with us,
and made the traditional "gingerbread [graham cracker] houses"
except I made a little oven with an open-able door,
and won first prize =)

 

 

 

Then we went to the Salmon hatchery
and got to see all of those mama's jumping up the river!

 

And, of course, we warmed up with Starbucks afterwards!

Love you G&G Hillis!!
And thankful for you!!

Caleb, were you a freshman at Point Loma at this point?

 

 

 

Next is Thanksgiving 2006
My parents drove from California,
visited friends along the way
and joined us at the Hickles' for Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving 2007 we went back to Montana again,
and since we weren't going to spend Christmas there
we had a "Thanxmas" celebration!

Kathy and I got some flowers arranged
while the guys built Kathy's new fire pit,
and then family came pouring over =).

We are so thankful for Aunt Winnie and Grandma Hickle!

We are so thankful for Grandpa Robbie!

 

Thanksgiving 2008
We returned to Folsom for feasts and games of plenty!

It was G&G's last year in their house
so we got to be part of the Poarch fam coming over
to decorate the tree for Christmas!

Thankful I'm a part of this family!

And on our way back down South
we were able to reconnect with cousins from my dad's side too!

Love you Beck!

 

For Thanksgiving 2009
I was great with child,
so the Hickles came to us!
(and brought presents!

A new carseat and stroller!)

 

In 2010 we volunteered for Thanksgiving
at our church in California!

Taylor and I were greeters/seaters =).

 

Once again, in 2011, for Thanksgiving
we were awaiting the arrival of a little one
and couldn't travel anywhere!

We spent Thanksgiving with wonderful friends
Ken and Kim Plake!

 

For Thanksgiving 2012 we were Montana residents!
The ONLY pictures I took
were of these fantastic four generations
Greg and then Marianne with their kids!

 

And for Thanksgiving 2013
Taylor had a Thanksgiving feast at school
and then we had Thanksgiving at Marianne's house
and I didn't take a single photo
except what I took before we left home!

 

Ten Years of Thanksgivings!

Wonder what the next 10 will hold!

 

Happy Thanksgiving to our wonderful
friends and family members
spread WAY TOO FAR OUT across the globe!

We are thankful we know you.

We pray you feel how LOVED you are!