John is home, Thanksgiving, Nursery, and Stuff

We have had a WAY fun and SUPER busy past couple of weeks! My mom came to visit, we went to Six Flags, John came home from his mission, and we celebrated Thanksgiving. Whew. Needless to say we had a blast, have gotten too little sleep, and have eaten WAY too much of the best food!

It all started with my mom coming to visit for a few days the week before Thanksgiving. We had tons of fun hanging out and doing a little bit of shopping!

Then the weekend before Thanksgiving we got to go to Six Flags again. My brother-in-law works for Mary Kay and they (Mary Kay) rent the park for a whole day for all the employees and their families each year. This is Mike and Zoe in front of the bat mobile at the Batman ride.

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It was SO cold that day. We kept this plastic cover over Zoe's stroller and she was nice n' cozy the whole day (don't worry, there are vent wholes all over it!). In this picture are Viki, me, Zoe, and Blake.

Probably the best part about the past two weeks was seeing John! He came home the Tuesday before Thanksgiving from his two year mission to California. It was SO much fun to see him again after two years! Here are AJ and Eddy at the airport waiting for John.

John, Mom, and Eddy at the airport.

Welcome home John!

The soonest we could get to see John was at my mom's house the night he got home (we then stayed there for the whole week). Yay! It was so exciting to see him! This picture is of John and Zoe's first time to meet. She's looking over at Mike with an 'a stranger is holding me!' expression.

This is the best video ever! It's I caught John taking his first nap since his mission. Haha!

Zoe and Grandma cuddling in the morning.

The feast! This was at my grandma's house. There was another long table connected to this one. Lots of people...and most of it was family!

Adam and Lisa. I definitely think Adam is checking to make sure there are still some desserts left. And Lisa is definitely pretending that she didn't just eat too much!

My Grandpa!

What is this?! Zoe NEVER falls asleep in mine or Mike's arms and she totally fell asleep in my mom's arms while they were rocking on the swing outside.

Of course we got lots of Rock Band time in. It's so much better with more people! In this picture are AJ singing, Jen on the drums, and Mike on the guitar.

Zoe was reading this book out loud. So cute!

Video of Zoe playing with blocks.

Adam and me chillin' on the chair.

Zoe had this expression on her face a lot while we were at my mom's house. She was a little overwhelmed with all the people (my mom lives on some land with my grandparents, 3 of my aunts and uncles and all of their families....there are a lot of people around there!). She got pretty clingy to me by the end.

The arms on the jacket are too long for Zoe so she walked around with her hands up like this. It was pretty funny.

Zoe got a sneak peak of one of her Christmas presents from Grandma and Eddy this year. We let her play with the horse there and now it's hidden until Christmas morning.

Video of Zoe riding the horse...and falling off!

Yep....John is BACK!

One oh so cold night Eddy built us a campfire and we made s'mores. Yum!!

Jen and John

AJ and Adam

Lisa, half of AJ, and Adam

Zoe with yogurt on her face. hehe.

Lisa and I were trying to do yoga and Zoe just wasn't having any of it. She was climbing all over me...here is a picture of her being defiant.

This is one the way home. Mike and Zoe are having a quick snack while we were stopped for gas.

We made it safely home and Zoe went to the nursery for the second time on Sunday. The first week she was old enough to go Mike was sick so I left Zoe at home with him and went to church by myself to teach my lesson (young women). Then the next week Zoe made it in the nursery for about 20 minutes and was crying so hard that Mike spent the rest of church sitting in the car with her. This past Sunday was much better. Zoe made it through the first hour of nursery but then got upset during snack time. She still doesn't know how to drink out of a regular cup (which is what they use) so she spilled water all over every body's snacks. She also fell out of her chair which is what made her upset so Mike took her home.

Zoe being silly after church on Sunday.

Then as if all this wasn't enough...we forgot something important at my mom's house so Zoe and I packed back up on Monday and met Mom in Waco for lunch and a transfer of the goods. (maybe we secretly left the stuff at Mom's house so I could have an excuse for a really good lunch with her at none other than Olive Garden--you'll never know!)

Thanks to Mom for letting me use some of your pictures...and most especially to John for letting me post the video of you.