On the Sunday before halloween Laurel and I hosted a fall/halloween party. It was pretty low key, we had about 8 friends over, some people dressed up, we played games, and of course ate snacks! Here's a picture of those of us who dressed up. My mom made me a sweet candy corn costume, it pays to have a mom who can sew! But really, Duke stole the show with his s'more costume, it was perfect for him!
I was going to post about our party and links to some of the recipes on Monday Munchies the next day, but I went to a Monday night gathering at church, so I had decided to wait until I got home to post. After church was over I was talking to my friend Mike and he said he was leaving the next morning to do a west coast trip. A couple months earlier I purchased a plane ticket to visit my good friend Sarah in Reno and my flight was that Thursday, so I jokingly asked if he wanted to drive through Reno on his way. We sort of laughed about it but he asked how many hours it was, and said he would look up the route and call me later. I went over to Lauren's house to hang out for awhile and at 9:00 that night I get a text from Mike saying "you serious about tomorrow?" So I called Sarah to see if it would work out, and checked into some of the travel details, and at 9:45 that night we agreed that he would pick me up at 7:30 the next morning and we would head to Reno...10 hours notice is plenty of time to pack and leave right? So needless to say, the blog post took the back burner and I threw some clothes into a suitcase and we were off the next morning! I absolutely love spontaneous adventures, and I was so glad to have those extra couple of days with Sarah and Ben and I also got to spend some time with Alison and Armand and meet their sweet kiddo's too!
During our time together, we mostly just hung out in Reno. Sunday we drove about 20 miles Southeast to Virginia City. It was a big silver mining town in the past, but now there are little shops, museums, and historical buildings lining the main street. I guess it's where Levi's jeans started, because they needed something tough and durable for the miners. It's also where Samuel Clemens decided he wasn't cut out for mine work, and started working for the Virginia City newspaper where he first used his pen name, Mark Twain. Each year they hold camel races, so Sarah and I thought we needed pictures with some camels, and it ended up being our favorite picture from the week!
After I got back from Reno I only had a week and a half before my parents came for Thanksgiving, so I was busy cleaning the house and getting ready for them and my 2 year old cousin to come stay for a week. They got in the Saturday before Thanksgiving and although we couldn't do as much as we originally planned because of the baby, we still had a great time together! Colin and I went rock climbing one day, and the whole family went to Grand Teton National Park and walked around the Taggart Lake area, and then drove up to Jackson Lake. We showed Marshall his first glimpse of the Teton's!
We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house and along with my family we had about 10 others over. It was a great time of food and fellowship, and reminded me of just how much I have to be thankful for! Friday night we went to the lighting of the town square and then my mom and I did some black Friday shopping at 7:30 that night. I've decided that's the time to do it! You get to sleep in (well, if I didn't have a baby in my room who woke up at 5:40 I could have slept in), there was almost no one else shopping, and we still got all of the deals we were interested in! Colin and I went dancing that night at the Cowboy, and then the fam left Saturday morning. It was so fun having them here, seeing where I live, meeting a lot of my friends, and just being able to give them a glimpse into my Jackson life!
This week things have quieted down, and it's a nice change of pace for awhile, but I'm sure there's a new adventure just around the corner!
