Thanksgiving in Mississippi

 

This year we flew to Southhaven Mississippi to spend Thanksgiving with the Weiss's.   (Jeff's sister and brother-in-law's family).  What an awesome time we had!  Left to right: Graham, Grey, and Max Weiss.

 

  

My handsome boys!  Jeff and Banks by the train after we ate burgers at this cool lil Take-me-back-in-time restaurant burger joint.

Here we are at the cool lil burger joint.  (I can't remember what its called).  The burgers were excellent!  It was the coolest lil store.  Everything in there was super old school.

 

Banks with Grandma Hamilton.  (He sure loves his grandma!)

Gail and Richard were able to drive from Ohio to MS to spend Thanksgiving with all us.  What a special treat!

 This is a picture of our Thanksgiving dinner.  (Doesn't it look like something out of a magazine!?)  As you can tell ..we ate outdoors.  You couldnt have gotten a more beautiful setting!!   Alayna smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving and man was it DELICIOUS !...  The most moist and flavorful turkey I have ever had!!  In my opinion, turkey usually isn't that great.  But Alayna's turkey was OUT OF THIS WORLD!  And she made delicious (made from scratch of course) cornbread stuffing/dressing that was great.  Thanks Alayna and family for a wonderful week!

 This was Banks's first time flying.  He did pretty good.  This is him asleep on the plane, laying on the fold down tray tables.  (Thanks Lins for the great idea)

 Max Weiss!  Playing in the leaves with Uncle Jeff

 The Weiss Boy's have made quite a popular trend in their ward: bowties!  They were so sweet to share one of their bow ties with their cousin Banks.  (He mostly ate/chewed the bow tie...but he loved it none-the-less)

 Banks and Daddy taking a nap.  ZZZZZzzzzzzZZZzz

Love my boys!

Sweet lill Grey with Banks

 First Annual Hamilton/Weiss Turkey Trot.  Alayna made OFFICIAL turkey trot bibs.  We were split into two teams and raced.  We had a great time!  (A great excuse to burn off a few of those Thanksgiving calories)

Banks, "My dad is so crazy sometimes!"

Last but not least, Jeff and I got to go see Alayna in the play Annie.  She played the roll of Grace (Daddy W's assistant).  I wish I had a picture of Alayna in costume to post here.  She was so beautiful and lovely!  ..Kinda stole the show.  (Sorry Annie).  This was the highlight (well, second to seeing all the Hamiltons/Weiss's) of the trip.  It was such a treat to finally get see Alayna sing and act.  She is PHENOMINAL!  Oh how much fun it was!!!  I could go and watch her perform 20 more times and not get tired

Friday November 9th

 Day before Jeff's Triathalon we woke up to a Winter Wonderland!

 Trying to capture what a sweet and happy baby Banks is!

 Do you like pumpkin cheesecake?  This is Alayna's recipe (thanks Al).  I think its super super yummy!  And the best part is I've found after making lots of cheesecakes..because this one has sweetened condensed milk..it doesn't crack!  (I do also bake it in a waterbath which I think helps) But I always get so frustrated when my cheesecakes crack.  MMMmmm thanks so much for the recipe Alayna.  This was exactly what I needed post-primary program to celebrate.  We had our program yesterday and it went really well.  Its nice to have it done.  :)  Then I came home and indulged in cheesecake!

 Jeff did his first triathalon at the Orem Rec Center Saturday.  If you remember the first picture I posted, you know there was tons of snow!  So they ended up canceling the bike portion.  So he ran first (3 miles) then did a cross fit work out (in place of the 11 mile bike) then swam 350 meters in an indoor pool.  He did awesome!  He finished his run in 22 minutes.  Way to go Jeff!  I was so proud of him for doing it despite the poor weather conditions.  

Jeff did the triathalon with his good friend in our ward Erik Lono. 

Way to go Jeff!  You did soo awesome!

 The swimming portion.  They wouldn't let spectators down in the pool area.  

 Two words: Election Day 

 Bank's face pretty well tells it all.  I felt bad breaking the news to him, but he had to know.... Yes I felt super bad Mitt didn't make it into the White House.  I want to publicly thank him though despite the loss.  He still touched so many lives.  I know he touched mine.  He's definitely a hero of mine.

  

Isn't this sweet?  Bank's admiring his daddy

We had a little extra time on our hands last Sunday morning to take some pictures.  We showed up to church and wondered 'Where's everyone at?  I mean I know we're 5 minutes early, but where's everyone at?"  Day Light Savings.... ha ha :(

I think Bank's looks sooo big in this picture.  Do you agree? He's growing up too fast!  Oh how we love him.  He is so very very special to us.  

Bank's loves to stick out his tongue!

Jeff got to go to a Jazz game with his friend Chris Scanlon the other night.  Third row too! ..might I add.  They played the Lakers.  Jeff said it was an awesome game.  The Jazz shut down Kobe and the Lakers.  As you can tell here, you really get quite the different perspective of how huge these guys are when you are actually this close to them. 

This was my chili that I made for the ward Chili Cookoff.  It didnt win ( but it actually was my favorite chili I think I've ever made. )  Thanks Alayna..instead of tabasco sauce, I put your Corky's Hot BBQ sauce in and that made it super yummy!

Us at the Halloween party.  I was in charge (well, the primary) the ward party.  It was a ton of work but it turned out really well.  We had an adult and childrens pie-eating contest, lots of games for the kids, a coloring contest, and lots of yummy soups and chili to vote on.  There was a HUGE turn out.  I had 300 paper bowls/spoons and we ran out!  I'm relieved its over.  Next project: Primary Program!

 Banks and Daddy.  Jeff was supposed to be a farmer but I ran out of time to go get him overalls.  Oh well, you get the point right?

 Banks has to be swaddled in order to go to sleep.  However, that doesn't mean he STAYS swaddled.  Ha ha.  He is very determined to 'break out' of his swaddle.  He really loves to sleep with his hands behind his head (like his dad) when he can manage to wiggle them out. 

 

Banks and I at the ward Trunk or Treat. 

Banks and I waiting in line Friday to pre-vote.  

We went 40 mins early (before the polls opened) and this was already the line!  After I voted, looking at the line, I bet the wait was at least an hour and a half to two hours. Again, this was PRE-VOTING!  Wow!  Who would have thought?  GO ROMNEY!

 

"Ya, thats right, I voted ROMNEY!"

Lindsey (my good friend in the ward) and her beautiful baby Rowin, myself and Banks.  (Rowin is 5 days older than Banks and theyre going to get married!)

 We were sitting at the ward trunk or treat and this guy in our ward comes up to us and asks, "What are you two supposed to be?  LDS moms?"  Ha ha.  "Yup!  LDS moms" 

 Banks is really into sucking his thumb these days!

 Celebrating Jeff's birthday at Carabas with  friends.  Thanks for babysitting Uncle Dan!

 Jeff's birthday cake.  A kit kat ice cream brownie cake.  MMM!

 

This is what Banks is going to be for Halloween!

 

"Hi guys!  Mom says its getting cold outside so I have to wear a coat now."

Here is Banks doing tummy time.  He is getting really vocal these days which is so cute.  

 Out for a Sunday walk with some friends.  Note the shoes and jacket... :(  makes me kinda sad because its fall and the warm days of running outside in just a onesie are about over. "Thanks Aunt Emily for the Bjorn.  I love it!  Its way better than getting stuck in the carseat.  I can see everything that is going on!"

 Banks and Daddy at Kelseys softball games.  "Thanks Aunt Jana for my warm coat.  I love it ..everyone says I look really cute in it and it keeps me warm.  Oh, I love to try and fit my whole fist in my mouth as well!" --Banks

My team "Thrown Together" clenched the 2012 Pleasant Grove Division 1 Championship for the 3rd year in a row.  We were undefeated in the season.  We played Monday night "Team-Team" to advance to the Championship.  "Team-Team" went on to defeat "Francoms" so we played "Team-Team" again in the championship.  "Team-Team" actually beat us for our first lose of the season.  Since it was a double elemination tournament, they had to beat us again since that was our first lose.  We played great in that last game (mind you this is at 11:00 PM now) and ended up 20-running them to win the championship.  This is a super fun team.

  Sorry this isnt the best picture.  Saturday evening of conference when Jeff went to Priesthood, Banks and I went out with some girls from the Ward to Kneaders.  Banks was one of four babies.  All of them being girls.  Banks thought it was necessary to show off and make it known he was of course the one and only male among them.  So he was EXTREMELY vocal the whole time.  Not vocal as in crying, but "chirping" and "coo-ing" just as loud as his lil lungs could go!  Ha ha, it was pretty funny.

New Recipe that I tried that is a SUPER yummy Mexican dish.  I forgot to take a picture before we ate it, ha ha.  Needless to say we ate half the pan on the first sitting!

 Chicken Chilaquiles

Combine in a large bowl:
2 Cups shredded skinless chicken breasts cooked (I like to sprinkle with salt and pepper and chili powder)
1/2 C chopped green onions
1 t chili powder1/4 t salt
1/4 t black pepper

Combine the following in a blender:
3/4 C milk
1 bunch fresh cilantro
3-4 tomatillos
1 (4.5 oz) can green chilies

12 corn tortillas - cut in 1/8th triangles like a chip
1/2 C Montereay Jack Cheese with jalapeno peppers
2 T grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a 9x13 pan.  Pour half of our blended green sauce on the bottom of the pan.   Layer half of the corn tortilla triangles on top of the green sauce.  Next, layer all the chicken.  Repeat with the rest of the green mixture...followed by the remaining tortillas.  Top with the Cheeses.  Bake 20 mins or until cheese is melted and heated through.

  During conference I made Emily and Mom's granola recipe.  I made a quad batch!!  I wanted to have a little extra to share with some special people.  One being this sweet lady who babysits Banks sometimes and wont take money for it.  She's so sweet.  Yummy, yummy granola!!