Bring on the Ornaments!

 We put up our trees and decorations today.  Our new ornaments this year are: 1- an apple for our New York City trip, and a hand-painted bird from our trip to Chile.

Little Man got an ornament to remember his time in Argentina.  Little Lady got an ornament celebrating her love of books.  BB got an ornament to remember his lead in the musical Camp Rock.  Little Guy got a Spartans ornament since he joined the Spartans baseball team this year.

We have a couple of new nativities this year: A Gaucho nativity to remind us of Argentina.  I got 3 new ones while we were in Chile. A man makes it out of a match - it's incredible!  Chile is also known for its copper, so I got part of a copper set.  It was expensive, so I didn't originally buy the whole thing, but now I'm wishing I would have just bought the whole thing.  I also bought one the is hand made of wool.  

The cats, of course, are all over the tree.  

For Good

 We're a week late to the party, but we finally went to see the second half of Wicked.  It was delightful! The two new added songs weren't my favorite, but I understand they had to add something to flesh it out to two movies.  I'm not complaining, because the ending more than makes up for it.

  

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with friends at Beaver Lake.  It was a bit crazy trying to bring Thanksgiving dinner down to Arkansas, but it worked out.

We went for a walk above the dam.  It was very picturesque but not very well marked.

Exploring Northwest Arkansas

 We spent a day exploring Eureka Springs and a little further in-state with the kids and friends.  In Eureka Springs we visited the Thorncrown Chapel, the Christ of the Ozarks, and the Bible Museum.  

We also explored the Cosmic Caverns in Berryville.  It's the largest privately owned cave in Arkansas.

There are several different rooms that all have different features. (Joel's got a bunch of "cave kisses" on his shirt)

He's considering changing professions...

We ended the day with a Stuetz tradition.  We went out for Chinese food in Eureka Springs.  Grandpa Stuetz would be pleased.  The owner is really into collecting Pokemon cards, so he gave all the kids some cards as a Thanksgiving gift.  The boys were in heaven.

Half Birthday

 

On Little Man's birthday the older kiddos went to the temple with Joel, and Little Guy and I walked around the grounds and distribution center.  He bought himself a mini Book of Mormon.  He loves it!  Now he wants to buy a mini New Testament.

 For his half birthday treat he chose a chocolate cake with oreo filling and a dark chocolate gnache on top.  I think we decided it was slightly too bitter chocolate, but that didn't keep everyone from eating it.  He gave his other half to his friend Matthew.  They've shared a lot of the same classes at school for the last 2 years.

Light the World

 We went to the opening ceremony for the Giving Machine at Union Station.  We saw Elder Stevenson from a distance, and the boys were thrilled they both caught a football.  They actually caught more than one each, and started handing them out.  I got hit in the head by a football, because I was not looking in the right direction at the time.  I honestly didn't think they could throw it that far out. Good times.