Thanksgiving 2012

I'm finally getting around to catching up on our long celebration of Thanksgiving.  It started last weekend when we went to Park City with Tim's family.  We stayed the weekend at a Marriott resort where the kids swam, played games, and ran wild while the adults spent a lot of time chatting and watching football.  With everything that we did over the weekend, this is the only picture I took.  Dave is Tim's brother in law and he loves Luke, if Dave is around I have a permanent baby sitter.  Sweet little Chloe was so cute, she is Tim's cousin's baby.  They are only a few weeks a part in age so we had to get a shot of the difference in size.

Thanksgiving morning I got up and went to the gym.  I am one of those weirdos who loves to go to the gym on holidays because I am not so rushed for time.  There were special, longer cycle and pump classes and they did not disappoint.  After getting showered and a few little jobs at home, we jumped in the car and headed to Kaysville to spend some time with Tim's family.  Technically we just went to have a little snack and socialize, but of course we had to enjoy all of the delicious food.  Luke was happy to oversee and be the literal center of attention.

I'm so thankful for this hot honey

After some visiting, we got back in the car and headed to Santaquin where we had dinner with my family.  There was a lot of visiting, hanging out, and of course, all of the favorites that my mom makes.

Friday afternoon the girls made the traditional visit to a craft fair in Spanish Fork.  This year we all found lots of treasures and I even got a few gifts purchased.  The trip was definitely a success once we found the mini donuts-the best part of the whole festival.

Friday night we bundled up and headed out to watch a little soccer.  BYU Women's soccer team has had a fabulous season and was playing North Carolina in the Elite 8.  My cousin's daughter (second cousin?), Paige Hunt is a Freshman and has had an incredible year.  We were super excited to go cheer her on and had a great time at the game despite the cold.  The game went into double overtime and North Carolina pulled out the win with just a few minutes to go.  It was a heartbreaking loss, but the team was incredible and has so much to be proud of.

Saturday Luke and I were on our own for the day while Tim went to Logan.  I got an 11 mile run in on the treadmill while Luke was sleeping, then started the long task of bringing out the Christmas decorations.  Between naps, feedings, changings, etc., it took a lot longer than I am used to.  I think I finally got a shower at about ten but it felt great to go to bed with the house looking and feeling so festive.

 Whew, it was quite the Thanksgiving and I'm thankful for the celebrations of thanks.  I'm not sure that I'm ready to go back to work, but it will be good to get back to some routine.

Seven Months

"The day you became mine, I became yours"  I don't even remember where I saw this quote but as soon as I read it, I immediately thought of my boy.  It's crazy how once you have a baby, nearly everything reminds you of him in some way.  But the quote is perfect, this boy is mine and has become my world.  The seven months have still passed too quickly, but I am really just trying to enjoy every minute I have with him.  He's growing so quickly though, tonight I noticed that his toe had poked through another pair of his pajamas.  Tim calls him gorilla arms because his limbs are so long and all of his long sleeves come part way up his arms.  We knew he was growing, but at his last doctor's visit, this was confirmed.  He weighed 18lb 12 oz and was in the 65% of weight and the 99% of height.  Wow!  Not bad for a boy with my genetics.  Lately I have had several people try to give him cookies and other treats, they are shocked to find out he is still so young.  Developmentally he continues to progress, he rolls over easily now and is starting to get some teeth trying to push through.  He "talks" and "sings" a lot and always wants to be a part of what is going on.

He's super curious about everything around him

He has discovered his toes and
Loves to put them in his mouth 

I'm not sure where he gets it,
But he's getting a little bit of an attitude
And isn't shy about letting you know when
He doesn't like something

He sits....just needs a little help some times

First Halloween
We didn't go out but loved having
People come to our door and see him

Another set of shots,
They are rough on everyone

Loves being read to
Especially by his big brother

Went on his first plane ride

He slept nearly the entire ride home
And charmed everyone on the plane

Love Y'All

On October 17th, this girl turned 18 years old.  She told me that she kept having dreams that I came to visit for her birthday.  The more she talked about it, the better the idea sounded.  I did some checking and was surprised to find a reasonable flight, so what better way to celebrate...

It took a little convincing for Tim to let the two of us out of his sight for a few days, but Luke and I packed our bags, and were on our way.

I was a little nervous to fly by myself with him, but he did great.  He completely charmed everyone in the airport and the plane and only fussed for a few minutes on the flight there.  It definitely was a new experience traveling with a baby - I never quite got to the book that I planned to read, and found it almost comical how much stuff I had - luggage, stroller, car seat, car seat base, etc.  For once I didn't overpack for myself - too much already in the suitcase for him.

Jess and Tad picked me up at the airport and lucky for me it was almost dinner time so we headed to Agave Azul to meet up with everyone and have dinner.  The guacamole and queso were amazing, I had been thinking about Mexican food all day and it didn't disappoint.  The kids were dying to take me to see Pitch Perfect so after dinner we hurried over to the theater and laughed for the next two hours.  Even Luke was entertained, he didn't sleep at all, just stared, wide eyed at the movie.

After I booked my flight, Sean told me that he was signed up for a 5k on Saturday and asked if I wanted to run....of course, what better way to spend time with my brother.  Both of us were wanting to get in a longer run so we ran from his house to the race start - a little over 5 miles, then met up with some his friends were were also racing.  I decided I wanted to race on my own, see where I was on time.  I ended up at just over 31 minutes, a 10:07 mile and was very happy with that.

The rest of the weekend was just spent hanging out, bumming around....a perfect way to relax for the weekend.  Luke was completely spoiled by everyone and loved every minute of it.  The kids were so great with him, I wanted to bring them all home with me for built in nannies.

Tad was great and making Luke laugh,

For some reason he loved watching Tad kick a soccer ball.

Pictures of Luke that Tad put on Instagram

Were instant hits.

We were so glad that Josh was able to come home from

Austin for the weekend.

The girl who had a birthday and

Inspired the whole trip.

Others may know her as Jessica, 

But to me, she will always be my Jesse Girl

Somehow we didn't get a picture of Luke with Julie

Until he was already in his carseat

The baby whisperer continued to work his magic

Luke was enthralled by Sean all weekend.

Before we knew it, it was Monday afternoon and we were headed back to the airport and on our way home.  We were both sad to leave after having such a great time, but were super excited to get home and see Tim.

Luke maintained his reputation as the best baby ever by sleeping almost the entire flight home.  When he did wake up right before landing, he looked around, gave some smiles and started putting on a show, laughing and talking for everyone.  He's already looking forward to another trip, next time though, he doesn't want to go without his daddy.

I rarely ever read two books at the same time, especially if they are fiction - I like to keep on one story.  But, I've been listening to so many books lately, that there has started to be some overlap.  I started reading The Light Between Oceans and listening to Crooked Letter Crooked Letter at almost the same time and finished both on the same day.  Most days I would do some reading and listening to both.  The stories were very different so there weren't ever any problems with keeping them straight, I might end up doing this more often.  The one thing they both had in common that I loved, was that woven into each story was a lot of information about the locations - Australia and rural Mississippi, and time periods - post World War and civil rights integration.  Both books made me feel much more knowledgeable about the locations and subjects, one of the best benefits to reading.

From Amazon:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

I can't remember where I discovered this book, probably my good friends at Amazon recommended it to me based on my past purchases, but the premise seemed very intriguing.  I feel so blessed to have Luke and can empathize with Isabelle - especially since she has been told there is no hope of her ever having a baby.  From the outside her choice to take the baby as her own seems horrifying, but the author did a good job of painting a picture to understand why both she and Tom would make the choices that they did.  It all seemed fairly harmless until the other side of the story was presented and then I almost felt guilty for having agreed with them raising Baby LuLu as their own.  

One of the things that bugs me most in books is when an author creates a complicated story with lots of depth but then doesn't seem to know how to end it.  That is what happened in this book.  After a lot of build up, it just kind of ended with a quick summary and epilogue.  I was pretty disappointed in the ending, I would still recommend it, but wished the author would have figured out a better way to end.

B+

From Amazon:

In the 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals in a small town in rural Mississippi. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry was the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, black single mother. But then Larry took a girl to a drive-in movie and she was never seen or heard from again. He never confessed . . . and was never charged.

More than twenty years have passed. Larry lives a solitary, shunned existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has become the town constable. And now another girl has disappeared, forcing two men who once called each other "friend" to confront a past they've buried for decades.

I'll just clear up the title to you because it seemed so strange to me - this is how kids apparently learn to spell Mississippi - m, i, crooked letter crooked letter, i, crooked letter crooked letter, i, p,p, i.  Now hat we have that out of the way, on to the story.  This book was actually the opposite of Light Between Oceans in that I thought it started off very slow and not super interesting, but I loved the way the story eventually came together and ended.  It was a little tough to get into and it took me a little while to care about the characters but gradually it all started to make more sense.  It was hard to read some of the events of post segregation Mississippi but I thought the author used the characters well to help personalize the issues.  It wasn't great, but pretty good, especially as something to listen to besides music.
B

Saturday Craft Day

At the Onion Days craft fair we bought some bird house kits for Brycen and Ada.  Since then we have been trying to coordinate a time to get busy building.  This weekend was finally the time and what would be more natural than for me to have a crafting party (funny if you know me well).  We only had two bird houses and five kids so I went and found some pirate ships for Miles, Calvin and Gavin.  They were little kits at Lowes that came pre-cut with all of the hardware.  Perfect. We started in the garage to get everything built.  I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of that but basically Tim and Cory were the superstars of the construction process.  The weather was beautiful so everyone ran wild outside for awhile and then we came inside for the painting.  The kids were so cute, they each had their own plan for their piece and worked hard to make it look perfect.  We had some pizza while the paint was drying and then they finished up with stickers - perfection.   Jami's kids said it was the "best night ever" and I would have to agree.  Brycen's birdhouse is outside on the back deck with seeds, open for business and waiting for customers.