All done...

Wow. That month ended fast. And the end of vacation came a lot quicker than I would have liked. We reached the end of our driving journey today as well. 

Welcome back. The 10 day forecast isn't looking like much of a welcome home present. ND winter is about to begin. Not ready. 

These pups were pretty happy to get out of the car and they will both be loving the cold weather. Especially Rozzi. 

So cute. We haven't reached the end of unpacking or organizing. I sure wish I didn't have to work the next 3 days so I could actually get some stuff done. Oh well. It will wait. 

It is also the end of the month of blogging every day. I must say it's been a pretty good time. There were a few days I was thinking it was pretty lame but overall I'm really glad I did it. It made me realize that a lot more little things happen on a daily basis that are worth remembering and "journaling".  I'm not gonna keep doing it every day, though. Maybe I'll do it again next year. Thanks Emily for the inspiration! 

Black

I've got nothing creative for the title today. It's Black Friday so I'll just tell ya about our last day in Utah. 

Made a little trip to the bountiful temple extremely early. Almost ran out of Utah time for it but for sure better late then not at all. Then Tanner packed up the truck. I seriously still don't understand how he fit it all in. We had a TON of stuff to load!! He's good. Real good. 

Then I took the dogs for a walk. Samson sure just can't make it very far. We went a bit and he got tired so we took him home and Roz and I just went. Rozzi is turning into the most amazing dog. She was so good walking. And every time a car drives by she slows down and stands right by me till it passes. I'm quite glad of this but it also pains me a little that she has so much PTSD from her accident last Christmas. I still feel sick inside when I re-picture that whole event. 

Breaks my heart. But so so happy she's still around. Our dogs both are awesome. We might be slightly annoyingly in love with them :)

That's them playing with my sisters great dane Canon. It's weird when Rozzi looks small. 

After walk and leftover turkey we all headed up to Logan to watch our niece Romy in The Nutcracker. In all my almost 31 years I have never seen that ballet. She did awesome and we love to be able to support her and see her shine, but I'll probably be okay if it's another 31 years before I see another ballet. 

Romy's little sis Ivy. 

Also this picture happened. Which I love. 

Then after that we went to Logan hot spot Fredrico's pizza. Yum. Don't think I've eaten there since freshman year of college. It was tasty. And also sad because from there we said goodbye to half the family. That part is definitely the worst part about coming home. Five months till we come home again hopefully. And crazy again to realize we'll have a kid that time. We'll be parents. Yikes. 

I am grateful for...

The easier question would be what am I not grateful for. The list would be a lot shorter. I'm not really gonna make a list of either though. I do love this time of year. It is special and magical and it's been so awesome to have had all this time to spend with family. But one thing I've been trying to do more in my life is be sincerely grateful for all the good things - big and little - that happen on a daily basis. Not just one day or one month or one season. Always. Makes me feel happier and helps make the short list of harder things not so prominent. Ya know? Too cheesy? Maybe. But it's still true :) 

Regardless, we have had a great day with great food and great times. It kinda feels like Christmas cause we did a bunch of our Niederhauser traditions that usually happen on Christmas Eve. It was nice of everyone to switch it up so we could participate. 

And despite what I just said, I am SO grateful for family. For Tanner, my family and his family. I think we both scored all the way around!

No more need for a crib. We got that taken care of and both of us are pretty excited about it.

No Indian food in Williston or anywhere near there for that matter. So had to get my fix here. 

No good at bowling. Went with the family tonight. This score is even with the bumpers. I suck. 

I think this one is so cute of Tanner helping our niece Ivy out. 

No pictures of me and T. I didn't take many cause I didn't want to be annoying. But I like this one of my mom and pop in law. So lucky to have married into thai awesome family!!

Message

I was texting my friend Emily yesterday as they were driving from Williston to Utah.  I had to laugh and cringe at the same time when I got this message...

I don't really love the 13+ hour drive to and from Williston.  But it really isn't that bad.  I'm kind of hyper focused on what's happening inside my womb right now so it's probably annoying to people, but it just made me realize that this trip is the last one without kids.  The last time we will enjoy the freedom that we have for the past however many years.  And it's weird.  And scary.  And definitely exciting.  But I sometimes think I forget that things are about to change so dramatically.  That I think our kid will just cooperate for the whole drive and that we'll stop when WE want and need and not when he dictates by his barfs and poops and other "needs".  Haha.  Jk.  But as scary as it seems to me SOMETIMES, I really am ready to give my life over to a little person.  It's time.  Even though I still would really like to not have any kid puke in the car :)  A girl can dream, right?

Quirky

This seems like another kind of dumb word. I don't know what's quirky. And honestly nothing really "quirky" happened today. We came up to Tanner's parents this morning, where we will spend the rest of the week. Went to lunch with brother Carson and Preston's wife Nat. Shopped a bit with Nat. Bought a few more baby items :) 

We also went to Salt Lake and shopped for a crib at Babinski's Baby in Sugarhouse. Such a cool store! Haven't narrowed our decision down but we will hopefully have it all figured out tomorrow. We did buy something tonight that I suppose you could call quirky. 

Classic songs by all these artists made into lullabies. Like xylophones and bells and other random baby type sounds. They actually are pretty cool. They had a ton. Kanye West, Def Leppard, Journey, etc. Tanner was pretty excited about them. 

Then we had dinner with some friends that lived in the area. Great home cooked salmon dinner and great catching up. So far this vacation is totally kicking butt! 

A word

I think I will choose two words for today. Number one: Grandma

My last living grandparent has been at an Alzheimer's care facility for the last 3 years. I am ashamed to admit that the last few times we've come home we haven't made it out to see her. She isn't the grandma we grew up with and doesn't know who anyone is so I think sometimes maybe that's how I justify not being better. This trip it was a priority and I'm so glad we went. She said she loved me too after I told her I loved her. That's big. I like to think and hope that she does somehow like seeing us. The whole circle of life is very interesting. It just makes me so grateful that we have the gospel and knowledge of life after this. And that she will be her again someday. Makes things like this a little easier.

Word two: raclette. Aka French fondue. Aka awesomeness. My cousin Ty introduced us to it last New Years and we loved it. So we requested he host another party while we were in town and it certainly did not disappoint. It was so fun hanging out with our cousins and the food was amazing. We started off with salami and homemade bread and cheese. Then veggies and cheese. Then steak and cheese. We had 6 different types of cheese for all of that. Then we finished it off with dessert. Sautéed apples and brie and honey and then pirouette cookies and mascarpone and melted chocolate and strawberry drizzle. Wow. 

Aunt Shirley had knee surgery two weeks ago but she can still party :)

The little ones made s'mores when we were done. Then we sat around and chatted and laughed and it was just a perfect night. 

Simplicity

This might could have been the theme of the day. I guess. I feel like it was a simple and beautiful day with the family. It was our Thanksgiving dinner with my family. And I guess preparing that isn't all that simple but many hands certainly did make light work. And the food was delicious. Simple but delicious. 

Totally look like a fat Amish person in this picture. Oh well. Tanner looks good :)

We played games (I did win Mexican Train if you were wondering).  We sat around and talked. We ran to the fabric store for some little errands my mom and sister and I all needed to do. And we might finish it up with a movie. The Great Gatsby. We had our book club meeting too so the next one has been unveiled (The Rent Collector). 

Family is absolutely the best. Simple as that. 

Behind

Tanner offered to take a picture of my pregnant behind (butt) BUT then we decided enough people have suffered from seeing the wide load. So we will take a different approach. 

This game is not over yet so anything can happen. I am just a little behind. Hopefully tomorrow that won't be the case. 

We also played a new game tonight called "Telestrations". Wow. So. Much. Fun.  We laughed so much. I finished very much ahead in that one. Yay!  Overall I finished behind in a best of three Battleship battle with Tanner as well. 

In other news we did some shopping and saw Captain Phillips today. It was pretty good we all thought. 

And these are some pics from the last couple days that I just like and are random.

Which one of these is NOT a food baby?!

I wish I had this

I wish I could have a baby shower every day!  Haha.  Just kidding.  But we did have another baby shower with my family today.  It was great.  It's nice to have things like this because it's the only time everyone can get together.  And usually on our trips home we don't see even a fraction of all the people we'd like to see and catch up with.  So last night was great.  A lot of my friends showed up which was awesome and lots of cousins and family we rarely get to see.  And there was so much niceness.  Again, I'm just overwhelmed with how kind and generous people are.  I still feel like we were just playing.  I got to open a bunch of cute little baby things and that's fun.  But it kind of hit me weird last night that all that stuff was for a baby that would be coming out of me soon.  And then I'd be the mom.  And I'd be responsible for him. And it sort of made me feel stressed and anxious for a second.  Even with everything we got I was worried we still need things to help him stay alive or something.  I think I'm calmed down a little now though - and just back to the usual excitement.  But it is still weird that it's my turn.  This is me...making a baby and entering the unknown realm of parenthood.  Yikes. 

 This pic they are smelling diapers with melted chocolate candy bars in them.  You had to guess which candy bar it was.  There was also a fun game my sister Laura did that was little plastic babies in ice cubes.  She passed them around and you held it in a little dixie cup and when it melted and you could pull out the baby sans any ice, you called out your water broke and then you won a prize :) 

 We had yummy dinner too.  Great salads and sandwiches. The other game was a bingo game where people filled in their own cards with what presents they thought I would get and then as we opened them they got to mark it off. 

 Tanner showed up just in time for present helping.  I was happy.  I don't love being the center of attention and having everyone watch me do stuff.  So he helped take the heat off a little :) 

 This is one of the ugliest pictures of me of all time but it's the best pic we got of the blanket my mom made us. So flipping cute!  She made a fitted sheet and a bumper too.  LOVE.  I love how talented she is and willing to spend hours and hours to share that talent.  Harv is going to love it.  Can't wait to go home and paint and get the nursery all set up.  Guess we need a crib now :)

 We only had one little helper this night. My adorable little niece Adi was enjoying all the tissue paper and bags. 

We got tons of books at this one.  It was awesome.  I LOVE books (I think I've mentioned that several times this month).  But I do. And I'm so excited to be able to read and read to the little guy.  Hope he loves them as much as I do.  We are so grateful to everyone who made this happen - got it ready, cleaned up, came and supported us.  We are so blessed to have the family and friends we do.