Misc November

I'm deciding that these random monthly posts are becoming my favorite. Just a lot of candid, crazy, not fancy or edited pics of our daily lives. All pictures make me smile, but these ones especially because  most of them were a special moment that wasn't planned or staged or part of a holiday or activity, that caught my heart and eye and needed to be snapped. Just happy moments along the way that I enjoy and love having this place to go back and remember. 

I love when he gets telling a story and it's literally all hands on deck. Haha

Such a babe.

Our neighbor occasionally does "Nugget night" and he takes a bunch (obviously) of ward kids to McDonald's and buys them chicken nuggets and lets them run around like crazies. I think he's crazy! But Harvey loved it! And I love him and his family for being so awesome. They are amazing neighbors! (Jill and Sean Dean)

 I went down after Harvey's preschool one day because we wanted to see my parent's after Ireland and Tanner was going to be busy helping his brother and sis in law move and so we spent the night. It was awesome just playing and being there and getting all the details on their amazing vacation!

That little crack in the middle was my spot. Haha. I forgot Lottie's bed and Greta was in the pack and play upstairs. Not the BEST night sleep ever, but most of them aren't these days anyway. Fun to snuggle up with them, regardless.

 My good friend Steff lives close to my parents. They had a funeral Saturday and so Oakley got to come over and play. It was great entertainment for Harvey. And she's so easy and sweet. They had fun!

 More silly hammock kids.

 One pic from Clara's blessing day. Love this picture!

 I set Lottie on this chair because she enjoys sitting up and does pretty good with it, while I was vacuuming and when I wandered back Greta had hopped up next to her. Of course it needed to be photographed, and photographed well! Then G wanted a book and it's just too precious for words.

{side note - see the binky above and not below - that just reminds me of our efforts to rid Greta of the binky. So currently we are just doing binky when she sleeps and not ever during the day. That has gone over a lot easier than I thought it would. And she doesn't have a binky blocking her cute smile in almost all pictures. We'll attempt the night and nap thing at a future date}

 I'm a homeowner with lights on my house! It makes me feel like a real live adult :) So fun!

 Yep, eating a lemon. Haha.

 This girl loves her feet rubbed! It was funny when I stopped or tried to take a picture (That meant I wasn't doing both at the same time). She'd hold it up and whine - uh. uh.)

 I got to go to Time Out For Women this year with my mom. She went for the first time last year but for some reason it didn't work out for me to go. Kathry and Laura also came and my aunts and a few cousins. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical at first because I wasn't exactly sure what it would be like etc. But it was AMAZING. It really was everything I needed in my life at that time. Like conference but better. Lots more focused to women issues and there was a lot less distraction. When Lottie cried I'd just go stand at the back with her till she fell asleep and still could hear and listen perfectly. The music was really pretty and inspiring, and the speakers just all said things that were just exactly what I needed. It's been a weird year for me. Spiritually especially. I was thinking the other day, reflecting as we get to 2018 almost,  how weird it is that a year can be so hard yet so amazing all at once. So there was a lot of stuff that I just had been struggling with etc. Lots of stuff about service and women and love and finding your purpose and influence and gaining light so you can be a light, etc, etc, etc. It made me recommit to my faith and testimony and kids and family and want to be better for them and give some peace with being a mom and working and how to incorporate prayer better into my life. Just tons of good things and I need to keep reviewing my notes. Any my mom bought the DVD so I actually want to watch it again in a couple of months to remember and recommit again :)

We ate a Zupa's Friday before the evening stuff. Then it was a few hours Friday night. Kathryn, Laura and I all slept at my moms and then it was all day the next day. 

Lottie was not too happy about this 

And these pictures kill me. Oh my heck. We were changing babies and just couldn't get over how much chubbier Lottie is than Clara. She was a month premature but is 2.5 weeks older. It's so funny. They are both so cute and fun and I'm so excited they are so close.

 And here's a few more. Harvey was still a bit under the weather I think and so was sleeping a lot.

 Yay for tree! It would have been an advent calendar but I am a fan of doing it after Thanksgiving. Greta napped while we did it which is probably fine. She'll be fun to help next year.

 This girl is so funny. Spunky, stubborn little happy goof ball.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was nothing but wonderful this year. It usually is. The Sunday before we had my family up to our house for a feast. Ben and Julie didn't make it but everyone else (besides sick Austin) did. Tanner smoked the turkey after brining it for a day. It. Was. Amazing. Oh my goodness so good! I did potatoes and gravy as well and everyone else brought stuff too. It was all delicious and way fun. I don't know why I didn't take more pictures. Maybe because as the host I was more preoccupied or something. 

We did try and spend a good amount of time (between kid distractions) playing around the world. Greatest ping pong game ever. It was a good after binge eating game - running around the ping pong table fast. Haha. So fun though.

Cute cousins! The party wasn't as long as I ever like and there's always a million more games and puzzles and talking and relaxing that I want to happen, but with it being Sunday, we couldn't start too early cause of random church times and obligations and then Monday everyone was back to work early. Might have to remedy that for future non Thanksgiving Day celebrations. Still tons of fun!

Cutest little pilgrim I ever saw :) He missed Monday for school because he was sick, but he was a bit better Wednesday so he didn't completely miss out on fun preschool Thanksgiving stuff.

We spent Thanksgiving at Clare and Berrie's. I only had to bring a dip. I made a carmelized onion dip and brought chips. It was actually really good. And quite nice to have such a small responsibility :) Tanner got to golf that morning so he was pretty happy about that. And then the day was just really nice. Lots of snacking before eating which made for not as much eating of the main meal as I would have liked. Haha. But it was all DELICIOUS.

Crazy kid's table!

Yum!

She took several not good naps but was mostly good in between :) Greta on the other hand slept terribly and was pretty ornery unless she was adequately distracted and no one was telling her to do something she didn't approve of.

Football across the street. The weather was so nice!

And all Harvey wanted to do was play in the sand. And once Greta realized that's where he was it was game over.

Literally rolling around in it.

And I took a lot of pictures of her because she was just being too cute.

Spoiler alert if anyone even reads this anymore - this is going to be on our Christmas cards this year. Haven't sent cards out since before I was even pregnant with Harvey. And we just haven't gotten our stuff together to get pics taken so we threw them under the tree Thanksgiving evening hoping 1 in a million would turn out. Well, folks, this is the best we could get. And that's going to have to cut it. Haha. I love them so much though. I love the holidays. So excited for December and Christmas!