Thanksgiving Day

{this picture will be explained later, just look at that angel}

I tried to pull out all the stops on Thanksgiving morning. You know, muffins, juice, chocolate milk. I was hoping it would entertain my family for a bit while they hovered over the Thanksgiving Day parade. "Are these corn bread?" Nic asked. "No, they are blueberry." Nic, "Oh, these don't taste like your normal blueberry muffins." Me. "That is because my normal blueberry muffins are made from scratch, and these are from a box." Nic, looking just disgusted says, "Ya, I can tell. Not to be rude, but these are really dry." I guess I should have taken that as a compliment, but instead I was quite annoyed. "You should be thankful I made you anything at all." And that is how the day began... along with complaints from littles, that they don't like blueberry! They like banana muffins! Oh, what is a mother to do??

The rest of the morning was spent with my kitchen aid mixer, and a serious amount of flour... oh, how I love to bake.
When we got to Gramy & Papa's house, we attempted to try and get a group picture of the cousins for Gramy's Christmas card. Can we get an "E" for effort? I have to admit this picture is classic though... torture for sure.
The older ones were freezing, but at least they were holding themselves somewhat together...

I was able to salvage a few individual shots of the kids...(I just accidentally deleted the most darling picture of Bode from this spot so I put it back in at the top) cue, Bode picture...

Then onto our Thanksgiving feast! Gramy had really pulled out all the stops. The poor girl was up till 4 in the morning polishing silver. What a gal! Everything was beautiful...

My contributions to the meal, rolls, razzleberry and chocolate silk pie, and a yam souffle'{nic's fav}...

Sophie just loved these little pilgrims... and I loved watching her sweet little face...

Nic assuming the position...

Kaden coloring on the kids table. He is definitely not lacking in enthusiasm...

The girls...

Matt & Erika...

Baby Wyatt doin' his awesome tricks...

Matt and I got a birthday candle in our pie, and a beautiful {cough} rendition of the happy birthday song...

It was a wonderful feast. I feel so blessed to have the wonderful family that I do. We always have so much fun together, and that is what it is all about. On the way home we looked back to see this...

Is that adorable or what? These two sure do love each other.

I am thankful for, the freedoms we enjoy.good health.my calling.my testimony.the Book of Mormon.kind words and deeds.great friends.to be loved for exactly who i am.the simple things.the love i have for my Heavenly Father and Savior, and the love I know they have for me.to be a wife.to be a mother.to be a forever family.

Baby Krew

Introducing

Krew Erik Kidman,

my new precious little nephew.

Candace and Krew. There is nothing more angelic than a newborn babe straight from heaven. I am always amazed at how tiny and perfect they are. Oh, and they smell so good.

He missed my birthday by about 2 1/2 hours. That would have been fun to share our special day, but I am so glad that he is here safe and sound.
Candace mentioned that she could use a new rocker, so I went hunting and found this bad boy...

He cleaned up nicely with a little elbow grease and a new coat of paint...

Then he needed some new cushions... and voila!

Hope baby boy gets lots of good snuggles in his new rocker.

Congratulations Candace and Erik!

I love him to pieces already.

Birthday Girl

Am I seriously 31?! I try not to pay attention to the fact that I am getting older, until I have a birthday, and then I have no choice than to face the fact. I will say, it was much less traumatic than last year's big 3-0. Not that I would ever want to go back, but I don't know how excited I am about getting older. Oh well, what do ya do? It was such a fabulous birthday. Nothing fancy, but I felt spoiled rotten with all of the kind notes and cards {thanks everyone}. On Sunday, my mom & dad whipped up the most amazing pasta bar, and birthday cake in my honor. Wow! was it delish!I had my sweet family to help me out with those candles. Am I a lucky girl or what?!

I woke up on Tuesday, and seriously wanted to just hang out in my pj's all day long. Eventually I got dressed, and we{me, ry, and parke} went out on our way. We stopped by Kaden's class for a bit, and then over to the mall for some treats and browsing{most of our time was spent on the space shuttle & bubble gum machine- very popular with the kiddos}. Rylie and I splurged on some new sparkle for our lips. Very holiday fabulous!
That night was supposed to be a monster of a storm, so we hunkered down and I dug up the biggest sweatshirt I could find {nic's}, made chicken fried rice, and snuggled by the fire {the storm was a little disappointing, i was hoping to be snowed in for days, oh well}. Nic brought home this tasty little treat...

They sang a lovely happy birthday song...

And we dug into all of the yummy treats that had been so thoughtfully dropped off throughout the day! Thanks friends!!

Can you say chocolate?

It doesn't get much better. I feel so loved!

Highlights of my day:

1. Rylie rushing to my bedside first thing, with the most adorable birthday card she had made with aunt Steph. I loved to see how proud she was of herself, and i couldn't have loved it more. After her and Kaden gave me some great birthday snuggles, they sweetly tucked me back into bed and tiptoed out to leave me in peace. I really wanted to go back to sleep, but kaden had school, and that would have given me a 'mother of the year award,' so I got up.

2. As I was scrounging through my cupboards wondering what to have for breakfast, low and behold, Meg across the street calls, saying she has made me a plate of homemade cinnamon rolls! Really? I don't deserve such friends:)

3. Going through my pile of mail, and finding a letter from one of my precious young women expressing gratitude for my latest lesson. I'll bet she had no idea her letter would find me on the morning of my birthday, or how loved it would make me feel. It made me count my blessings, and realize how grateful I am for my calling.

4. Receiving countless phone calls & text messages wishing me a happy day!

5. Having nothing on the agenda, except to go volunteer in kaden's class. It was so great to go see him {it was so hard to send him to school, I just wanted to play with him all day. But again, MOTY award, couldn't do it.}

6. Going the entire day without makeup on my face! It was my day, and I could do as I pleased! It was awesome, and I swear I saw everyone and their dog at the mall {of course}. Just love me anyways people:)

7. So many treats {everyone knows I'm a sucker for sugar!} brought over. Oh loves, you are too good to me.

8. Nic and the kids gave me a road bike!! I've been salivating over one for a couple of years now, and I was so surprised when Nic brought that puppy in. Can't wait to give it a spin! St. George tri- here I come!

9. Searching for my beloved Koda Bear until 1:00 in the morning, on the coldest night ever! only to finally have to go to bed without him. It was torture. I slept horrible.

{p.s. we found him bright and early the next morning, he had had a wonderful sleepover with a very generous, dog-loving family. Lucky him. We were on cloud nine that he was home, and safe! He was home for about 10 minutes. Long enough to eat his breakfast, and then yep, you guessed it- the little turkey took off out the side gate again {whoops!} and was gone for another 8 hours!! By this point I was ready to beat him, and trying not to care if he ever came back {although deep down inside I was in full panic mode- I sure love that dumb dog}. He was finally rescued again, and is now under very close supervision}

Football

Somewhere along the way I feel like I have lost control of my life. We are constantly running from one place to another, soccer, football, dance, volunteering, allergy shots {twice a week- poor kade, he is such a trooper though}, practices, homework, no naps{boo}, YW, work, of course trying to somehow fit in random trips to the grocery store, and keeping the house somewhat in order. I've been fighting it, trying to figure out how I can simplify and get back to the way things were. Quiet, calm, sane. We've been over our schedule a million times trying to cut things out, but they are all good things. We want our children to have opportunities and experiences. They are learning new talents, discovering their interests, making new friends, and stepping out of their comfort zone {as am I}. And it is a good thing. It is a new stage of life, and amidst all of the chaos, we are creating priceless memories! (I just need to learn how to keep up with it all:)

Kaden had such a great time playing football this year, and even scored an extra point! Way to go buddy!!

Papa put up with this little monkey climbing on him like he was a jungle gym... what a good Papa.

I love nothing more than my children finding out a little more each day who they really are. I am so proud them, and am loving watching them grow!

October Happenings

In other October happenings there was a field trip with Rylie's class to the pumpkin patch that we were so excited to be a part of...

Parker was so happy to be there with his big sis, and he found himself the perfect little pumpkin!

I was invited to an all girl "Witch Party" by my sweetest friend Lindi. It was so great to hang with her, and we had an absolute blast!!

There was our annual trick-or-treating adventure at my darling grandma's assisted living...

I sure do love this lady... she is so special to us, and it was great to see her. The kids are always asking me when they can go see grandma. I'm so grateful they have been able to know her, and love her as I do.

When Papa showed up, he was mauled by a mob of sugar-crazed kiddos. I think they were received well... thanks dad!

Again... half the buckets were devoured before we even hit the car. Nothin' but sugar runnin' through those veins. What is wrong with me! It's like I don't care... but I do??

That night Nic and I had a neighborhood Halloween party, so I busted out the ol' witchy costume once again. Isn't Nic a hottie in that mullet?! I voted him "sexiest" costume at the party, but to no avail... he got taken by Marilyn Monroe... I don't know what they were thinking? :)

Then of course, there was the carving of the pumpkins... the kids loved it this year, and were actually a lot of help!

Love that little cheese!

We had some delicious grub at good ol' Warren's, the kids got free kids meals for being in their costumes. Too cool! Trick-or-treating was a little wet this year, but that did not stop us!! We were maniacs. We went out in shifts, Nic and I took turns, I hooked Rylie up and made sure we got her some fabulous treasures. It was lots of fun!

Right before we left, Parker fell and hit his mouth so hard! It was so sad, and put a little damper on the night for him. Once the sugar started to kick in, and he got the hang of the whole, look cute, open my bag, and they put candy in it business- he realized he was going to be just fine!

How cute are these two out there with their umbrella's? They were so darn cute!

We finally were able to coerce Parke into his shark costume, and it was adorable!

Last, but not least. There was the annual Halloween bash at our house. We always have both sides of our family over for one huge party. Everyone brings the yummiest food (I'm pretty sure that is my favorite part:)

The company's not half bad either:)

Then there are the games... the mummy wrap! Always a hit. I'm pretty sure the kids just love the fact that they can play with the toilet paper, without being in trouble.

Kaden's particular favorite... donut on a string. We even added a fish pond this year, that was a huge hit!

Mimi and Papa did not disappoint in the costume department... love it guys!!

And after it is all said and done, we sit up till midnight and play with dry ice. Too much fun!

It was an extremely busy month (somewhere in the middle there I managed to squeeze in my first Ragnar race, and I'm pretty sure I had my first ever anxiety attack), but I think that has got to be a record for how much fun we had! And now let the holidays begin! Arghh...