Flashback Friday

I decided to start back up with Flashback Fridays. This is a picture that I have up in my family room. It's on my wedding day & I'm surrounded by some of my dearest friends. My two sisters are in the picture, my cousin Shannon, Anya: a friend I've had since Kindergarten, Mimi: a friend that I met at BYU, Laurel/Laurel/Trisha: the best college roomates a girl could ask for.

Granted, there are a number of dear friends missing from this picture, but the girls in this picture are truly amazing people and friends. I was so fortunate to have them with me on my wedding day and to still have them be such a big part of my life today. Friends & sisters truly are two of my favorite things.

I love being able to look at this picture daily ~ it brings back so many wonderful memories!

GYMBOREE 30% off

A friend of mine gave me a 30% off card for Circle of Friends at Gymboree. If you shop at Gymboree for your kiddos....go online and use the code CFCIRCLE and that will give you 30% off your entire purchase....including sale items. Enjoy! Sale ends this Sunday, 11/11.

3 months old

The third month is amazing. I’m sure I’ll look back and think that this was one of my favorite stages.

I really feel like I got a new baby this last month. The first two months were rough. He was a good natured baby but didn’t sleep much and when he did, it had to be in someone’s arms…..usually mine. Everything changed the third month. He takes great naps outside of my arms and is doing a little better at night, too! For two months I couldn’t get anything done during the day so now that he takes naps…sometimes long naps….outside of my arms…I feel like a whole new person! I love it! It makes me enjoy being at home all day because when I’m not working I can get stuff done around the house….read a book…..scrapbook…etc. And, he puts himself to sleep! No more rocking and walking around with him. When its time for a nap we swaddle him, lay him down, give him his binky & a kiss on the head, and walk out of the room. 95% of the time that works!

Nate’s little personality has really come out this month. He smiles from ear-to-ear all of the time and loves to hear himself make noise. He kicks his legs a ton and gets really excited. His new favorite love is the mirror. He loves looking at himself and he cracks himself up all day long. It is so fun to watch. He is rarely upset but when he is….he’s either tired or hungry which are easy problems to solve.

One other thing that is new is that he always has to have something in his mouth. If he can’t pull his shirt in to his mouth or there isn’t a blanket near, he will settle for his hands. He puts his long fingers so far in to his mouth that he gags himself repeatedly. It’s quite funny. It sometimes leads to him puking so we try to give him something else to suck on.

He is definitely out of his 0-3 month clothes and on to the bigger size. Actually, he’s kind of in between sizes since he’s still pretty long and skinny but before long all of his 3-6 month clothes will fit.

I am SO thankful that this month has been MUCH easier than the first two were. I love my little man and he has brought so much joy to our family in 3 short months!

doorbell ditching

I just have to say that I love my calling with the young women. We have some wonderful girls but what makes it even better are the ladies I get to serve with.

Tonight we did a little something fun for our girlies. Katie made delicious caramel and chocolate covered apples & wrapped them all cute with a note from us telling them how wonderful they are. Then, all of the leaders met at the church, piled in Katie's car, and doorbell ditched each girl. You should have seen Emily, Jen & Loralee as they were running! We are definitely amateurs at the doorbell ditching but we had a fun evening out with a lot of laughs.

I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to work with them and feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such great people!

the recipe

Since a few of you have requested the recipe for the chocolate-peppermint icecream cake....I found it online! Check it out at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/108968. There are also a few good reviews....a few people have some suggestions on ways to tweak the recipe. I think I'll make it with actual peppermint icecream instead of the vanilla with peppermint pieces.

Let me know if any of you decide to make it!

i love peppermint icecream

I absolutely LOVE peppermint icecream. It's one of the many reasons I love the holiday season. I saw it for the first time at the grocery store yesterday and had to buy it. It was so delicious last night! Every brand is a little different so I have to have them all since it's only available for a few months out of the year!

We always make an oreo peppermint icecream pie....which I'm sure we'll do again this year but I saw this recipe in a magazine so I'm thinking we'll have to try to make this, too.

I love this time of year.

happy haunting!

Last night we went to Ali's house for a little while before they left go to trick-or-treating. Kyle was a ninja and Abbie was the cutest chicken I've ever seen. She was SO excited to go trick or treating that I could barely get her to sit still long enough to take a picture. Usually she at least looks at me and says cheese with a huge grin on her face.

We spent the majority of the night at my parent's house since my mom ditched my dad and went to Utah for the week. The thought of my dad sitting there all alone handing out candy made me sad so we spent the rest of the evening over there. We had a nice chat with him and we enjoyed each others company. Their neighborhood is insane on Halloween. People come from all over to trick-or-treat in there. We just sat on the front porch with the basket of candy.

I thought it was pretty cool of the firemen to bring their big ol' truck in to the neighborhood to hand out candy. The kids loved that.

Here are a few pictures of our monkey and our adorable neice as a chicken. As you can see...the excitement of Nate's first Halloween wore him out. We hope everyone had a fun Halloween!