THANKFUL

I know we are well beyond Thanksgiving, but I have had such an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and thankfulness for so many things. And throughout this whole holiday season I have had a dramatic shift in the things that are now a primary focus and the things I am the most grateful for.

Here's just a few of the things that have been on my mind the most.

Family.

The best grandparents my kids could ever ask for.

Temples.

The most beautiful and fun daughter a mom could ask for and an absolutely amazing better half.

I don't think I could be more blessed!

Sometimes I Feel Like....

Let me lay it out for you...

• Living in half the square feet you have for the past year and adding another person to the mix.
• Being 8 months pregnant.
• Not even having a bedroom to have as a retreat.
  

And while it may feel like this, just as with the picture you get a good laugh out of it all.

I couldn't find words to better describe it.

Week of Halloween

My brother and sister-in-law brought their daughter Peighton to visit us two weekends ago and Jade and Peight stayed all week and Ty came back for Halloween. It was so fun to see them and have them here for Halloween. We decided to take advantage of having the girls cousins together again this Halloween.

We went to Schnepf Farms with the girls and I am only now realizing how funny it is to see all these parents taking around their overtired children trying to convince them that this is so much fun.

Exhibit A: The Carousel (which neither of the girls could get off fast enough).



Exhibit B: The Honey Bee Ride (which Peight liked more than Rylee).



Exhibit C: The constant yawns and eye rubbing that occurred while Jade and I were determined to make it worth our $12.00 per person trip :)



Although there were tears and fussing and a lot of yawning, the trip was well worth it if you ask me.

Rylee loved the pigs.




And we liked the girl's faces in the Honey Bee.



The girls loved playing in the little "park" that they had set up.




And I liked being the 6 month pregnant lady watching everyone else crawl around and go up and down slides.


And the petting zoo alone was worth it for Chris and I. I think Rylee could have stayed in with the goats all day long. She was determined she needed to touch all of them!






While Peighton was happier in dad's arms...



Or just outside of the petting zoo all thogether.


I think my most favorite part was seeing how much fun Rylee had with Chris.


In the maze...


On the rides...


and in the pumpkin patch...





I even got in on some of the lovin'


He is such and amazing dad to her and I couldn't help but sit back and smile while I watched a big 6'6 dad hold hands with the little munchkin of a daughter.

Then there came Halloween (or to most of us the night before Halloween). We had a movie projected up on the garage and passed out candy to the few trick-or-treaters we had come visit. Still filled with family, friends, and fun.



And some home made pumpkin pie thanks to Uncle Jensen!


Fun night for all!

It's My Party

This time of year has brought back many memories and for Chris and I it brings back the absolute joy Rylee has brought into our lives since the minute she was born. It is hard to believe that a year has already gone by. We celebrated what was originally planned as a "small get together" that gradually grew into a full blown party. Rylee was happy all day and absolutely loved helping mom and grandma get everything ready for her big party.


I don't know what she was more intimidated by. The huge cupcake just for her...


Or all the people singing to her...


But she eventually got over both and absolutely loved her cake.





I don't know if it was Chris or Rylee that was more excited to open her gifts.


After she got her stuffed animals she seemed as happy as could be.


But over the next couple of days she eventually found and fell in love with all her new toys. And she has loved being pushed around in her new Cozy Coupe.


We are lucky to have so many amazing people in our family that can have so much love for such a little person in what seems a short amount of time. Thank you everyone for coming and having so much love for out little girl!

She is a lucky girls and still remains a beam of light to everyone in her life.