A New Neighborhood Tradition

At the beginning of this month we received an invite to forgo traditional neighbor gifts and instead donate gift cards to Primary Children's Hospital:



So we bundled up and headed over to drop off our gift card and sip some hot chocolate...





Thanks Dabo Family for the awesome idea, warm fire, cocoa, and a new tradition!

(ps: Jamie, I copied this picture from off your blog:)

when the brain isn't working at 100%

so remember how we celebrated nate's 30th birthday a few weeks ago? yeah, well here are the cute party favors i made and totally forgot about. didn't even cross my mind before, during, or after the party!
i made them about a month ago and hid them in my closet. i was so proud of myself for getting them done early! then the party came and went and they stayed sad and lonely in my sock drawer until earlier this week when I pulled out the drawer and saw them staring back at me! I got a good laugh out of that, except i was mad too because no one got to enjoy my clever party favor. i'm going to pass them out to the family at our christmas party.

Making a Baby....

...a baby's food that is! (GOTCHA!)

we got a cool baby food maker from Grandma Sherrill and I tested it out last week:

sweet potatoes steaming


it purees nice and smooth


here is Mabel waiting for her food...
she had a mild fever (teething) and didn't feel great
but still managed to smile for the camera.
i love her hair in this picture.



ready for applesauce


why haven't I ever made my own applesauce before?
it's so easy and tasty.
i like to keep some in the fridge and freeze some too.
i had to make another batch a few days later because
when I would feed it to Mabel I would end up eating it too.

yum!


mabel's first food was a banana, then avocado, then sweet potato.
she has now had butternut squash, peas, broccoli, pears, brown rice cereal, prunes, applesauce, carrots and apricots.

trying sweet potato


avocado


licking her plate clean!

30 is the new 20 right?

happy 30th birthday Nate!

We had a family birthday party for Nate at our house last weekend and it was so fun! About a month ago I asked Nate's parents, and his siblings, if they would each write a poem about Nate, their memories/stories etc and read it to him at the party. Everyone agreed and just as I suspected we have some awesome poets in the family! Plus, Kristy's poem was a song on the guitar that was absolutely hilarious. (complete with her husband Dave as prop guy!) Thanks everyone for making it such a great night!

We ate homemade soup in bread bowls and had cheesecake and banana splits for dessert. Mabel and I had fun decorating the basement with a big 30 in pictures and 30 balloons.













Nate blew out his 30 candles and it scared Mabel so bad!
She started bawling.
Old age really is frightening isn't it? ;)

tis the season

my mumsie sent me treasures!!
(a few belonged to my great grandma Eula)

Being Thankful while Eating Too Much

Every few years we celebrate Thanksgiving with Nate's extended family from his mom's side. Since there are soooooo many people we have it at a church (basketball court included) and everyone is given food assignments to contribute to the feast.

Mabel and her cousin Myah chillin' Bumbo style...

mid conversation:

more cousins...

Nate's favorite part - pie!

Then on Saturday we drove up to Kamas to celebrate again with my grandparents, aunt, and cousins....and I forgot my camera. :( But the food was delicious and Mabel had fun watching her cousin Jack crawl around.

I am so thankful for family and friends who love and support us, for a warm home and food on our table, for Nate's job, for clean water, education, and for a happy healthy little girl.

happy thanksgiving!

six months today!

happy six months to our sweet Mabel!

17.6 lbs 27.5 inches long
(and two bottom teeth ready to make an appearance any day now!)

West Jordan

oh yeah...we moved!

we have been looking at houses for a long time...just daydreaming about moving never really thinking it could work until a little further into the future. (since we bought our condo right before the market crashed. awesome.) but a few months ago we spotted a cute house in west jordan that was an awesome deal, we found renters for the condo, and within a month we were sleeping under a new roof!

west jordan is slowly growing on me. i was worried because i really love salt lake and sometimes i feel so far away from everything familiar but i have to remind myself we are only 20 minutes away. (thank goodness mabel is starting to tolerate her carseat.) nate's office is super close too so that is a plus.

i did have a few anxiety attacks right when we moved in because almost EVERY SINGLE ROAD near our house was under construction. no really, EVERY SINGLE ROAD. i wanted to scream every time I tried to go somewhere since it would take me 3x as long. especially the grocery store. we are right by jordan landing which has every store known to man except a grocery store. (i refuse to go to walmart) and then andrea told me about a harmons right by our house. oh harmons, how i love you. things have gotten much better since that day.

we are still trying to get unpacked (things go a lot slower with a baby) but we are making progress. i love having more space (a whole basement too!) and we are thrilled to have a yard where mabel can play and we can have a garden. the catchildren have done remarkably well, they still haven't gone outside though. we are liking our neighborhood, have made a few new friends, and who knew a garage could make nate so happy? :)

can't wait for lots of happy memories to be made in our new home.