Thanksgiving in St. George

I hope it's not to late to do a post on Thanksgiving?! I'm usually late to post anyways.

(A special thanks to Mallory for taking all of these pictures)

We went to warm St. George for Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. We were missing quite a few cousins, since it was a little bit of a drive, but still lots of people were able to be there. We ate outside since it was so warm.

 



 

 

The boys (uncles, cousins, nephews, etc.) played a game called skeet shoot. I had no idea but appariently Blake knows how to shoot :) he won twice.
(that cute yellow house in the background is my uncle's vacation home that Blake and I stayed for our honeymoon)
Any ways back on topic. . . Blake also taught me how to shoot, and I did pretty good. If it didn't hurt my shoulder so bad I probably would do it more often.

 

Peyton and I watched Blake ply skeet shoot from a distance. Zoey (my parents cute puppy) just came and sat next to us on the rock. Peyton was in heaven!

 

 

 

Mallory and my cousin Heather had a double bridal shower. I got them some GOOD ;-) gifts.

 

 

 

 

Triple Date to Fiesta Fun

 

 

 

 

 

My loving parents watched Peyton while we went on a triple date with Mallory, Robert, Chase and Heather. We went to the arcade/fun zone; Fiesta Fun. Though the place was kind of run down and everything was breaking, we had a great time. We did the batting cages, the gold range and multiple arcade games. You know that game Deal or no Deal? Well I did that arcade game and I won the jackpot of 200 tickets. That was the first time I'd ever won like that. While I did that Blake did this other ball jackpot thing, and won a few times as well. All together we got 467 tickets! With all the toys we got, boy oh boy was Peyton lucky when we got back that night :)

 

It seems like when ever we go to St. George, Blake and I always talk about how we could totally live there. It's funny to me cause before I got married, I always planned on getting out of Rexburg and Idaho. Maybe it's the "Idaho Boy Curse" (made that up), but I really don't want to live far away from family. It has been such a blessing having both sides of the family so close to us. I have grown to appreciate my mom so much, especially after having Peyton. She does so much for me (probably more than I even know) and I'm ashamed I have not noticed until I became a mom myself. We really are so lucky to have such a wonderful, loving family. But more than anything we are lucky to have the gospel. That we have a deep understanding of Christ and what he has done for us. It is such a blessing to know that we will all be together forever.

That is what I am grateful for most of all! 

 

A Dinner Party to Die For. . .

We did not take very many pictures from the party (I'm the worse at remembering to pull out the camera), but luckily Katie remembered to document the occasion. It was so festive and fun, we had a mummy, a gypsy, frankenstein, the devil's brother, a kosher canibal, a depressed witch, a deranged dentist, and a crazy killer woman (I actually don't know what her character was?). 

Blake was a little upset, because he did understand how we could just play the game and nobody really wins :) what a man. Once we got the hang of it, it was really fun. I wish my sister was able to be our server like we had originally planned. I think it would not have gone as long if we had her helping. 

The food however, was delicious:

Drinks: Kylie and Kade brought Martinellis 

Appetizers: Katie made some yummy guac, and I bought some festive black and orange chips. 

First Course: Ceasar salad made by Arianne

Main course: Katie made a creamy potato soup, and I made home made chicken noodle soup with my mom's sweet whole wheat rolls

Dessert: Cinnamon balls (I don't actually know the real name of the dessert) with ice cream and Katie's home made carmel sauce

It was so much help to have everyone bring something. It saved time, money and stress.

I would like to give Katie a special thank you for all of her help planning and making the food.

 

 

Naked Time

So about two months ago I read a blog that had some tips on how to potty train your baby early, or making potty training easier. One of the great tips was let your baby have some naked time. This helps them be aware of their body, because sometimes babies just get so used to going in their diapers, and they don't even realize when they are going. 

Peyton loves to be naked. I've noticed he can crawl and climb a lot faster without that bulky diaper. I try to keep him on the tile (because accidents are inevitable), but to him, everything is so much more fun when he is diaper-less.

Also our toilet paper roll looks like this about 75% of the time. So I'm sorry if you come to our house and this grosses you out :)

The Cutest Monkey and other Projects

 Peyton made the cutest monkey. I was going to make him a flying monkey to go with my wicked witch costume but I guess you could say I got lazy. 

We went to my mom's house for dinner and trick or treated around her neighborhood. The weather was perfect for trick or treating, but Peyton was bored so we went home after about ten houses. I was so nice though. . . Blake and I have been trying not to give P candy/sweets until he is a year old, but I let him have a dum dum for being such a good sport. He loved it, and sucked it down to the stick.

 It's amazing how much more fun holidays are now that I have a baby :)

 

I made these delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Perfect for the season, or to give to your visit teachies, or to bring to a naughty party :) 

I got the recipe off of Holly's Blog.

Christmas is going to come before we know it, so I decided to start making gifts. These are made from old t-shirts I never wear anymore. I got the instructions on how to do it here

And I have to give a special thanks to my little BOY; who modeled these so well. And I'm sure his dad would be mad if he ever found out, but hey I needed to make sure these were the right size.

 And I put out some fall decorations, and I realized I have lots of Halloween decor, but not very much for Thanksgiving. Guess I just need to keep adding to it. 

And I promise I will put up pictures from our murder mystery dinner just as soon as I get them.