Givin' Thanks

We celebrated a little differently this year... Thomas went to Orderville for the week to work on the shanty; I stayed in Provo with the kiddos because it was my turn to stay on site for the apts. for Thanksgiving. It was a little sad to have no family around for the holiday, but friends took good care of us.

The Andersen's had us over for dinner!

Moriah's Grandad was a very good grandad to two!
Macey and Moriah at the "kids table". SOOOOO cute!
Thanks for taking care of us while Thomas is gone! We can't wait until he gets home Saturday night!

Our ward had a holiday dinner and dessert contest last night. I worked on these chocolate snowflakes this week for the big event.

Macey woke up from her nap telling me she was sick and her tummy hurt... hmmm. About and hour before the holiday party she threw up all over her dad and the kitchen. No party for us! Luckily she felt tons better after getting sick and was back to her old self. The incident motivated me to get all my laundry done, mop my floor, and Lysol the house! I didn't get to put my cake in the contest though. So this morning we pretended like it was a birthday and ate it for breakfast! Yum!
A friend made this little shirt for Henry to wear to church! Isn't he cute! The tie is ironed on!

Call to Action!

A girl in my ward has a great chance for all of use to give a little this holiday season. I want to pass that opportunity on to you!

She is a teacher who specializes in ESL (English as a second language). The kids she works with live a harder life than most of us ever have. One boy on his Christmas wish list last year wished for heat... Since the school year started they have been receiving points for various jobs well done. In December they will redeem these points at a "mini mall". They are to pick out a gift for Christmas for every member of their family. How fun does that sound? Being able to give a nice gift to your family thrills little kids!

This is where you come in... they need donations for their mini mall! They need anything and everything because the gifts are for all ages- Moms, Dads, siblings. Gently used and new things are appropriate.

I dug through my closets and found tons of stuff! Picture frames, nice clothes I haven't worn forever, baby clothes I never took the tags off, lotion I never opened... what do you have hiding in your closest?

If you live in Utah county I would be glad to come and pick things up. If you live in Southern Utah, send things up with Misty at Thanksgiving, and if you live far away send some cash... I plan to buy a few gift cards to our local grocery store!

All donations need to be in by December 7th, so let me know how you can help! This is exciting isn't it!

Twins!

I've always wanted to have twins, so when the opportunity arises I snatch it! Sam and Macey-

Aren't they cute!
Sarah shows Macey the most random YouTube videos when she babysits... here is her dancing to the latest favorite!

Love this...

This was my Saturday afternoon. I love Saturdays! I made homemade noodles, blogged, and did things I like to do while Thomas held Mr. Magoo and Macey took a nap...

THEN we went to the mall. Macey hasn't been to the mall since I can remember. Who knew it would be so traumatizing to see so many pretty things and not be able to touch them. She was carried out over Thomas' shoulder screaming about something she wanted to take home. I'll probably never go to the mall again. That's ok by me; I'm not much of a mall person anyhow. Sure you can go Christmas shopping with your two year old; they don't remember. But who would WANT to go Christmas shopping with their two year old???

Pictures from last weekend!

Here they are as promised... one week late :)

That cute baby and that cute man I'm married to! (Lucky me, I know!)

Momma with her famous wares.
Tyler, Sarah, Courtney, and Beth playing killer bunnies, some random card game they loved and I was too tired to learn...
Macey and a punch/cheeto stained face in the sweet hat mom made! She made one for all the grandkids. Thomas and Tyler are getting one too!
We miss everyone... let's do it again!

The weekend!

Thomas and Henry took Macey and I on a date last night! After a yummy meal at home of fish tacos we headed off to the Bean Museum on campus and then to the BYU Men's Basketball home opener! Macey LOVED Cosmo and the cheerleaders as much as she loved her bag of popcorn! We received an email with the chance to buy $1.00 tickets because we are alumni! I think we are getting old...

The Bean Museum and it's treasures... I think Thomas and I like the museum as much (or more) than Macey. The giant walking stick is Thomas' favorite. I like the Dik-Diks, and Macey was undecided (I think the alligator won her heart though).

This morning Thomas went and played in our church's Turkey Bowl. Then we all had a yummy breakfast of Kneader's French toast; a Utah phenomena!

I only saw one other person who was even remotely dirty! This man plays hard!
Macey has been enjoying some post-Halloween finds this week. I have a secret stash of dress ups to pull out at the months get a little colder and darker.
More fun to come I'm sure! We'll be trying to finish up Christmas shopping this afternoon. I am so ready for the holidays!

They come, they eat, they leave!

We dropped mom off at the airport yesterday... sad indeed. Macey woke up this morning asking if "granma doaf" was coming over today. It's hard to tell her no, and even harder to not be able to tell her when we will see Grandma again, because I don't even know when the next time will be. We LOVED having my mom here and were so grateful that so many family members could come and see us.

All our pictures are on Thomas' computer already... boo. I'll add them later!

Here were our favorite things from the past week though:

• Swimming at Lachelle and Ben's hotel pool (THANKS!)
• Grandpa Shoaf made cinnamon rolls and jumbo dinner rolls
• Doc's pizza buffet
• Macey building houses and going to the park with grandma
• Shanty planning! Did you know that my mom is a master blue printer... yes indeed - one day we will have a little room for all of our guests!
• the awesome hats my mom made for everyone

Pictures to come!

PS . Henry turned one month old yesterday! Time flies doesn't it!

A name and a blessing...

My mom flew in from KY on Wednesday and we decided it would be a great weekend to name and bless Henry, a Latter-day Saint tradition. Lachelle and Tyler (plus their families) came down from Idaho and we had another mini reunion!

Mom made Henry's blessing outfit and I used the afghan that Ranelle made me for Macey's blessing!

Our family of four!

The clan! We wanted to invite so many more people, but decided just to stick with family!

Cousin Cam, my brother Tyler, Thomas, Grandpa Terry, BiL Matt, and Lachelle's hubby Ben!
We had a great weekend full of family and good food! More pictures to come...

Wizard of the Wasatch

Thomas thinks Henny looks like a wizard in this outfit; he took some wizard pictures...

Thomas had lots of help blowing out his candles... we lit them twice because it was so much fun!
It's been almost a week since Henry's 2 week checkup! He was 8 lb. 2 oz. (25th percentile) and 21 inches long (50th percentile)! That is growing 2 inches since birth... amazing really. He's doing great and happy as a clam as long as he is kept fed :) Just like his momma!

A Haunting Birthday

Happy Birthday Thomas! Halloween is a great day to be born! We love you! Cake pictures to come!

We spent most of the day taking out our garden... always bitter sweet. Then headed to Orem to go trunk-or-treating, have dinner, and then trick-or-treating with The Andersen's. The trunk-or-treat was a little overwhelming, the girls walked around just staring at people, but trick-or treating was another story! Macey LOVED going door to door. She really understood the concept of people handing her candy when she knocked!

Macey checking out everyone in costume...

Henry the Dino slept the night away

Fiona the bee, Macey the lion, and Moriah the butterfly

Our cute family!

Maybe next year Macey should be something a little more girly! Everyone kept calling her a boy! No mother likes that... We had a great night though, thanks for the invite friends!