Happy Thanksgiving and Half Birthday

Wesley had a HALF birthday!! Those are a big deal to me. And they are a big deal for babies because that means they are getting SO big! To celebrate, we took Wesley to his first BYU football game! Go Cougs!! It was freezing, so Wesley hung out inside Dad's jacket most of the time.

I traveled over Thanksgiving for the first time in my life and we had a blast! We flew down to Texas on Wednesday and helped my parents pack up and MOVE from their house of 29 years. That was w e i r d to see my childhood home EMPTY. Should have taken more pictures.

Highlights: We had a blast with Ethan and Tristan who are GIANTS now... I can't believe they aren't 7 and 2 anymore... They LOVE playing with little Wesley and they are so sweet to him. We had an awesome game of tag after we all got hopped up on Thanksgiving pie sugar-highs!

I got to go to a fabulous yoga class with Dallin.

Catching up with Erlynne-- she lives too far away. Sisters should be closer!

Chris took Eric to experience Chik-Fil-A for the first time... now he's hooked! Best fast food chicken ever. and waffle fries and shakes and lemonade and polynesian sauce...

Grandpa Steve can never have tooo much baby-holding time, which was A-O-K with Wes!

Sorting through all my old high school stuff and enjoying the stroll down memory lane.

Helping Lady get Thanksgiving dinner ready-- yummy!

BLUE BELLLLLL!!! Best ice cream ever. Again, Eric has a new addiction. Too bad it's hard to get in Utah!

So much fun with family. It will be weird that my parents aren't there any more. For as long as I've been me, Plano has been my parent's home. I'm excited to have them closer in Vegas though.

And to close, here was the best highlight of all:

Wesley got to meet Santa!! He was a little confused as to why some fat jolly man was holding him instead of mom... and he certainly wasn't about to relax on this chump's lap! (Note the clenched fists). It was absolutely adorable. And this guy is the best Santa-- straight from the North Pole! (Apparently they have Texas accents in the North Pole).

He's mobile!

It's the end of life as we know it! Ok, not exactly... but on Saturday, Wesley mastered the back-to-tummy roll! Previously he could get to his side, but then he'd be stuck there. All of a sudden on Saturday afternoon he did it. He figured out that last step and now he's a rollin' machine! He rolled all the way across the living room floor and got stuck under the piano bench. He got stuck under the chair in the living room. He gets stuck on big toys when he rolls into them as well as the entertainment center. He rolls around in his crib now. I better get to babyproofing!

I'm so domestic...

Look what I learned how to do!

It started out simple enough... I wanted to learn how to can. I bought a half bushel of peaches from a roadside stand for $6. My friend Melissa came over on Conference weekend and showed me how. We canned 12 delicious quarts of peaches. I thought that was the end of my canning adventure...

Then a lady in my neighborhood let me pick her apple tree because she didn't have time to do anything with the fruit this year. Oh and while we were at it, why don't we just pick some grapes too? So about 40 pounds of apples and 8 pounds of grapes later, I ended up with 6 quarts of applesauce, 6 half-pints of grape jam, 8 half-pints of apple butter, and a bunch of dehydrated apples that were gone in no time.

Ok, so I thought I was done canning after allllll that apple-ing. But THEN! Pears went on sale for 25 cents a pound! I couldn't pass that up! For $3 I got 12 pounds of pears and bottled 6 quarts. Maybe I'm done now... Although I did find a delicious recipe for pumpkin butter and if it's anywhere as good as the apple butter I might just be canning again this weekend!

Wesley

I can't believe how big our little boy is getting! He's 5 months old, almost 16 pounds, and a total busy-body. Mom, was I super fidgety as a baby? Marilyn, was Eric? This boy is ONLY still when he's asleep. I'm terrified for when he starts crawling. He's successfully learned how to roll from his tummy to his back and spends his time working on getting from his back to his tummy.

Here are some cute photos I snapped one day...
Ain't he sweet?
I love catching these faces on camera. Hilarious.

Sleeping "peacefully" in his car seat. What up gangsta.

This might be my favorite Wesley-ism. It proves he is my son. He puts his feet up on everything. He LOVES his bouncy seat and always kicks his legs up on those side bars, all casual. This picture also illustrates two other loves-- sticking out his tongue and chewing on his hands.
We love this little boy!

My Best Friend's Wedding

Wesley and I took a whirlwind weekend trip to Arizona at the end of September so I could be a bridesmaid in Michelle's wedding. It was a lot of driving, a lot of screamy baby, and a lot of fun. I love Michelle like a sister and I'm SO happy she and Darin are finally married! I was so glad that I got to be there for the beautiful wedding. LOVE YOU TWO!

Happy Birthday!!

Eric is 24 today! Woo hoo! For those who don't know, I turned 24 ten days ago. I'm the old lady in this relationship, I've got a whole 10 days on my hubby. We have been discussing how 24 feels old. Not old like withered, caney, beardy, my back aches old, but old like you-can't-get-away-with-stupid-stuff-cuz-you-are-just-a-kid kinda old. Or old in that you should be mature and do stuff like be married and have kids. Or old in that lots of celebrities and almost all college football players are now younger than you. That kinda old. We also feel old because this year's birthday celebrations totally snuck up on us and passed rather uneventfully. We did manage to have a joint birthday cake and blow out 24 candles. I haven't blown out candles in YEARS! It was invigorating, really. Pretty sure I forgot to make a wish actually... Luckily Frazier was there to capture this perfect picture. The first one is the awkward trying-to-smile-while-singing-happy-birthday picture and the second is the CLASSIC puffy cheeks cloud of bday candle smoke picture. Gotta love it.

And now, in honor of Eric on his special day, here is a list of 24 things that make me smile about Eric. (Beware, this might get cheesy/mushy).

1. His adorable face
2. How much he loves Wesley
3. How much he loves me!
4. "You could sell these..."
5. His always positive outlook
6. The way he goes along with my crazy ideas, even when they seem pretty crazy
7. His charm and friendliness. I've still never met anyone who dislikes him...
8. His muscles. :)
9. How easy he is to please. He'll eat anything I set in front of him.
10. He always has my best interest in mind and what would make me happy
11. His determination
12. How much he loves Russian
13. How willing he is to give service
14. How dedicated he is to his calling
15. "Kisses!"
16. "I'm useless when a football game is on."
17. How he stays on top of politics
18. His love of softball and passion for sport
19. He always remembers to say prayers before bed
20. He bought those jeans I liked on him even though they were "dirty"
21. When he picks out my outfits. :)
22. When he wants me to pick out his outfits
23. How we can talk for hours and never run out of things to say
24. and EVERYTHING else about my sweetie!

Help with a huge undertaking

Hello everyone

I'm asking for some help with a project I'm starting. Let me give you the background.

My upstairs neighbors are a 6 year old girl and her single mom. My next door neighbors are the elderly parents of the single mom. They are from Bulgaria. The mom speaks English great and is currently studying Behavioral Science at UVU. The parents barely speak English, but they sure try.

The 6 year old girl was recently diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disorder which requires her to be homeschooled. Well, I've always thought that homeschooling works well for some but not as well for others. Sophie falls in the not-as-well category. She does great at school, not as great at home.

I've been feeling for a while that I should help homeschool her. I ignored this idea and contested it for quite a while, but I finally admitted that maybe I should listen to the Spirit and offer. Last night I presented my idea and I thought the mom was going to cry, she was so excited.

Here's where I need help. They have no money to buy a curriculum, so I'm helping them make one. I've found some great resources online, but I would love LOVE any input and ideas I can get here! Can you email me worksheets, assignments, projects, etc. that your first grader is doing this year? Thank you thank you thank you!

We started today--so far it's been a success! I copied a worksheet my niece Tatum was assigned for homework the first week of school when I was visiting. :)

Alright folks, send me your homework assignments! (And your prayers, too!)