November Photo Dump

Oh, so behind, so behind...Don't be alarmed if there are a lot of "catch up" posts coming.

Here are a few more pictures from way back in November!

Jace busted out his Christmas bowtie way early. He was jazzed about it. And clearly he rocked that thing! Love this little man so much. He has a personality like none other. 

Hallie decided last minute to enter the the Reflections Contest at her school. The theme was "The World would be a Better Place If..." She drew a poster of the world, homes, school, and a lot of kids and said that it would be a better place if everyone was friends. It was all her idea and executed all on her own. She ended up winning the prize for her age division and it went on to the next level. What a good girl! 

Apparently that's all that happened in November other than Thanksgiving, which we celebrated early like usual at the Crapo cabin up in Idaho the weekend before. This is a new tradition, but quickly becoming a favorite. Love the entire weekend. Games, food galore, Every Flavor Beans, the traditional feast, and of course, Chopped. This year we also played Family Feud. So fun. 

Trying out some flavored jelly beans. Cort bowed out early and we later found out it's because she's pregnant and was very ill without the help of the jelly beans! hahhaa. So happy for her. 

Apparently she got a good one...

Sue-Dawg's face is great, but Carlie on the left is just awesome. 

An attempt at an all female selfie. #fail

Cute boys awaiting a fabulous dinner...

It wouldn't be a holiday celebration without a selfie with our dear grandmother.

Love the hub-bub of everyone all around. So much fun.

Ah, look, a picture of Devin! He does exist! 

Emilee must consider herself a kid still- there she is sitting at the kid table!

What cute kiddos. Apparently in the early Christmas spirit too, with their lovely colors.

Claire-Bear. This girl has the funniest personality! I love every second around her! 

Our Miracle Charlie. Such a big girl.

Hailie and I competed together in the family Chopped challenge and won the main course round and went on to the dessert round where Mikey and Lara beat us out! So much fun. 2nd place isn't so bad! 

 For actual Thanksgiving, we were going to go back up to Idaho as we were going to be there that weekend anyway for Houston's wedding. Alas, everyone was barfing and it was horrible, so we opted to stay home. We rallied enough strength to go to Sizzler for lunch (worst Thanksgiving meal EVER) and then to a movie, but you know it's bad when Jace was begging to go home halfway through the movie because he didn't feel good. Sorry people at Sizzler and the movie who we probably infected with our awful disease. By the weekend, Hallie and I felt well enough to go up for the wedding, so we hitched a ride with Carlie and went for the festivities. We are so happy for Houston and Baily. They make a darling couple and theirs was one of the most spiritual sealings I have ever been to. The spirit was definitely there and I'm glad we got to be there.

Baby Houie. How is he even old enough for this? I kind of feel like he is one of my kids, so really quite weird that he is old enough to get married. 

Good old Idaho-- it was nearly hurricane weather the wind was so bad. Ugh. I felt bad for Houston and Baily's pictures, but they actually turned out beautifully! Love Idaho, but that wind...

And, that's it for November!

There Goes September

GAH, I hate feeling behind on my blog! Do you know how many years I have kept this thing up? A lot. And now is no time to stop. I have honestly never been busier in my life, though, and have about 12.75 things to be working on at any given moment, including right now, but sometimes you just need a break, right?

So just for record keeping purposes, my time is consumed with school, internship, work, and of course my family. I was recently released from the Relief Society Presidency in my ward and put into the Primary Presidency, which has also taken a lot of my time. I am over SCOUTS, UGH!!! I know I shouldn't be so negative about this, but a) I know nothing about Scouts and b) I know nothing about Scouts and c) Scouts seems to take up a lot of time.

For now, we are going to recap the rest of September in quick, bullet point form:

• FIRST, Cheetah Amy and Bryce got married!! Yipppppeeeee!! I wish I had words to adequately express how beautiful their sealing was. It was In.Cred.ible. Their sealer was so so great. The second best and most spiritual sealing I have been to in my days, I dare say (after Flor's of course). A big fat congrats to Amy and Bryce! 

Yes Cheetah faces are always necessary. I haven't seen Cassie (the blonde back there) in like two years, so seeing her was extra special.

Check out my cheetah shoes. I know that they don't even match and they are technically leopard, but they were still an important part of the day.

• Next, the ZOO! We took a Saturday trip to the zoo with some family members to celebrate Josh's 1st birthday. Always a good time, both the company and the zoo!

Kenna is nearly one of Flor's favorite people. She doesn't see her very often, but when she does, she remembers and runs right to her.

Check out the sweet lego polar bear! Yeah, legos, for real! And also check out the two cute kids in font who are decked out for the rain. It did rain, so that was kind of fun. 

The big crew of us. My eyes are closed. Ignore that.

•  THEN, I turned 28 years old. Just roll me into my grave now, I am so old. :) Just kidding, I actually think I am doing pretty well as I was convinced I was 28 already and was turning 29. So, I am actually doing better than I thought! (Yeah, who forgets their age already at this stage in life? Me.) 

Tucanos birthday dinner. Nothing better!

Aww these two boys. Love them. Jace's face is so typical of him. And I need to write a whole separate post about my awesome husband and all the amazing things he does for me. I love him. I know I have written such posts before, but I just feel so supported and valued by him. I could not have been more blessed in the husband department. 

Yeah, that's a baby bag. We recycle bags around here, okay?

• FINALLY, this happened. I signed a paper. I wish I could tell you what it means, but I can't. Maybe some day soon. This is really what has been consuming most of my time. And with that cliffhanger...

Until next time....

Brad's Wedding

Gosh I have gotten a little behind on my blogging...

The day after Relay for Life was my Uncle Brad's wedding. Brad is Linda's husband for those who can't keep track of all the crazy players in this saga we call life. It has been over two years since Linda's death and I have hoped that Brad would re-marry for his own happiness and for the happiness of his kids and the time came. I can't lie and say that the event was without emotions- and for everyone in our family the emotions seemed to be coming from different places- but we are really thrilled and excited for Brad and his new wife Holly.

I was a bit emotional at the wedding just because I was missing Linda. Everything is a reminder that she is not here and that it is "final" (though you would think that I still wouldn't have to remind myself sometimes that she is gone, but I still do). Brad's new wife is also a widow- her husband passed away about a year ago from cancer, leaving her and 5 children behind. How about an instant family of 9 kids?! Pretty awesome. We are praying for them all during this transition time. I am genuinely happy for them to have found each other and I am excited to get to know Holly and her kids further.

Now, without further ado, a random assortment of pictures that I got from the big event.

This is not from the event- but I realized that none of the pictures I took of the wedding actually show their faces, so here is their engagement picture. 

A trip to Brigham City (where they got married) would not be complete without a trip to Maddox! Yum!)

Holly's friends were kind enough to let them have the wedding in their backyard. It was gorgeous. The whole thing was decorated so cute. 

These two...

Nice face there Dev

Actually being nice to each other for two seconds. It's a miracle!

Here they come!

We were seated in the very very back, thus the not-so-great pictures.

Devin hauling around Jace's Mickey in his pocket since Jace can't go anywhere without the thing.

This grandma of mine. Quite possibly my favorite person in the whole world.

Just cute.

The sun caused some serious shadows here, but proof that we all made it! And in one piece after not sleeping at all the night before. Yeah. I am using that as the excuse for why I look rough.

Fun treat table. 

And this actually happened on the way home-- which never happens!

Congrats to Brad and Holly and the new fam!