It's time

I needed a recipe.  I thought it was on my food blog.  Geez, remember that adventure?  But it wasn't.  And then I remembered it was on my personal blog.  I could see the picture of Porter standing outside my itty bitty townhouse holding the chocolate muffin.  That's how I remembered where it was.  I came to this blog, scanned through and found the recipe.  Then I found myself scanning old posts, making pictures bigger, and being blown away at how faithfully I blogged, what I blogged about, and even the clever things I wrote!  This blog is an amazing piece of family history!  And so, I decided, it's time.  It's time to do it again.  Not for you, not for my mom, but for me.  A place I can write at the end of the day.  A place I can add pictures of my family.  A place I can come to and just feel like I'm doing something FOR ME.  Because let's be honest, at the end of each day, I'm exhausted and usually feeling guilty about the things I failed on.  And to be even more honest, I've been yearning for something to make me feel like an individual.  So, I think this is it.  Something that can make me feel like an individual and be fulfilling family history. So, here we go!

Last time I blogged was Paige's 3rd birthday!  What?!  Seriously! (She'll be 5 next month!)

So, at her birthday party in Draper, I was totally pregnant!  It's true.  Probably like 6-7 weeks at that point.  And I was sick.  I remember driving home from this lake after the party and feeling so sick.  I had no food in the car, I was dying and my mother in law wanted to make all these different stops on the way home.  I almost screamed, "I'm pregnant, please stop somewhere so I can buy a snack!"  But I didn't. I made it home.

That fall we did fun stuff for Halloween

In November we went to Draper for Thanksgiving, got a pedicure with my in laws, watched Paige dance at her ballet class for parents day, Paige got dental work done on her teeth, both Porter and Paige got notebooks from a primary activity and loved them, my baby belly started growing, Paige got a fairy set from her aunts, and the kids had a "sleepover" while we went Black Friday shopping. 

In December, we did A LOT. Family parties and get togethers. We saw Elsa and Santa Claus - who Porter was afraid of this year still. We saw cousins and made treats and had a great Christmas!

And I'll start with 2015 another post :)

whew! let's update!

I don't know where the time has gone? And even though I'm over blogging, I still want to keep it up so I have this awesome family history RIGHT here!

 

So what have we been up to since July?

 

August was a fun month.  We celebrated Paige's 3rd birthday!  And for the past three years of her life we haven't been home for her birthday.  I'm determined to change that from now on.  This year we were visiting family in Draper and then in Moab with friends.  No pictures.  Sad.  But here are pictures from Paige's birthday party with her cousins and her friend party.

 

I can't believe she turned three.  I remember when I had her and she slept the first 24 hours after I brought her home.  I really worried about her.  But then she cried and didn't sleep for over a year.  Dang ear infections.  Her language and her gross motor skills blew me out of the water!  She's always been attached at my side.  She sings all the time - which gosh I love!  She picks up on things faster than I thought possible.  She's happy.  She loves her big brother and she'd follow him anywhere.  She's a great helper and loves her daddy so much!

 

 

(forgive her hair  - she had put Vaseline in the bathtub with her the night before.  It took DAYS to wash out. )

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the month was spent playing in the sprinkler, walks to the park, and eating popsicles.  Cold weather came way too fast to Logan.  I mean I guess it's not cold, but I enjoy when the summer lasts through September!  We've had lots of rainy and cloudy days already.  We've already been baking and playing lots of indoor games.

 

Porter started preschool this week!   As I watched him walk away (he said he didn't need me to help walk him to the door) I cried.  I cried really hard.  And then I prayed.  I begged Heavenly Father to help Porter have a great experience in preschool and with other kids.  As much as I want my children to never ever leave me.  I'm confident that this is the right choice for us.  So here are some adorable pictures before Porter went to school.

 

 

 

 

AND we bought a mini van.  What what?! No pictures but I'm pretty sure it's the best thing in the entire world.  We've been a one car family for two years and WOW it's so awesome to have my own car again.  And let's be honest, a mini van is great. 

a week in bear lake

We went to Bear Lake over the 4th and spent a whole week with my family.  It was amazing.  I stayed up late with my siblings who I NEVER see, ate lots, worked out with my sisters, played family kickball, and watched as my kids played with their long lost cousins :) I can't wait until our next big vacation together!

Porter and Paige holding their new baby cousin, Hadley.

The view from our morning walks...

Told you we exercised together! My mom leading us in some morning aerobics :)

The birdhouses the grandkids painted...

We were totally laughing...seriously...not

Cute little cousins playing together

All the Merrifield grandkids.  Pretty DANG awesome picture! Did you know my Dad is a convert? All of his children and his grandchildren have been born in the covenant. Yes, totally bragging :)

And we found this gem...please feel free to laugh as hard as you'd like...



five little confessions: driving

Kim's link up posts are too enticing! :)

 

1. There was a rule at our house that once you got your license, you had to drive two weeks without any friends to ensure you could pay attention :) If you broke that rule, you had to start your two weeks over. I broke that rule - I took my friend to Wendy's to eat. Sorry Mom and Dad :)

 

2. In Idaho, you could get your license AFTER drivers ed and at 15.  I took driver's ed the last trimester of my freshmen year and had my  license by October of 2002. What what?! 

(and remember how we couldn't drive at night until we were 16? Is that still a law? Weird.)

 

3. When I moved to Utah, driving scared the crap out of me! There's 10 lanes on the highway and everyone drives like they're rushing to the hospital. When I student taught, we took turns driving for  a week at a time. I used to have anxiety attacks as I'd enter the highway! But freak I got good at changing over a million lanes of traffic to get to the carpool lane.

 

4. I'm a true Idaho driver. You know the ones that forget that the left lane is a passing lane. I seem to get in the left lane and stay there, even if people are behind me trying to pass. Utah has helped me.

 

5. My favorite car was my blue geo metro. The car had no power steering, sat low to the ground and I duct taped Disney bobble heads to the dashboard. Oh, and the best part - I remember filling the tank for $15.

a superhero party

Porter had a friend superhero birthday party today.

 It was hilarious!

We invited ALL of our little friends to play at the park.

We told them to dress up in superhero costumes.

I gave all the kids squirt guns and they chased the "bad guys".

We played duck, duck, goose.

We beat a homemade piñata until the candy came out.

(I totally just saved a few kids from getting whacked)

And we ate cupcakes and opened presents.

Best birthday party ever!

(it was SOOOO cute to watch little kids run around the playground together in their superhero getup)