Thanksgiving 2012

Our Thanksgiving rocked this year!  And this is why...

 

(all packed and ready to leave Draper. Our BF purchases are hidden under all this stuff so the kids couldn't see!)

1. James had off school Wed - Fri.  So Wednesday morning, we woke up, cleaned, packed and drove to Draper!

 

2. I made Banana Creme and Chocolate Creme Pie and they both were freaking amazing.

 

3. I didn't overeat.  It's true.  No stomach ache after dinner.

 

4. I ran while in Draper. (I've been running 3-4 times a week!)

 

5. I DID BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!!

It was the greatest adrenline rush and I will now be doing it every year.  I scored awesome deals and my Christmas shopping is literally done.  Plus, my inlaws and husband were way too much fun to do late night CRAZY shopping with.

 

6. We went to the temple as a family.

 

7. I got to see my college buddy, Katie, my singles ward friend, Kim, AND my Logan friend, Natalie.

 

8. Watching Porter play with his cousins was hilarious.  From their very intense conversations about the paper they were holding to their races around the house - it was all too great.

 

9. Paige and Porter practially entertained themselves the entire weekend.  Grandma's house is way too much fun.

 

10. We came home to a clean house at a decent hour. (I swear we're usually rolling into Logan at 10pm!)



a pumpkin patch

Earlier this week we went to TWO different pumpkin patches.  Pumpkins are insanely cheap in Logan (gotta love the agriculture here!) and after we stopped at one patch, we saw ANOTHER one with a kiddie maze and toys for the kids.  So we stopped there too.

Paige kept trying to pick up every pumpkin.  She'd put her arms around one and go "Oh!"

 (The second patch...)

And I promise my little Porter has shirts that fit him. But we got this very large Toy Story shirt as a hand me down and it's all he ever wants to wear.

And Paige always pulls her clips out...I do try and fix her hair everyday.

 We haven't carved our pumpkins yet...to be continued :)

AND...Have you ever stared at your kids and thought, "Wait, when did you get so big?" Or when did you learn those words, sounds, funny actions?  I've been doing that lately with mine.  Every time I turn around Porter is telling me something new, or making me laugh even harder.  And Paige...she is just a doll.  Hilarious and beautiful and she will do anything her brother does - it's too much sometimes for this Mom to handle.  I can't get in enough kisses, or hugs, or tickle time.  Please stop growing up.  I really do love this stage - two happy energetic toddlers :)

You love them huh? (Porter says that at the end of every sentence, "....huh?"

new job, moving, and christmas

So I know it's only been a few weeks since my last post, but it feels like forever!
(there it is again, my obsession with dang blogging.)
And in the last few weeks, a ton has happened.

About two weeks before Christmas James was offered a job with Boeing.  He interned with them over the summer in the Engineering Dept. which was awesome.  And then they hired him on for some temp work in the Fabrication Dept. and now...they hired him on full time.
We were so excited! 

We packed up our townhouse, said good bye to Logan, and moved into a little house in Davis County.  Yeah, you read it right...a HOUSE!  There is so much space, and a backyard, and a basement with more space.  I love it.  Even though I'm so happy about this new house and job....I miss Logan, terribly.  I miss my friends, my playgroups, the library, the fact that I was 5 minutes from EVERYTHING, and I miss the slow pace way of life there.  I didn't realize how busy it was outside of Logan. 

(Pictures of the house will come later...still trying to make it look INSANELY cute!)

Our Christmas was awesome!  I tend to worry about having to travel around on Christmas day.
I grew up just spending the day at home eating food and playing with all the new stuff we got.
But we had a really fun day.

The kids got new jammies on Christmas Eve, (geez where did that start?) we had a delicious breakfast, opened presents, got ready and drove to James's parents house.  We had lunch there, opened more presents and then drove to my sisters. (see...the traveling) We ate more food and played games.  And then finally...we went home and crashed.
It was fun to see as many people as we did and wow...my kids got so many new toys :)

And that's it :)

a warm thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in St. George.  It was such a nice weekend.  There were no expectations, no schedule...it was very relaxing.  

We stayed up late talking and watching movies.  We hiked around lots of BIG red rock.  

James and I took my parents bikes out for a ride.  It was hilarious.  I'm insanely out of shape.  

We took part in Black Friday shopping on Thursday night at Wal Mart.  Ah!  I love Black Friday!  

We ate lots of yummy food.  I probably gained 40...no, more like 500 pounds.  

And we all bought some of these chairs shown in the picture.

halloween

I was really excited about yesterday.  Right when we woke up, I started talking to Porter about Halloween and how we were going to get candy!  After breakfast I put my kids in their costumes.  And then we started.  There were a ton of businesses that were doing trick or treating and my goal was to hit as many as we could.  I met up with my friend and her twin boys.  She outdid me on costumes...everyone loved their costumes.  Can't blame them :)

We walked on Main Street trick or treating at the little shops.  This wasn't as fun as I imagined.  It was cold and windy.  As soon as Porter received a piece of candy he wanted to eat it, even if he was already munching on something.  And pulling kids in and out of the stroller was...awful.  

After naps, we went back out to a retirement center.  Now that is the place to get candy!  All of the residents were sitting outside their door ready to hand out candy.  It was great.  Porter loved it...a lot.

When James got home from work, we went out again. (ha! I know, I'm crazy.)  We walked to a few houses and called it good.  

 

And guess what?  Porter can now say "candy".

the merrifield reunion

Over the 4th of July weekend, we were in Idaho.  With my WHOLE family!  It's kind of a rare thing for the Merrifields to all be together at the exact same time, but it happened.  And it was wonderful.  We have a lot of fun together.  Like any other family, we eat too much, laugh too hard, and stay up too late.  We also have a thing for laying out and playing in water.  And this year we added a few new traditions - a family talent show and an Olympics - both of which were great.

And I'm pretty sure Porter loved all of the attention he got.  All of the adults hugged and played with him, and the kids let him point at and touch them.  He calls all other kids, "babies"

playing pool against my parents

at the talent show we had little bags of popcorn - Porter ate the leftovers in every bag!

and we discovered he can eat watermelon on his own!

the merrifield grandkids - with one walking away :)

daddys

Today I'm grateful for the Daddys in my life.

I am totally in love with this Daddy.  Not only is he my good-looking husband, but he's also the best Daddy to my favorite little boy.

And I very much love this Daddy.  He's the best and I wish we lived closer.

Happy Father's Day.

the past week or so...

We've been all over the place this last week.  Two weekends ago we celebrated two birthdays.  I was kind of worried that it would be a little overwhelming or hard or something to have two birthdays back to back.  Totally not.  It was way too much fun.  We had a full weekend of partying.

On Saturday we were all up by 7 and then out the door for a walk at 8.  We planned on walking to the little zoo around the corner.  It wasn't open yet...but in the park next to the zoo they were setting up a March of Dimes walk.  So we donated a few dollars, had a delicious breakfast and walked.  On our walk we past the fairgrounds where they were having a free dog show.  So we slipped away from the walk and watched dogs run around...hilarious.

Later that day we walked back to the zoo.

  Sunday James's parents drove up after church for a birthday party for James and Porter.  It was great!  We sang to each one of my cute boys and ate cake...lots of cake.  I made Porter's cake from scratch which he happily smashed into.  And I made James's German chocolate cake from scratch - except I'm realizing I'm horrible with presentation!  James's cake was freaking delicious but looked more like a big pile of slop :)

The blanket I made for Porter

Last week James started his summer internship with Boeing - woo woo! I know, he's awesome, right? So we've been staying in Draper. A little shout out to all of my friends close by - I'm probably going to be here for a big part of the summer, so call me!

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Hatch to continue working on the Eldridge family cabin. It is looking so good! Porter and I spent most of our weekend in our motel room or running around the grass next to the motel. But we still had a good time.

 AND...today is June 1st...I'm 24!