Thanksgiving 2013

 We had a very different Thanksgiving than what we're used to, and after a bit of a rough start (chocolate cream pie landing face down on the floor of my car, and not being able to get into my parents house, perhaps a few choice words inserted there) we had so much fun. We used my parents house who were out of town and joined with two of our other family friends to celebrate the day. We divided the cooking responsibilities, but joined together early in the morning to do all of it together really. The kids played all day around my parents house, the men watched football, and the women were in the kitchen All.Day.Long. Literally, 12 hours, except for about 1 1/2 hours when we were sitting down and eating dinner and chatting afterwards, we were on our feet in the kitchen. Good thing I enjoy cooking and love my husband. :) The food was all delicious, the pies amazing, and company entertaining.

 

Andi, Marley, Carter, and Tay doing some crafting.

 Cassi and Scott Stevens and their adorable twins.

 The ladies in the kitchen.

 

 Bentley loved playing with Wally and Cerie.

 Us.

 Jared and Heidi Ogao.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Declan's Blessing

We made the quickest trip up to Salem to see our newest nephew Declan blessed. We drove up early Sunday  morning, just in time to stop by Ben and Sharon's before heading to church. Then after sacrament meeting we headed back to Ben and Sharon's for a quick bite to eat and then hit the road again. It was definitely worth it and we were so glad that we got to take part in Declan's special day. He is so yummy and all the cousins enjoyed the few minutes together.

BBoy

Beckett is (almost) 16 months old and I figured I needed to update on my little man.
Weight: 21lbs 6oz  10%
Length: 30 inches 25%

He is so close to walking! Just starting December 24th he started taking steps on his own. The most he has taken is 4-5, but it's a step in the right direction (no pun intended). He is starting to say so much!
Beckett's vocab:
-Dada
-Ball
-Mama
-Bobo
-Up
-Nana (banana)
-Yes
-Thank you

He also signs for "more" which is just about my favorite baby thing ever! It's adorable. Beckett loves to drink from my straw water bottle. He has his own straw sippy cups, but there is something special about my cup. He'll frequently crawl into my room and sneak my water off my night stand and sit in there and drink to his hearts' content. He loves getting into my basket of lotions and cabinet of jewelry. Beckett loves balls and watching people play catch and trying to catch the ball himself. He can point and just barely had his fifth tooth pop through; two on bottom, three on top. He has a very round belly, and short little stubby legs. He loves to dance and bounce around and not his head whenever there is music on. Whenever this happens in the car Bentley will say, "Mom! Beckett's feeling it!" I adore this baby.

 

Mommy Moments: Kids say the darndest

*Bentley thinks that "Jingle Bells" is really "Tinker Bell."

*Andi asked Carter to help her find a shoe outside and Carter sighed and said, "It's not my responsibility, but I guess."

*Andi said they had a "good scribble at soccer." She meant "scrimmage."

*A cop had pulled over a car right in front of our house with his lights flashing and Taytum kept saying, "That was fun to see the surgery."

*Bentley speaks really well for a two year old and has always had, what I think, to be a pretty advanced vocabulary and enunciates pretty well.... except for first thing in the morning. She doesn't speak English for about the first thirty minutes after waking. She just grunts and speaks jibberish. It's too funny.

*Whenever Bentley sees a picture of Jesus or talks about Him, she always says "Jesus Christ." I know that doesn't sound funny, but it kind of is, and sounds a little bit sacrilegious at the same time.

Blessed.

It's been a rough few weeks, for various reasons. Small things have really been bringing me down, from losing $20 at the gas station, the possibility of moving into a much bigger five bedroom house fall through, to having my iphone stolen this past weekend. Yesterday I was up at my parents house with Carter, Andi, and Bentley feeding their animals while they are out of town. I climbed up a couple of bales of hay to reach the top of the top of the hay stack and grabbed a couple of flakes of hay and threw them into the horse corral and off flew one of the bands of my wedding rings. My heart sank as I looked down and saw the trail of hay from the hay stack to the horse corral. How was I ever going to find my ring in all of that?! I climbed into the horse corral and started frantically looking for my ring while Andi started looking outside of the corral. I was moving hay and dirt and dung around trying to find, almost literally, a needle in a haystack. I kept repeating over and over in my head "please, please, please let me find it." I said a prayer in my head and hesitated to ask my children to do the same, because the chances of me finding my ring were pretty slim and I didn't want them to feel bad if their prayer "didn't work." Finally I decided it would be a great teaching opportunity either way, so I asked them all to say a prayer that I would be able to find my ring. We looked for about ten more minutes, and not surprisingly, didn't find it. I was feeling so disheartened. This after everything else? Why?! I felt prompted to just go up and finish feeding the horses and just breathe for a second and get a different perspective on looking. So I climbed up the couple bales of hay to the top of the haystack and sitting on top of the tarp on top of the haystack was my wedding band. There is no way possible that with how I threw the hay and with the force that I threw it into the corral, that my ring could have landed where it was laying. It was literally placed there by Heavenly Father and such a beautiful reminder that my Heavenly Father is aware of ME. It was exactly what I needed. My kids and I stopped immediately and said a prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father for answering our prayers. It was such a neat experience with my kids that I will never forget. I hope it had the same impact on them as it did on me.

Sunriver Family Pictures 2013

Taytum and cousin Reece.

Gramzee and Grandpa Paul and all their grandlittles.

The Stewart Family.

The Stewart women.

The Stewart/Phair/Harmon/Andrus men

Original sibs.

Halloween 2013

We had such a great Halloween this year! It was a very busy day full of fun festivities. Thursdays is my morning to watch kiddos while friends volunteer. I only ended up with two kids, but they enjoyed frosting ghost sugar cookies and watching a Halloween cartoon. Then I helped out with both Carter and Andi's class parties, so I hopped on over to the school for a couple of hours. That was nothing more than controlled chaos, but the kids had oh so much fun and enjoyed all the games, crafts, and activities we had planned. Success.

 

Pin the eyes on the mummy. The kids drew themselves and mummified themselves and then had to put eyes on them blindfolded. 

 

Rosie + Andi

 

Pin the fangs on Dracula.

 

Race the eyeballs.

 

Andi, Bryce, Tekoah, and Finn

After the school parties we hurried home and basically got into our costumes and ready for the evening. We had a couple of family friends over, the Ogao's and Petersens, as well as the missionaries, for dinner; chili and scones of course! It was delicious. Then the ladies and all the kiddos hit the streets for trick-or-treating while the menfolk stayed home and manned the door and candy passing out. The weather was beautiful!! No winter jacket, scarves, or gloves were required! It was perfect! The kids were all troopers and enjoyed their loot when we got home.

The Harmons in Wonderland

 

  

3 Musketeer Barbie and the Queen of Hearts

  

Elder Anderson and Elder Austin. 

  

Daddy with the White Rabbit. 

  

Carter and Bryce.

 

 Ready to head out.

 Heidi, Lauren and I out with the trick-or-treaters while the hubby's handed out candy at home.

JSA Halloween

 I hopped in and helped with Tay's preschool Halloween party. These kids are so cute and at such a fun age!