Thanksgiving 2015

It was our first Thanksgiving away from family and we were lucky enough to have family come to us! Nephi's parents drove up from Idaho Falls and spent the week with us here in Denver. We went to IKEA, watched Christmas movies, cooked (well, I cooked), ate, looked at Christmas lights, and Marlo played hard.

She must have played a little too hard because she ended up getting sick - saddest thing I have ever seen! She got sick in January this year at 4 months old and was just rhaspy and stuffy but didn't act very sick. This time, she was lethargic, cuddly, stuffy, sleepy, and did I mention cuddly? It was a whole new baby and although it made us sad, we were happy to cash in on some overdue cuddles from that baby. She got to a temp of 100 so we did a luke warm bath (she hates baths now apparently), essential oils, humidifier, diffuser with essential oils, and kept her in blankets all day. It was really only a day before we started seeing improvements - we survived! She is just about 100% now but still has been giving us some cuddles so I think she sees the value in them now :)

Don't get me wrong, I love to cook, but I think after doing all the cooking (besides the rolls) and all the dishes (Nephi helped a little bit) I don't know how I am going to cook anything this week. I am sure everyone feels the same way so I feel validated in my complaints. Also, we are ready for a major sugar detox! I ended up feeling a little sicky last night from all the junk food and lack of sleep from a sick baby so I stayed home from church with Marlo, took a long bath, drank lots of fluids, Nephi made turkey noodle soup (I made homemade turkey broth), and I am feeling better. Tomorrow will be rough though.

2015 Thanksgiving Menu:
Turkey - (18 lb. turkey that Nephi's parents got for free) Squeezed a fresh lemon over it, rubbed it with fresh rosemary butter and stuffed with onions, apples, rosemary, and lemons - I will repeat this every year!

Stuffing - I have never made homemade stuffing so I read through the basics of making it but made up my own recipe. I made homemade multigrain bread (dried it out in the oven), added italian sausage + ground beef, celery, onions, fresh parsley and fresh rosemary. It was SO good, but, next time I won't cook it as long in the crockpot.

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes 

Sweet Potato Souffle from @cleansimpleeats on Insa - SOOOO good and healthy (except I did rice krispy cereal with butter + brown sugar on top so that part wasn't so healthy)

Gravy (Nephi's specialty)

Connie's Rolls

Veggie Platter

Apple Crumble Pie (my Mom's recipe and SOOOO good and quick to make!)

Pumpkin Pie with the best crust

Also - for breakfast I made this banana pumpkin bread (minus the glaze) - can you tell I love this food blogger? She's my fav.

Nephi did such a great job carving the turkey! It was a big one - 18 pounds! But I am so happy to say that it did NOT burn and that we used the leftovers to make turkey broth (I ended up making 8 cups) and used that in our turkey noodle soup today. PS - If you aren't making broth with your leftover carcasses, you are missing out! I am a believer now. 

Got out the fancy dishes. We got this set for our wedding and it still looks great - timeless.

Fun group picture - thank goodness for self-timers on our iPhones! We loved having time with Boyd and Connie. 

This was Marlo pretty much all day on Friday. Whoever was holding her she was cuddling. 

It was weird to decorate a new space for Christmas (after being in out other place for 3 Christmases) but we are happy with how it turned out! We love our mini tree. I am so happy we don't have to haul a huge tree and store it with us wherever we go. And every year I get a few new ornaments and this year I found them in the dollar spot at Target! They are actually present tags - they are the perfect ornaments too for pretty cheap (they came 2 to a pack). So I'm using almost all my ornaments from the past 4 years and I have kept them matching and timeless colors and style to use for our future big tree OR just use it on this tree in a different part of the house. 

Drove to downtown to look at the light on all the buildings! This was our favorite one. When you come visit us (When I say you I mean my Mom because she is the only one that reads this) we will take you downtown and it will remind you of a mixture between San Fran and NYC - I love it.

My sweet sicky baby. Let's pray she doesn't wake us up a million times tonight...

Surprise Trip to AZ

Marlo and I took a last minute trip to AZ. The flights were cheap and we wanted to see family while we had a good chance and before things got too busy for us. We also went to spend time with my Dad who is not doing too well. He lights up when he sees Marlo and him and my Mom (and all my siblings) would do just about anything to see Marlo. No one knew we were coming except my parents so it was fun to surprise everyone!

We had an opportunity to buy Garth Brooks tickets off someone so we went for it! IT WAS AMAZING! I won't go into much detail, because I could go on and on, so talk to me about it in person, please? Because I want to tell you all about it - Ha! It was so nostaligic. We used to listen to him during on our summer vacations to Lake Powell and on all our family road trips. He is an amazing performer and so humble. I had a lot of friends go to his show in SLC as well and they all said it was the best concert they have been to - I agree! 

Marlo was SO good on all flights! On the way there she slept the whole time. On the way back she slept on the first flight but not the second. But, we had pretty empty flights so it worked. She sat and looked out the window. And she licked the window over and over and I didn't even stop her. Yeah - I am that cool of a Mom. 

The best part was, and I am writing this so I don't forget, when I got off the plane in Denver we were walking to baggage claim and a man who was on our flight walked next to us and said, "Your daughter did so well on the flight! She's the best baby I have ever seen in all my traveling. She is so beautiful." Wow! And then when we were leaving with Nephi after getting our luggage, we were just walking and talking and we walked by another guy and he kind of waved at us and said, "Hey, hey! Your daughter is so cute and such a good baby. I meant to tell you that on the flight but didn't get a chance. She is so cute!" Ha! So, good job Marlo. I guess it pays to just let your kid lick the window. 

Lots of cousin time! Marlo lights up when she sees Ava! And Ava is so sweet with her. Sure, she pushes her around sometimes, but I really think she does well with her and makes sure Marlo is always being good! :) And Colt! He is just THE SWEETEST babe. He is cooing and smiling and is so chill. He definitely has his Mama's personality! It was so fun spending so much time with him. He will be huge by the time I see him again! :( 

And of course, lots of Granddad time!!! I never see my Dad happier than when he is with his grandchildren. He is the best Granddad to them. Marlo was loving him this trip and would lean in to give him kisses without him even asking! I think she senses that he needs the love. 

Grandy time! He came into town the day after we did and I picked him up from the airport and about gave him a heart-attack! Ha! Marlo LOVES Grandy. She would run to him and put her arms up. She actually sat with him which she doesn't often do. 

Went to the AZ State Fair! It's been years since I have been and it was NOT as fun as the Eastern Idaho State Fair. The food was blah, too. But, we got in free because of a promotion they were having. ^^I love this picture of Marlo looking at the pig. He started snorting and it scared her. The video was so funny!

Took a little trip to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins! 

Made sugar cookies with royal icing and they turned out so good! It is SO time consuming but I am excited to have the skill so I can use it for parties and such. I got The Allison Cookie Party course for my birthday and it was so worth it! Such great tips!

I LOVED this trip to AZ because I got to see Emily AND Maddie! They are my very best friends from High School. I usually get to see Emily every time I go to AZ but I haven't seen Maddie in almost 5 years! It was so fun to catch up and "brunch". Maddie teased that we are finally old and rich enough to brunch - HA! I said, yes we are old enough but I am not rich enough! But really, it was so wonderful to see them and we sat there for 5 hours chatting about old times and new changes in our lives. Grateful for such great friends that we can just pick up where we left off.

I am so glad we got to make the quick trip. Every time I see my family I usually have a detox a day or two after I leave and stay in bed and just super lazy and this trip was no different. Poor Nephi has to deal with my quick depression, haha. I just need things to look forward to and after a trip it always feels so far away! But Chelsea is coming in 2 weeks and then we get to see the Guymon's at Christmas! 

Hanging with Ms. Marlo

We've gotten in a looooot of family time the last few weeks with us all being home and it's been so nice! That won't last much longer so we are trying to take advantage of hanging out with Ms. Marlo.

Marlo LOVES the Dada book. She brings it up to us 20x a day to read and it's the only book she won't flip fast through the pages. The other day she ran to Nephi with another book and he said, "No, go get the Dada book!" Sure enough, she ran into the other room and came back with the Dada book! 

She has been the BEST eater lately! (knock on wood) She will eat just about anything and sometimes double fists her food to get it into her mouth faster. When she is done, she pulls her bib towards me and sometimes says, "Done?!" We are trying to get her to say, "all done" but her pulling her bib is good enough! 

Finally loves the bath again. She went through a phase where she hated the bath and now when we say, "Bath-time!?" she squeals and runs to our room. We have a big bath in there and just just walks around and plays with toys. I can't get her to sit down anymore. And she loves the water being dumped on her head! I have Nephi to thank for that - hopefully she with love swim lessons next year!

We have always counted out loud with Marlo to distract her and it's finally paying off! Last week she starting mimicking our counting! We were in the tub and I was showing her the 1, 2, 3 foam numbers and then suddenly she was mimicking my tone! She loves it and will sometimes use her fingers. When she is falling asleep for a nap or when she wakes up from a nap we just listen to her in her crib saying it over and over again. Next up, ABC's!

Her first piggys! 

My Costco Clan. Bless their hearts for dealing with me in that place! 

Wedding Time in AZ

End of June we went to AZ for a weekend for Sheridan and Tiffany's wedding! It was a fast but fun weekend with endless smiles and yummy food. We can't say enough about how much we love Tiffany and how happy we are for her and Sheridan. Tiffany is such a great fit in our family and seeing them together makes my heart want to burst - Sheridan is so happy!

We flew in on a Friday just in time for the rehearsal dinner. We stayed up late of course helping Gird with the final details. They got married on Saturday morning and then they had a beautiful luncheon on my parents house and then we drove to Tucson for the gorgeous reception. I wasn't aware of any blunders throughout the day - in my eyes it was perfect!!

Cutest little flower girl in the town! She was so hot and lethargic - poor girl! That AZ heat kicked our butts! 

They are my favorite! 

Love my husband. 

One of the many reasons I LOVE going home or being with my family is because they are obsessed with Marlo. I can't even explain how it feels as a mother to have people love your baby. I hardly see Marlo when they are around. We were told countless times of how such a good baby she was. She never put up a fight and was so happy the whole time. She loves being around lots of people so it's like a gold mine at events like these. She is a lucky to have all these aunts and uncles obsess over her!

On the flight to AZ she was a little squirmy but on the way home she was out like a trout. Every time we have flown with her people have complimented her/us. She's our travelin' babe!

Can't wait to go to AZ for a MONTH in August! :)

Last Summer in Idaho

Considering this is our last summer in Idaho we are trying our best to soak it all in! With busy work schedules we are trying to check off a short bucket list before we move. The nice thing is that we know we aren't leaving Idaho forever. Who knows if we will move back here but I think we will have family here for a while so that means every other Christmas, at least! I am glad that we will be able to come back to this beautiful place.

Our summer so far [in pictures]!

Went on a little hike up at Heise:

Ran our first family 5k! I pushed Marlo the whole time and she didn't make a squeak:

Tiffany came into town to help Sheridan move and we went to these waterfalls that are about 30 minutes away from where we live (Don't judge us for the Lion King pic - we had to!): 

Went camping up at Palisades for Father's Day with Grandma and Grandpa Guymon + The Cannons. Went paddle boarding too! Marlo was a rockstar :

Took the day off work and went to Rigby Lake with our best friends (Sarah & Avery): 

 Went to a Chuckars game with the Cannons: 

Celebrated 4th of July in Driggs for the day (parade and swimming) and then Idaho Falls at night (dinner + fireworks): 

Only a few more things left to do: 

• Hike Table Rock
• Rexburg Rapids
• Iona Splash Pad
• Lagoon (in Utah) 
• Hike 'R' Mountain