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...

Chelsea!

We had such a great long weekend because Chelsea came in town! We are still rookies here in Denver and haven't had a chance to see the sights (we've mostly been waiting for guests to come to go with them) and we had a chance to check out a few things with her.

Ate yummy donuts at "Beyond the Glaze"

Marlo slept in the Pack n' Play next to our bed and we brought her in bed with us for some early morning snuggles. 

Went to a Nuggets game! We ended up going on "Family Night" so our tickets included dinner and a drink. I think next time it's worth splurging a little more to not sit in the nose bleeds. Hiking up there is the WORST! But, it was a good game and the Nuggets won! 

Went to the Red Rocks! It is GORGEOUS! Chelsea and I zig-zagged and jogged the steps and then did some butt-kicks and climbed back up to the top. It was a great workout. 

Went to the capital so we could sit on the "ONE MILE ABOVE SEA LEVEL" step. Downton Denver is AMAZING. And to top it off, it was a beautiful day so no snow and no jackets. 

We are so grateful that Chelsea took the time to visit. We are looking forward to her next visit in January - Marlo loves her Aunt Cha-See!

Do We Look Alike?

Marlo and I were playing on the couch wrestling the other day and of course we got out the phone to send some SnapChats to Nama.

I looked at the picture and thought, "Do we look alike?" When she was first born everyone always said how much she looked like Nephi (it was the big eyes). But now that she is getting older, I feel like she is looking more like I did when I was a baby. 

Then there are days when I just look at her, look around at other people, and think, "I doubt anyone thinks this is MY baby". But witnesses of my baby pictures disagree. 

One thing we know for sure is that she is a daddy's girl! Nephi claims that he let her pick out her outfit and this is what she came up with. Although she does love her cat shoes (she brings them to us every time we are going out), I am not sure about the socks. 

Marlos is now 14 months! She is crazy active and never slows down. I have now had a handful of people comment to me about her energy and style. Are we "those people" now? Church is impossible. And that is saying A LOT coming from me. I used to be pretty harsh on those Moms and Dads roaming the hallways, on their phones, claiming that their kid couldn't sit still during sacrament. That is ME now. But, I did get my steps in on my FitBit - thanks babes! 

One thing our crazy church circus is good for is a hard nap afterwards - for baby and us. After only 5 minutes in the car, she was dead asleep with remnants of a granola bar (some wet with saliva) all over her car seat and eyes shut tightly. 

Pumpkin Patch'n

In true fall fashion, we hit up the pumpkin patch down the street from us at a local church. Pumpkins in Denver are expensive compared to Idaho - but these were for a great cause (read: NOT really). 

The pastor started telling us about this lady who broke her hip and I was thinking it was going to be for hospital bills but NOPE. Apparently this church needs to raise funds for a golf cart to help their elderly attendees get to the church from their car so they don't fall and break their hip(s). So we bought 4 little pumpkins. Hope our $12 helps. (I hope that doesn't sound heartless but it's just a little strange to raise funds for that and make it appear like charity.) 

Apparently, Marlo is afraid of pumpkins and bouncy houses. She was being such a wuss! But, she was being a cute wuss and we loved teasing her. 

That Weekend *High*

Sitting in bed last night with Nephi and we were planning our week and I was like, "When I have a GOOD weekend with tons of time with you and Marlo it actually doesn't make Monday's dreadful." Maybe a little high off the weekend fumes? I don't know, but we had the best weekend! 

We planned on hiking Table Rock this weekend with Andrew & Kelli but it was stormy last week and the forecast showed another storm and we decided not to risk it. Since Nephi still had the day off, we hit the next item on my bucket list and hiked 'R' Mountain on Saturday morning. It was so great! Perfect weather, picnic breakfast, and happy babies. The hike was easy, just a little slippery from the gravel, but the view was beautiful.

Please do not take these yoga pictures seriously... 

Then we ran home and got ready real to hit the road to the Hillman Family Reunion (Nephi's Moms side)! I finally got to meet Nephi's 'long-lost' Unlce and Cousin. Literally - Nephi's Grandma had a baby before she met Nephi's Grandpa and they only found this out about 7 or so years ago! Crazy. So I finally got to meet them and just fell in love with them and so did Marlo.

Peter, Nephi, Marlo, Mallory, Elizabeth, Kira, Tim
Anna & Brooklyn

This girl! ^ Dad introduced her to this animal app. We used it in emergency situations but I afraid it's too late and we are in for it. 

After the reunion we raced back to Idaho Falls to meet up with Neal, Angie, and Grayson and go to the drive-in. We saw Minions and Jurassic Park. Marlo was a gem at first but then got super cranky and was fighting sleep so bad. Nephi and I were both in the back of the car wrestling her down and then she whacks her head and is screaming - poor girl! But then suddenly she slowed down and fell asleep on me. She can't know you are actually trying to put her to bed or she will melt down. It needs to be subtle. But I am so grateful for her little attitude and putting up with a long fun day!

On Sunday we went to church, got released from our callings, and then went home and hit the sack. Marlo and Nephi slept for 3 hours and I slept for 1.5 which is highly unusual of me. I guess we all really needed it! We did some cleaning and organizing which I love to do with Nephi because I need the extra hand, had dinner, and then went to Tim and Kira's for dessert and just to hang out. Marlo may have taken her "first step" but it's so premature that I am trying not to get too excited about it!

Like I said, no 'Monday Blues' when you have a great weekend! We are looking forward to Monday-Thursday going fast because we have camping, swimming, and picnics planned for the weekend!

OKAY - So maybe Marlo has the Monday Blues!? (10 month photos did not go well)

Father's Day

For Nephi's first Father's Day we went camping with his family. Because of our work schedules ever since we have been married, our weekends are tight and camping has always been on the list but we've only ever gone, now, twice! I know, I am bad - I want to be better when we move to Denver. Not that I love it (I don't hate it) but I know Nephi LOVES it.

We packed up on Saturday while Nephi was at work and then as soon as he got home we hit the road to Palisades to meet up with his parents and the Cannons. They had camp already set up and we just sat around the fire with hot dogs and smores. In the morning we had breakfast, went on a little walk, played around the camp for a bit, and then packed up. A lot of work for 1 night but it was worth it!

We headed to the lake a few minutes down the road and took out the paddle boards. They are harder than we thought but we got a hang of it!

I made some rice krispies for the lunch we were in charge of and they turned out so good! I love rice krispies so I tried my own recipe based on a few that I have tried in the past and love what I came up with:

THICK and Sweet Rice Krispie Treats
1 box of rice krispie cereal
1 jar of marshmallow creme
1 bag of mini marshmallows
1 tsp of vanilla
1 cube of butter

Pour box of rice krispies in a bowl and set aside. Brown the butter in a pot on a medium heat and then add vanilla. (You will know it's been properly browned when there are little brown flecks in the butter - make sure you don't burn it!) Add the marshmallow creme and stir (It will turn brown and have flecks in it - it's okay!). After that is mixed, add almost the whole bag of mini marshmallows  slowly (you decide how much you want to use but if you use almost all of it, you can use the whole box of cereal). After everything is melted, pour over the bowl of rice krispies and stir with a wooden spoon. Add to a 9x13 cake pan and let it cool at room temperature.

These are THICK. Like the ones you would get at a deli. I cut them into squares and wrapped them in plastic and put them in a baggy. They are pretty moist and it turns out Nephi likes them more dry so with the extras we had he let them dry out for a day and then finished them off. SO GOOD!

Marlo was a little gem! Slept through the night (between Nephi and I) and even napped a little on Saturday. 

I would follow this man anywhere! Seeing Nephi become a Dad has been no surprise to me. He is still the most kind and genuine man I have ever known, but just really obsessed with another girl :) He loves Marlo to no end and he always impresses me with his patience. I never have to make him go into her room to soothe her during the night, he just takes his turn when it's his turn. He loves putting her to bed, waking her up, changing her diaper, feeding her - anything! He doesn't pick and choose - he is 100% all the time. I truly believe Marlo chose him to be her Dad and then was like, "Okay, I guess that lady can be my Mom." We are beyond blessed to be loved by Nephi! 

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