What We've Been Up To

For a few weeks we were pretty good about getting out and exploring our new home.

But winter is settling in and we are getting more into the basics of life.

I decided to look back and see what pictures I've taken over the past few weeks.

They don't account for everything we've done, but gave me some good reminders of what we've been up to.

The boys have been getting in good brother time.

They love to read together and play games.

One evening our neighbor came down to show us that we had a deer in our driveway.

The boys both took pictures, but it was dark so they didn't turn out well.

Andrew was excited to be official as a notary as part of his new job.

Ammon received his first pint of Ben and Jerry's icecream.

It was a reward for being very brave, facing his fears, and getting blood drawn.

Unfortunately, that blood went to waste as it didn't arrive in the lab soon enough for the test.

We have had two unsuccessful attempts since then to do more blood work.

It's been a mess!

We spent a fun afternoon at the library.

And I FINALLY convinced the boys to read something other than Garfield.

Apparently Garfield is all the rage at the school right now and my boys have been in on it.

I was invited to go out to lunch with Heather.

She took me to a cute little place that had live music, a great view, and yummy soup.

We enjoyed the beautiful look of winter - for about two days.

Ammon LOVED the snow and was so excited to make a snowman.

He came home from school and went straight to work.

When we ate dinner and left for scout's he still felt like it needed some improvements.

By the next morning, however, the snow had melted - not from the sun, but from the rain.

Ammon was very disappointed.

Speaking of the scout meeting -

It was the first Pack Meeting since Andrew's calling as Cubmaster.

We were supposed to bring cookies.

We made three different kinds and ALL of them had issues.

Andrew accidentally forgot the SHORTENING in his chocolate chip cookies.

I let the no-bakes boil too long and so they were more dry and crumbly that I like.

And the new brownie cookie recipe I tried was awesome.

Except that they stuck to the pans like nothing else.

And then pans I buttered ended up worse because the dough just flattened out all the more.

In the end, we did take the no-bakes and some of the brownie cookies.

And we supplemented them with cookies from the store.

Ammon earned his Bear award.

He was playing with the patch during the meeting, trying to get it to stick to his shirt.

I told him that he needed to wait until we got home and that Dad would put it on for him.

(Andrew is the one who handles all the uniform stuff in our family.)

I said, "If you want, I bet Dad will even show you how to do it."

Ammon's reply melted my heart.

He said, "I would like that because I hope to someday have a boy of my own

and I will need to help him with his shirt."

Ammon has always wanted to have LOTS of brothers and siblings.

I am always so happy to hear that what he wants to be when he grows up,

More than anything else,

Is a dad.

Laurie is taking up more and more room in my tummy.

We are officially counting down until December 31.

(About five more weeks.)

It sounds SOON in terms of having our lives change with a new person.

It sounds LONG in terms of dealing with an ever-increasing stomach...

Early in the month I decided that there was no way that our family of four could eat the variety of Thanksgiving food we are used to.

We just need to keep it simple.

But there were some things, like grasshopper pie that I had to have just for traditions sake.

It didn't make the cut for Thanksgiving day, so I decided to make it early.

And then I decided that it needed to be spruced up a bit.

So I signed up to take dessert to a relief society activity.

I made my dirt recipe with pistachio pudding, and ended up with this awesome "grasshopper trifle."

It was a huge hit.

The relief society president literally licked the bowl clean when it was gone.

We spoke in church this past week.

Usually we are both comfortable and even a little bit excited to speak in church.

But this time we both had a hard time getting invested in our topics.

It was a long stressful week of something we normally love turning into a miserable chore.

But we pulled it off and are glad to be done with it!

After Sacrament Meeting I was really hot (pregnancy hormones) so I decided to step outside for a minute.

It was such a BEAUTIFUL day.

Then after church when we went out to the car I saw a completely different view.

It was ALSO beautiful.

I love it!

(Especially when the beauty isn't hidden away in rain or darkness.)

This morning Andrew went to the gym to swim and both boys came and snuggled with me in bed.

I got up to get things ready for the morning and when I came back to my room I found this.

We never did make it back for more snuggle time,

But if we had, we would have had about four BIG blankets, a dozen stuffed animals,

and FOUR people.

(The boys were happy to point out that Laurie was there with us too...)

And that is just *some* of the things we have been up to.

We have tried to be enthusiastic about Thanksgiving and not dwell on missing our families.

The biggest downside was the turkey.

I LOVE to cook for Thanksgiving.

But I am never in charge of the turkey - and I don't want to be.

At church yesterday we received two different invitations for Thanksgiving dinner.

We accepted the first one and now we are back to being REALLY excited!

The boys are out of school on Wednesday and Andrew has the day off work.

We are going to have fun cooking up a storm.

Then we'll enjoy a fabulous meal at the church with other families in the ward.

And then, all of the sudden, it will be time to put up the Christmas tree.