.:Thanksgiving:.

Wow, what a fun week and a half we just got back from! I really don't like living so far away from my family, so it's nice to be able to get some good time in together when we can. This post is going to be LONG and full of pictures!

Reece and I headed up to Boise a week before Thanksgiving to spend some time with my sister Dani, and her family. They recently moved up there for my brother in law to start up his chiropractic business. It's much closer than we used to be, so hopefully we'll see each other a bit more! We just ran errands, hung out, and let the kids play. We always discover that we have bought our girls the same clothes, so we had to try to get a picture of Reece and Andi in their almost matching shirts!

On Saturday, we loaded the kids up in the mini van and headed to Oregon! The kids were all angels the entire time in the car, we were so proud of them! When we got there, my sister in law Sharon was there with her kids, and my other sister Nikki in law was flying in that nite. We started off our vacation going to watch my sister Alli sing the national anthem at the basketball game and dance during the halftime show. Then it was home where we started our whirlwind days of crafting things like this:

My mom bought all of the kids matching Christmas outfits. We had them all wear them to church that weekend. That's a pretty great looking bunch of kids!

That evening, after naps and dinner, Grandma Z had a special treat for the kids. She had baked up some sugar cookies and let the kids frost theirs and decorate them. Obviously Reece can't do this well, so I got one ready for her and let her go to town. She started off with the frosting, but soon discovered that the cookie part was good too!

We spent one day taking the kids to run errands, and then to the park. There were geece there that were twice the size of Reece! It was nice to be able to get them outside for a little bit!

Monday nite we surprised Nikki with a baby shower! She and I are due technically almost two weeks apart, but the way we've been measuring, probably less than a week! She and Sam are having a little boy in March, and we wanted to do something special for her/them. We said we wanted a girl's nite out, and surprised her when we got to the restaurant. It was fun to see all of the new things baby boy Stewart got! These pictures are of the amazing quilt my mom made for her, and her opening up the tie onesies I made for her. And also of all the gals out to dinner!

When we got home, turns out the joke was on me! There was another surprise baby shower waiting to happen! My dad and brother in law had set out the stuff for them to all surprise me once we got home. I soooo wasn't expecting it, so it was such a fun surprise! Baby sister got some great new stuff, including yet another amazing quilt (I'll have to post pictures of it and everything else some other time - didn't get one at the shower!) I know we're having another girl, but it is fun to get some new girl stuff just for her! Big thanks to my awesome family!

The boys got in the next day, and pretty much spent most of their time playing the Wii or playing with this new toy my parents got:

Another picture of cute Reece and Andi in their matching shirts (I can't wait to dress up my two girls together!)

Then it was Thanksgiving! We spent the day cooking, eating, and decorating the Christmas tree! My mom got all of the kids matching turkey headbands to wear. Reece was a cranky girl, and wouldn't wear hers, so that's why she's holding hers in the pictures! She sure did enjoy eating her Thanksgiving meal, though! You'd never know from how skinny this girl is that she loves to eat!

Grandma Z and Grandpa Paul were nice enough to let each of the grandkids open up a present. It was a fun Christmas book. All the adult couples got a nice Christmas book, too. Reece liked tearing the paper - she's already done it to three of the presents under our Christmas tree back at home!

We did our typical day after Thanksgiving tradition and went to the mountains to cut down a Christmas tree! Reece was not a fan of the cold or snow, but she was a trooper! Plus she looked super cute in her snowsuit! My parent's ATV burned up a couple of weeks ago, but my dad was able to get a new one just in time for the tree hunt! We all had fun taking turns on that, drinking hot chocolate, and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. It never gets old!

After we all got home, and showered the campfire smell off of us it was time for our annual gift exchange. We draw names among the adults, and we also draw names along the cousins. The kids were beside themselves with excitement! They started out with new jammies from Grandma Z and Grandpa Paul. Adorable, as usual!

Then on to the presents! Reece got a stroller for her baby, which she is loving pushing around the house. Baby girl got a cute dress, and I can't wait to put her little body in it! Us adults waited until the kids had gone to bed to do our exchange; we were able to enjoy a little more fully that way! Everyone was generous and thoughtful!

The next morning we had family pictures. We haven't seen the the pictures yet of the entire fam, but Sam and Nikki took individual family pictures. I think ours turned out really great! (Can't post it on here since my hubby doesn't want to be on the blog, but look for it in a Christmas card coming soon to you!) We also got a cute shot of all the girls and all the guys. Reece was being a stinker that morning, so hopefully the group shot turned out okay!

After that we gave my parents one of their gifts: SNUGGIES! We've been making fun of these as a family ever since we saw the first commercials, and thought it was finally time that someone give them a try. It was pretty funny! Raise the roof!

That nite we started a new tradition: Bingo! My dad found a Bingo set at the store, and thought it would be fun to start playing that when we're all together. We did have a really fun time playing for yummy goodies as prizes! It was a great way to end our time there.

We had such a wonderful time crafting, playing pool, eating, playing Donky Konga (super fun!), and just being together. Reece loved being with her grandparents and her cousins. She especially loved baby Taytum (minus all of the eye poking!), so I'm hoping that love of babies will hold for the next four months! Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful week and a half! It went by way too fast!

.:My first experience in wholesale:.

Most of you know that I run an etsy shop to sell my baby girl stuff. This past weekend I had my first experience (and maybe my last!) in a wholesale order.

I was contacted on Friday, via etsy, to see if I would be willing to do the order. I knew the turnaround was going to be tight, but how could I pass up the extra money with the holidays and the new tires we just put on our car! I did not hear back from the lady until Saturday nite. She wanted to order 36 pairs of leggings and wanted them shipped on Monday.

Sooo....I finally got my sick little girl to bed (it was impossible to start anything while she was awake due to her not feeling well) and had Josh stop to pick up the tights at the store for me while I got busy crocheting. 36 pairs of tights equals 72 flowers to be crocheted. Yikes! That is a lot! So, from about 7:30 that evening until 1:00 in the morning, I was busy crocheting. I got 48 flowers done that nite. Sunday morning I had to wait until Reece went down for a nap to finish the rest of the flowers. We spent the day with my in laws, so I wasn't able to do much while I was out there.

At around 8:30 last nite, I was able to get started with attaching the flowers to the tights. I hand sew them on, so once again, 72 flowers to hand sew on. In between I was doing laundry for both Reece and I! I got almost all the way done - I made myself stop at midnight. That left me with five pairs to finish this morning.

Which are now done!

The fun thing was that I discovered that baby girl is quite active between 11:00-1:00 at nite. She kept me company! Josh also stayed up late with me the first nite, watching CSI with me!

Here are the results of my labors (I know it doesn't look like much, but it really was!):


It was a super fast turnaround, and I'm not sure I would say yes to that again. But the money will be nice to have, and she is also going to take custom orders at the festival she is selling them at, so that may bring some more business my way!

Phew!

.:Our pretty girl:.

It is great being related to and living by awesome photographers! We took Reece out with Sam and Nikki on Saturday to take some pictures. We never got around to doing one year pictures, so I guess 13 month pictures are good....right? :)

Here is a little sampling of our pretty girl!


You can go here to see more! Thanks Your Vantage Photography!

.:From the bathtub to the steam cleaner...:.

I think you all know where I'm going with this.

Let's start at the beginning. Reece was having a tub last nite, which she always enjoys. When I got her out, I decided to stick her in her bathrobe since she's never worn it. Since I am a mom, I was thinking, and I grabbed a diaper to put on her, too. Running around with nothing on down there has it's risks! She looked pretty dang cute, and loved running around in it!

After awhile, she decided she was done with the whole robe thing. She took the hood off, and got it to open in the front.

She couldn't quite figure out how to get her arms out of the sleeves. It was pretty funny to watch.

Finally Daddy decided to be nice and got her out of the robe. But that was not enough for our girl. She had her diaper off in about ten seconds after the robe was off.

The next 60 seconds involved one incredibly cute naked bod running away into her room - loving her freedom - to Mommy following the naked girl to her room, where she was found squatting and peeing on her bedroom floor, to Mommy snatching naked girl and returning to the tub for a wipe down, and Daddy busting out the steam cleaner.

It was hilarious.

.:Mother of the Year:.

Not only did Reece not get enough sleep during her naps today, fall down and hit her mouth and bleed, but I also managed to lock her AND my keys in the car. Let me explain...

Her car seat was behind the passenger seat in the car. So I unlocked the passenger door, used the lock on that side to unlock the rest of the doors, and then tossed my keys on to the driver's seat. Next I opened the rear passenger door and put Reece in her car seat. So far so good. Walk around the car to the driver's side rear seat, open that door, and put my bags in the backseat. Then I go to open the driver's door and it's locked. Try all the other doors. Locked. How did it happen? Your guess is as good as mine.

Thank you to the Orem City Police for coming to rescue me. (And thank goodness I was with other people since I still don't have a phone! It makes me sick to think about what I would have done if I wouldn't have been with other people.)

.:I don't have any!:.

Mother's intuition that is.... well, at least not when it comes to deciding what my babies are going to be! I'm now officially zero for two! That's right.....

We're having a GIRL!!!!!!!

Josh totally called it, as did both of our moms, so I guess I should have known they were all on to something! Since yesterday I'd kind of been having some girl feelings but I stuck with my boy vote. Which was wrong. Again.

Baby girl was measuring perfectly and everything checked out great! She was being a total 'wiggler', as the tech called her. She was moving around SO much, and it was so fun to see it while I was feeling it. She is just perfect and we're so excited for Reece to have a little sister! Reece will be such a great big sister. I just know they are going to be little buddies!

We're currently taking girl name suggestions! We barely had a few to decide between for Reece, so now we're starting all over again!

Sorry I wasn't able to get the news out personally to a lot of you! My phone BROKE an hour before our ultrasound - it's not fixable, so I'm without a phone for the moment! To top it all off, I got a flat tire while at the Sprint store trying to get my phone fixed! What a day! At least I had these beautiful pictures to look at - otherwise I would have been a lot more crabby about it!

Perfect little profile
Looking right at us!
Profile again
There's the proof - little sister!
Arm and hand
Both arms!
Foot 1
Foot 2

.:Halloween Round Up:.

We did lots of fun Halloween things this week, and I was glad to get some good use out of Reece's costume! She didn't totally get it, but she sure enjoyed eating the candy and playing with the candy!

Our local library did a dress up Halloween story time. This was Reece's first time at storytime. We plan to start going more now! She was a little tired, but she liked listening to the stories and then we got to trick or treat around the library for a few goodies.

Reece with her friend Dawson
Reece and Mommy (I look a little scary!)

On Friday, a couple friends and I threw a Halloween playgroup for some of the moms and kids in our neighborhood. We had lots of yummy Halloween food, did a craft, played a couple of games, but I think what all of the kids liked most was climbing on all of the exercise equipment in the clubhouse!

Reece and Emerson - the two cutest bugs!
We had to bust the binkie out because Reece was having a tough day. After a half hour of screaming while getting ready to go, I decided I could give in for the day!
What a cute little bee!
Showing off her Halloween visor
We managed to get a picture of all the kids from playgroup together! What a cute bunch!
Trying on some Halloween stuff at our friend's house

Saturday was our new ward's trunk or treat. Reece didn't really get it, but she did love walking all over the place and trading candy in and out of our friend's bowl of candy! We got lots of goodies that I'm sure Mom and Dad will be eating most of! We were going to go to our old ward's trunk or treat as well, but we got a visit from Reece's grandma and aunt instead!

Mommy and Reece at the ward trunk or treat

Reece was pretty much the cutest little bumblebee I've ever seen! Here she is checking out her loot at home.

Sam and Nikki came up to spend Halloween with us. They went to our trunk or treat, and then came over for scones and hanging out while answering the door for trick or treaters!

Here are Josh and I's pumpkins. Mine is the traditional happy faced pumpkin. I'm boring and do this every year. Can you tell who Josh's is?
Reece trying on Daddy's hat

We hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

(Tomorrow is g-day! Don't forget to vote if you think Reece is getting a little brother or little sister! I can't believe the day is already here! I've now had two separate dreams about the baby - one the baby was a boy and one the baby was a girl! I also felt baby moving from the outside last nite! Not strong kicks, but just rolling around - it was awesome. Can't wait for Josh to feel it!)