Thanksgiving 2011: So Much To Be Grateful For!

Thanksgiving 2011 was our happiest and most grateful one yet! With our Jayden’s safe and healthy arrival, him having his palate in tact, and Ben and I happy and closer than ever as a family of three, we had so much to be grateful for. We were overwhelmed with love for and gratitude to our Father in Heaven. We went to my Aunt Kayleen’s, as has become tradition, and once again Jayden was quite the hit with many new people and faces. It was such a happy day!

After all the turkey, visiting, pie, and fun, we joined some of my cousins and went to my parent’s for a sleepover. Jayden enjoyed a movie with the kids upstairs, while Ben and I enjoyed one on the laptop downstairs. Jayden slept like a baby that night-thank goodness!

We hit up Peach City and visited Ben’s parents for a day-after Thanks giving feast the next day, before heading home and busting out the Christmas decorations. This is tradition in our home, when we can wait that long anyway. Remember the year before?

Jayden and I even snuck in a little nap. It was nice.

It was a good couple of days filled with love, family, gratitude, food, pie and fun!

Falling Back to Autumn 2011

The beginning of Fall 2011 was filled with fun visits with friends, yummy food and treats, and of course-many more memories with our little sweetie. We were so excited to gear up for the holidays with lots of celebrating!  The days leading up to those fun holidays were some of the best with our baby and loved ones yet! I have gotten a little behind with the blog due to all of our summer fun-having lately, so prepare yourself for a big picture post!

Tummy time work out, and then a nice little nap afterwards. I found doing tummy time right before nap time worked out great.

Another day hanging out with Lexi. She and I could not get enough of Jayden’s first adorable smiles!

Double date night with our friends Heidi and Caleb Collier. We have some of the best friends.

Play day with Heidi!

Our friends Matt and DeNeige invited us down to DeNeige’s apartment down in Orem for a Harvest Candle-lit dinner party! It was incredible! The food, décor, company-everything!

Jayden kept imitating every face that Matt would make. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever!

Jayden loved DeNeige’s room mate!

We girls stayed up and talked while the boys slept. This is usually what happens.

Good food, good friends, good times!

We thoroughly enjoyed the traditional leaf raking party at Great Grandma Ahlstrom’s! This is such a fun tradition and comes complete with the kids being thrown in the leave piles (Ben and I missed the leaf fun due to him not getting off work on time, but we were just happy to be able to make it at all), and Grandma’s famous breadsticks and chili. Jayden was a pretty big hit this year.

I even got a foot zone from Mom, while Ben and Andrea played games, and Jayden got passed from person and person in line to hold him (as usual).

Date Night to Cheesecake Factory with my babe!

When Jayden did not have all his blankets at church to burry his face in, he got pretty good at working with what he had to fall asleep.

Play date with one of my besties Camille and her adorable little guy, Mattix.

Another fun day with Heidi!

One of mine and Ben’s favorite outfits on Jayden.

Our pre-Thanksgiving dinner feast with friends and my Dad. The kids had been begging (as well as my parents) to have Jayden come and spend the night and some time with them, so my Dad came to pick him up. This was one of those times I was glad I was pumping, and had extra milk to send with him. It was hard saying goodbye for the first time, but I know my family loved having him. Ben and I made the most of our time together with late night games with friends, a sleepover in the living room, and a date.

I was SO happy to see my little man and pick him up to bring him home, but I think others were a little bummed about it.

Stopping by to say hi to Grandma Durfee on the way back to Salt Lake after picking Jayden up.

Jadyen’s 2 month check-up. Ben was able to use his lunch break to come with us!

Is it just me or do you also find babies irresistibly cute in denim?

Our First Halloween as a Family of THREE!

Jayden’s first Halloween was a happy one, other than finding out we were losing the house in Eagle Mountain (this was the 13th we had made an offer on, and at just 4 years old and with 4,000 square feet, it was a steal for $160,000), due to Ben’s company selling out and all that fun and craziness with possibly moving to Colorado, or staying and taking a pay cut. I am glad we took the pay cut and stayed here, even if it was scary and was quite hard for about a year. I know it was the best decision and that we were guided by the spirit because of our many, many prayers and blessings.

The night before Halloween, we went to my parents for a Halloween Dinner Party and to carve pumpkins. It was so much fun! We were also able to dig up the Halloween costume that my mother made for me when I was a baby for Jayden to use. Isn’t is adorable?! It was such a neat experience seeing my own baby in it. He looked so cute both this year and the next. I am thinking this year it will be time for another one since he will be too big, and I am a little sad. I am however excited to plan a big family theme (cheesy, I know, but it is fun) since Ben will be able to come trick-or-treating with us!!!

Don’t you just love mine and Ben’s masterpiece? We went for cute this year instead of scary (if you could not guess that for yourself).

We came home and put this little guy outside our door first thing! For Halloween the next day, things got a bit offset with the news about the house Halloween morning, but we made the most of it, and thanks to my sweet husband and our adorable son, there was still SO much to celebrate and enjoy that day! We thought it best with such a young baby to stay inside and enjoy the trick-or-treaters (we were a little bummed there were not more).

Ben was sweet and made me a candle-lit Halloween dinner (I married a good one, folks!), and we ended the night cuddled up on the couch watching a movie with some snacks and our little Jayden. All while counting our blessings, trying to remember what is really important in life, and having faith in God’s plan for us being what was best. It was a good Halloween even with bad news. Looking back, I can honestly say I am so grateful the house did fall through and that I am so very grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who’s plan for us is so much better than the plan we often have for ourselves. :)

Happy Halloween 2011!!!