Thanksgiving

Who loves Thanksgiving? We do! This year it was a quiet one, we decided to make our own little turkey with the trimmings. When I made everything I tried really hard to remember that there was just 2.5 people eating. Although I think Lucy ate more than me! I made everything from scratch except one thing. Can anyone guess? The stuffing. I did a simple stovetop and it was the best ever! The past years when I had made stuffing it was only ok, but stove top is great! Dave was a sweetheart and did the dishes. It was nice to not have to after cooking everything. Lucy seemed to really enjoy thanksgiving. She loved the potatoes and stuffing the most. She made quite the mess and had to have a bath afterward, but I think it was all worth it!

Blast from the Past

About a month ago Dave and I had dinner with the Butlers. They moved to Tyler Texas (about 20-30 minutes away) a few months ago. It was so much fun to catch up with them. Mary Alice found some old pictures and sent them to me. I just had to share. See if you can recognize everyone!!

Recent Pictures

Here are just some recent pictures. No reason just Lucy being funny so I snapped a shot or two over the past month.

Lucy loves stuffed animals. We went to toys r us and she had a field day!

Lucy's first ride! She had lots of fun with the steering wheel.

The best bed head I have ever seen on her. It was like this all day!

Lucy kept crying and I went to find out why. I don't know how but she sure did it all on her own.

We got a fire pit and I think Lucy likes it more than Dave and I combined.

Who needs hair gel, just use food!

New sunday dress-Lucy mostly cries on Sundays because she can't sit still for Church.

Not her pacifier, the doll's.

Random Videos

Here are just some fun random videos of late.

Tantrum

Lucy has officially learned to have tantrums. Here is a typical one.



It is both sad and funny.

Halloween

This year for Halloween Lucy was a little lamb. She was cute and loved wearing the costume. The night before was a trunk or treat. It was a lot of fun and crazy!! There must have been atleast 100-150 people there. We combined with another ward and the entire parking lot was full! We brought 200 hundred pieces of candy to the event and we ran out! On Halloween we went out early before she went to sleep. Not to many people were home but Lucy still had fun walking around. At peoples doors though she would get scared. We invited a friend to come with us. He was a monkey, a super cute one! That night was stake conference the adult session. So after trick or treating the boys went to conference while we stayed home with the kids while they slept. It was a great night of movies and fun! Halloween is definitely a favorite holiday.

HS Football

Lucy went to her first high school football game and loved it. She would stand, scream, and clap her hands like crazy. In fact one time when the away team was going to kick a field goal, Lucy screamed really loud just when the kick happened and the guy messed up and missed! I don't know if it was because of her, but everyone around us told her good job! We are going to try and go to as many football games as we can. The high school we support is Wakeland. It is the one that Lucy will one day go to. I am also proud to say they have an excellent color guard. (Kathy!) They have won all sorts of competitions. The football team is actually 5-0 this year too, despite hearing reports they were terrible last season. Go Wakeland!

Sickness

Dave and I were sick this past month. Blah! I am not sure if Dave actually had the flu or not, he did sleep one night for 16 hours though, and then most of the next day! I think it was Heavenly Father letting Dave know what I was going through. September was especially hard for me because I was sick the whole month. I am still sick now. However it is not the flu or a cold or anything even spreadable. I am sick with MORNING SICKNESS! Yuk and Yeah! It is a blessing because that means our little family is going to grow but man do I feel like the pits. Last time with Lucy I lost almost 10 pounds from being sick. I have already lost 10 pounds and I have a feeling it is not over yet!

In August I felt weird, not sick, just weird like something was off. I took a pregnancy test just to see if it were possible. It came back negative so I thought, whatever maybe I am getting sick. September hits and I am totally sick. At first I was in denial because my body has not been functioning properly for me to get pregnant. After a week of being sick and just before going on our road trip, I thought, why not take another test. So I went to the dollar store (because there is no way I was paying extra for something I thought was going to be a negative) and got the test took it and thought no way! I am pregnant, no way! I took this picture (see below) and emailed Dave. He replied wanting to know if I wanted to celebrate, I thought yeah, when the morning sickness is over and I can actually enjoy however we celebrate!

I am due April 27th so do the math if you want to know how far along I am. I can never remember because I am trying to keep up with Lucy!

Lucy Goofyness

Lucy is a ball to have around. One day she got into the office and found the post-its. She got very upset when I finally took them away.




Lucy also has a tendency to get thrown off when we go to the fair so somedays she is really tired.

State Fair

So if you don't know already Dave and I love the state fair. We got season passes this year to be able to go multiple times. It has been so much fun. Lucy loves the fair. She petted some animals, won a prize, and ate so tasty food. We have of course also looked at all the cars and art projects people have done. We have been going after work for only a couple of hours so that we don't get overly tired plus during the week is way less crowded.

Salt Lake

Dave and I took a trip to Salt Lake to see Charlene and Aaron get sealed. It was such a great experience. I went out with Lucy a day before Dave did to be able to see Charlene take her endowments out. It is was such a wonderful experience. It was a quick trip but it was worth it. I love it when people are married or sealed in the temple. To me its like, YES! One more for the home team! It was also fun just to hangout and visit with everyone.

Lucy loved the Sperry's dogs. I don't know if they liked her as much but she could not get enough of them. She would just wander around following them. Patsy was also nice enough to watch her for us twice so Dave and I went on two double dates with our friends! IHOP the first night, and movie and slurpees the second. Brought back such good memories of our Utah days. It was amazing. Dave also got to see his mission president, which he always enjoys a lot. We also got to see Dave's sister, Katy, who lives in Provo.

BBQ

We had a birthday party/BBQ/housewarming party the weekend we got back. It was so much fun. We invited the neighbors, people from downtown and people from the new ward. It was a great chance to get to know everyone a little better. Lucy also got to finally have her birthday cake. My friend Carly did an amazing job. She made two cakes and you will see why from the video. Lucy loved it. She was a pink mess! I can't believe Lucy has gotten so big. She really enjoyed her toys too. Now that she can walk she is just getting into all sorts of trouble.

Road Trip Last Day

Last stop Carthage. Carthage was I think the most spiritual stop. Seeing where the prophet died, the bullet hole in the door, etc. really touched me.

We had originally planned to then visit my aunts in Springfield, but because I was still feeling really really really sick, we just headed straight home. We stopped just at some hotel and got up early to make it home the next day. It was a great trip, but I was glad to be home.

Road Trip Last Day

Liz and Ethan came with us to Nauvoo to see some of the sites. We first stopped at this German Breakfast place in Amana, Iowa. It was excellent. We stuffed ourselves. I stuffed myself a little too much! We were originally going to do a session but that became out of the question because I got sick in the car. So instead we walked around the grounds, slowly. The Nauvoo temple is beautiful. We got lots of great pictures.

We then continued down the hill to all of the historic sites. We first went to the gunsmith, at Ethan's request. It was fun, I never knew so much about guns and sad to say, I did not retain the information, hopefully the others did.

We then went to the school. It was a tiny building. The strollers barely fit. The missionary doing the tour was nice. She talked about how back then the school taught phonetic spelling. I was terrible at sounding out the words that were spelled phonetically.

Next stop, the brick maker. That was great because we got a free brick that says Nauvoo. I put it on the mantel when we got home. The kids were breaking down though so we had to quickly move on.

We then made our way to the blacksmith. Because the kids were not at their best we caught the tail end of the tour. We each got to pick a prairie diamond, which is a nail bent around a pole to make a ring. They were supposedly what engagement rings the Saints could afford back then. Lucy loved the black smith because of the noises and banging. She would bang her sippy cup every time the blacksmith did and not get yelled at.

The day was not over yet though. We then headed to the bakery. Great cookies! I got the recipe for the ginger bread cookies.

Next door to the bakery was a big building that was completely open inside. In there, there were stations ranging from bread making, candle making, looms, etc. The kids liked this place because they got to just run around.

We then went to the visit center - my favorite. The inside was great and full of information, but the garden was the best. There were sculptures everywhere. I loved the sculptures and thought they were all beautiful. Lucy seemed to enjoy her self.

We said our goodbyes to the the Zmoos family and we hit the road for home.