gobble, gobble

We had such a great Thanksgiving this year!  In an attempt to keep things simple, we just went to Nate's parents house on Thanksgiving. It was such a relaxing day filled with family, fun and lots of food!!

LOVE my little turkeys!!

Nate had to work Thanksgiving night (boo) :: but my sister was nice enough to come and keep us company while he was gone!  The kids were both wired from candy, but tired from turkey so it was sure nice to have an extra set of hands :)

The day after Thanksgiving is marked with the traditional "Caring and Sharing" at the Rupert Civic Center and the lighting of the square.  It was cooolllld, but we had a blast.  It's such a great way to kick off the holiday season!

one of our many blessings this year is our families.

we're so glad we are able to share such special moments

 traditions and memories with them! ♥

the rest of my list ::

wow ... I'm a horrible everyday blogger.  the holiday traditions and festivities seemed to start early this year and we've been so busy soaking in every ounce of them.  I do have so much to be grateful for. It seems to me, that everything I stick on my thankful list stems from these things.  so in an effort to get caught up in the blogging world, here are my favorites ::

my little family of four :: i couldn't imagine loving them more than i do.  the capacity of the heart to love amazes me.  mine couldn't be more full.

nate :: yes, he deserves a number all to himself.  i'm grateful for him.  for the wonderful husband and father he is.  for working so hard to provide for us. (and reminding me every day that it's important to play hard too.)

kashton turned {ten} months old the week of thanksgiving.  that's something to give thanks for in and of itself!  he is so full of life and love.  his smile makes my day.  he is a little crawling machine and so curious and into everything.  i love that he reminds us to enjoy and take notice of the simple things.

jackobi is my sweetheart.  she is such a good helper and so concerned about everybody and everything. she loves to love and is so good at it.  she makes us laugh so much. she is silly and keeps us on our toes.  her little imagination has totally blossomed and it's fun to remember just how fun "make believe" is.  the Christmas season has already been totally magical in our house.

i'm so grateful for a gospel that teaches me about our Heavenly Father and His plan.  i'm grateful for second, third and even fourth chances.

i'm so thankful for the Christmas season.  

i love the magic and spirit it brings into our home.

i'm thankful for the birth of our Savior.

we're celebrating {extra} hard this year.

 

a reminder ::

this week has been a crazy week already.  December in general has just been a whirlwind of shopping, Christmas parties and holiday festivities.  Today I was complaining to Nate, my dryer has been broken for two weeks :: it's seemed like an eternity.  It's fixed now and life is good. I was a little irritated this afternoon after all was said and done, how could it take TWO entire weeks to get my dryer fixed??  It's been a total pain.

I guess sometimes when you forget just how blessed you are (yes ... even for a dryer) you get knocked back into reality. At least I got a good reminder tonight.  Nate went into work and found this note in the break room:   {read it ::}

really???  was I just complaining about my dryer??

reality check.

Nate did some checking.
the four children are 5, 4, 3 and 2.

That really hit it home for me.
I instantly imagined my sweet babies.

I can't imagine wanting water or heat for Christmas.

I'm so glad Nate's boss found this family & they've been able to help brighten their Christmas.

gifts, food {and} money have already been sent their way.

now that is what Christmas is about.

festival of trees

Jackobi  had her last dance performance of the year at the Festival of Trees last weekend.  It's been so fun to watch her dance and light up when she gets to go on stage.  To say she loved it would be an understatement.  Here's a couple of video's ... sorry for the horrible movement on one of them ... it was hard to video with Nate's phone and attempt taking pictures at the same time!  I guess a good lesson for next time is to pick one :)

{good girlfriends}

:: thankful number thirteen ::

These girls are the best. I can honestly say I've never had such a good group of wonderful girlfriends! There's never drama, just amazing and supportive friends who I know I could count on for just about anything.  I love that we're all in the same stage of life and can compare notes as we raise our children.  and I LOVE that we can all get out for a kid-less night and enjoy each other! I am so, so thankful for each of their friendship. I've been so blessed. ♥

kleenex {and} fuzzy socks :: thankful # twelve::

well ... I'm behind in my whole "thankful" list.  We've been sickies in our house, so if I really wanted to get caught up I'd be thankful for: countless boxes of kleenex, baby tylenol, humidifiers, multiple warm baths a day, chicken noodle soup (even if it has to be princess shaped noodles) and days spend in our cozy, warm home in our jammies and fuzzy socks.  yes, we're thankful.  who wouldn't be when you have these two crazy kids making you smile even when they're sick??  here's hoping we get our "quota" of sick days out of the way early in the season :: it's possible, right?

♫♪ music :: thankful #11 ♪♫

I love good music.

  I love the ability it has to entice every emotion.

These are a few of my favorites.

Little Jackobi, like it or not will learn to play the piano.

I can't wait. ♥

{cousins}

I'm so thankful Jackobi and Anna have eachother. They're so fun to watch together and I love that they're so close in age.  They love, play, fight & protect eachother like sisters.  It's a pretty sweet little relationship.  I'm glad they get to grow up together ♥

thankful {number} nine

spent our Friday night watching these crazy kids.

absolutely loved our first jammie fest.

we made gobble turkeys, played in tents & ran wild.

I'm thankful for good friends with good kids.

{dance}

Jackobi has had two dance performances already this fall and has loved every bit of it.  She loves dancing on the big stage and does so well!! They're so cute to watch.

Jackobi, Bentlee {and} Ireland

Keanan :: Jackobi :: Jessalie :: Jaycee :: Ada :: Presley

 I was so nervous for Jackobi when I first put her in dance.  She has such a shy personality and I was nervous that she would hate me leaving her.  Well, it has been quite the opposite! She has absolutely loved it since day one and now, when I drop her off I can't leave soon enough.  She loves her teacher Miss Candace and all the other little girls.  I have seen her grow so much, it has been such a positive experience.  I can't wait for the years to come! So yes ... as corny as it sounds, {thankful} # 8 :: I am thankful for dance.

{humor} :: thankful #7

besides the fact that he totally hated it.
kashton in a pumpkin = pretty hilarious.

I'm thankful for good humor.  

A good laugh makes anyone's day.

hopefully {k} in a pumpkin made you laugh ::

grandparents && birthday celebrations :: thankful # five and six

we have been so incredibly blessed with wonderful grandparents.  Nate and I both grew up close to our grandparents and I can only hope the my kids have such a close bond with theirs (at the rate we're going, I think we're doing pretty good :))  we have learned so much about life and really cherish those relationships. I am so grateful for not only my grandparents, but Nate's amazing grandparents that have always made me feel like one of their own. ♥

tonight we celebrated Ike's 82nd birthday. I love birthday's and the celebrations that come with.  Doesn't get much better than celebrating life itself. 

I love that Nate's cousin's have kids for Jackobi to be silly with.  She has a ball every time we get together. ♥

people who inspire me :: thankful {number} four

I know I've posted this before, but I just love it.  This woman inspires me.

{this song} :: inspires me too. It's from the same video, but I love it in it's entirety.  Jackobi and I blast it and dance. I want her and Kashton to remember the message from it, so we'll blast it and dance lots && lots.

thankful #3 :: this girl && late night snuggles ::

everyday I am thankful for this sweet girl.

I can't even begin to describe the joy she brings into our lives

such a sweet smile & glorious giggle. oh how I love her. 

she's beckoning for some snuggles before bedtime ...

{love} her snuggles.  we have lots to be thankful for ::

:: grandma's and grammies ::

Rolling into November :: I'm starting my thankful list, hopefully I'll be able to post once a day (afterall, it IS National Blog Posting Month, who knew??
Apparently, the object of NaBloPoMo is to have you post EVERY single day ... we'll see, but I'll give it a try. :))

First up:

Wonderful mom's who make amazing grammies & grandma's :: we love them so, so much!  I feel so blessed not only to have them in MY life, but to be there as such wonderful examples and nurturers to my children.  I love to listen and learn from them.  I love to watch both my kids soak in every moment they have with them.  I love to watch them love.  and teach me and my kids how to love.

Tonight was Jackobi's {FIRST} dance performance.  It was just a practice run, but she was beaming. (more to come)  She was more than thrilled to have both of her grammies in the audience.  Love the support and encouragement I know Jackobi and Kashton will (and already do) have from these wonderful women.  We are indeed blessed.

boo ::

there were so many halloween festivities this year! we had so much celebrating for several days and are officially stock piled with candy and goodies that will surely last us until Christmas (maybe even longer!!)

here's a sneak peak of the week's events:

dance::

Jackobi got to wear her costume to dance, it was super cute to see the girls all dressed up!!

the party::
we had a halloween party at Cortney's and had quite the turnout! the kids all had so much fun & Cortney was such a trooper to let us invade her house!  here's almost all the kids (yes, there were MORE!)

we had a fun little treasure hunt for the older kids ::

I think they all liked the "treasure" pretty good ...





I'm pretty sure BOTH my kiddos would

go home with Jess & Hads in a heartbeat.

love them.

love our little group of friends.

we all have a pretty sweet relationship.

Jackobi and Peyton are pretty inseperable.

they have such a sweet bond.

it's not too bad being the "girl next door!!"

the kids all went "fishing" for treats

and decorated cookies.

it was a grand little party.

the grand finale ::

this is what kashton really thought of his halloween cost:ume ):)
most of the time he really didn't mind it :)

my little monsters ::

we had a pretty great halloween!  We decided to let Jackobi try and really trick.or.treat through Nate's parent's neighborhood and let's just say maybe we'll have better luck next year.  She wanted absolutly no part of it.  I made her try it at two houses & then she threw in the towel.  Oh well ... grandma made sure that bucket was plum full of candy anyways :)  She did, however, LOVE handing out candy to the kids who stopped by.  I like that traditon a little better, in the nice, warm house.  I'm pulling for that next year :)  We'll see if I'm that lucky.  After she seemed to hate going door to door, when I put her to bed tonight & asked her what her favorite part of the day was she said "trick or treating at the neighbor's with papa" ... guess it was a hit afterall.  So be ready to bundle up next year Ramon, it's all you :)