Friday, November 28, 2014

Thanksgiving in our Home!

This was the first holiday in our new home and it was soo fun to host it and cook!  Of course, I hardly took any pictures, but it was a great day.  Bryan's brother Steve and wife Jess came with their kiddos, and my best friend from college came with her hubby.  It was fun and relaxed, and sooo yummy!


I don't have any fall dishes, but I was set on not having paper plates and cups.  It just felt official having real plates and sparkling cider glasses too! :)

Goodness sakes these rolls were AMAZING.  The dough is mixed by hand (a kitchen aid is actually not recommended) and they were soo good.  Not difficult at all.  These will definitely be my new holiday rolls.  

We had:
Turkey
Dressing made from scratch
Rolls
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green bean casserole
Sweet potatoes
Pistachio Fluff Salad
Cranberry Jelly
and Pies!!

 And I was really excited for a late night leftover turkey sandwich :)

It was an awesome day and I felt so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends join us in our new home.  It brings a special spirit to our home to have loved ones share memories with us.  But.... I think I need a break from cooking!

Christmas Tree Hunting

After a perfect Thanksgiving we are in full swing for Christmas!  Today we headed out to find our family Christmas tree.  We drove up by Mesa Falls and found a little road to look for the perfect tree.  Like on National Lampoons Christmas Vacation when the light beams down from the sky to the perfect tree.  Yea, that was us today :)

One thing we have realized time and time again since moving here is how perfect this place has seemed for us.  The day after Thanksgiving is free reign for decorating for Christmas and putting up Christmas trees in some areas, so we thought it would be busy up in the mountains.  but we didn't see a single person.  It was wonderful!!  We are loving Idaho. 

(Eli is into sticking his tongue out instead of smiling.  sheesh.  He must be 2)


 There were bear claw scratches all the way up this tree.  Pretty crazy!
 Just a little snow snack waiting for Dad to cut down the tree

So my genius brain forgot to put in the memory card on the camera, so they were saved on the internal memory. I haven't found the cord since moving yet so I can't get the picture off! Ggrrr. I tried to take a picture of the screen for the general idea, but I'm hoping I can get them off soon. 

That's our tree!
That's my man ;) 

 Isn't it cute?!?!

 I happened to take a picture right at the point in our movie where they were decorating the tree too.  haha!
 There it is, in its crooked, sparse, and perfect glory!
 I let Eli decorate a little tree for his room and he insisted on topping it with his....socks. 


Thursday, November 20, 2014

Fo-Flakes

Oh how excited this little boy was to wake up to "SNOW-ME". (Snow in regular English. Haha). He couldn't even wait to eat breakfast to go play. I didn't look at the temperature until we were back in but it was a scorching 9 degrees. 

No wonder we lasted 2.7 seconds out there!






Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Pumpkin Painting

Because we were moving the week of Halloween, we didnt even celebrate with any of our traditions! We didn't get to the pumpkin patch, didn't carve pumpkins, and barely trick or treated to 4 doors. Luckily Eli is young and won't remember. 

Thank heavens it wasnt around Christmas time ;) 

Bryan picked up a grocery store pumpkin on clearance after Halloween and we let Eli paint to his hearts content. 

He loved wearing my shirt and thought he was a monster!









Tuesday, November 11, 2014

My Buddy

Eli's been my buddy the last week we've been in the house. We don't know many people yet so we've been playing together. We go to the park, play with cars and trucks and trains, and make lots of treats! 



This takes on a new Meaning of lick the bowl clean!




Nursery

Eli is just now getting the hang of nursery being fun. He still says "mom stay" the second we suggest nursery, so I sit with the other moms and let the kids play. 

So a few mornings ago Eli wanted to play nursery with his animals. He lined them up to have a song then they took a nap. He said "sleep tight" to each one then "wake up!!" And gave them a huge 'squeeze your eyeballs out' style hug!







Monday, November 10, 2014

Mickey Mouse's Halloween

I've been terrible with my blog lately. Mostly because we've been so busy moving in I haven't even had time to do fun things with Eli. He's been a bit neglected. :/

The day before we moved was Halloween. I whipped up a quick costume for Eli to be Mickey Mouse. We had to wake him up from a late nap to go trick or treating hence the tired Bink smile. He got the hang of it, but was very timid around new people. 








Tuesday, November 4, 2014

A House in Progress!

We moved in Saturday and are officially in our home! Eli fell out of his new bed a few times the first night but since then had been sleeping through the night (and staying in bed). 

Our neighbors are very quiet and we live on a very quiet street!  It's nice, but I do wish there were some friends Eli's age. 

Bryan has been so busy with school and wrestling we haven't had lots of time to work on things but here is how it looks today! 














Sunday, November 2, 2014

Hunting Weekend

We went down to south eastern Utah/Colorado for our annual hunting trip. We left directly after picking up the keys to our house!!! Then we drove...a lot :)

Eli was so tired he couldn't even hold his head up so I made him a little rest for it. 


Coming up the mountain to the cabin was gorgeous. I just love these quakies in the fall. 

This chocolaty faced boy could have ridden the ranger all day everyday. 

We went to check out the momma cows on the mountain. 


Eli and Libby are such good buddies!! They were working together making ginger snaps. 



Sweet Beckton fell asleep on our walk. I could have taken him home with me- I love him so much! 

Hanging out like a big kid in the front seat

Anyone want to come over for dinner? This is what we'll be eating all year!


Playdough with his buddy! 

It was such a fun weekend. I love being out in nature and exploring. The day before we left the girls and Eli played in the big field sprinklers and splashed in the mud puddles. It was such a perfect afternoon. Those simple moments really make me enjoy being a mom and in a beautiful part of the works!