Tuesday, December 18, 2018

December Doings

 The end of November we had a beautiful Saturday so we decided to go take a walk on the Soos Creek Trail. It was so nice to be outside for awhile and enjoy being outside together as a family.
After we got home, Baylor took her afternoon nap and I cleaned up in the house and got dinner ready. Nate and Paige went outside and worked together cleaning up the yard for a couple of hours. They love doing this together and Paige is my outside lover. She cleaned up the trail through the trees all by herself and did such a great job. It was cute seeing them both of the roof after they cleaned the gutters out just talking together. Nate is a pretty amazing dad and Paige is a pretty amazing daughter. 
We decorated for Christmas right after we got back from Idaho and I love it. Paige had so much fun helping me and we are ready for the Christmas season.
Baylor loves to stand on chairs which can be scary but she really loves this little chair. She climbs in and out of it though she always wants help down. She was pretty proud of herself when she realized she could stand to reach this little nativity. 
Here are some photos of the latest creations by Paige-

My little super hero!
She created a "drive through" in our kitchen. She created a menu first with the window to order through. She had prices for snacks that we had around the house. Then she went even bigger and had a sign on the other side of the fridge for her store and this big menu on the fridge or order from. She is one creative little girl!
Another creation for another day.
 She also made her own Christmas tree out of a cardboard box. She spent the time and drew it and had Nate cut it out. Then she painted it and outlined it with a sharpie. Nate helped her with the base so that it would stand on its own. She has decided that she wants Santa to leave her presents under her own tree this year. :)
The first Saturday of December, Nate had to work most of the day for the Covington tree lighting event. The girls and I went to Maple Valley to see all the nativities at the Stake Center there. We have done with for quite a few years now and I love it. We did the little scavenger hunt through all the nativities. Paige then did a couple of crafts. I got this cute picture and then we enjoyed some cookies. 
We then went and parked our car for the tree lighting and went and got some dinner and stayed inside a warm building until it was time for us to walk over. We found Nate and watched the tree lighting. We got to meet Elsa and Anna and have a sing along of "Let it Go". Then Santa came on a fire truck. It was a really fun Christmas day and a great way to start December. 
 The next weekend we did something on my Christmas bucket list. We went to see the light display at Bellevue Botanical Gardens. It was absolutely beautiful. They are so creative with their displays and how they put the lights together. We walked through the displays twice because we loved it so much. I am so glad we went and I would love to go every year if it works out. We took Addison with us and Paige loved having a friend to tag along with us. It was cute listening to them talk about school in the back seat and on the way home we sang some Christmas carols. It was a perfect evening!
 Pictures really don't do it justice. This garden scene was so pretty to look at and there were so many fun details. 
 This was one of Nate and I's favorites- a slug light display. :)
 They also had this beautiful gingerbread display to look at.
 This past Saturday was our ward Christmas party. They did such a great job and it was really fun. They focused more on the Elf theme. It was in the middle of the afternoon so had dessert waffles and a hot cocoa bar. The kids could make an elf hat out of paper. Paige didn't want a hat but she loved the craft room which had a cute elf to create out of paper and three different popsicle stick ornaments- a Santa, Christmas tree, and snowman. Of course crafty Paige wanted to do all of them. Then in another room we go to put together a kit to have in our car to hand out to a homeless person or someone who we though could use it. They also took donations to take to Mary's Place which helps homeless people. The Monday before the party for family home evening we went to the dollar store and I let Paige pick out some of the items on the list to take and donate. And the last area at the ward party were pictures with Santa. I LOVE how these turned out. They look so good and I have always wanted a crying baby Santa picture and Baylor gave us a priceless one. 
 At the beginning of the party they had name tags that you could put your elf name on. Paige's was the best- goober icy socks. :)
 Then after the ward party we went and got something to eat and gathered up our warm clothes and headed to Wild Waves. We still had our three free tickets from doing the summer reading program. When I got them it was my plan to use three for the summer and three for the lights display in December. Saturday was actually not raining so it was the perfect day to go. The lights were very pretty. There were a lot of people and so we only went on two rides. Going into though I wasn't planning on going on very many rights and mostly planning on enjoying the lights so that is what we did. I loved going to Bellevue Botanical Gardens so much and it was way better than Wild Waves in my opinion but I am glad we went and got to experience it. It was fun to be together and enjoy seeing the lights together as a family.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Thanksgiving in Idaho

We got to go to Idaho for the week of Thanksgiving and loved every minute of it! It has been awhile since we have been to Idaho and it was Baylor's first time going and her first time on a plane. We left Friday. We got to SeaTac Airport pretty early and Baylor loved crawling around everywhere. So many people loved her cute little monkey crawl. Our flight got delayed which was disappointing and then once we got on the plane we sat on the plane on the runway for an hour. It was not fun especially with a tired baby who wanted to get down. Baylor did fall asleep once we got in the air and we didn't get to our hotel until 11. We were all really tired and ready for bed.
The hotel didn't have any pack and plays for Baylor available so we improvised with the couch cousins. She actually slept the best she has ever slept and only woke up once at 5:30 to eat before going back to sleep until about 8:30. Too bad I slept horrible and I even checked on her a few times to make sure she was still breathing. :) We had a nice breakfast at the hotel before heading out to start our day in Utah.
Our fancy car for the week!

We decided to spend some time in Salt Lake before heading up towards Idaho. Our first stop was the Family History Center. It had a lot of interactive stuff/technology but Paige wasn't that interested except we all liked seeing how we were related to famous people/church leaders and figures. 
We then went to the Church History Museum which we all loved and I thought it was incredible and had so much history and interesting things to see. We went through it faster than Nate and I would have liked since Baylor was pretty fussy but we spent the majority of our time in Salt Lake here.
They had a kids area which Baylor liked since she could crawl around and climb on things and a lot of things for Paige to do also.
Nate and Paige built this cool temple with blocks.
They featured artwork by President Henry B. Eyring and that was pretty cool to see.
We then went and saw the Christus statue before going and walking around the Salt Lake Temple.
Then we headed up to Wellsville to see Sharolyn an Tyler and their kids. We got a wagon ride and I got to see Maggie for the first time and Paige loved holding her new little cousin. We then all went to Logan for dinner before driving up to Idaho. Paige got car sick/may have eaten something that upset her stomach on the way up and threw up in the car. She caught most of it in her blanket which was good but we pulled over so I could clean it up. Then once we got to my parent's house she threw up 3 or 4 more times. Poor girl! She felt a lot better after a good night's sleep.
Sunday, Baylor and I went to church with my mom. Nate stayed home with Paige so that she could sleep in and recover a little more from throwing up. Once Baylor took a nap, we headed up to Rigby to see my grandma and to have a dinner/party to celebrate Baylor's birthday.
She wasn't quite sure about everyone singing to her. It was fun to see the rest of my siblings and to see my Grandma Walker again. I have missed her a lot and I wish I could see her way more often.
Monday was more of a chill day. While Baylor took her morning nap, Nate and Paige went outside to feed the chickens and gather the eggs. It turned into a cute little farm photo shoot.
We went to lunch with Derek, Emily, and Juliette to Mr. Pizza in Shelley. It was so good and every time I go to Idaho, I have to go there for their lunch special.
We then went shopping for food for the week and for Thanksgiving and also went to some thrift stores. Baylor loved crawling around in between the racks of clothes.
A little night time fun before bed- Derek and Amy came over for dinner and to watch some football. Paige loves being with Charlotte and Juliette and they have so much fun together.
On Tuesday, Sharolyn and her kids came up and we went to a Play Town in Idaho Falls. It was really fun and it was one of Paige's favorite things that we did our whole trip. Paige loved everything about it and Baylor loved crawling around and loved finding anything she could climb on and sit on especially the bottom of slides.
Tuesday evening we had a girl party- Sharolyn, Erika, Amy, Michelle, and I went out to dinner for a girls night out. We had never done that and it was really fun. We did a little baby shower for Maggie. We went to Oliver Garden and it was really good but one scary thing happened while we were there. A woman in the next aisle over stopped breathing and so they had to call 911. It was a miracle that 2 or 3 nurses happened to be there eating and were able to help out immediately before the ambulance arrived. It was really sad thing to see and it affected our appetites a bit but we enjoyed each other's company and then we went to Article Circle afterwards for some ice cream before heading home.

Juliette and Charlotte stayed the night. Nate built them an awesome fort to sleep in. They stayed up pretty late and got up super early but they had so much fun together.
I love her hair in the evenings when I take her rubber bands out. :)
Wednesday we stayed home and the girls were still over and so they kept each other busy while I cooked a lot for Thanksgiving. It was a warm enough day that they went outside and played for awhile. They raked up a big pile of leaves and had so much fun playing in it. They had leaves all in their hair and were full of smiles.
In between baking I got to take the paneling off the walls downstairs. It was actually quite fun and I loved that it came off in big pieces. I now know why Chip Gaines loves demo day. It was fun to be a little destructive.
Happy Thanksgiving! We were in Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving at a family friend's house. My entire family was there plus some friends. There was a lot of people! Since we were all together we took some family pictures and they turned out great.
The family has grown so much since Nate and I first got married! So many cute kids and I loved spending time with them and seeing them again. I don't see them near enough but love it every time we all get together. There is always so much laughter and fun.
We should have taken the grand kid picture outside and so the lighting for this picture is not the greatest but it is just a funny picture with kids crying and not looking at the camera. It was hard work wrangling them all together and attempting to get them to look at the camera.
After dinner and dessert, all of my family went up to Rigby to my Grandma's house for our Christmas party. It was fun to see all the reactions of opening presents and just being together.

All the grand kids and great grands kids love this marble track at my Grandma's house. Baylor got to play with it her for the first time and loved it.
I love my Grandma so much! She has so much joy and is so positive. I could tell that she didn't feel the greatest but she loved watching the kids play and I loved visiting with her. I am going to miss her very much.
When we got home Paige loved her gift and we all enjoyed doing some art together. It was a great day and we have so much that we have been blessed with and our tummies are full and our hearts are full of gratitude.
Baylor even joined in. :)
Friday we got up, ate breakfast, and packed up while the girls played with my parents. It was a great trip and Paige even cried when we left because she had so much fun and misses her grandparents and cousins when we leave.

We drove down to Utah and made a stop at In and Out for lunch before heading to the airport.
We got there in plenty of time but the girls had fun playing with their new Christmas presents and walking/crawling around. This flight was much better and on time. Baylor slept on most of the flight which was nice and we are glad to be home though we loved every minute of our time in Idaho with family.