Tew Thanks-Mas Party

On Nov. 9th, my side of the family had a holiday/goodbye party for my parents before they left on their mission.  We called it our Thanks-Mas party but we tried to tie in all of the holidays somehow! My sister and brother called it our "Merry Hallo-Thanks-Mas 4th-of-St Patrick's-New Years Eve-ster." It was at my brother, Bryan and Jenna's house and they did an awesome job decorating!

 When we first got there, some of us went to ride Jenna's horses. It was a first for Myah, and she loved it!

  I love Myah's face in this one!

 My niece's, Brenna and Morgan

 Jenna has two miniature horses. Justin fit nicely on this one!

 Myah tried to catch a ride with everyone, if you can tell in all the pictures.

 My bro-in-law Dave, riding like the wind!

After riding horses, we went back to the house for our Thanksgiving dinner and our traditional Christmas games. My brother Brady flew in from Alaska and surprised my parents so it was a blast having him here with us. We missed his family though.

Brady serenaded us on the guitar (on the right).

 The festivities hadn't even started and Dave and Brenna were worn out!

 Jenna working on the delicious meal.

Family picture with me...

 

Family picture with Jenna and JJ.

The younger kid table.

 My siblings and I made a book for my parents to take on their mission. Each of us wrote a letter to them accompanied with pictures. It turned out really nice and they loved it!

They got a bit emotional over it...just a bit...

Playing the candy bar game.

My nephew, Jones, scaling the couch.

The white elephant game.

Justin's white elephant gift!

I got a Yoda stuffed animal and Myah loves it!
It was an awesome party! 

Lately

Painting Nails 

 Myah has been obsessed with painting her finger and toe nails. It seems like every time we see her Aunt Sarah, Myah wants her to paint her nails. The other day she wanted her toe nails painted, but she wanted to use lots of colors, not just one.

Then she wanted me to paint my toe nails. So she helped me blow on them after.

Myah also loves making faces! I guess this is what she'll look like as an old woman.

My Parents

 My parents got set apart as missionaries a week and a half ago. They've been at the MTC and come home today for a week before they leave for Austria. The MTC wanted them to come home for last weekend to free up some space, so we were able to go hang out with them. 

 My dad got stuck inside the jungle-gym while playing with Myah!

 Look at those good-lookin' missionaries!

Reagan

Reagan has been the sweetest little girl. Maybe not so little; she's quite chubby which we like! She smiles and laughs all the time, especially when I need a little pick-me-up and is a very happy baby. She loves to growl and loudly coo and can hold things really well now. Seeing as we've had a lot of candy around (due to Halloween) she especially likes to hold and suck on candy wrappers.

I've started her on rice cereal just once a day right now. She's getting the hang of the whole spoon idea and seems to like it. I find it quite hilarious to watch a baby's bewilderment at the concept. 

I weighed Reagan the other day and she was about 19 lbs so I have a hard time holding her for too long. Hopefully I'll get some pretty wicked arm muscles! I just love her chubby legs and cheeks though!

She's been loving our toy saucer and she's starting to turn around in it. I'm sooo grateful for this baby toy! At this stage of life she wants to be upright mostly but I can't hold her too long, so this is the perfect toy!

I finished her Christmas stocking. I'm excited to see them all on the wall before too long!

Halloween Time

We had many Halloween festivities this year. We went to my parents' ward trunk-or-treat, our wards' party and trick-or-treat walk, and then on Halloween night we went to Justin's parents to trick-or-treat a bit in their neighborhood. So Myah definitely got more than her share of candy!

 I was a witch, Justin was a vampire (though he only wore the cape...that's pretty good for him though!), Myah was a pumpkin, and Reagan was a cat (well, she had cat ears on).

 The morning after each party, Myah would ooh and aah at all her candy. 

Pumpkin Carving!

Myah was grossed out at the pumpkin insides! She'd say, "eeew...gwoss!" In this picture, Justin's asking if she wants to touch the seeds, and of course she's yelling, "noooo!"

 Reagan had an enjoyable time with her horse.

 Myah's favorite part was that she got to sit on the table and eat her ring-pop!

I'm in the zone.

Boo!