To Jump or Not To Jump

We decided it would be fun to try a jumping picture. Um, yeah. Usually with these pictures, you get one good one after like twenty attempts. It's hard to coordinate 7 people at one time with cameras of different shutter speeds. Oh well, we had fun. It was an attempt...but one with a great memory attached.

Got this one a bit too early...

This picture just looks weird...

Eh...not quite!

Jonathan just decided to dive.

YAY!

Thanksgiving in Oklahoma

For Thanksgiving, we drove up to Oklahoma to see my family. It was so great to see everyone back in town and hang out together. We had lots of laughs, early hours of the morning shopping, and time hanging at the park. Here are some of our pics from the trip:

Nanny & Papa with all the grandkids

Shannon, Amy, Kristin, and me

Brayden LOVED helping lick the beater after making whipped cream

Shannon and Nanny making gravy

Uncle John taught Ryan how to carve a turkey.

He learned from the pro!

The "kid" table

Paul & Amy had fun taking video of Brayden

My wonderful sis and me

Uncle John & Aunt Pam with Ryan, Shannon, and Kristin

Mom & Dad with Paul and Amy...I just love my fam!

After the turkey...we crashed on the couch!

Hat!

As we were driving back from Oklahoma this weekend, Brayden had been taking a nap. We didn't know he woke up, but then we heard, "Daddy...HAT!" We looked back at him, and this is what we saw...

He had wrapped his blanket up on his head

to be a pretty stylish hat, I must say!

Our Little Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree is up! Brayden loved the lights so much that he wanted to act like the Christmas tree as well, all wrapped up in lights. Hopefully we'll be able to finish off the tree with all the decorations tonight. While we were taking out all the Christmas decor last night, I did something to my back, so I am currently flat on my back. I hope this doesn't last long! For now though, we are entering into the Christmas season with anticipation to experience the Lord in a new and fresh way. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Bring on the Christmas Season!

This morning is the infamous Black Friday sales. I love this day. It is like hitting up a good garage sale, and I just get so excited to get a good deal. We'll see how it goes this year. It is WAY too cold where we are for me to be doing this, but nonetheless it's somewhat of a tradition with my family. Memories will be made, I am sure.

In other news, here's our Elf Yourself video of the year...

So Thankful

I am so thankful for my family. I am so thankful for the love that I have experienced in life with my amazing husband and the blessing and joy I have with my son. I am so thankful for my dear friends and the church that God has given us to serve Him. It's hard to put into words how amazingly blessed I feel.

But the one thing I am most grateful for is this: What great love the Father has lavished on me, that I am called a child of God. 1 John 3:1

May you too experience this great love and grace that only comes through Him. "For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

My Fav Cooking Blog

I am the type of person that when cooking, I tend to stick to a few favorite recipes. However, our routine was getting a little blah, so I really wanted to try some good new recipes. One of my friends from college has this AMAZING cooking blog, and so I decided to give several of her recipes a try. They were a HIT! I've made them for our family and for friends, and everyone is a fan! I especially love the ones that are done in a crock pot...makes life so much easier! Here are some of our crock pot favs... Black Bean Chicken, White Chicken Chili, Pulled Pork Tacos (who would've thought that cocoa powder and pork went together! Yum!)

Black Bean Chicken

On the sweet side, these were so good: Nutella Hot Chocolate and Pumpkin & Butterscotch Mini Muffins

Check out Ang's blog. She is so talented - not only in the kitchen, but as a wife and mom of 2 wonderful kids. Now, I just wish she lived a little closer. :)

First Fort

We all know the loud noise of the chairs scooting across the kitchen floor. Not the most pleasant sound. At first, I was like, "Seriously, stop scooting the chairs!" Then I thought that Brayden's interest in scooting all the chairs to one side of the kitchen would be the perfect opportunity to introduce him to fort building. There's nothing like a good old fort built with almost every chair, cushion, couch, and blanket in the house. We started small with a couple blankets and the 4 kitchen chairs. He thought it was pretty cool. Next time we'll have to go a little bigger!

Daddy-Son Donut Day

He loved it. He keeps talking about his chocolate donut

every time we pass by the donut place. It was

definitely some good quality Daddy-Son time!

Bobbing for...

...ICE!

It's amazing what can occupy a 2-year-old. He stood her for a good 30 minutes digging in this big bucket for ice. He found the occasional can of Coke to transfer from bucket to bucket. Me and the mom of the other boy kept thinking they were going to tip head first into the buckets of ice, because they just couldn't get far enough into them. It was hilarious, and for a few 2-year-olds, this was an super fun source of entertainment!

* Brayden is the kid on the right. Just in case you couldn't tell.