Thanksgiving

Yes, I realize Thanksgiving was what feels like months ago! I'm super behind on blogging. However, Thanksgiving was laid back and not much went on. Our good friends, the Leach family, invited us over, even with their family, to have dinner with them. I'll admit, it was so nice not having to cook a turkey and everything else. We used the morning to put a few things together, and relaxed until it was time to go.

The food was delicious! Company was great. Kort LOVES going over to their house, or as he puts it, "Duke's house". They have a giant dog that he gets giddy over. And the girls just adored Griffin and gave Clay and me a break from holding him. After dinner, well, mostly a late lunch, they were planning on doing some black friday shopping at Wal-mart.

Clay and I didn't really have anything on our lists to go deal with the rush of shoppers so we just went home. For some reason, I really just wanted to go and check things out. Clay tried finding a babysitter, but obviously it was Thanksgiving day and everyone was with their families. I got to Wal-Mart and was in and out within maybe 15 minutes. I will never do that again. This wasn't a "there's no one here!" fast shopping trip. I could barely get through the aisles and even out of the store. I was looking at blu-ray players or x-box 360 kinects so I then went to Kmart. Wasn't as bad, but they didn't have those. I now realize why we haven't done this sort of Black Friday shopping. I'll go when the rush is over or if I absolutely know I can find what I need and it's the cheapest there. But I am definitely more of an online Cyber Monday shopper :)

I think with going overboard with the Halloween decorations, it put a damper on my fall decorations. Fall is usually my favorite time for decorations and Thanksgiving just kind of came and went. But I've been trying to always have an "Attitude of Gratitude" throughout the year, and not just at the end when it's so close to Christmas as well. We are truly blessed. There are many things we can easily take for granted and we don't realize it until we lose it. I hope that I can always be thankful for all the little and precious things
life has to offer.

Black out

Warning: This post is for my own remembrance. :) Monday started as an ordinary day. Got the boys breakfast, folded laundry, and then the plumbers came over to look at/fix our water heater. Got them going with what they needed, put Griffin down for his nap, and put cartoons on for Kort. I went out to the garage to call Clay and have him explain things to the guys. Ten minutes or so pass and I'm just watching them work on things, etc while leaning up against the tool bench. Out of nowhere I find myself starting to get dizzy and blacking out. I made sure to not have my legs locked, and I tried to take some deep breaths hoping this would pass. The thought of just sitting down crossed my mind but I didn't. The next thing I know I'm on the ground being held by one of the guys asking if I'm ok. 

What just happened?!?! I apparently passed out for about half a minute. I remember being asked a few questions before I really lost it. Joey asked "what's your passcode?" referring to my phone and luckily I was able to answer even though it took a bit to think about it. He proceeded to call Clay. Good thing he had already talked to him so his name was the last number called. Clay answered jokingly with a "what?!" and Joey said "your wife just passed out." Clay couldn't believe it. By about that time I started coming to and so he gave me my phone. I just kept saying "I don't know what happened". I told him to just come home so he left right away. I went inside and sat on the couch, cold, shaky and pale. The guys finished things up, kept checking on me, and then waited inside for Clay to get here. 

I remember being asked if I was military and then something about a snowboard. That was the last I heard. Joey had asked Clay if I had any medical conditions, was diabetic, etc. Nope. Anyway, Clay finally made it home and relieved the guys. I couldn't have been more grateful for their help. I don't know what would've happened had they not been there. Would I still have passed out? Also, I have since gotten rid of having a passcode on my phone :/ ha ha 

I had a dr. appt. for later this week but thankfully they got me in an hour after I called. Explained the situation to the nurse and doctor, but basically it was most likely just a freak incident. I got my blood tested for my thyroid which was what my original appointment was for along with checking if I was anemic or dehydrated. I was feeling much better by the evening but am taking it easy for a few days. 

I know Heavenly Father was watching over me and those around me. The boys were just fine while this all happened and took great naps that afternoon so I could get some rest. I'm so thankful for those two men who were so caring and concerned and helpful. I plan on at least calling their boss or something and letting him know how great they were. Anyway, so that's my story. First time ever passing out. Weird thought, kinda scary, and almost seems like it didn't even happen. The end :)

Cheers to 6 years!

Six years!! It still seems like such a short time that we've been married, yet I feel like I've known Clay forever and have always been with him :) 

This last year together has been full of emotions. It was the beginning of Clay's new job which has created the opportunity for being home more often and not working long hours leaving me less stressed and more happy ;) Clay got to deal with my crazy pregnancy hormones even after Griffin was born. We finally made it back to the temple after it being not a whole lot possible while I was pregnant. We made it happen with having to take the boys with us, not having a babysitter, and did initiatories while taking turns watching the kids. 

With being married towards the end of the year, this is sounding like a year in review ;), but it was a great one! 

Clay surprised me with these BEAUTIFUL flowers! He knows I think flowers are lovely, but I'd rather not have them because I hate that they just die and feels like a waste of money. Am I pathetic for thinking that?! Haha Regardless, I still love that he surprises me with them :) I surprised him with this framed "love story"! 

He also made a fabulous dinner of chicken alfredo and had a relaxing night after the boys went to bed. 

We actually went out and celebrated the weekend before. Our friends invited us to the play, Dracula, at the local theater. They got a babysitter and we brought our kids to their house, and go figure, our boys were the only kids still up at ten when we got back. About the play...um, we didn't really know the whole story and so it ended up being pretty crazy/gory(realistic fake blood) and just weird!! It was nice just to get out on a date, finally!!!

I'm so blessed to have Clay as my best friend and to have been sealed with him in the temple for eternity!! He gets me. He knows when I need space, comforting, love, attention, help, relief. He understands the language of women simply because of me ;) He is incredibly patient with me, an amazing father to our beautiful boys, so much fun to be around, makes me laugh and really I could go on forever. I look forward to our never ending story!

Griffin at 7, 8 and 9 months

Mickey Mouse is getting smaller and smaller!

At 7 months, he:

-Crawls everywhere

-Pulls himself up to things

-Has 2 teeth

-Loves his solid foods

-Says "da da" all the time

At 8 months, he:

-Starts to walk along the couch

-4th tooth about to pop through

-Loves to "talk" (yell) with his brother

8 month stats:

Weight: 17.8 pounds = 16%

At 9 months:

-It's hard to get him to sit still for anything, or lay for a diaper change

-Has 4 teeth

-Loves his finger foods (bread, puffs, graham crackers)

-Walks by himself when pushing something in front of him

His 9 month doctor appointment stats:

Height: 28.5 inches = 58%

Weight: 18.6 lbs = 17%

Head circumference: 45.1 cm = 43%

Halloween

For some reason, I had the urge to go all out for Halloween decorations. I found so many fun things on pinterest and actually completed most of them!

We most definitely had to watch "Ernest Scared Stupid" for Halloween night :) My friend and I got together to make a fall wreath, but somehow mine turned into a Halloween one. I saw this tutorial on making paper bats and taping them to look like they flew out of your fireplace :) Loved this one!

I decided to do better at making our meals consist of Halloween ideas, so we got Papa Murphy's pumpkin pizza, I did mummy hot dogs for lunch, and attempted making jell-o worms (didn't quite work out, but it was still yummy)!

For our ward Halloween party, I really wanted to stay on our costume theme - cops and robbers - so I made money bags to hand out. I believe Clay and I put together around 130 bags, thinking that would be enough. There was probably 4-6 pieces of candy/mini candy bars in them, so it was one heck of a deal for the kid in the first place :) We created our van to be a prison where Clay handed the bags out of the meal slot. Those puppies were gone in maybe ten minutes. There were a ton of people that came, obviously more than we thought would/planned. 

I also really wanted to do a good pumpkin carving this year (we got our huge pumpkins for cheap at Aldi!) so I found this OKC Thunder pattern. I thought it turned out pretty decent - at least you know what it says!

Who can resist such an adorable money bag?!?!?!?! I found this idea on pinterest, once again, and had fun putting it together! Griffin got so many compliments!

We took Kort around the gym to do some of the carnival games that the youth put together for our ward party. He started catching on and was able to do some games by himself. Then we headed out to the parking lot for trunk-or-treating. Just look at my cute cop and robber :)

Halloween night we wanted to try out some real street trick-or-treating and wanted to take Kort to his nursery leader's house, Sis. Mortenson. She is one of the most sweetest and kindest ladies I know, so it was fun to go there where Kort knew someone. Then we headed to our friend's neighborhood and did pretty well, even got a house that gave out full size candy bars! ha ha

Really, Halloween is probably one of the most pointless holidays, but it's so much fun decorating for and partying. I really wanted to put a party together, but things just got in the way, and people were busy with school carnivals the only night we could do it. Some other year :)

Pumpkin Patch

I bought a Groupon to a pumpkin patch, just 5 minutes away from the Temple, so we could kill two birds with one stone.

The groupon included 2 free mini pumpkins, take a ride to the slide and straw maze, petting zoo, and whatever else there was to do. Kort enjoyed looking and petting the animals. We saw pumpkins being shot out of a cannon, and started to wait in line to catch a ride to the maze, but Griffin started getting hungry so we ended up just leaving. It was still fun for the time we were there, but I'm glad we had planned other things to do in OKC than just this. Kort still loves to run away and not stay by us so it was probably not as fun as it could've been, but he'll get the hang of doing things as a family as time goes by :)