Christmas at home

Spending Christmas in our first house was amazing. We didn't know if we would have closed on the house by Christmas so it was really exciting to have our close date moved up to a week and a half before Christmas! The house was barely unpacked but we had room to move around and play inn and we had such a nice relaxing time together. Trent worked the whole week so that we could save PTO days but he came home around lunch time each day so it wasn't so bad.

We got Ethan a bike for Christmas. We are so excited to finally have a place for him to ride it around!

He in his jammie-jams that we got him that he wore on Christmas Even and then in the pajamas that Grandma and Grandpa gave him that he opened (and then put on) Christmas morning.

The little tree that we decorated, various presents, and the bike helmet from Nana and Papa.

There's the balance bike we got him. We hid it in the closet that is in this living room and had him go look in there for his final present. When he opened the closet door he exclaimed softly, but excitedly, "my bike!" He cannot get enough of it!

We feel so at home in our new house already. Like we belong here and always have. It certainly made spending our first Christmas alone a lot better than it could have been. Heavenly Father is so good to us.

Day Date

The weekend before we moved into the house Trent and I got a sitter and went shopping for some things we really needed, like a fridge, washer, dryer, and glasses. It was so fun to just go do those things alone. We had a great time! We also went to lunch at Jason's Deli where you can make your own ice cream cones after you eat. After we made ours and walked out to the car we realized that mine was short with a big bump on the side and Trent's was tall and skinny. Just like we looked at the time!! Hahaha. Short, baby bump and tall, skinny. Trent thought it was funny too, even though he's not smiling ;).

We bought a house!

So we put an offer on a house last June and finally moved in December just a week and a half before Christmas. The house is so wonderful-I never thought my first house would be so perfect. It has everything we most wanted: four bedrooms, a nice kitchen, a backyard and a garage. Plus, some extra things that are great bonuses: a pantry next to the kitchen, a dining room NOT covered in carpet, a huge walk-in closet and a master bathroom in the master bedroom. It is an old house with lots of projects, including a dirt backyard but it is wonderful. And we are feeling super blessed. As if the house isn't good enough, we just happen to be kiddie-corner backyard neighbors with my best friend in the ward! Whose kids are Ethan's best friends too! Life just doesn't get much better ;).

I don't have any pictures. Sorry. Maybe some day when all the boxes are put away and we have stuff on the walls. But for now just imagine a rock front yard and flat-top roof (both typical of Albuquerque and both things I said I would never have. Hahaha.)

Pumpkin Patch

 Ethan got to go to his first pumpkin patch this year! We went with some other young families in our ward and it was fun.We got to go on a wagon ride to choose a pumpkin. There were also a ton of other activities like a corn-sandbox, slides, and rabbits!

Ethan, Calvin, Jefferson, and Perry

Ethan and his buddy Calvin went down the slides over and over again, coming down and then running around up the stairs and back down again. Ethan liked coming down feet first on his stomach the best.

Balloon Fiesta

One of the things that Albuquerque is famous for is its annual Balloon Festival. It is the largest hot air balloon festival in the world that lasts nine days and has around 750 balloons that participate. My parents wanted to come visit this fall so we had them come during the balloon fiesta so that we could experience it together!

Unfortunately, the day we went with Trent was cancelled because of bad weather and he missed out when we went back on Monday morning. The upside is that first day we had our first New Mexican Breakfast Burrito. And it was delicious. People rave about them and now I know why. We did try to take Trent again later in the week, but we ended up with the stomach flu/more bad weather. I guess we HAVE to go again next year!

Here are some pics of that one successful attempt on Monday morning:

 Famous Creamland Dairy cow balloon. Its crazy to me that they can even get it up in the air!

 The ice cream cone was an Ethan favorite. He kept mentioning it for weeks after we went!

Basketball. Of course.

"Special Shapes" balloons are a huge attraction here. Here's a fireman and Darth Vader. Darth Vader's balloon crew all wears storm trooper uniforms and march around in formation. It was pretty fun to see them!

 You can see the pregnant belly a little in this one. 

It was fun to get to stand next to the balloons and watch them take off one by one.

Trick or Treat

So my good friend Jen in our ward invited us to go Trick or Treating with them and their kids. Trent and I hadn't been planning on taking Ethan (are we terrible?) but we decided to go with them. It was so much fun! And so warm. Trent and I were in pants and short-sleeved shirts. Ethan had a long sleeve shirt under his uniform-but nothing under his shorts. It was cold enough that we could feel it, but not cold enough to need a jacket. I was pretty impressed. I don't know that I ever want to leave this amazing weather!

Ethan didn't really get the whole Trick or Treating thing at first, but after a few houses he was pushing his way through the other kids yelling "Tick or Tweat!" He was very polite and almost always remembered to say "Thank you" and "Halloween!" (his version of "Happy Halloween"). I couldn't believe how cute he was. He wasn't any different than any of the other kids we were with, but I am just so in love with him that every time he does something new I think it is the cutest thing. He would always fall behind and then run, his bucket swinging, to catch up with the bigger kids. As soon as he got his first sucker - a tootsie roll pop, that was what he wanted. He was perfectly content to stop there. He was having so much fun going door to door and being with the other kids that I don't even think he cared about the candy! Just his suckers. Those are the best I guess. Which I am okay with...that means more chocolate for Daddy and I ;). I wish I had brought my camera to take a picture of him holding his bucket up to receive more candy. We were probably out for about an hour and his bucket started to get so heavy that between houses he would hand us his bucket or just set it on the ground. But then when we got to another house with a light on he would run back to us to grab the all essential bucket. I think it was a pretty good first Trick or Treating experience. Maybe so good he will remember what Halloween is when it comes around next year. Maybe not. I guess we'll see!

Halloween

So, technically its not Halloween yet but we had our ward Halloween party so we already got all dressed up and celebrated. I made Ethan a BYU basketball uniform (copied off of last year's uniform, but we saw after the party that the team wore the same uniform for their exhibition game that night). I thought that both Ethan and Trent would love it. Trent dressed up in a shirt and tie as a coach and I borrowed a referee shirt. For the Trunk or Treat we brought Ethan's basketball hoop so kids/parents could shoot at our truck bed. Pretty sure some people think we are obsessed, little do they know that I, the only non-obsessed one came up with the idea!

I never plan costumes ahead of time. Halloween isn't a holiday too high up on our priority list I guess. I suppose this will change now as Ethan starts to understand more about holidays. This year I started in September drawing up a pattern and looking for fabric for this costume. I decided to start early so I wouldn't be stressed out last minute. Of course, even though I started a month and a half early I still only finished about 10 minutes before we headed out the door for the Halloween party. Go figure!

Here are some pics right before we headed out the door for the party. Please ignore the messy house...I was working all day on it so the mess just piled up :). The long sleeves are just a shirt we had him wear so he didn't freeze at the Trunk or Treat.

It was my first major sewing project by myself. I had to redo some parts and learned so much.  I got frustrated at times and had to set it aside while I thought of how to put parts of it together, I even found myself thinking about it in the middle of the night! But mostly it was a lot of fun and makes me excited to sew lots of other projects.