We’ve already had a busy busy December! Work has been crazy for me and Randy has finals and the first of his CPA tests coming up, but we’ve also had family in town and been doing fun stuff with them all week too!

Graham had a cute little music recital for the little mommy and me class we’ve been doing. They sang a few songs, Graham cried for the first five seconds and then realized he was performing and started eating it up! He did the actions late on every song but I was SUCH a stage mom and was so proud and so stoked!

My family has gone to the Festival of Trees ever since we were little kids. I can’t remember a year when we didn’t go! It was so fun to go back with all of my siblings again. And to bring Graham, who had too much fun and couldn’t hang hahaha.

And last but not least we went to a Jazz game! We brought Randy’s brothers and cousin Brandon with us and it was honestly such a blast. We had so much fun, shouting for free chicken and eating snacks. It was such a great time!

Ben and Kim came with their family for Thanksgiving this year and it’s been a BLAST! The actually came early and surprised me in a really rude way, dropping Allison on the door and doorbell ditching me, giving me a heart attack (I’ll post a video soon.) It was amazing though haha! Randy and Graham and I put up our Christmas decorations a little early and had a ton of fun. Graham is getting into the magic of Christmas and it’s amazing.

We have stayed up late playing games, the kids have had so much fun playing together, and it’s just been the best time. We blessed new baby Allison on Wednesday night and had pie night which is a fun tradition in our family.

Thanksgiving at my grandma’s house was delicious and awesome. I love hanging out with all my cousins and they all love Graham a lot! It’s always so delicious and fun. We went and played game late into the night at my parent’s house after.

Friday we woke up and had a very successful Black Friday! We got lots of awesome clothes. Then we came back to my mom’s and decorated for Christmas. I love listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate while we decorate. It’s one of my favorite traditions.

Saturday we celebrated CHRISTMAS with my family since we will all be apart on actual Christmas. We exchanged the cousin and sibling gifts did the Stocking Exchange of course, and sang songs, had delicious breakfast, ordered Chinese for dinner, played so many games, took the kids out to build a snowman and sled, and just had a blast. I love getting to spend time with all my siblings and getting all the cousins together!

We had a 2nd Friendsgiving with some of our close friends and it was a blast!! It was a cultural friendsgiving, so we brought tabouli from Lebanon, yakisoba from Japan, and white person cookies lolz. We ate Spanish cheese and real quesadillas and Cambodian ramen and Swedish bread and Hungarian potatoes and it was all SO BOMB. Of course we took family photos in our matching denim. It was such a great day!

I CAN NOT believe my baby is a year and a half old!! Time is FLYING and it’s so crazy! I love every single day we get with our little G man.

Here are some of my favorite things about Graham right now:

He is OBSESSED with vacuuming. Every night after dinner, without fail he will grab his little toy vacuum. He follows me around while I vacuum and will even run to the closet where we keep the real vacuum and make me get it out to help him!
He is TERRIFIED of other kids. If they even come close to him he will freak out and start to cry. Once he gets used to other kids he’s more OK with them, but it seriously is so heartbreaking.
He loves to jabber constantly, and has a ton of real words thrown in there like NO, more, cookie, ball, duck, please, car, cheese, baby, dog, cat, a million animal sounds, purple, yellow, blue, and a bunch more.
He is obsessed with music and will dance around, drum, or try and sing along.
He loves running around being chased or chasing us, squealing and yelling the whole time.
We have the best time walking to get our mail every day.
He LOVES Daniel Tiger and will say GRR when he wants to watch it.
He claps for himself after every single thing he does.
He loves coloring, reading, playing any instrument, and helping me.
He loves holding my hand and it’s the best thing ever.
He is obsessed with throwing a ball to someone at point-blank range.
He’s extremely cautious and observant but it’s so sweet to see.
He loves shopping with me, walking through the racks and copying me as I look at the clothes.

In the 1.5 years he’s been in our family he has taught me so much about myself, my capacity to love, and more. I can’t imagine my life without him.

We went to Cedar City over the weekend to be with my sister as she went through the temple. It was really special and I’m so proud of her, and super excited for her to go to Brazil in a few months on her mission!

We had a fantastic Halloween as Bert, Mary Poppins, and a dancing penguin! Randy even bought a kazoo and played the cute little song from the movie whenever Graham waddled around. We only went to a few houses but Graham LOVES candy and is super in to Halloween already!

We ate soup, went up to our neighbors and had hot chocolate and Graham was TERRIFIED of the little girls that were there. He got to wear his costume to music class and even got to trick or treat at Target! It was seriously a great Halloween! Randy said multiple times that this costume was his favorite that we’ve done, so I’m not sure how to top it next year!

We also welcomed our sweet niece Allison into the world on the 30th! Congrats to Ben and Kim!!

We had a great Halloween

We’ve had a fun few weeks, I’ve been lucky to get to go on some adventures with friends and some fun dates! Randy is seriously the best person ever to make sure I always get the things that I need, from time to work, to treats, to days of relaxation!

I had a blast going to Afternoon Tea at the Grand America with Courtney one of my very best friends. It was DELICIOUS and sooo fun to go and drink tea and just chat. She’s seriously amazing.

Randy and I also got to go to a Jazz game which was SO awesome. We got to sit courtside during the warmup which was SO cool and then we had great seats and loved watching a great game.

Randy has been SO busy with school and studying for the CPA, but we’ve made some time for some fun fall activities. Drives up the canyon, walks in the leaves, and a visit to the pumpkin patch are just a few of the things we’ve been doing.

Graham LOVED playing in the big plastic ghost at the pumpkin patch. He also was obsessed with going down the big slide. He gets a little temper-tantrumy when we stop doing things he likes and we are def trying to work on that hahaha!

He loves playing with his little pumpkin he picked out, is obsessed with pumpkin waffles and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies which makes me so proud, and is super good to wear all the cute jackets I make him wear.

He’s also started a little music class and is just in awe of all the other kids. He’s really unsure about participating, but he loves staring at the other kids and makes me sings the songs again and again and again when we get home. It’s adorable!

Randy and I also went to The Rocket Summer concert the day after we got home from DC. Bryce always puts on an AMAZING show and we had a blast. We’ve gone to TRS every year since we’ve been married and it’s always a really fun, great time.

We’re just having a great fall over here. Happy October!