First Time in a Shopping Cart

I did a little more Black Friday shopping today and this time, baby Epifanio joined me. We put him in the cart and it was his first time! Look how small he looks.

Look at him holding onto the cart with a death grip. He was having a great time, now he looks like such a big boy.

Black Friday Shenanigans

Today is the darkest of all days, Black Friday. As someone who strongly believes Thanksgiving is for families, I will never shop on Thanksgiving, so I never get the doorbuster deals or any of those, and that's fine with me. So we ventured out this morning at a reasonable time and hit up the usual stores. I got all the small nieces and nephews the cutest clothes, that was really my whole goal with shopping, getting those jokers some clothes. Other than that, I got a bunch of random things for people/myself, and survived the giant blizzard that started halfway through the day. The roads were crazy, the freeway was nuts, but we survived. 

Happy Thanksgiving !

Guys, this was not a great thanksgiving. Our basement flooded, so we spent a good portion of the day fixing that and trying to get under control. But hey, let's focus on the positive! I ran in the turkey trot this morning and although it was the worst every because of the dang blizzard, I got 5th place in my age! (For the slowest race I have ever run for this - the storm definitely effected everyone's times!

 I was happy to get my small ribbon haha!
Then I made my first charcuterie board, and it actually turned out okay! That class I took was very helpful and made me feel so fancy.

After dinner, we were eating some pie, and the fellas requested some "bubbles" (what they call Martinelli's sparkling cider) and we served them to Gecko in a mason jar mug. He's a little sweaty because they had all been running around and playing some very rough-housey games. 

 Darth was mad at us, as you can see here, because he was drinking his bubbles out of a champagne glass and looked so extra and was so cute, but when we laughed at him, he got very embarrassed and traded to a mug like Gecko. He wouldn't pose for a picture and instead was just mad.

So, despite the flood, it was a great day! We had so much fun, great food, great family, and great times.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Eve

Well friends, we've made it. Officially, it is Thanksgiving Eve. I spent the day as any person would - cleaning and cooking. I cleaned the house from top to bottom - vacuuming, mopping, cleaning toilets, sinks, walls, dusting, etc. Just trying to make the place look good, of course. Then when everything was cleaned, pies were made. My sister made the mincemeat as I cleaned, (GROSS you guys, who puts beef and fruit in the same pie?!) and I made the classic PB pies when I was finished, as she made a chocolate chip cookie pie.

To say that I'm jazzed for tomorrow would be an understatement - I am so excited! I love Thanksgiving, what a great holiday. Hope you guys are getting ready for yours!

Baby Shenanigans

Tonight I had Epifanio over for some fun, and he was very lively. I was trying to put him into his pajamas, and he kept kicking them off before I could get them all fastened, so I just gave up and left him nude for a bit.

Then we put on his pajamas and as I was drinking my water, I noticed he couldn't stop staring at my water bottle, so I just let him play with it for a bit. 

I love when this joker is in a good mood and not crying, he's such a fun time.

What's Making Me Happy This Week

I've done this "segment" a few times, where I talk about the thing that's making me happy this week (a la a podcast I listen to, Pop Culture Happy Hour).

This week, it's a show! The Crown just came to Netflix for Season 3. I love this show. I love mostly any English/British show, and when its about royalty? Honestly, can't get much better!

It has a whole new cast this season, we've jumped like, 20 or so years? I think? Or maybe less? and so it's really interesting to learn this new cast and see how they work and all that jazz. So, if you love British stuff and/royalty, I know you'll love this show. I'm almost halfway through the new season, I am trying to both hurry through it because I love it and take my time, in case season four takes as long as season three to come out  (20 months!).

I am enjoying the heck out of it, so I hope you will too!

It's Hallmark Christmas Movie Season

Does anyone remember the times where there were like, maybe 10 new Hallmark movies a year? And maybe 5 of them were Christmas? Cut to 2019, where there is a new Hallmark every week, and 40 new Christmas movies. 

It's a lot. 

It's overwhelming. 

Will I watch them all? 

Of course I will. 

The new movies started all the way back on October 25 - so a whole month now. So, for the last month, there have been 4 new Hallmark movies a week  - 2 on Hallmark, 2 on the Movies and Mysteries. Then, couple that with the 2-3 movies that air on the Lifetime network, and boy, I have been watching all Christmas, all the time. 

It's not so bad. 

It's definitely getting me into the Christmas feelings, I am so ready for the holiday. And my Deck the Hallmark friends (we have a Facebook page) are also watching them all, so there are a lot of us going through this, so we're having fun talking about it all. 

But here we are, one more month until the big day. That's 4 more weeks - 4 each week, plus a movie every night during this week of Thanksgiving, and then also likely the week of Christmas. 

But! We can make it. I have faith. I love and hate these movies. I'm ready for them to be over. 

I also love watching them and I'll be sad when they're all done. 

So, good luck to all of us watching all of these movies these months. We can make it!

Family Pics Time

My sister wanted to get some family pics done, and asked that we do them. I was happy to help out, but boy howdy did they not turn out as planned. Darth definitely threw a fit while we were doing them and refused to be in any pics...until about a half hour later when he was ready. What a dang pain. Enjoy the pics, though.

Such cuties, such cuties.

Scream it Out

Today, I was chilling with the baby, and he was getting everything in himself out. Lots of chattering, lots of yelling, etc. Right as I was catching his yelling on camera, his brother made a pounding noise on the table, so he had to stop and join in. I love it.

Junior League Night

My cousin gave me a holler last week and invited me to a craft night at her Junior League. As was explained to me, Junior League is basically an association of women who meet up and do volunteer work, their work sounds amazing, I am actually trying to decide if I should join up! But last night they were doing a craft night of sorts, and since I love crafts, my cousin knew I would love it and she was right! There were 5 different stations they had set up, and you could choose three. We first chose the station that was making cards/tags, and I of course made some cards : 

They were really easy to make, so that was nice. Next, onto the wrapping station! 

They taught us how to wrap the best way, how to add stuff onto the packages to make them look nice, and then they gave us a bag of such things, a sprig of holly and some ribbon and bells. Finally, we chose the charcuterie station, the one I was looking forward to the most! 

We were told how to make a good looking board, what cheeses do what, what meats add what flavor, and what sides to add on. Did I snack the entire time she was talking? You betcha. 

This was the entire table of stuffs: 

This was her charcuterie board, very nice looking. 

 She also taught us about wine! Of course this meant nothing to me, and I abstained from all the wine tasting, but I did smell them all and they all smelled like gross alcohol, I just can't get behind the smell or taste of alcohol!

It was such a fun night, I loved it! I'm really hoping to put my charcuterie knowledge to the test and make my own board. 

To reading!

All throughout my college career, I had barely any time for recreational reading. All of my reading had gone to reading textbooks or anything assigned to me. I read maybe 10 books a year that weren't school books. Now that college is over, I have time to read regular things again, and I've been taking advantage. Of course, I am reading the books for my book club, and enjoying all sorts of books.
I have recently started to re-read the His Dark Materials series, with the new show coming out in all. I also tried to read the Great Brain series (as far as I can tell, it's a children's book series? Maybe YA? I can't figure out what kind of age this is supposed to appeal to) and oy I did not care for those, so I can warn everyone away.

It's such a treat to read for pleasure, and I can't understand people who hate to read! Of course, I'm sure people could say the same for what I like, etc., so I don't judge too hard, but I just wish that everyone loved escaping into books!

So, here is my plug for reading, do it if you want, don't if you don't want to, and enjoy what you enjoy!

Hard Life for a Baby

Last night I was trying to get new baby to crawl and decided to record it as I tried. It didn't go as well as I would hope.

It makes me laugh so hard hahaha I tried and he did his best. 

Enjoy! 

BABY YODA!!!!

Guys, Disney+  came out this last week! It's an excitement. All of my Disney stuff in one place, including every Disney Channel Original Movie? Yes please!
They also have a new show called The Mandalorian. It's a Star Wars show, and it takes place about 5 years after The Return of the Jedi. It's about a bounty hunter and tbh that's all I know about it. It's only aired two episodes so far, and it's not too bad.
The thing that has gotten my attention is:

Guys.
It's Baby Yoda.
Now, I know it's not the real Yoda, since at this point in the franchise, Yoda is gone and all that jazz, so it's just someone in his species, but guys.
Look how cute.
He's so cute.
I want one.
That's all.

Ah nuts

Well, it took a few weeks, but I have nothing to blog about today. 

A Baby and his ice cream

Tonight, we all went to ice cream as a family, to Brooker's Founding Flavors ice cream, a newish place down by the Megaplex theaters in Vineyard. We introduced baby to a Black Madagascar Vanilla ice cream. It's a vanilla ice cream, but it's black in color, so it's just wild to eat. He looked a little insane while we were eating it.

He loved it, of course, as all babies do.

Call Vieve

On Snapchat, if you save a video or a photo, it'll pop up on the next year as a memory. Today on my sister's phone, this was her memory:

Look at this tiny two year old, trying to give his favorite aunt a call in the morning. So so cute!

Mischief Fella

I watched all of the fellas tonight, and it was...something. First of all, whenever we have to decide on a dinner, it's like a peace treaty negotiation. Because Darth is such a weirdo about food and hardly ever eats, it's so hard for him to pick a dang food, because he only eats like three items. This is him as we're negotiating and trying to figure out whats what.

I just think he's such a stinker, but he's too cute for me to be angry at for too long.
Our other issue of the evening was Epifanio, that joker is working on everyone's last nerve! He is experiencing some separation anxiety and was very good at letting us all know. Can't wait for him to outgrow that.
Otherwise, we had such a good time, we played some Mario Party. I've learned the secret to that - give myself and Darth actual characters to play, and then make Gecko the computer, so he doesn't really have to play, and then we all have such a good time, I recommend it for any children in your life.

Podcast Time

Now, I've talked about podcasts on here before, and now I have a new one to share. There's this one I listen to called Deck the Hallmark. It's a dang delight. These three guys that are around my age watch Hallmark Christmas movies and then review them. 

The reason it's fun is because one guy LOVES Hallmark Christmas movies, one of them LIKES Hallmark Christmas movies, and the last guy DESPISES Hallmark Christmas movies. Because I swing back and forth between all of these feelings at once in a Hallmark movie, I agree with all of their views haha. 

So yeah, if you like podcasts and Hallmark movies, I absolutely recommend listening to this, it's so fun! 

Peeling, peeling, everywhere

I wrote a bit ago about doing feet wraps - and how much I loved them. Last week during my YW activity, I did a wrap again, and yesterday, I started to peel again! But this time is wild - it's so much more than last time, so I must be losing all of the dead parts for sure this time, I can't wait for the softness. 

I love it! I'm having such a great time with this, what a great time it is peeling my feet. 

Christmas is a Time for Crafts

I know it's only November, but I'm getting started on Christmas already!
The reason being, I've decided to do mostly homemade gifts this year. I'm pretty excited! Homemade gifts make me nervous because of all that can go wrong, or maybe what I think is cute is not, but hopefully I'm picking the right gifts for the right people this year.
So, I've been working on my gifts for a few weeks already, and I love what's happening. I'm not going to post anything on here that I'm working on or finished, just in case things get spoiled.
But after Christmas, I will post everything and share any tips on what I did!
I just love Christmas, I love finding the perfect gift to give people.

Epifanio's first Ice Cream

Epifanio tried his first bit of ice cream yesterday, and he loved it! Maybe. Honestly, I can't tell.

Christmas Card Swap Day

Today was our final Card Swap of the year, so it was the one we did our Christmas neighbor gift on. They all were so great this year!

I am just realizing that I forgot to take a pic of the food table! We had a delicious spread this year, everyone contributed some delicious treats. Here's to another great year of card swaps!

Special Thoughts Jars

For my YW for Christmas this year, I am making these jars for them. I complied a list of 366 quotes from General Conference, quotes I like in general, things of that nature. (366 because next year is a leap year so there are 366 days in the year) It took a while to compile the list, to cut the quotes, and then get them to fit in the jar. But I love how they turned out, and I hope they all love it!

Self Care Night

Last night for YW, we had a self care night. I bought them foot masks, face masks, and I was ready with snacks and everything for a chill evening of self-care (and homework, I can attest that they brought homework to do)
I was proud of my table set up.

The evening was a lot of fun! We all beautified ourselves with masks, and ate a lot of snacks. We had some fun conversations and I don't know if anyone actually got any of their homework done. It was probably the best activity I've been to in a while - we had so many YW show up, it was awesome!

Samwise Birthday

Yesterday was my niece's birthday, turning 3! She had a small fiesta and I just wanted to share a couple of photos that I love.

Here Samwise is blowing out her candle...we couldn't find a birthday candle, so we just had her blow out a household candle that smells like pumpkin spice hahaha I loved it. 

This is my other niece Mulan, I was trying so hard to get a smile from her, but she would not oblige.
Such cuties my nieces are!

Neighbor Jam

For Card Swap in November, we each give a neighbor gift idea for Christmas. For this year, I chose a pretty easy one that I found on Pinterest. I thought I had saved the pin to share it here, but then when I went to my boards, I couldn't find it, alas. Sorry friends. But here it is!

I just love how cute and simple this is, that's my favorite thing about neighbor gifts since we tend to end up giving out many more than we originally planned with.

Epifanio, Epifanio, Epifanio

I just have a backlog of Epifanio photos, so here they all are!
Enjoy!

A Day with the Fellas

The fellas came over to enjoy this fine warm Sunday, and of course pictures were taken. 

 I love this picture because it looks like Darth is just having an existential crisis.

I don't love the top pic there, the angle just is so unflattering and makes me look so so so so chubby haha but the bottom picture makes up for it. 

We had a fun day and luckily got to spend so much time outside because of how weirdly warm it is right now. The weather in Utah is wild, y'all. 

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Now that Fall has kicked off, it's time for Fall treats. I've chosen today to make Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, which I have made before, but I guess not blogged about? So here it is!

Ingredients

• ½ cup, plus 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (do not use the pumpkin pie mix puree)
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• Coating:
• ¼ cup granulate sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• Icing:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
• 2½ – 3½ cups powdered sugar (depending on how thick you want it)
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

1. Beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar for about 3 minutes on low.
2. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the vanilla and egg until combined.
3. Add the pumpkin and sour cream.
4. In a separate medium bowl, combine your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk them all together and slowly stir into the wet ingredients.
5. Refrigerate the batter for at least 30 minutes to an hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while you start to roll out the dough into medium size balls.
7. Mix together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg for the coating.
8. Roll the balls of dough into the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Pat the ball of dough gently with your palm after setting onto the pan (covered with parchment paper or a baking mat).
9. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes. They will finish baking when you let them cool on the baking sheet when pulled out of the oven. Do not over bake.
10. Icing:
11. Beat the softened cream cheese and vanilla for about 1 minute on medium high speed. Alternate the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar until the right consistency. 
12. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg to the icing. You can hand frost these with a knife or by using a piping bag method.
13. Enjoy!

Now yes, I just copied and pasted this from Pinterest, as I am lazy, its from a blog called Simply Gloria.

Anyway, these were so dang good! 

Let's Blog!

All right team, we've made it to November. 

I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by! Its legit insane! But we still have two months - the best two months - of the year left. 

So, because November is the National Blogging Month, Blog-Every-Day Month, let's do this, let's see if we can get something every day! 

Good luck to all of us. 

We'll start the month with a pic of Gecko in Husband's Halloween costume. What a cutie.