Something to be thankful for...

This Thanksgiving was pretty memorable. Marshall's cousin Brock,( who is very close with Marshall's family almost like a brother), got married two days before the holiday in the Salt Lake Temple. We knew shortly after the couple was engaged that the date was set for the Thanksgiving break and that Brittanie and I would be hosting all the family for not only the wedding but also Thanksgiving dinner (more on that to come). We planned with Allye, (Marshall's sister), and Amelia, (Marshall's Aunt and Mother of the Groom), all the details. It wasn't easy deciding who would sleep where, how we would have enough bedding and towels, what would happen when, and how we would feed everyone for the week AND Thanksgiving Day... but it was TOTALLY worth it! It was by far one of the best Thanksgivings ever! There was something planned for practically every minute of the week which was exhausting but also so much fun! It was so nice to have all the family around and to laugh, work, reminisce, and just celebrate all our blessings together!
We started the festivities with Theo's blessing Sunday night. After the blessing, we stayed up late starting the food preparations for the next days festivities.
Monday, Brittanie's parents and little sister watched the kids while we all went to the Salt Lake Temple with Michael and Amelia. It was their first time going through the temple and it was such a special experience to get to be there with them that day. The spirit was so strong. It was also the first time I had done an actual session in the Salt Lake Temple. Marshall and I were sealed there but I had never been for a session. I feel really grateful to have been there that day and it will be a day I will always remember!

Afterwards, we ate lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial building and then headed home for shower and bachelor party preparations. That night we had a small family shower for Sammi at our house, and all the boys went paint balling for a "bachelor party". 

Here are some of the dipped strawberries we stayed up late making the night before.

We had soooooo much fun at the shower. I'm not sure Sammi would ever talk to me again if I got too specific with the details, but lets just say everyone had a good time and I think we all had sore stomachs the next day from laughing so hard! I'm glad Brock chose Sammi and that she said "yes", she's a keeper that one!

Beautiful Sunset

While we were hanging out at Nate and Britt's before Theo's blessing Kip (Britt's dad) snapped a few shots of our family in front of a beautiful Utah sunset. The pictures don't do it justice. I wish I had thought to have him take some more. It was so impromptu that we aren't that composed, but the background is breathtaking so I had to post them anyway!

It's rare to get a shot of Kate and I where we are both looking at the camera and smiling so I had to include this one!

Theodore K Beeson

The first official event of our Thanksgiving holiday was Sunday night when Nate and Britt blessed their second son Theodore K Beeson or "Theo" for short. Everyone who was coming in town for Brock and Sammi's wedding came just in time to be there for the blessing too. Here is a group shot with all the Beesons in attendance. Welcome to the world Theo! We all love you!

...A Duck!

Sunday after church we drove the Alpine Loop to see all the beautiful changing leaves. Kate fell asleep in the car so we didn't stop to take pictures but hopefully we will get another chance before the weather gets too cold.

When we got to Provo we met up with John and made a quick trip to BYU campus to feed the ducks! Kate was thrilled to see so many up close! She kept saying "duck!", "quack quack!". 

Here are a few pictures of our outing.

 

ALS walk

Saturday morning we went to Wheeler Farms in Murray to participate in the ALS walk for the cure. A friend of Marshall's family recently lost his battle with the disease so we went to support his family and honor his memory. We didn't get to stay too long but it was a beautiful morning and so nice to see old friends coming together for a good cause!

All Clean!

Kate's new favorite place to play is in our master shower. She grunts and says "please" til we open it for her and then she gets in and pulls the door mostly shut from the bottom. She pretends to squirt soap on her hands and rubs her tummy and her arms while repeating "all clean". It's pretty cute to see her use her imagination. Here is a shot a got with my phone during one of her "showers".

In other news... We got a NEW CAMERA! So, hopefully the camera phone posts will be phased out for more masterful shots!



Tubes

Kate is a champion teether. She works on growing each tooth for a good two months! We don't have any of those "go to sleep and wake up with three new teeth in the mouth" experiences here. Oh NO! Our little Kate wants to make sure they are perfect so she spends lots of time and energy and emotion on each tooth! 

Unfortunately, we don't just deal with normal teething woes with our little angel. She seems to have this interesting correlation between growing teeth and getting ear infections. Not just sometimes, every time there is a new tooth coming, an ear infection follows. Dr says it is probably due to her size and not a whole lot of room for swelling in her head. However, the best part about it is that she doesn't seem to run a fever with her ear infections (hopefully you sensed the sarcasm there, no alarm system). With no fever I thought I was just being reasonable and not an over-reacting first time mom by attributing the EXTREME fussiness to the obvious signs of teething. After a three weeks of this EXTREME fussiness at the beginning of the Summer, Marshall stepped in.  "Maybe you should take her to the doctor just in case". I think he was more frustrated with my whining than hers. Again, I thought it was all due to teething and that the doctor was going to treat me like an over-reactive first-time mom, but I finally agreed to take her in. 

Long story a little bit shorter, I am waiting for my "Mother of the Year" award (again, sarcasm).  Double ear infections for who knows how long and who knows how many she had had before that I justified away! Five oral antibiotics, one round of shots, and two SUMMER months of ear infections later, our pediatrician decided that Winter wouldn't be fun for us or Kate if this continued and that we should try tubes. 

All I remember from my personal experience with tubes is bubble gum flavored anesthesia and anxiously waiting for them to fall out so I could see them and inspect them. Anyway, I decided that if I made it through twenty-something years ago she would too and Marshall agreed. 

Sept 9th, less than a week after we moved we took her in.

It took a little over an hour for our entire trip and I think less than 15 min for the actual surgery! She had a little bit of a rough time coming out of the anesthesia but other than that, It was a breeze! 

She recovered so nicely we forgot to make her follow-up appointment right away! 

We have been enjoying a MUCH happier child!