Thanksgiving Week

The Hobbs crew came into town the Friday before Thanksgiving. That night they put Blake to bed, left him with Grandma Lori, and drove down to hang out with us like the good old days when we were newly married and kid free living in Union Square together.

On Saturday we all saw Wreck-It Ralph (loved it!).

On Sunday we met up in Draper to see my cousin Brady bless his baby boy, Oliver.

Monday and Tuesday we didn't do anything together because of our sick kids. Jason had interviews with the University of Utah and Intermountain for the first year of his residency.

On Wednesday Grandma Lori came down to help with the kids while I prepped what I could for the big day. Corby and Grandma played Play-Doh together and I made close to 100 mini pumpkin cupcakes.



That night we drove up to Salt Lake to celebrate the November/December Ririe birthdays (Diana, Brady, and Taylor) at California Pizza Kitchen.

And then it was time for the big day...

Peyton's Thanksgiving outfit - I saw it and couldn't resist!



We cooked all morning. I was most nervous about the turkey and the gravy because we'd never attempted either of them before. Rog took charge of the turkey which I was very grateful for. The gravy had to be done at the last minute, so all 4 of us (my parents came a little early to help) scrambled around yelling instructions and somehow it turned out just right.

Jason, Diana, Blake, and my Grandma Ford arrived just in time for dinner at 2 and we dug right in.



While all of us were together we had to attempt a family picture. It turned out pretty much exactly how I thought it would. The adults look good, but not a single kid is looking at the camera.



We had dessert with the Petrosinos and some of their family and friends. There was a great selection of yummy desserts to choose from.

After that we did our Ririe gift exchange. Rog got the Avengers from my mom, I got the new Our Best Bites cookbook from Jason (I've already cooked quite a few things from it!), Corby got some books from Blake, and Peyton got Cinderella from my dad (She's too young to enjoy it now, but we're collecting the classics as they are released from the vault - in the meantime, Corbyn has insisted we watch it pretty much every day!).

While we were doing the exchange Blake found the Black Friday ads and made quite a mess handing me each ad over and over again. It was so cute and I was happy to have a "bonding" moment with my nephew as we don't get to see him near enough!

After everyone left and we got the kids to bed, I finally had a moment to sit down and look through the Black Friday ads. I had been debating whether or not to go to Target that night because I really wanted to get the Little People Princess set for Peyton. The store opened at 9 and at 10:30 I finally decided to go. I figured they'd probably be sold out, but I'd be mad at myself later if I didn't try. When I got there, I went straight to the toy section and there was ONE left! I couldn't believe my luck to get the very last one! I waited in line for 40 minutes and made it home by midnight.



Mariah and I headed out at 6:15 Friday morning for some serious Black Friday shopping. We started at the new outlets at Traverse Mountain (in Lehi). I have been so excited for them to open because they have a Carter's! Everything was 50% off plus I had a coupon for 20% off on top of that, so I started stocking up on 9-12 month clothes for Peyton. We also hit up the Children's Place while we were there. Then we made a quick stop at Target (the night before I grabbed the Princess set and got right in line) and Toys R Us. Finally we hit up Kohl's where we waited in line for over an hour!

Peyton got to tag along, so I could feed her. She was a perfect angel - slept through the outlets and Target and was just happy and cute the rest of the time even though she was still getting over her cold.



On Saturday I went with Mariah to a craft show Spanish Fork puts on every year the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was the first year we've been here for Thanksgiving since we moved to Spanish Fork, so I was excited to check it out. It was a lot bigger than I expected and they had some cute things for sale. I got this beautiful, tiny eskimo nativity set.



Later that day I got to go to the temple and do the initiatory and endowment for the family name I started in October. Even though we've been to the temple every month this year, I hadn't done an endowment session since February. It's hard to fit one in between Peyton's feedings, but we had to make it happen this month.

And that was our Thanksgiving week! Stay tuned for Peyton's 7 month post, Corby in a big boy bed, decorating for Christmas, and much much more! I'll get caught up sooner or later!

We're Alive

Has it really been 2 weeks since I posted last? Aiyiyi! We've definitely entered the time of year where my to-do list is GINORMOUS and the time I have to accomplish everything on that to-do list is teeny tiny!

Last week was spent taking care of 2 sick kids. Peyton was the sickest that she has ever been in her entire life. It was so sad to hear that little girl's croupy cough! And Corbyn was sick enough that he took a few naps - something he has completely sworn off otherwise. They are both almost completely better now - I'm hoping and praying they can stay that way until after Christmas!



On top of that, last week my entire family was in town (other than the Jar in Sweden of course). I hosted Thanksgiving, so when I wasn't taking care of sick kids, I was making sure that this beautiful display of food went off without a hitch!



This week I've been playing catch up in a major way and trying to remember how to take care of 2 kids on my own while Rog is at work. I've been doing it for 7 months now, but it seems like every Monday I have to relearn how to do it after having help on the weekend - especially a long weekend!

You can expect a lot of blogs in the next few days with a much more comprehensive review of the past 2 weeks. For now I basically just wanted to say, we're alive and well!

Five on Friday

1. Last Friday we welcomed a new nephew into the Phillips family. Cade Robert Phillips was born at 11:24 pm on Friday night. He was 7 pounds, 12 ounces and is just so adorable! We can't wait to meet him when we go to Colorado for Christmas! He's Rex and Edda's 3rd boy and the 5th boy on the Phillips side. Maybe one day Peyton will get a girl cousin, but for now she's one of a kind!



2. On Monday night we decided to finally wash our couch cover. (We've been talking about how it needed to be done for a while now.) It looks a million times better! And as an added bonus - the cushions with the covers off made for excellent fort building material for our FHE!



3. I finished my 5th book for the year. I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It tells the incredible story of WWII survivor Louie Zamperini who spend 47 days shipwrecked on a tiny raft and then spent the rest of the war in Japanese POW camps. Similar to The Glass Castle, I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but I wasn't so into it that I couldn't put it down like I was with 11/22/63. It made me grateful for all those who have suffered (and those who continue to suffer) so much to protect the many freedoms we enjoy.

4. Peyton is doing better with solid feedings. A few days this week she's actually finished her bowl of oatmeal cereal (with a fruit or vegetable mixed in) - although most of the time I still feel like I have to trick her to open her mouth to get the spoon in there. We've also started giving her puffs. She seems to really be into those and is successful about half of the time at getting one in her mouth!



5. A few times this week Corbyn has wanted to sit where Peyton sits. In her Bumbo (although she hasn't actually used it for a few weeks now) and in her high chair. What a silly boy!

A Chilly Football Game

Last weekend we had a huge winter storm. Like 5 inches of snow.

It was also the last BYU home football game of the season. We played Idaho (who is horrible), it was a late game (8:15 kickoff), and it was COLD (low of 28 degrees). Bronco said the true blue fans would be there and we were.

My parents decided at the last minute not to come up because of the storm, so we had to scramble a little bit to figure out what we were going to do. Luckily KD and Phat Tony agreed to come down from Salt Lake and watch Corbyn and Peyton for us, so we could both go.

We were prepared with layers, blankets, and hand warmers, so we really weren't that cold. And truth be told, the cold football games are really my favorite.

We enjoyed watching the cougars beat up on Idaho (final score: 52-13) while eating our slightly frozen, but still really good last-home-game-of-the-season cougar tail donut.



It's always sad to see the season come to an end - We still have 2 away games and the Poinsettia Bowl left this season, but watching it on tv is never the same as being right there in the action (especially when you have amazing seats like we do)!

Five on Friday

1. Last week Peyton tried out the swing for the first time. She likes it, but her favorite part is watching me push Corbyn. She laughs and laughs and laughs!



2. Last Saturday on my run I tweaked my neck when I was looking down and back over my shoulders to watch a dumb little dog who was chasing me. I was completely miserable for a few days. I couldn't turn my head to either side or look up which caused my shoulders to become very tight. We didn't have big plans for the weekend, but that pretty much put an end to any plans we did have. Good thing I had these 3 cuties around to take care of me.



3. All 5 lanes of I-15 are now open. They started the expansion when we moved into our house 2 1/2 years ago. At the time it seemed like it would never be done, but it really went pretty quickly. And now we have 5 lanes of awesome. I'd say it was worth it!



4. On Tuesday I took both kids to vote with me. It ended up being a piece of cake because Corbyn fell asleep on the way over and stayed asleep when I moved him to the stroller. As for the results of the election, to say I'm a little disappointed is a HUGE understatement. I know Mitt Romney would have been an outstanding President and could have done so much good for our country - particularly our economy. Sigh.



5. Peyton has become pretty mobile in the last week. She can crawl (not very fast or far yet, but she can do it) and she can go from crawling to sitting like it's nothing.

I love her owl beanie paired with Corbyn's winter coat from when he was a baby. 50% owl + 50% bear = 100% cute!

Pumpkin Recipe Roundup

The first week of October I opened up one of those huge cans of pumpkin. My goal was to use it up before it went bad and I'm happy to report I accomplished that goal!

First I made Pumpkin Ginger Skookies with Ginger Spice Cookie Dough, Homemade Pumpkin Ice Cream, and Buttermilk Caramel Syrup.



Next up was one of our favorite pumpkin recipes from last year - Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread.



Then one night for dinner we had Pumpkin Roll Pancakes with Breakfast Potatoes (a breakfast-for-dinner staple at our house).



Finally I made a favorite from a few years ago - Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. After making them I remembered just how good they are and because I had the perfect amount of pumpkin and half a can of frosting left, I made them again!

It was a delicious month of pumpkin goodies!

Halloween

Our Halloween started off with Peyton's 6 month appointment. She had 4 shots and an oral vaccine - poor thing!

From there we headed straight to Rog's work for the annual KLAS Halloween party. A little boy (who happens to be named Peyton) was Jake (from Jake and the Never Land Pirates), so he (and his parents) came trick-or-treating with us around the office.

{Corby is blurry in this one, but I still think it is cute of the two little boys together.}





After the trick-or-treating they had a potluck. I made these cupcakes because they are orange and completely delicious. I pretty much make them every chance I get!

We had our ghoulish feast that night with Bill and Mariah. It was a little rushed doing it the same night as trick-or-treating, so we decided in the future we'll do it the Sunday before Halloween.

I made candy corn pizza, bones 'n blood breadsticks, and bloody punch. Mariah made decomposed salad and apples with caramel dip.



For dessert we had ghost jello (it looked better a few minutes before I took the picture) and leftover cupcakes from the potluck earlier that day.



Then before we could head out trick-or-treating, we had to attempt to get a good picture of both kids together in their costumes. Of course we weren't successful, but you can't blame us for trying.

Corbyn loved trick-or-treating this year. He'd walk right up to the door, knock, say "trick-or-treat," and take one (and only one - even if they offered more) piece of candy.

I'd say it was a successful Halloween!

Another Weekend in Salt Lake

My parents were up for the weekend, so on Saturday we went up to Salt Lake to spend the day with them.

First they watched our kids while we went to the Salt Lake temple to do baptisms. Roger was able to find some family names (with a lot of help from Grandpa and Grandma Phillips) for us to take.

{It was a special treat for me because they only allow endowed sisters to do baptisms if they have family names. When I was at BYU and before I was married, I went practically every week to do baptisms, but that was 5 1/2 years ago!}

When we got back we went over to my Grandpa and Grandma Ririe's to watch the second half of the BYU vs. Georgia Tech game. It was the first away game we've been able to win this season (41-17) - finally!

They gave Corbyn and Peyton each a little Halloween gift. Peyton loved the wrapping paper and worked at it until she got the toy out!



Then we headed up to City Creek. It was the first time for all of us (except Rog). We had dinner at Kneaders and then hit up the Disney store for Corbyn. He immediately found the Peter Pan/Jake and the Never Land Pirates section. (I rented the Peter Pan and Jake and the Never Land Pirates DVDs from our library to get him excited about being Peter Pan for Halloween and I think they are his new favorites!)



 I have a feeling it won't be too long before this little girl is just as excited about the Disney Store as her brother. But of course she'll be in the princess section!



We missed the big fountain show they do every hour by 15 minutes. We couldn't wait around another 45 minutes for the next show, so we'll have to see it when we go see the Temple Square lights this Christmas. Corbyn didn't know what he was missing and thought the little fountains they had going were pretty cool. (Can you find him in this picture?)



Just before we left I spotted these Halloween bags (for 50% off) at Papyrus. I had been thinking I needed to either find or make Halloween bags for trick-or-treating, so it was perfect timing.



On Sunday we fed Peyton solids for the first time, so Grandma and Grandpa could be there for it. There was a little of this...



Some of this...



But mostly a lot of this. (What is this stuff you are trying to feed me? Meh, I am not impressed.)



{Have I ever mentioned that I despise solid foods? It's fine when they finally get the hang of it, but getting there makes me want to pull my hair out!}

As usual, it was great to have Grandma Lori and Papa George here with us!

6 Months

I really can't believe it has already been 6 months since this little girl joined our family!

Her 6 month stats:

Weight: 18 pounds, 6 ounces (90th percentile)
Height: 26 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

PJ at 6 months:

*Sits up like a pro.
*Can get from sitting into the crawl position with ease.
*Gets up on her hands and knees and is so close to crawling.
*Thinks her brother is hilarious.
*Is still waking up a few times a night. Her doctor said she is probably actually hungry because she needs a lot of calories to maintain her weight. Hopefully she'll go back to sleeping through the night as we add solid foods to the mix.
*Still takes 3 naps a day. It seems like Corbyn was down to 2 by this age, but I don't remember for sure.
*Is pretty much done with the jumper and the Bumbo.





Happy 6 months Peyton girl! We love you!