Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

This year we spent our Thanksgiving with Phil's family. Most of them came up Tuesday and drove all the way up here to the Valley. We got to spend the evening with them at Grandma Moulton's. On Tuesday we all headed down, at different times, to Idaho Falls. Phil and I had some errands to run there and we wanted to go see our bishopric member, Steve Coburn, who had been in an accident and was in the hospital. It was good to visit with him and his family and we're still hoping that they will be able to come home from the hospital this week. After we raced around Idaho Falls  we met up with the rest of the family at Grandma & Grandpa Monson's. There we were able to celebrate Phil's Mom's birthday and sing happy birthday! Later that night, Steve, Rachel, and Nate came up and we all stayed up way too late hanging out. I was so tired I had to go to bed before I chewed someone's head off or started making rude comments--I'm not a nice tired person, especially pregnant. =) 

We mostly just hung out Thursday and got ready for dinner. I made creamed corn, of course. No Thanksgiving or Christmas meal is complete without it. All of the Monson's were there (except one aunt and uncle) so it was a full house--upwards of 50 people. Boyd had a lot of fun playing with all the other kids.

Boyd got to sit at this special table and got this special turkey cookie. It was put on the tables WAY too early in my opinion. It took a lot to convince him to wait to eat it until after the prayer, we didn't even try to get him to wait to eat it until after his dinner. He sat here with two other cousins that are also three, Will and  Conner. It was very entertaining to sit near them and just watch them interact. At one point I looked over and saw Boyd flexing and showing off his muscles to the other two. =)

Aunt Rachel and Boyd! Steve and Rachel and so good to play with Boyd. He has so much fun with them!

The food spread. This is the first Thanksgiving where three different kinds of meat were served: turkey, roast beef, and ham. Yum. I had all three. I also had an apple pie later that day that I'm still thinking about. 

24 Weeks 

Phil's three siblings, Nate, Quinton, and Beth came back with us that night to Driggs and planned to stay with us for a few days. We loved having them there. While we were there they helped us with a few projects. We are so grateful for their help! It would have taken Phil and I so much longer to do it all by ourselves.

Lately, Boyd has been saying that his bed was too small for him. Originally, we planned to put him in a bigger bed after the holidays, but since he was talking about it we figured the time was right. So we put the crib back together and moved everything from Boyd's room across the hall to where the nursery will be. Then we set up Boyd's new bed. He was so excited to help the big boys and kept piling all his blankets and toys in his dump truck waiting for the moment when he could move his things back into his room.

He was already excited about the tunnel...

Here he is coming in to his room for the first time after his bed was all set up. And awesome Beth bringing his clothes from his old dresser.

Phil showing him all the fun cubbies.

Going in the tunnel...

...staying in the tunnel. He played in there for long. Phil got him a little nightlight to put at the back. So now he goes in, turns the light on, and then plays. It's great!

Toy cubby.

We still don't have a blanket picked out yet, so this is what the bed looks like for now.

First nap with Remy.

Several weeks ago I thought it would be fun for Boyd to see the dragon movie. He's loving dinosaurs and all things boy. So we've been talking about it and every now and then we have made a small effort to rent it. All the while he kept talking about it. I had Phil rent it while his siblings were up and Boyd was SO EXCITED. These next pictures don't do this event justice. He kept talking in this squeal and clasping his hands together and he couldn't sit still. To add to the excitement one of his (and our) favorite young women, Megan, came over. He was thrilled to have her here and showed her all the cool things about his new bed before racing upstairs to watch the movie.  It was so cute and I'm so glad that we all got to watch it together. 

Saturday, before the kids headed home, we drove up a few minutes towards Targhee to cut a tree down. Phil thought it would be a good idea to bring our sleds to drag Boyd around. It worked pretty good going in, and then Nate just carried him everywhere. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to carry him at all in the feet of snow.

 Boyd was so worn out on the way home and I don't blame him. We had a very busy week, late nights, and lots of fun with our family! It went by way too fast, but now we get to look forward to Christmas and then...our baby boy!!

A Quick Weekend to Provo

Friday, November 18th we headed down to Utah for a quick little trip. Phil's Dad gave him tickets to the BYU game and it was time that we winterized our home in Orem. Traveling has become so easy with Boyd and he is always so excited to see his Utah family. When we were almost there, Boyd said that he was excited to see Pop Pop and the cows. Phil said that the cows weren't there anymore and Boyd was a little confused. We're okay with Boyd knowing what happened to the cows. He knows we eat them. Every time we have beef we tell Boyd that we're eating Pop Pop's cows. So we told them that Pop Pop takes the cows to the butcher and then gives Pop Pop the meat back so we can eat them. That seemed to satisfy his curiosity and went back to watching his show or so we thought. My curiosity set in and I asked Phil how they put the cows out of their misery. Phil proceeded to tell me that they shoot them in the head (kind of mean sounding, but quick and painless). Pretty soon after Phil had told me that, Boyd piped up from the back seat, "They killed them in the head? Oh man!!" It was hilarious, but since then we've been trying to avoid the word "kill." We set ourselves up for that one....

Friday was Phil's brother, Nathan's, birthday so when we got in the whole family headed out to Five Guy's for a birthday dinner. After dinner we popped over to Riverwoods to see the lights and we ended up getting more than we planned on. It was a so much fun. The whole square was decorated beyond for Christmas. They had Santa's house all lit up and decorated and lights covered the trees and were strung everywhere imaginable. It was beautiful and so fun to start celebrating the holiday season. The best part was live performance by John Schmidt. He's amazing it and was awesome to listen to him play live in such an intimate setting. Boyd loved being there, seeing all the lights and dancing to the music. 

23 Weeks 

 Beth somehow climbed up to get a better view of the performance. 

 Boyd hung out with Pop Pop most of the time by the fire. 

 Uncle Bug and Anna. Anna is a Ukrainian student that is staying with the Moulton's while she goes to law school at BYU.

 After Riverwoods we headed back to sing happy birthday and have cake. Boyd loves Uncle Bug. It will be sad to say goodbye to Nate for a couple of years while he serves his mission. And crazy to think that Boyd will be 5 when he gets back! =)

 Saturday morning Phil needed to run to Cabela's so of course I insisted that Boyd go. He had a great time with Beth and walking around looking at all the animals.

Sunday we headed to church. Boyd had a blast in nursery. He seems to like nursery better in other wards. Probably because it's different, different toys and faces. I convinced Phil to stay for family dinner and dessert. That is one thing that I really miss about not living in Utah. I loved the time we spent together with Phil's family on Sundays (and of course Phil's Mom's cooking is awesome). When it was time to leave, Boyd hadn't had a nap yet, and was devastated. He did not want to leave. He loves hanging out down in Utah. And if I'm being honest, I really do too!!