Beautiful Girl!

Dear Jodi,
You take the BEST photos ever! I know my baby girl is gorgeous and all, but these pix are amazing!  Can't wait to see the rest of them. I'm going to need a bigger house with more wall space for all the pictures of my kids!
Love,
Lisa

Check out Sloane at 6 months...you have to scroll down a little ways. She's the adorable naked baby with the bald head and big blue eyes striking a pose on a vintage white vinyl sofa. Jodi has a whole slew of fantabulous pictures on here. All very unique and fun. Definitely worth checking out the whole blog. You'll be inspired!

Happy 6 Month Birthday, Sloane!

Sloane's 6 month birthday was November 15th. She's so darling. Smiles all the time with those two cute little bottom teeth and chubby cheeks, and loves to giggle when you tickle her neck and armpits. She's sitting up really well now, which seems to have opened a whole new world of discovery. She's digging her fruits and crackers - green veggies, not so much. She hates shoes and socks (how is this my child?!) but still leaves her headbands and hats on. Which is good because the bald spot that turned into a bald strip, is now like bald acreage on the back of her head. She seems to be getting some light brown fuzzy hair on top but that bald patch is still, well, really bald. We have high hopes that now that she's not laying down all the time, her hair will have a fighting chance!

We have so much to be thankful for this year - amazing family, great friends, good health, solid jobs...and most of all, our two beautiful children. Sloane's adoption day was November 24th, the day before Thanksgiving. Perfect timing!

I starting playing around with iMovie and made a little video capturing some of the best moments from the last 6 months. It's actually pretty easy - once I took the time to watch the tutorial, anyway! I feel so powerful! Given that the video is over 8 minutes long, it seems that I need to work on my editing skills some. Or maybe there was just that much good stuff. I think that's it.

BTW, the first song - From God's Arms to My Arms to Yours - is from a wonderful album about adoption stories from all perspectives. Scott's sister Lisa, who is adopted, gave it to us last Christmas and it makes me cry every single time I hear it. I know it says "your son" but the sentiment behind it is so heartwarming and perfect, it had to be on here. So, yes, I know Sloane is not a boy.

Turkey Day...

For most people, one Thanksgiving dinner where you devour all the turkey, potatoes, stuffing and pie as your belly and pants can possibly hold is plenty. Think of the thousands of calories in that one, go-for-it meal and the countless hours on the treadmill to reverse the damage. Aaaahhh...gluttonous bliss. 

Our makeshift dining table - 2
picnic tables, 1 king size sheet,
1 tablecloth, 10 mismatched
chairs & wine glasses. Perfect.

For the past 10 years, Scott and I have had the pleasure of gorging not just once, but twice. In the same day. We always go to his parents' house for early dinner around 2 and then head over to my parents' for late dinner around 6. So technically, it's not even twice in 24 hours...it's twice in like 4 hours. I'm still not recovered!

The cool thing is that, unlike a lot of people, we actually like spending time with our families, especially at the holidays! If we could have 2 full separate days to celebrate with each of them instead of splitting the day, we'd be set.  

Whew!

Well, there's a whole family of folks wearing red who are pretty happy that we won! By one point. ONE!

Half the fam went to the game and froze their long-john butts off and the other half stayed home with the little ones. Some were frozen, some were thankful for Tivo so we could actually see what the heck was going on in the game.

Pretty stoked that the Utes pulled it out at the end. And, after that blocked kick and the Boise State debacle last night, also hoping there's some kind of sucky kicker support group.

Sloane and Harper were rocking their U red. Handmade hats. (Becky is like the queen of finding these things...honestly? hand-knitted Ute bandanas AND hand-stitched U hats? wow. just, wow.) We're getting one for Nana.

Halloween, part two.

It was a Halloween shipping miracle, but yes, the costumes arrived in time! Tagg could not wait to put on his Nemo costume, and once Sloane tired of her Nemo outfit, he wanted to wear that one too. That was pretty funny. This picture didn't really do the costumes or my kids justice...they were pretty darling and actually pretty happy!

Tagg finally got the whole "candy" concept about 2 days before the big day. He's never been much of a candy kid. I've had him convinced that fruit is dessert for over 2 years. I call that a moral victory! But it was time...so he dug into some M&Ms and thought he'd gone straight to heaven. I'm not sure what prompted his love of the Nemo costume - chocolate or the actual movie. Either way! He also likes suckers. We did some trick or treating at work and he did pretty good. Speaking of work, our little marketing team (roller derby girls...luckily recycled costumes from last year) lost the costume contest vote to KISS by one stinking vote. I blame Ty. If he'd gone drag as All Beef Patty we'd have totally had it. Christi pulled out all the stops with a big giant safety pin in her nose and the faux-hawk. Now that is commitment! The red wig was so fabulous I was this close to going red...if I could have grown another 6 inches of hair, I'd have been there!

So that was Friday. Saturday morning at 9am, I was standing a few miles and a few thousand feet above Sundance Resort in sub-40-degree weather dressed as a big-bang 80s chick with Nat and Lindsay, ready to run 13.1 miles down a hill to the scariest place on Earth...Provo, Utah (the race billing, I can't even take credit for that one!). The "ready to run" is a total lie...I literally off-the-couched this one. I'd probably run a total of 13 miles since July and hadn't been to the gym in 2 weeks. Ouch. Thanks, gravity, for making it do-able! (Reality Check: Must train for next race. I could not walk up or down stairs for 4 days after, and let's not even talk about sitting.)


The weather turned out to be perfect, the scenery was amazing, and it's hysterical to run with 3000 people in costume - you never get bored! Finished with a pretty good time, got a cool medal...and then walked for an hour back to the car because the bus line was so long. The best part? Lindsay ran in a thong leotard. Like a real one. Which she got at American Apparel and the sales girl was like "oh, every time I buy one I get a medium cause they run small." Every time you buy one? Seriously?! The thong got some comments on the run, for sure, but on the walk through downtown Orem on Saturday? We thought the cops were going to show up. Or the missionaries! So 16 miles under my belt by noon and then? Off to change for more Halloween fun!

We went to Mark & Jen's for Halloween night. Scott was Evil Knievel, and if it hadn't been a torrential downpour that night (like really, really raining!) he would have rode his motorcycle up. Luckily his helmet was covered with homemade decora made from a...garbage bag. So it was waterproof. And Tagg was dressed like a fish, so good for trick or treating in the rain! Tagg made it for about a block up and down and then he was done (remember, still new to the whole candy concept).

Here's a picture of us as a devil family for Halloween. What is up with our eyes?! I am The Missing Sock Fairy. See all the socks in my hair and on the dress? Yeah, no one else did either...kids pull a lot on that stuff and wings are really tough to maneuver at a party, I found out. It didn't last long. So glad I spent all that time stitching those stupid socks on everything! I could have just come as a sweaty, sore runner and been fine. Stinky, but fine. Sloane is a little ballet kitty in this picture. It was darling! She didn't last long either but mostly because the boa fuzzies were driving her bonkers, and it was 8pm, and she totally doesn't care about candy.

It was kind of funny that all the guys took the kids trick-or-treating while the U game was on. They won but it was definitely a focus of the evening. And only one person came as a Ute fan. Next year, I really have to think about the efficient costume!

Sloane's "Squirt" costume was really adorable. It would have been perfect if she was crawling because the back was the best part. Thanks, Tagg, for picking the costumes! You did good!

He loves his Nemo costume so much that I washed it and he pulled it out of the laundry and put it on last Sunday and ran around in that, his dud and socks all night long. We put it in the Halloween box, and he found it, brought it upstairs on Tuesday and wore it all night long. Put it away again, and boom! he's got it in bed as one of his cuddlies that night. Along with all of his other Nemos and Squirt stuffed animals. I guess we're getting our money's worth!