Give Thanks...

Well we weren't at home this Thanksgiving which we thought would feel weird but we are fortunate to have had Megan come visit and to spend the holiday with some of our wonderful friends! we split up the food assignments and all met at the Tafoya's for a delicious FEAST!

I was in charge of some rolls (which turned out weird), fruit (which I am quite proud of my fruit kabob turkey-thanks for your help meg!), green herbal beans, and yummy stuffing!

EVERYONE's food was fantastic! Brandon put his Tucanos knife and meat carving skills to good use and did some expert turkey carving:)

We had a party of 20 including the kiddos and it was fabulous! Shanah, Jocelyn & I were up WAY too late the night before working on our place turkeys:) We first attempted with homemade oreos which was a disaster so we ended up with the classics...they turned out cute!

My Ben loved his turkey day dinner and opted to eat with us instead of nap--he's no fool:)

I am sad I didn't get a pic with my Lance or with Meg.

Thanksgiving is clearly about so much more than the food. It was a wonderful day and I have so much to be thankful for!

I am so blessed.

I have a fantastic husband who is the most hardworking, funny, committed, strong man. I couldn't ask for a better dad for my baby or priesthood leader in my home. I am so lucky he is mine and will stand by him forever!

I am blessed with the SWEETEST little boy who is constantly amazing us and others with how well-behaved, smart, sweet, silly, & handsome that he is. I am so privileged to be his mamamama:)

We are SOO blessed with WONDERFUL parents, siblings, and extended family. They are a constant and consistent support for us, showing unconditional love, and are more than family--but honestly our best friends! I cant go a day without talking to my mom, dad or sisters..and sometimes all of them:)

Speaking of friends. We have wonderful friends. We are so fortunate to have made so many great friends here in louisville! and we have friends from utah and washington that make us grateful for things like blogs and facebook to keep in touch and up on pictures:)

I am grateful for the knowledge I have of my Savior and my Heavenly Father's plan for me. It gives us such perspective when things in our lives aren't going quite like we "planned" and brings such peace into our hearts.

Grateful for this country, the military, church and political leaders, the rain and sunshine, my house-small, old, and cozy:), our bikes & stroller to enjoy outside with my boys, our cars, jobs, education, DVR, internet & computer, cookbooks:) & yummy food, silly gossip magazines and good books, etc. etc.

I could go on...

I am SOO blessed!

Happy 10 mo to Ben!

Ben at 10 months:

• You wear mostly 12-8 mo. clothes but some 6-12 month shirts/sweatshirts. You weigh 20 lbs. but I don’t know how tall you are.

• You have 4 teeth, two on top and two on bottom

• This month you have become a little less cuddly at night---you cuddle but I know when you are ready to lie down and go to sleep. You are great at going to bed on your own for bedtime now as well as naps- or WERE before you were sick/WA/Daylight savings/etc. Now you struggle a bit but are getting back on the wagon. You go to bed at 8 and wake up anywhere from 5 (a habit you HAVE to change!!) to 8 (glorious-keep it up!).

• You started making new sounds and your favorites are “go”, “oh”, “da-dad”, “mom” and they are all pretty cute sung or girly screeched over and over again esp. when it sounds like you know what it means and are using it in context (for now).

• You experienced the ER for the first (and hopefully but not likely) last time ever and all is wellJ

• You are becoming quite the Mom/Dad combo. You have alternated who you looked like most and now it could go either way, which we all likeJ

•You finally don’t tip toe any more and are standing flat-footed. You can pull up onto anything or everything and get back down no sweat. You can stand and play for quite a bit and don’t get scared anymore like you used to when you first started. You have started to take a couple steps to either side or in between coffee table and couch but not sturdy enough to classify as cruising for your OT momJ but you are getting good... and are well on your way to disproving those folks who didn’t think you would walk by one—Dad and I are ok if you don’t, you are already into everything and pretty mischievous.

• You can move from sitting to crawling to kneeling to standing (with support) on your own- when you are standing and want to sit you will leave one hand on whatever you are holding onto and put the other on the ground to help ease you down- its fun to see the way you figure things out on your own and find your own way to do things.

• You were slow to laugh back in the day but recently we can get you laughing easy! Sometimes you laugh when we laugh and sometimes you get laughing pretty hard and we love it...Dad is especially good at getting you to be silly.

•You still LOVE your tub time and had your first bubble bath this month.

• You stick your tongue out a lot-you must like the way your teeth feel-but I think it’s the start to another classic Shaw concentration face. I cant wait to see what your’s looks like.

• You love the little shows/flashcards apps that I have on my iphone and can watch them OVER and OVER again. Which is great and convenient because I always have it but kinda annoying because you always want to hold it yourself but your little thumbs always manage to click the “x” to close it and you get bummed or you switch it French or Spanish somehow, which I guess is ok, you’ll just be bi/trilingual.

• You are becoming quite social and love being out and playing with friends. You like to hang with the older boys but cant quite keep up, especially at the park.

• I taught you the sign for "more" and then would clap when you did it which confused you and you clap for more and sign more for funsies. We’ll keep working on itJ

• You had your first hair cut cuz your top whispies were getting quite long and looked silly flowing in the wind while the rest of your head is nearly bald:) the cut looks quite handsome:)

• You LOVE LOVE LOVE reading books and will sit for 4-5 books at least most of the time turning each page on your own. Your very favorite books are the “How do Dinasaurs...” books and he can read them over and over again and you sit and turn through them on your own all the time when you are playing.

• You freaking LOVE to clap and I love it when you do, except for when it’s when you are wide awake at 3 am while I am sleepily trying to rock you back to sleep.

•You still nurse 1-2x/day. You eat oatmeal with blueberries in the am, PLUM and ELLAS pouches on the go (see future post-I love these things), yogurt, what we eat for meals and LOVE soup. Some other favorite snacks are graham crackers, goldfish, applesauce, dried apples/pears/strawberries, Gerber puffs, multigrain cheerios, etc. You love water and drink about 3 sippy cups a day at least-you don’t like juice which is good but weird. You sometimes boycott food altogether which is hard for mom because than she worries about what to feed you and when but I’m sure it’s just a phase because heaven knows dad and I LOVE us some foodJ

We love you so much Ben! You are getting so smart and so fun to interact and play with. We keep thinking that every new phase is our favorite but it turns out- you are our favorite!

(and i LOVE how you play and talk to Monkey face:) He is still your favorite buddy)