Family pics...sort of.

This Friday, I scheduled Hadley to get a real portrait done at JC Penney for her first birthday. I'm excited to have a professional shot taken, since most of the pics we have of Hadley are random snapshots. I also rely heavily on Heather for great pictures, since she is an amazing photographer and has an excellent camera. My sis-in-law Avery also just got a fancy camera, so she's going to come over next week and take a couple family pictures of us. I'm debating on whether or not to invest in a nice camera. I have no talent as a photographer, so I'm not sure a fancy camera will fix that. On the other hand, I'm so tired of my sub-par camera. I'm lucky if three out of fifty shots turn out. Sigh. Something to think about, I guess...
In the meantime, here are some shots we took a couple of weeks ago of all of us.

This picture cracked me up. We struggle to get a decent shot around here.

I did get one great shot of Hadley while we were shopping at Craft Warehouse:

Hadley at Eleven Months

Hadley is now eleven months old! My mind is officially blown. In one measly month, we will be celebrating her one year birthday. I cannot believe it!
In this last month, we have been blessed with Hadley learning how to put herself to sleep. After months of anguish of not knowing if we were handling her sleeping habits correctly, she suddenly decided that she could put herself to sleep in her crib and even has a *gasp* awesome nap routine! She takes two naps per day (unless her first nap is later in the morning, then she'll just have one) and they average between 1-2 hours. I can't believe it! We sleep so much better now and everyone in this house is happier.
Besides learning how to sleep in her crib, Hadley has also done the following:

• Hadley can "read" her board books, and will sit for long periods of time flipping through the books and making quiet comments about them, usually in the form of squeaks and squeals.
• She can walk when holding only one of our hands. I don't think she realizes how close she is to walking on her own. It doesn't seem to be a priority for her, and that is just fine with us!
• She is starting to eat a variety of food. She doesn't actively seek out grown-up food, but will eat it if we help her.
• An amendment to the above statement. She doesn't actively seek human food, but will actively seek cat food. I have caught her several times dumping out Louie's bowl and picking out a piece to put in her mouth. Gross! We finally moved Louie's food and water bowl to higher ground and hopefully this will keep her out of it. Silly girl!
• Along with cat food, she also loves eating toilet paper. She'll pull handfuls off the roll and shove it in her mouth before we can get to her. We're seriously going to have to take the roll off and keep it somewhere high. She is so funny!
• She is still a cautious little girl and can take a little while to warm up to people. I always have to remind people that it's not personal, she does love them, she's just wary and doesn't leap into people's arms. I'm still surprised that Levi's daughter isn't a total social butterfly, but I watching her study people and decide if and when to go to them. I love that little girl!

I still can't believe that we'll be celebrating her first birthday soon. Laurie and her kids are coming up and we have reserved a room at the BSU bowling alley (the same place we had Levi's 30th birthday party.) I'm so excited and I can't wait to see her eat her cake! Every day with this little girl is a blessing and I look forward to the day when I can explain to her how hard we tried getting her here and how much we love her. She is the best!

She fell back when I was taking these pictures and I thought this picture was so funny.

So smart!

She loves her puzzles too!

Naughty baby!

So big!

Busy Little Baby!

Moms Group meetup! I can't believe how big they all are. Hadley, Ayla, Lili, Anna, and Solveig. Such cuties.

Have you ever seen anything so cute!?
Last week Hadley and I got to meet up with our Moms group again and I was so excited to see all those great ladies and their wonderful babies. The babies are only a couple of weeks apart in age, so it's always great to see them and compare notes. Right now, they are all mobile (crawling, cruising, etc.) and they are all so freaking adorable.
We went to a great place called Just Kidding Around, which is an indoor play center for young kids and babies. It has lots of couches for the parents to sit and hang out and a coffee and deli bar. It really ended up being a great place to meet up while it's still cold outside. Along with crawling, the babies are all obsessed with putting things in their mouths. Normally this doesn't bother me at home, but in this public place I was DYING. Hadley would pick up a toy train or a big lego block and start sucking on it and I couldn't believe how anxious I was getting about germs! How many kids and sucked on that toy? How long had it been on the ground? The place was very clean, but I knew there was a possibility Hadley was going to bring home some nasty germs.
Sure enough, three days later, Hadley came down with a nasty fever. On top of the fever, she's been teething, coughing, having poop issues, and is just overall miserable. Poor little girl! On Saturday night, Brad and Julie invited us out to dinner and we thought Hadley was well enough to go. Just after ordering, I was holding Hadley and letting her snack on a french fry (don't judge me!) After a couple of bites she looked up at me, her eyes getting big, and then threw up about a gallon of barf all over me. I've actually didn't know that my entire sweater could be covered in puke, but Hadley proved me wrong. Luckily she was ok after that and luckily Levi brought his jacket, so I just zipped that up and enjoyed my meal as much as I could. Thank heavens the Red Robin employees were nice and Brad hopped up and grabbed a towel as soon as it happened. I just shudder to think what it would have been like if it didn't land on me. Could she have puked on the people at the next table? All over the ground? Yuck!!

Yesterday evening was spent trying to keep Hadley from offing herself. Now that she crawls so fast, she can get anywhere in record time and can do some serious damage before I realize what she's up to. First, I caught her crawling to the cat's food bowl and got there just in time for her to flip the whole bowl of food over. I cleaned up the food, but looked at Hadley and saw that she was sucking on something. Sure enough, I fished a big piece of Cat Chow out of her mouth. Eww! About ten minutes after that, I was helping my mom on her laptop and Hadley was playing in the kitchen. It couldn't have been more than a minute when I realized that she was being too quiet. I go into the kitchen and see her holding a bottle of Comet and realize that she has the powder all around her mouth. I panicked! Luckily my mom is much calmer in these situations and she helped me get her cleaned up. Phew! Crisis averted (or something) again. About ten minutes after that, I take Hadley down into the living room to play, hoping to keep her safe for at least ten minutes! No sooner had I put her down that she proceeded to crawl over to our end-table, pull herself up, and then shake the table until the big heavy lamp on top of it came crashing down and missed her little head by mere inches. As I was picking up the lamp and trying to plan all the extensive baby proofing we need to do, I looked over at Hadley, who was happily eating a bunch of tissue out of the Kleenex box that had fallen with the lamp. I give up. It will be a miracle if this child sees her fifth birthday :)

Even with her being sick, and even with her trying to make me go gray before my 30th birthday, I absolutely adore this little girl! Levi and I just laugh at how funny and smart she is. I can't believe she'll be a whole year old next month!
Look at this busy, busy girl!

A Nice Reminder.

At the top of my internet browser, I have a bunch of bookmark links for websites I visit often. The links are diverse, running anything from Pintrest to Rottentomatoes.com to news sites like MSNBC.
One of the most important links I like to click is THIS ONE. There are always strong emotions when I look at a picture of my amazing Grandma. More often than not, looking at her picture and her reading just a sample of her life's accomplishments in her obituary make me want to be a better person. I feel like anything I complained about that day is nothing compared to the task of raising eleven amazing children like she did. Not only did she raise those eleven kids in a home filled with love, but she was an amazing wife too. She inspires me to be a better wife to Levi. My Grandpa had so much love and respect for her and I want to be the kind of woman that Levi can be proud of, the way my grandpa was proud of her.
I talked with my Grandpa on the phone the other night, and he's holding up alright, but you can tell how much he still misses his Marilyn. What an amazing team they made. Look how cute he still is:

Thank you Bonnie, for helping to take such good care of him!
My Grandma was always knitting. She knitted a blanket for nearly ever grand and great-grand child (and boy-oh-boy are there a lot of us!) The last blanket she was working on when she passed away was for our little Hadley. We were given the red blanket, with the needles still in it as well as the bag that she'd keep the blanket and yarn in. We keep that bag and the blanket in Hadley's room as a reminder of what an amazing woman she was. Hadley will grow up knowing how much her Great Grandmother loved her and that half-finished blanket is one of my most prized possessions. I miss and love you so much, Grandma Allen!

A successful trip to THE MALL

The sad thing is I don't even like shopping online anymore!

Today was the day I finally caved and spent some money on my work wardrobe. When I was skinny, I love shopping. I loved accessories, shoes, you name it. Now, I'm the grumpy woman who just wants, "some damn shoes that fit" and maybe a new pair of work slacks, if I'm feeling extra saucy. The only thing worse than shopping after gaining weight is shopping after having a baby. For some reason, shopping when I was just chubby was still a little bit enjoyable. Now that my body has morphed into this post-partum gelatanous state I find shopping as fun as a trip to the dentist.
BUT...I desperately need new work clothes; I've done all that I can do with my current wardrobe. My mom, who is the world's best companion to have when you go shopping, agreed to accompany me and keep Hadley entertained in her stroller. Here is the outcome of my trip:
1 Tearful breakdown in the Macy's dressing room when I realized that ten months after giving birth my body isn't even close to what I was hoping.
1 Pizza slice and breadstick eaten immediately after breakdown (the carbs taste so much better when you're sad.)
2 New bras from Kohl's (Buy 1 Get 1 Half Off...still cost a fortune in my opinion.)
2 Pairs of flats from Sears
1 light-speed diaper change in The Children's Place. Hadley peed through her cute onesie and leggings and had to go pantsless for a little while. Oops. Good thing the employees were busy ignoring us or they might have seen a half naked baby getting a super squishy diaper changed on top of their brand new shirt display. Don't worry, I didn't leave the diaper, though I seriously considered it.
1 black and white striped cardigan from JC Penneys.
1 *surprise surprise* black and white striped cardigan from Maurices (I really need to look at changing my style.)
1 pair of plain black pants from Maurices that claim to be "regular" length. These would be too long on Kobe Bryant, but luckily my mom is still magical with sewing and can hem them for me.
1 pair of size 3 silver shoes for Hadders since we realized her current size 2 pair was too tight when they left imprints on her fat feet.
5 total pieces of chocolate purchased from Sees candy, even though we only went in for the free sample. Darn those buttercream truffles!

Total time spent: 3.5 hours.
Even though two sweaters doesn't even begin to cover how much more I need for work, it's a good start and I appreciate Grandma Katie being such a trooper with me. Thank you Mom! You are the best! Now I need a nap (and some more Sees candy.)

This is getting fun!

Let's be clear...that is a chocolate MALT, not a boring shake. There is a difference and Hadley is already an expert.
Life is fun again! Don't get me wrong. Hadley has been a blast, but now that she's older we can start doing things we used to do and it's been so great. Last night Levi and I took Hadley with us out to dinner and she did wonderfully! Also, last week we were able to go to a movie (my mom babysat) and I didn't feel guilty for one second! (I used to feel guilty going anywhere without the little girl because I work so much that I felt like any more time spent away from her wasn't fair to her. My mom has always pushed us to go on more dates, so when we found a time to go to the movie we jumped at the opportunity.) Avery joined us at the theater and we saw The Artist. Normally, Levi and I try to see as many Oscar-contender movies as possible, but this year we've only seen a handful, which is fine because most of the movies this year haven't looked all that great (with the exception of Midnight in Paris, The Help and Warrior, which were all fantastic movies.) I still really want to see Hugo, which is at the dollar movie now, so maybe another date night is in order!
Last night I had a craving for Red Robin fries- with ranch dipping sauce, of course- and Levi was all to happy too oblige my craving. Hadley got to sit in the big kid high chair and she had so much fun snacking on her french fry (singular; it took her the entire time to eat one) and staring at all the people. A young couple sat behind Hadley and she turned her entire body around in the high chair and stared at them for minutes at a time. They never acknowledged her and I wanted to tell them that if they just smiled at her, she'd stop staring. She was definitely fascinated with them.

Well, I cannot wait to start planning more outings. I am absolutely loving life with my little family!

Hadley at 10 Months

Hadley turned ten whole months on the 19th and I cannot believe how big and strong and smart she is! This month we have been kept on our toes more than ever. Her fingers are working overtime, figuring out how to pry things open, pull things apart, and get into other general mischief.
I sure hope I don't jinx it but Hadley has actually been sleeping a little bit better this last week. We've had three instances when we put her to bed when she was awake(!) and she actually fell asleep after a few minutes. This is so amazing, I can't even tell you. She has also been sleeping a little bit better through the night, not getting up quite as often as she used to. At this rate we might actually get a good night's sleep by the time she's five. Woo hoo!

Here are some more 10 Month factoids:
• She celebrated her first Christmas and first New Year's!
• She is still crawling as fast as she can and cruises all around the room using whatever she can grab onto. I think she'll be able to stand on her own in the next month or so and she should be walking by her first birthday. So proud of my strong girl!
• She has grown to love eating real food. She likes her teething biscuits and likes almost all of the baby food, except for green beans, which she'll eat, but not with much gusto.
• She loves being chased up the stairs. Levi or I will hold her arms and help her "run" up the stairs while the other person chases her from behind. She squeals and her legs look like they're moving in fast-forward motion. I'll post a video of it on here someday. Too funny.
• She still just has the four teeth, but I think an incisor or two may be on the way. I can't wait until the whole teething thing is over. She is miserable when her gums swell up.
• She survived her first bout of sickness. We have been so blessed to have her in such great health this whole time, so it was quite an experience to see her that sick. I would do anything to never see her like that again.
• She has to watch a little bit of the movie Cars every day. This started because we found that it helped her go to sleep, but now she just likes it all the time. Grandma Katie bought her a Cars book and she kisses every single page. She also likes Toy Story (all three), Tangled, and Monster's Inc. It's nice having movies that are tolerable for the parents.
• She has a new big girl stroller and she likes being pushed around the mall in it. I made the mistake of not buckling her in once and she ended up sliding through the leg hole. I didn't even know she had done this until I distractedly tried pushing the stroller and noticed it was caught on something....the something being Hadley. I felt so bad! She forgave me pretty quick and went right back into the stroller with no complaint. Oops!

I can't believe in a couple short months she will be one. A year ago we had already painted her nursery and were going to Utah for my shower. I can't believe that time can actually move that quickly. Levi is such an amazing dad and every second I get to watch him play with her is a second well spent. (Side note: I love how after Hadley falls asleep, Levi will still watch Tangled or Yo Gabba Gabba or whatever else she fell asleep watching. I've offered to turn the channel for him but he just says, "No thanks.")
Here's to another great month!!

My Cupcake.

It sure is nice having a great photographer as a sister!
I can't get over how much I love this little girl. Every single day with her is such a joy. Every day that I'm at work, I count down the time until I get to leave and see her smiling face. I thought my new-mom infatuation would wear off a little bit by now, but it's only intensified, leaving me besotted, bewitched, and beguiled.
Thank heavens for technology, because now I can show near-strangers a thousand photos with the touch of a few buttons on my fancy phone. Yes, I'm that mom. The one that always has a cute photo (or, now, youtube video) at their fingertips. How can I not? I absolutely am bonkers for my baby girl.
Haddercakes (newest nickname, bestowed by Aunt Sevy), even though you are growing and are starting to develop a fierce independence, (I've already been yelled at by her, to the tune of "Na na na na!!") you are my peanut and I love you to bits and pieces!

Brag post

I forgot to post any videos of Miss Hadley crawling! She's been crawling for some time now and is super fast at getting around the house. She can even climb the step from the living room into the dining room. She is amazing!


Also, I found this cute gem from October, when Laurie and her brood came to visit. Hadders sure loves her aunts!

The Plague!

You know that scene in The Ten Commandments when the plague rolls in as a fog and hits the houses that were not marked with lambs blood? Apparently we forgot to mark our door because we got hit with the stomach flu BIG time. It started with Hadley getting the 'rrihea, then it hit my mom, then Levi and finally me. I don't think my mom left the bathroom at all, the night hers hit.
I have been married to Levi for 6.5 years and the only time I have seen him down for the count is when he's had a surgery. Other than that, the man does not get sick. So seeing him hugging a toilet with all his might was very sad.
Last night it hit me and I spent a good part of the night in our guest bathroom, propped up in the corner, staring at the toilet, and being so grateful for the smooth tile keeping me cool. Doesn't Bill Cosby have a bit about that? About the toilet or the tile keeping him cool during a puking bout?
Needless to say, getting sick always teaches me a lesson about being grateful for our health. We are so lucky that we rarely get sick and we're lucky for insurance and modern medicine too.
I have to go now. Sitting at my computer for five minutes has wiped me out. I'm going to curl up in my bed and have weird dreams now. See ya later!

Christmas and New Years 2011

Best Christmas present ever!

Holy cow, we had a great Christmas this year! Hadley's first Christmas did not disappoint. It was also a year where none of us were sick, it was not completely freezing (no snow to be seen before, during, or since the Christmas season!) and we all made out like bandits.
I survived the Christmas shopping season at work and also found out our store won the company gift card contest, which means we all win new Nook Tablets! At first we were told we were getting the Nook Color, which is great, but not nearly as exciting as the Tablet. Netflix in bed? Yes please!
We spent Christmas Eve at the annual Gates' party, hosted at Aunt June and Uncle Kevin's house this year, followed by the tradition of opening presents at Brad's house. This is my most favorite tradition and this year was so special having little Hadley there. We put her in her red Christmas jammies and I thought she would fall asleep and stay asleep while we did the present thing, since it goes from about 10pm-midnight, but she has no such plans and stayed awake the whole time. She had so much fun crawling around, tearing gifts open, and being adored by everyone. We bought her the retro Fisher Price record player, and she received lots of cute outfits, toys, and other fun things from her aunts and uncles and grandparents. My mom bought her a musical walker that she went ga-ga for. She can practically run with the thing now! Thanks, Grandma Katie!
Levi spoiled me this year and bought me a one hour massage at a place downtown. I can't wait to make my appointment. My in-laws got us a pass to Flicks theater, with the offer to babysit Hadley anytime we want to go to the movie. I definitely think we'll be taking them up on that soon. My mom went overboard with us again and spoiled us rotten. I think everyone needs someone like my mom in their life. She makes everything fun and exciting and I can't tell her enough how much I appreciate her. Another person who always goes all out is my sister Heather. She spends all year looking for fun things and making great things like soft scarfs and beautiful quilts. We love you, Heather!
New Year's Eve was also a blast when we went over to Avery and Chris' house for a family party. Hadley lasted until about ten and then fell to pieces. She is a creature of habit, so when it's time to go to bed and she's not at our house, she doesn't do very well. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed soon, since we're planning on a few vacations with her this year.
As for New Year's resolutions, I have a few:

• Lose the obligatory 30 pounds. Honestly I'd settle for 20, or even 15. Now that we've gone through all our holiday candy, this should be obtainable.
• Get Hadley settled down with some NORMAL sleep habits. I can't stress this enough.
• Be more organized. I'm always looking for something and I spend a fair share of time worrying that I've lost important things. My mom is a great organizer, so perhaps a trip to Target for some nice storage bins and labels and a organization lesson with her is what's needed.
• Ensure that Levi knows how much I love him. I seriously hit the jackpot when he married me. Hadley and I are so dang lucky to have him.
• Have more fun. No explanation needed!

Here are some fun photos from the holiday season. Look out 2012...we are going to have a great time this year!

Pretty new Christmas dress from Aunt Bonnie.

Aunt Avery and Hadley staying up wayyyy late!

Christmas morning at our house, after eating Grandma Katie's delicious Christmas morning breakfast casserole. Yummmm!

Some of my favorite ladies!

Christmas morning at the Colbys.

Abuelita Maria and Hadders.

Happy 2012!

Hadley at Nine Months!

Hadley has officially been out of the womb longer than she was inside! What an amazing month this has been. Almost every single day Hadley does something huge, like learning to crawl and starting to say her first words (mama and dada). We have had so much fun with her!
Here are some nine month factoids:
• Hadley is a fantastic crawler. She can get from point A to point B in a blink of an eye and we're already much more on our toes than we have been before.
• She loves cords. She finds cords plugged into any and everything and will suck on them, much to my horror. Short of squirting her with a squirt bottle, I'm not sure how to discourage her from doing this :)
• She can pull herself up on anything. Unfortunately, this includes her crib so each night we wake up to her crying because she has stood up and doesn't know how to let go of the railing and fall to her bum, so she hangs on for dear life, crying, until one of us comes and gets her.
• Hadley can walk all by herself, if she's pushing something like her stroller. She grabs on to the part underneath the seat (where I stow my purse) and she stands up and pushes the stroller. It's insane!
• She's getting bored quickly with toys. We're having to come up with creative ways to keep her entertained. She still loves her bath though, and would stay in there until she was wrinkly if she had it her way.
• She is a cautious little girl, and doesn't freely smile or laugh at strangers. She has to study a person for a little while before she'll warm up to them and then she *might* give them a half smile. This shyness is fascinating to me. She reminds me a lot of Eliza, when Eliza was her age. I should be so lucky that she grow up as nice and sweet as Eliza has. What a great role model for Hadley!
• She is still a huge daddy's girl. When Levi comes home from work, she will start screaming until he picks her up and plays with her. He has to set her down to get in the shower and she'll fuss and cry until he gets out and picks her back up. What a drama queen!

I could go on and on. Hadley has become such a delight this last month and I cannot WAIT to see what we're in for this next month!

Hadley and her best friend Eliza.

Christmas Card 2011

I didn't have the time to create Christmas cards this year (I haven't had time to do much of anything lately, including blowdrying my hair) so I decided to go the digital route and create something fun.
We are super excited to celebrate Christmas Eve with the Gates, followed by Hadley's first Christmas at Papa Brad's house. I think she'll be asleep for most of it, but it's still very, very exciting for us. Three years ago I was praying and praying that we'd someday have a baby to take to the Gates party. Two years ago I prayed for the same thing. Last year I couldn't believe our fortune and was five months preggo with our little Hadders. And now, FINALLY, we get to celebrate with our little angel.
This has been an amazing year for us and we love each and every one of you who supported us through the years. I still can't believe how blessed I am to have not only been born into an incredible, loving family...but to have married into one too! How great is that?
Well, we love you all and can't wait to see what this new year brings.

XoXo
Carly, Levi, and Hadley Gates

Thanksgiving 2011

What an amazing Turkey Day we had! Levi, Hadley, and I drove down to Utah the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and had such a great time. Although it was a quick visit, and we had to leave after eating on Thursday, it was a blast and we are so grateful that we got to see everyone.
Hadley was quite the little bear and was not looking her best. For some reason, she had a major rash all over her face and was also tired and teething during the trip. I swear, Utah family, she's usually really cute and sweet! Ha ha! We got to see Scott's cute family, both of my grandpas, plus Aunt Bonnie and her adorable family.
Thank you to Laurie and Justin for (once again) putting us up in your beautiful home. We love visiting and it's so fun to watch Hadley get spoiled by all those cuties in your house!
To list what I am thankful for this year would take all day. Here are just a few things

• My amazing husband and our beautiful daughter. Where would I be without these two?? Levi has seen me through thick and thin (literally!) and his love for me is what keeps me going.
• My family. My incredible mom, my sweet sisters, my loving brother, not to mention a gaggle of aunts, uncles, in-laws, etc. etc. that make life so great.
• Our jobs. Even if I complain, the fact that Levi & I both have jobs that allow us to have a nice home, running cars, and food to eat is something I am so grateful for.
• The internet. Seriously, I am able to do so much as a mom thanks to this tool. This includes saving time by Christmas shopping online, uploading photos of Hadley so I'll never lose them, catching up with old friends on Facebook, and having the ability to look up all kinds of baby info (not to mention talk online with my awesome moms group.) The internet has made life so great and I'm so happy that I grew up knowing what life was like before the internet so that I can appreciate what life is like now.
• Christmas. Yep, I am truly thankful for Christmas. The music, the decorations, the excitement for the big day, you name it. I love listening to Christmas music on Pandora while wrapping presents on my day off, especially now that I get to watch Hadley play in the living room while I do this. What a great thing!!
Anyway, I love you all and thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Every little girl needs the influence of strong Jacobson women.

An adorable note written by my niece Rachel, after we had our second miscarriage. Could she be any sweeter? PS Laurie, I'm taking her up on her babysitting/move to Idaho offer!

More spoiling by the cousins.

The necessary trip to Ikea.

My sweet, sweet Grandpa.

All I want for Christmas...

...is Hadley's two front (top) teeth! Poor little baby has had the roughest couple of days. Her top lip pokes out because her gums are so swollen. We've been rotating tylenol/ibuprofen and giving her lots of love, but she is not a happy camper. A couple of weeks ago, Hadley was sleeping through the night and finally getting used to napping in her crib and now all of that has been undone. We've been letting her sleep in our bed again, since it's about the only thing that comforts her through the night. I know this is temporary, but man, I am tired!

On other fronts, Levi and I have been having a busy holiday season. Work for me has been crazy and I am definitely looking forward to the calmness of February. People have been especially grumpy this season, not sure why. I'm trying to stay positive and just be thankful I have a job, but sometimes I really want to ask people why they are so rude. It isn't necessary, it isn't helpful, and it certainly isn't the "reason for the season." Ugh. Levi's work has been steady and we are very, very grateful for that. Knowing that we can afford our house and our car and celebrate Christmas is a great motivator to not give up.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Utah, I'll be posting pictures later. I miss my family down there so much and sometimes I wonder about us eventually moving there, but I know that Boise is our home and I'd love for Hadley to be raised here, but it would be fun to have all her cousins around all the time. She is so adored by them all!

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. Take care!