slow and steady wins the race

thanksgiving this year was awesome. the food was amazing, the friends are rad, the christmas lights and tree went up (we added more this year, wahoo!), and i feel like i have so much to be grateful for this year. we've all been healthy, we have jobs that afford us a comfortable life, and most importantly, we are happy. so happy. it's amazing how far we've come from just a year ago, how much has changed, how full life seems to be, and how fast it's gone.

thanksgiving day beth finally started to crawl. slow and sort of flailing at first, with lots of faceplants. but now that she's figured it out she loves it. she LOVES that she is mobile and can get to where her little curious/mischevious mind wants to go. particularly now that the tree is up. she still faceplants it every once in a while (kind of funny, c'mon...), but that's becoming less and less and we are doing more and more chasing. her poor little knees are red and bruised from being on them so much. but she loves it - it doesn't seem to bother her at all.

i was talking to my sister yesterday, and i told her that she beat me to a post. the its-way-too-early-for-christmas-decorations-and-music-but-im-totally-eating-it-up post. right after halloween i went shopping and there was christmas stuff everywhere and carol of the bells playing. normally, i'm not one to overlook thanksgiving being that it is a holiday just for food and football. but i will tell you that this year, i was all over that music and jolliness. it got me so excited for christmas this year. SO excited. maybe because it's beth's first. probably because the feeling in the air is different, people are generally different this time of year, and it's such a great time to remember what CHRISTmas is all about. love, love, LOVE this time of year.

i made hank pull out christmas vacation and watch it with me the other night. oh man, that movie is such comedy. i don't think i'll ever get sick of the classic lines like,

"if i woke up tomorrow with my head sown to the carpet i wouldn't be more surprised than i am right now,"

or "lotta sap in here. little full, lotta sap,"

or this conversation (which has been quoted a million times in my family):

"and why is the carpet all wet todd?"

"i don't know margo!"

('member that jen?)

so many great moments and one-liners. totally classic. just added to my holiday cheer.

i've been taking beth outside to see the lights on our house and to the other houses in our neighborhood with lights. it's so cool to watch her eyes get big and just stare at them, taking it in. of course, she doesn't get it, but it's still so fun to see her take things in for the first time and watch the lights twinkle and dance, or the reindeer move. i can only imagine what goes through little heads when they see stuff like this. would kill to get in her mind sometimes.

yes friends, chirstmas is upon us. those salvation bell ringers are out in full force and by jove, it's time to be merry.

now if we could just get some snow right about december 24th....

6 years (and 3 days) ago...

... hank and i tied the knot. sealed the deal (pun totally intended). strapped on the ol' ball and chain. (that one was for you babe). got hitched. and it was beautiful.

and now 6 years later, life gets better and better with each passing day. this last year in particular has been amazing and i am humbled and grateful at the wonderful life i have because of him. sure wish i would have thought to get him a card to tell him that... woopsie!

yes, i've heard about it everyday since. and yes, he got me a card. i am so lame.

we went out to dinner, just the two of us, and reminisced of "favorites" from the year. beth, of course, topped the list. but there were lots of other memories shared and laughed about, and we talked about how much our life had changed from just one year ago. crazy what kids will do to you... we wondered how it will change in the next year too. i can't imagine it getting any better or more fulfilling than this, but somehow i have a hunch it will.

how did i get so lucky?

i love you dearest hank. you are the light of my soul for sure. thank you for being the awesome man that you are and loving me for imperfect, quirky, stubborn, needy, silly me.

down by the water

a few weeks ago i was driving by this private lake and saw a small beach, riddled with old fishing boats, canoes, and sailboats landed for the season.

"holy hannah" i thought to myself. "that would be the coolest place ever to take pictures."

the victims? the brock kids. suckers.

it actually worked out perfect. eliza and i had been trying to find a good time and place and this presented itself nicely for the occasion. the result:











good times down by the water.

thanks again for letting me drag you and your kids across the country for this friend, eliza. you and your kids r.u.l.e. :) let's do it again sometime...

the highchair

yes, we finally busted out the highchair. the highchair that cost us $5 at an estate sale that we fell in love with and had to have because it is classic and in awesome shape for being a good 30 years old (at least).

i was kind of worried that she would fall over in it and hurt herself on the metal bars, but she's totally fine and loves it. always has her foot pressed up against the bottom of the tray.

she ate and played in it for a while i made these lovelies:

definitely a childhood favorite! then hank took her up to get her ready for bed and i smiled as i heard all sorts of blubbering sounds coming from upstairs (that's hank blubbering his mouth against her tummy). he is such a good dad. i mean good.

i love it.

this little rascal is also getting so close to crawling. (have i said that before?) no, this time it's for reals. up on all fours, rocking a little bit... i know it's coming. and as excited as i am, i also know it means i have to be a little more watchful than i am now (but really not that much - she rolls all over tarnation now anyway), but we will definitely need to baby proof our house just a little bit. we still haven't done any of that. meh, we'll get around to it eventually. eventually is probably pretty soon though really.

okay so maybe i should have done it sooner.

little rascal....

what the...

...october is over! holy cow. time seems to get faster by the minute. what a good month though. we made caramel apples, got some good golfing in with my dad, enjoyed the great weather (other than that one cruddy, windy week), did the pumpkin patch thing, went to the Halloween party, 'qued up some good meals, and of course watched the broncos get slaughtered. we did get a halloween costume for beth and even though we didn't go trick or treating, it was still fun to do something to celebrate her first halloween. oh, and our jack o lantern display? awesome. totally the best ones on the street.



they're kind of hard to see, i know. so i'll break it down for you.

(little bit of blur there... sorry)

hank was most proud of this guy. he looked really cool in the pitch black all lit up:




beth had her own little jack:





and check out her costume:

love the expression on her face and the fact that she munched on the candy wrapper for a good 40 minutes.

perfect right? even glows in the dark, and it's just like a onesie so she doesn't even know she's dressed up. all those fluffy, bulky costumes for babies... totally wrong. i mean, if they're not even going to get candy out of it, at least let them be comfortable for crying out loud. (sorry to everyone who dressed up the baby as a pumpkin or monkey or something crazy like that. just sayin... this one was easy and festive.) we'll probably do the same thing next year.





beth has become so curious. or maybe she has been and i just haven't noticed. she likes to see everything that's going on. doesn't want to miss a thing. tonight i was feeding her and hank was taking care of the trick or treaters that came to the door. and every time the doorbell rang and she heard voices talking she would stop and crank her head and scramble to see what was going on that she was missing. we'd have to wait for hank to finish and come and sit back down before she would start eating again. it's fun to watch her eyes as we go places... they are always big and attentive, moving quickly from one thing to the next as she takes everything in.

she's starting to figure out the crawling thing. she lifts one side of her body up, puts it down, lifts the other side up and puts it down... she does this a couple times and then realizes that she can roll a lot faster to get where she wants to go and just does that instead. she rolls with the best of them for sure.

recently, though, i have found myself asking the same question over and over about this little girl, wonderful as she is.

how can so much poop come out of a person so little?!

crazy. like... crazy. so much! (and i know i'm not the only to think this in their lifetime). and man it gets stinkier by the day. all those crazy new solids we're trying out, i guess. at least she eats them though. she really does eat like a champ. first bite surprises her a little bit - she never knows what she's going to get. but after the initial surprise she scarfs and doesn't seem to have any reservations at all about what you give her. she eats everything. it's awesome.

and now we begin another month and look toward thanksgiving. (is it bad that i literally live my life from one fun thing to the next?) we are heading into the season of coziness, quality time with family, and gorging on delicious food. sweet.