November 2016

November! We had a good November, all things considered. I started getting into a routine of getting the kids up and Ashlyn to school (Collin did it while I was recovering for quite a while), I kept myself busy getting things together for Christmas (finally wised up and did a little advanced prep, which I was most thankful for!), also kept busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and Alex's wedding, which were also a fun trip in November! Here's the month in pictures!

I just want to take pictures of Elan all. the. time. He is so gosh dang handsome. I really find myself wishing I could just freeze time with him right now. He is so adorable in everything he says and does (tantrums excluded), I want to always remember how he is right now! I keep thinking he can't get any cuter!

Me and my homies

Ashlyn's school picture came back and I was SHOCKED! This girl who will never look directly at the camera for me or anyone else...unless threatened, ha ha.... and this is her picture?! I died, it is so darn cute. What a sweet, adorable, little kindergartner. Love those big teeth in front and her dimply little smile. All the heart eyes!!

Part of Collin's job, much to his initial dismay, is to use facebook in recruiting new hires for his company. But it's really the best way word of job openings gets around in this community. He posts awesome pictures like this every so often. Look at that handsome guy!

This guy loves to look at books, as well as have books read to him. It is beyond cute. I love finding him anywhere and everywhere just sitting quietly looking at a book. 

I took a trip on my own to Idaho Falls to judge their Sonatina Competition. I was nervous about it for a long time leading up to it since traveling had gone pretty badly for me mentally the last couple of trips I had taken. But with some weeks of medication and therapy behind me I actually did pretty well. It was fun to spend some time with just me and Mom, and it was REALLY fun to get to judge Sonatina Competition! Both the other judges were Boise friends, one was my professor himself, Del! And the door monitor where I judged Friday night was my high school teacher. Fun to kind of have a full-circle moment like that with my old teachers. (not that I am on the same plane as them at all! But just getting to "work" with them was awesome!) .... and also, this is my favorite picture of me and Mom, while we were waiting at Texas Roadhouse. She sure loves to take selfies.

Elan did this thing for a while where he would just mow kids his size down and lay on top of them! Wrestling? Not sure. It's so funny. He kept doing it to our little friend Tripp, and I felt too bad to take a picture because Tripp would cry every time. But Elan was at Tripp's house a few days later and his mom sent me this. ha ha!

We found out at the last minute that it was hat day at school, and luckily we had this beauty on hand! I think she was a pretty big hit. I mean, come on. Look at it!

Some of my pre-Thanksgiving holiday prepping. I've done the 12 days of Christmas for Collin forever. It started back when he was in the thick of teaching and coaching, when December was super crazy and stressful for him! Well he was coaching again this year so I guess life is similar again. I put a candy bar or other favorite snack of his with a cheesy little note and leave him one on his bag every morning for the last 12 work days before Christmas. It was one of the things I am often stressed about at the last minute so I actually got it done early this year, it was great.

November was the month of hype about the Gilmore Girls sequel on Netflix! I (well truthfully Collin as well, don't tell him I told you) had just finished Gilmore Girls right before my surgery in August. So I was SUPER excited about the reunion series! And SUPER disappointed in it! Ugh! It was not my favorite! But I don't know if they could really ever make something like that very great? I mean, did you watch the Full House revival? Yikes. Anyway, if anyone ever wants to talk about the GG sequels, I am game ha ha!

Ashlyn fixed my hair for me one night. Very fancy!

November/December meant Collin was gone every Saturday and at matches late 1-2 nights a week. One Saturday I got daring and took these guys to the movie "Trolls." It was a nice experiment to realize that Elan is NOT ready to sit through a movie yet. He lasted maybe half an hour before he was done sitting or even staying by me, and I ended up chasing him all over the theater and out in the hall. (We had gone with some friends so Ashlyn was able to stay in there and watch--she loved it!) I guess I 'll catch it on Redbox!

Ashlyn was awarded the "Tiger Award" at school. Every month 2-3 kids per grade level are nominated by their teachers and honored with this little award, which has to do with the school theme of the month. This month's was "Beginning with the End in Mind." Her teacher's notes of why Ashlyn received the award included that she does her work and plans ahead to make sure she gets her assignments done in class. She got a cool pencil and bracelet and certificate for a free pizza with her award. I was very proud of her! She seems to be pretty well behaved in school. 

Thanksgiving was spent in Idaho Falls this year! And with almost my whole family! (By 7:00 that night when Cory and Hayley finally made it in--poor guys!) That morning I realized that I was literally wearing almost the exact same outfit as Joey with his "Thanksgiving Pants." 

It was too short a visit for these cute cousins to get to enjoy hanging out! But they had so much fun while they could!

We went to IF the night before Thanksgiving and stayed until Friday afternoon. Then we headed down to Utah since Alex's wedding was in SLC the next day. We stopped at Tara and Paul's for pizza and to hang out for a while before making our way all the way down to Saratoga Springs, where we stayed. Collin's mom was in Ohio, so we had her house to ourselves. It was busy doing all the driving and like usual, getting kids ready and trying to keep them fed, rested, and happy for a wedding was stressful, but it went really well! (separate post!)

Lauren and Elan reading on the hearth

Look at this! These moments I just want to capture for forever! Elan loves to do whatever his big sister is doing. He is catching on to things like coloring so quick, because he watches everything she does. 

Those smiles! heart eyes!!

I invested in an ipad over the summer, mainly in the interest of using it for my piano studio. The whole surgery craziness kind of stopped me from doing much of anything beyond the necessities for piano, but in November I finally got into actually figuring out some cool ipad piano stuff. There's a lot! I nerded out a lot figuring out how to scan sheet music, import sheet music, and use a score reader! Fun!

I said farewell to this nalgene! Sad! It had been with me for a very long time! 8 years I think!

Me and 2 of my sweet girls. :)