Running in Circles

We had such a great trip to Utah for Thanksgiving this year!

 Flying over driving started the trip off on the right foot :)

While we were in Utah we got to visit Pear Johnson, Grandma Wilde, Nana, David and Michelle and their family, The Hunters, the Shermans, and Heather Hammond. Heather gave a free cougar ice cream coupon to Hazel and became her favorite BYU friend. We were able to see the Wrights and have dinner with them which really just brought back a lot of great school memories.

We ran our half-marathon, enjoyed a yummy turkey dinner, relaxed and watched Hazel love on Savvy. Haze loved all the attention she got from Uncle Jared and Aunt Chelsea too! 

We had family pictures taken at Gardner Village- I was freezing in my dress but I think the pictures turned out great! Its nice to see our family growing and to see everyone together at once. 

On Saturday Brice and I left the kids the entire day and drove up to cold, cold, Logan for the BYU vs UTAH STATE football game. It was an exciting game with a lot of scoring,snow, and being the visiting team at their stadium. It really was a much needed and a fun day just the two of us.

We were sure to eat at our favorites, stock up on chocolate covered cinnamon bears, and really take stock of what we were thankful for. 

what you grateful for? 

This is exactly how Hazel has asked us each night to say something we were grateful for, so she could add a leaf to our grateful tree!

We were able to add a lot of leaves in the last few weeks and realize just how many wonderful blessings we have in our lives.

Hazel really surprised us with the answers she came up with too! Hopefully she learned a little bit about the true meaning of the thanksgiving holiday and how to recognize our many blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

We spent a fun filled morning at the Dallas Arboretum with friends and their mamas on Tuesday. 

The weather has definitely changed and we are welcoming fall into town. I was pretty much over getting my pregnant self in a bathing suit all summer, so fall is welcomed with arms wide open in my book :)

The Arboretum is a beautiful and large outdoor garden (think Thanksgiving Point) just a few miles from our apartment. We were excited to go check out the pumpkin patch and look into getting an annual pass. 

Hazel loved exploring the hundreds and hundreds of pumpkins and chasing her little friends around. That lucky girl also got to go right into a petting zoo and got her face painted like a puppy dog! (I tried hard to steer her away from the face painting because nap time was just around the corner but she was too eager and I loved that she was being so brave, so we went for it!)

We really can't wait to go back again and take some pumpkins home! We are so glad for our fun friends and that they like to get out of the house and do new things so often too!

I am grateful for so many things, big and small. I'm thankful for a healthy body, for a car that runs, the gospel of Jesus Christ, loving family members, good friends, heat and AC, our cozy little apartment, nail polish, cute clothes, baby headbands, that Brice is closer to graduating, BYU, the internet......

Most importantly I'm grateful for a happy, healthy, family whom I love spending my days with! 

These two make me happy!

On Wednesday night Hazel got to join us at her first BYU Basketball game. She slept through most of it, except when we started scoring a lot- she would wake up looking very concerned. It was really fun to get out and do something fun together.

Thursday morning we woke up and hiked the Y. 

For the first half I carried Hazel in the baby Bijou. It felt like I was pregnant all over again and traded Brice for the backpack. Hazel was wonderful and fell asleep for most of the hike. I couldn't believe how exhausting the hike was for me...and I was quick to tell Brice..probably too often too! I've been running more and more each week but oh boy!! It felt really good to be sore the next few days!

I didn't get any pictures but we really enjoyed spending our Saturday night with Hannah and Andrew and the Wright Family. They made our favorites for dinner and spent the evening playing games with us. We played a few fun paper games and then played a few rounds of Murder in the Dark in the basement. Playing that game brought back a lot of fun memories for Brice and I. 

(Thanks Davo and Whitney for the weekend at the cabin.)

We were really grateful for the few days off from school. Two more weeks and then its Christmas Break! 

It seems like things have been less than exciting around here the last few weeks. So many school assignments, hours at work, intramural games, and working out. We are happy and healthy though- and both really looking forward to the break from school and work this week. We are heading down to So Cal for Thanksgiving with my family. Looking forward to a week of food, family pictures, bike ride to the beach, shopping and crafting with my mom, and watching my little sister, Chelsea, play in a soccer tournament. I'm sure there will be some football watching, Christmas shopping, and game playing as well. Also exciting: We are welcoming Melanie's boyfriend, Kris to Corona for the first time too! 

Happy Thanksgiving!