End of Summer day at the Stilson's

Our Piano Man

Landon is so happy playing at the piano. This is the way to make him happy whenever he is grumpy. This is also where I put him while I clean.

Happy Eating

These are some random pics that I meant to post earlier. I love all these pics!

Thanksgiving with my family

I know I am really late about posting about the end of our 2012 year, but I don't want it to be missed when I go to print out my blog book. So bear with me as we rewind a bit.
This last Thanksgiving was spent with my Greenhalgh family. It was so nice to be with most of my family (minus my brother Mike & wife Kimmy who live in Las Vegas and work most holidays). We had an early feast around noon because Jeremy was working that day and Heather's family was going to another dinner later that evening with her in-laws. It was perfect really. I love eating the big feast early in the day so that there is time for a much-needed nap afterwards & so you aren't cooking ALL DAY LONG, and we can have leftover turkey sandwiches for dinner at night. It was nice to sit and visit with my siblings and parents. Brielle and I made cute turkey napkin rings made out of toilet paper rolls and her & Landon's handprints as feathers. Everyone loved them! Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Thanksgiving. I was too busy preparing, setting up, cleaning up since it was at our home, to think of our camera. Maybe next year.

Grandma Marjorie

Well If you read my last post you know that my dear Grandma Greenhalgh passed away just before Thanksgiving. She suffered a stroke in June and was hospitalized most of the remaining part of her life where they also learned she had lymphoma. I love my Grandma dearly and think of her every day. Each time I am making her pancakes or her cowboy delight. Whenever I put on an apron or get a letter in the mail. My Grandma and I wrote often. Sometimes about day to day things and other times it was all about family history. She loved doing family history and telling stories. She had some great stories too, my favorite; Epamenondus. I tell Brielle the story sometimes when I am putting her to bed. Brielle misses her too. Just writing this now is really difficult to hold back emotion. She is so dear to me and it is hard to believe she is no longer here. She lived in Nephi so I didn't get to see her too often. Which is why its hard to think she is not still in Nephi. While she was being treated at U of U hospital I was able to go up at least a few times a week and visit with her. She was always introducing me to all the staff and she was always good about making you feel so loved. I actually dreamed about her last night. We were at a family party at a park. She was walking with Grandpa over to get some food when I ran up to her and hugged her. I did it so quickly that she had to hold me back at arms length to see who I was and then she said "Heidi!" I was so excited to see her again. I am so excited to see her again. I know she looks down on me and all our family daily. 

Falling in Love

This past November I got the chance to throw my cousin Megan a bridal shower. They didn't get married until December 8th, but I didn't want to have the shower be winter themed so since her colors were deep purple and sunflower yellow, we went for a Fall themed shower. We found lots of great ideas on Pinterest, like this carved pumpkin with their names. (Thank you Pinterest! Where were you when I got married!)

When the guests arrived (all family of the bride + the grooms mom and sister) they were able to write down some advice for the couple and leave it in this basket. The jar next to the basket held date nights, cheap and expensive, that the guests all wrote down during a game. It was really fun & creative!

I also made her a towel cake as part of my gift.

 This banner was hanging on my mantle with the theme of the shower.

 The food table (after it was just about empty) We ate yummy soups, salads & rolls.

Some of the bride's family

The lovely Bride showing off the bridal cape her aunt made her for the temple

The groom's sister & mom & the mother of the bride and bride.

The shower was so much fun to throw! The only downer part of the whole night was my floating candles went out just as the guests sat down to eat. Everything else was a success and it was a fun night of visiting! Austen and Megan make such a cute couple. Their wedding was held at the Oquirrh Mtn Temple in Riverton, UT. It was a very snowy day and reminded me so much of my wedding day. Others in our family mentioned the same thing. The luncheon was held at the Gathering Place at Gardner Village and then the reception was at Soldier Hollow in Midway, by where they are from. The couple is planning to live in Provo and sad to say I haven't even talked to them much except at our grandmothers funeral. We'll have to catch up with them soon.

Our Brave Brighton

Here is our brave Brighton wearing the cone of shame. Last month Brighton was attacked by what we think was a raccoon! It could have been a cat, but our neighbor did see a raccoon running across our street shortly after the incident. I heard the attack in the night and thought that maybe Jeremy would go out and find a dead cat the next morning. Instead we found our injured dog. He was bit right under his left arm, basically in the armpit and it became infected and swelled up his whole leg. We gave him ibuprofen (not knowing the seriousness of the matter at that point) and he acted fine for a couple days and then Jeremy came home from work to find the wound had burst! He took him to the vet and a big chunk of $$ later we had our dog as you see below. He had to have surgery to remove the excess dead hanging skin and sew him back together. A few days later he had to be stitched a second time because it came undone. Just as a little side note, the day after all this happened, I sold my car (yeah!!!!)  and needless to say all the money we got from my car went to our doggy. A few friends said they would've put their dog down if it had been them, but we couldn't see doing that since he is not too old yet and really isn't sick, just had a sore, so we forked out the money and kept our dog. He has been a really good dog along with his brother Trigger and they have done well protecting our home against raccoon, skunk and other random animals. Thankfully that has all they have had to handle. They were our first kids so we kind of love them the same.

Halloween

We were quite the mixed up bunch this year. No coordinating in costumes besides Landon and myself. Brielle wanted to be Super Girl or Bat Girl or Mulan or Snow White- really it depended on the day what she wanted to be, but once I borrowed this costume from my cousin and showed it to her, she was pretty happy with being Super Girl!!! Here she is all ready to go to her party at preschool.

After preschool and naps we all got ready and headed to our ward house parking lot for some Trunk-or-Treating. We loved the costumes of our neighbor kids too! Someday I may need to be Mary Poppins-love that idea! Her dad was Bert too! So cool! If you can't tell what Landon is, he is a vintage circus muscleman. We made a barbell for him to hold, but the weights were balloons and they pooped the first 15 min after getting there. So to go with Landon's costume I decided to be the circus leader/ lion tamer/ entertainer, whatever you want to label it as. 

Jeremy decided to do as an oldy, but a goody and was (if you don't know) Hulk Hogan!!! It is scary how well he pulls this off. Here are my two strong men- so cute!

Landon thought Halloween was so fun! I am glad he didn't get scared by costumes and enjoyed it since our family kind of LOVES Halloween! His mustache is so cute!! He even sat so still while Jeremy drew it on.

Lando

It's been a while since I posted about Landon and really I just wanted to put this picture in our blog. He was so smiley this morning. I am not sure why he is in the hallway, but I am sure we needed him strapped in while Brielle and I got something done. But by the looks of the pic-he is not complaining!