November 2017 :)

This month has been a lot of fun so far! I still can't believe 2017 is almost over, time goes by so fast! On the 2nd, my little sister turned 21! For her birthday, my sisters and I got together to see the new Thor movie. We met at Valley Fair mall to get some dinner first. Emily and I got Rumbi Grill and Katie and Jessie got Zupas. We ate in the food court area of the theater. After eating, we went to Bath and Body Works to look around. Jessie bought Katie some things for her birthday. After that, we went to get some popcorn for the movie. We had really good seats. The movie was awesome! My favorite of all the Thor movies. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my sisters. :) On Friday, we took Braelynn over to my parent's house to Emily could watch her while I went to a doctor's appointment. After that, Evan and I went to the store to get things to make dinner. We were having a dinner at his parent's house for a class project. Both our parents and my little sister, Katie were coming over. We bought the stuff to make shepherd's pie. Evan didn't cut the potatoes small enough when he went to boil them, so his mom had to cook them some more in the microwave. I guess he will know for next time haha. Dinner was really yummy and it was nice to have it with family. We shared some happy news with those who were there, which we will talk about later. :) We visited for a little bit, then we left to pick up Braelynn. We told my other sisters the news when we got there, then headed home. The next day, we went to Costco with my mom and sisters. We got Braeylnn two outfits and a pair of jammies. I love going there, they have such great deals! Braelynn was taking Emily all around the store, she didn't want to sit in the cart haha, it was cute. :) While there, we ran into Evan's parents, it was pretty funny! After we were done shopping, we got lunch at Potbelly's. On Sunday, both our families were having birthday dinners. We had dinner with my family for Katie, then after we went to Evan's parent's house to have dessert for Logan's birthday. My mom made yummy chicken enchiladas with Spanish rice and salad. It was so good! After dinner, we told the rest of my family the happy news. I started with my grandparents, so it was extra special. :) After visiting a little bit, we headed left so we could have dessert with Evan's family. They were still eating dinner when we got there, or barely finishing up. Phyllis made an ice cream cake. I was still full, so I didn't have any dessert. When Logan was opening his presents, we shared our news with the rest of the family. Everyone was so happy. :) I loved seeing their reactions! :) We will be sharing the news soon... :) hehe. At this point, I'm sure people can figure it out haha. :P The next day, me and Braelynn went grocery shopping. On Thursday, we went to Target and got a new Christmas tree! :) We rearranged the living room when we got home. We moved the smallest bookshelf to the living room and moved the other one all the way down so we could fit Evan's chair in our bedroom. We moved everything together and I vacuumed where his chair was because it was a little messy. Our living room looked a lot better and less crowded. We put our tree up the next day, it was really easy to put together. I put the lights on, but I had to re-do it because I messed up haha. Evan threw away our old tree because it was falling apart. I made sure to take out the extra lights first. Our new tree is 7ft tall, the perfect height for a tree. :) it's the first tree we have gotten together, the first one was given to us. :) On Saturday, I went to my parent's house so I could wash some of our blankets. Our washer isn't big enough to wash our big blankets. Evan went paintballing at an indoor place with some friends. When we got there, Emily was outside raking leaves. My parents weren't home because they had to pick Katie up from work, she had a bad migraine and was coming home early. Braelynn played in the leaves with Emily and 'helped' rake, it was really cute. :) Shortly after we got there, my mom and Katie got back. My dad was still gone running errands. My mom and I went to the house down the road to look at it since it was for sale and they were having an open house. We were curious about what it looked like. It was nice but smaller than I thought. Nate and Kelsi came over to my parent's house so they could go on a date. They were dropping their little boys off so my mom could babysit. I was glad they were there since they weren't able to be at Katie's birthday dinner. I told them our happy news. :) They were both very happy for us. :) They were going to see Thor and go to dinner. Caleb is getting so big! He is so cute! :) Ethan and Braelynn played together and I fed Caleb. I helped my mom out with the little boys. Emily went to a baptism for a friend. Before she left, we went back outside to put the leaves in the garbage can. My mom had Nate ask the neighbors if we could use their trash can since no one was currently living there. The owners of the house came over to clean some stuff up. They gave us some ice cream that the previous tenants left in the freezer. My mom ended up having to put the rest in big garbage bags because there was no more room in the cans. We stayed there for a little while until our blankets were done washing. I didn't wash all of them, just enough, but I plan on going back another day. Evan met us at home and helped me unload the stuff from the car. The following Friday, I went to the mall with Katie because Bath and Body Works was having a sale on their body wash, it was only $3.95! I still had a gift card, so I only had to pay about $2 of my own money, it was nice. It was really rainy when we left, the roads were pretty bad. It was nice to get out and get some nice body washes. :) I got one for Evan too. I was going to save it for Christmas, but I couldn't wait, so I gave it to him when he got home from work. :) That Sunday, we had dinner with Evan's family and we drew names for presents. Braelynn got Rachel, I got Clarissa and Evan got his mom. I honestly can't remember who everyone else got haha. I like this family tradition, it's always fun picking out a gift. :) We grocery shopping the week of Thanksgiving and I didn't realize how busy it was...haha oops! I had to get some stuff for Thanksgiving, I was asked to make green bean casserole. This year, we were having dinner with Evan's family. Every year we switch off, one year Thanksgiving is with his family, then Christmas Eve is with my family. That's how it is this year. I like our system, it works out great. :) Winco was really busy, it was insane! I couldn't wait to get out of there haha. Since I spent $50, I got a free turkey. I had a choice to accept it, and I did so we could donate it. :) After unloading groceries, and putting away the perishables, I went to my parent's house so I could put the turkey in their freezer. Ours didn't have any room. I brought our frozen meals to make for lunch and made them there. We hung out for a little bit, then we went home so we could be there when Evan got home from class. On Wednesday, Nicole came over and we had lunch. I got Chick fil-a for me and Braelynn. It was really nice to visit. :) Evan didn't have class because of Thanksgiving break, so he came home after work. Nicole stayed for a little while, then she left because she had a date. I made grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, it was really good. :) The next day, Evan got up early so he could play in the annual turkey bowl. Dinner was going to be at 2:30, so I was going to make the casserole around 1 so it was fresh. I underestimated on the fried onions, so I asked Phyllis if she had some extra I could use. Thankfully, she did! I called Evan to have him pick it up on his way home from the football game. Before making it, I gave Braelynn a bath and got her ready. I put her in her new outfit from Phyllis. I put her hair in pigtails, hoping it would last awhile and she wouldn't take them out... haha. I took a quick shower after I gave her a bath. Evan got home and I made the casserole. I put it in two pans so there would be enough. While it was cooking, I dried my hair really fast and got ready. We were a little late, and they almost start without us haha. :P I was really upset because the night before, someone stole our welcome sign right off our door! Who does that?? I reported it to the front office the next day, but of course, there's not much they can do about it. What makes me even more upset is, no one else had missing wreaths or welcome signs from their doors. :( I looked to see if anyone put ours on their door... but it's probably long gone now. We got to his parent's house close to 3. I said the prayer on the food, then we ate. I got Braelynn in her seat and dished her up some food. She didn't eat much, but she loved eating from Evan's plate, specifically his turkey leg. It was so cute to watch her eat it because it was so big! Dinner was really yummy :) After dinner, we went downstairs and the little kids watched a Christmas movie. Evan was going to go to Best Buy to pick up a gift for his dad. I ended up going with him. They were opening at 5pm, and we got there just as they were opening. The line wrapped all away around the store, but luckily it went by pretty fast. We got inside the store within 20 minutes. Luckily, what we needed to get had its own separate line, but of course, when we were almost up there, they ran out of what we were there to get! So, we had to get something else, but it worked out. We normally don't go shopping on Thanksgiving at all, but Evan's dad wanted him to pick up this gift. We got back to their house by 6. Braelynn had been playing outside with her cousins. Luke played basketball with her, and Clarissa sent us pictures. :) it was so cute! We hung out with his family for a little while and had some pie. We went over to my parent's house for a little bit after that. I had another piece of pie there haha. Evan was going to work at Siegfried's the next day with his dad, but he ended up not waking up because he was so sore from playing football. I forgot to mention earlier, but he started working there on November 11th to help his dad out and get some extra money for our family. :) I appreciate all he does, he's amazing! While he was sleeping, I went to Target to check out what they had for their sales. I kept calling Evan and waking him up, I felt bad. I ended up getting Braelynn some jammies because they were a great deal. Later, we ended up going back to Target so Evan could come with and we did some Christmas shopping. We finished for Braelynn and I got Evan a couple of things and we got a couple family gifts.  We also got some wrapping paper and tape. I wrapped one of her presents when we got home. Luckily, she won't remember what we got her because she is still young. The next day, after Evan home from work, he brought us some breakfast from Chick fil-a . :) I got a call from Katie because there was a black widow by Indy's dog house and she was worried about it biting her. My mom and dad weren't home, so Evan and I went over there so he could take care of it. We drove separate so Evan could go Christmas shopping. I was just going to hang out with my sisters and stay there because later we were going to temple square to watch Katie perform in a choir concert. I went to Chick fil-a again so I could pick up lunch for everyone. I wasn't that hungry, but I got Braelynn some lunch and I got some fries for myself. Katie paid for hers since I picked up lunch for everyone. There was a bad accident on 27th and 56th west, it was scary! Emily came with me to get the food, but I had to stop at our apartment to grab something really quick, then we got lunch. Katie had two concerts downtown, one was at the Joseph Smith building and the other was at the Assembly Hall. The first one was at 5:30 and the second was at 7:30. We were going to the one at 7:30. We just hung out and watched a movie before we needed to leave. My parents got home later that afternoon. Evan came over to see us before we left to go to the concert. He was going to hang out with Nick while we were gone because he didn't want to be home alone and he wasn't up to going. I rode with my mom and sisters. Downtown was insane! So much was going on! It took us a long time to find a parking spot. We weren't sure if we could park at the conference center because it was ten bucks, but when we went in, the lady asked us what we were there for and we said to see a concert, and she said we didn't have to pay because we were there to see one of the performers! It was awesome! We made it there barely in time for the concert to start. It was Braelynn's first time going to temple square, she loved all the lights. :) I had to park her stroller outside because they didn't allow it inside, which was fine. The concert was about 45 minutes, it was really good. :) Braelynn kept yelling Katie's name, it was so cute! She was being so wiggly haha and saying hi to a lot of people. That's her new thing, she says hi a lot and it's so cute! After the concert, we walked around temple square a little bit. It was packed!! We ran into Charles and Lori's family, it was nice to see them and catch up for a few minutes :) We made our way through the crowds and looked around. We went up the place Evan proposed to me, it's such a special place to me :) That night was amazing, one I will never forget! :) We headed toward the exit so we could go home. We will have to go again when it's not so crowded! I'm pretty sure there was a proposal while we were there haha because there was loud cheering at one point. Jessie rode home with Katie so she didn't have to drive alone. At first, my mom was going to run to the store on the way home, but she took me back to their house first so I could get my car and go home since it was so late. I kept her in her car seat while I moved it, haha she didn't know what to think. It made it a lot easier for me! When I got home, Evan came out to help me. He hadn't been home too long before we got back.  Braelynn and I went to church the next day, even though we were a little late. There weren't too many kids in nursery, but a lot of them were sick and that made me upset. Don't bring your child to nursery if they are sick! Period. My brother Matt came over to check out Evan's watch so he could decide if he wanted one for sure. He came while we were at church. We were going to have dinner with my family, but a lot of them were sick, so we decided not to go over. We were also invited to Evan's parent's house, but we weren't feeling well ourselves. Braelynn was starting to get sick, she most likely picked up a cold from nursery. I ended up getting it a couple days later. :( The next day, I went to the store and got some soup for us. I also got a shower gift for my cousin, Amanda. On Tuesday, we finished putting the ornaments on the tree. I had already put out the rest of the decorations and hung the stockings. :) It was really coming together! I also reorganized Braelynn's room and put some things away. It looked a lot better. Since being sick, I haven't been able to do a lot. Evan stayed home from work one day, and it helped out so much! He got me some medicine and I was able to rest while he took care of Braelynn. November was great! Even though it ended with us getting sick. I really hope we get better in time for Christmas! I am so excited for Christmas! :) It's my favorite time of year :) I just need to finish shopping! Here are some pictures from our fun month :)