Our Third Thanksgiving in Salt Lake City

This year's Thanksgiving was just sweet and wonderful.  I was feeling sentimental all day long about Jude's first Thanksgiving (and holiday season) and truly kept the word "grateful" in the front of my mind all day long.  I'm thankful that he made me a mama and that he belongs to Brian and I.

Our morning was fun and really laid-back.  Brian and Jude ran to the grocery store while I got to sleep in, then we started cooking when they got back.  I made crock-pot creamed corn and chocolate chip pumpkin bread, and Brian made a sweet potato casserole.  While those were baking, we watched Breaking Bad and let Jude nap.  In the late afternoon, Brian and I took Jude to Liberty Park because the weather has been nice and warm lately.  We headed for the swings!

 Little buddy thinks swinging is hilarious right now.  It's been so fun as he's started to notice the world around him and giggle at things.

 After the park, we went over to our friends Jamie and Taylor's apartment for Thanksgiving dinner!  Jamie hosted dinner last year too and she is so wonderful at making her home feel festive and special.  The food was (of course) delicious and we talked about how this is our third Thanksgiving spent in Salt Lake with these friends.  They have twin baby girls who were born just after Jude and they are already Jude's little best friends- it will be so fun to see them grow up and start to play together.

This is the extent of their "playing together" right now, but it's still pretty adorable.  Rey and Jude were actually looking at each other and realizing each other's existence yesterday and that made everyone's day hahaha!

Ready for bed after a long day.  Happy first Thanksgiving, my baby.

We left Jamie and Taylor's in the evening and went over to visit our family friends.  They were finishing up their Thanksgiving dinner and we stayed to visit with them and to have some dessert.  We thought we would stay for just a little bit because Jude was pretty much over Thanksgiving by that point, but we ended up staying and hanging out for awhile.  Brian hadn't seen many of them for a few months now, and it was great to relax together and catch up.  We feel so lucky to have friends that feel just like family and who invite us to their holiday gatherings- it means so much to us every year.  

Early Winter Chill

 This morning, inspired by beginner tutorials from Pinterest, I dusted off my DSLR and decided to use it.  We bought our camera mostly for the purpose of taking quality pictures of our kids, but alas, it has been sitting on the shelf ever since baby Jude was born.  Learning to use the manual settings seems a bit overwhelming, but right now is the perfect time to learn and this little boy is an adorable little practice model.  Jude's favorite thing to do lately is to go outside (it is my go-to trick for his fussy early evening time) and so I bundled him up this morning for some backyard pictures.

Living right by Liberty Park here in Salt Lake City has been such a fun thing for us.  We meet friends there for walks or to hang out at the coffee shop on the corner.  Brian and I take Jude there in the evenings and on weekends to put him in the baby bucket swings or to get some exercise after dinner.  Baby boy doesn't mind the cold at all when he is all bundled up, and it feels really good to get out of the house.  We sit on the benches and people watch.  Sometimes Jude falls asleep and most of the time he stares up at the trees going by.  I think that living right by the park will always be a special memory from his first year.

 I knitted the blanket that he is laying on.  It was my very first "real" knitting project and definitely took me about six months to finish because I kept forgetting about it, but now that it is finished I really love it.  Jude thinks it tastes pretty delicious and likes to get it nice and soggy during walks.

Little sweet pea has tons of blonde hair growing in.  It is soft and furry and sticks straight out like a baby chick.  He has started babbling all the time and I wake up in the mornings to his private concerts in his crib. When I come into his room to get him, he gets all excited and kicks his legs really hard on his bed.  He thinks his daddy is super funny and has even started giggling sometimes when he plays with him.  We try to get him to do it all the time, but he only laughs when he's in a really good mood, usually in the mornings and for his last, late night feeding before bed.