November

Testing out our new sleeping bags before we went camping. Movie night on the floor! We watched The Emperor's New Groove.

November started off really cold which made just want to curl up with my boy everyday and snuggle. Then we had some sickness and allergies going around so that's just what we did!

I got to hang out with these two cute kiddos while Tara and Paul went out for the evening. Brooks and Dan even came and played for a bit. We had so much fun!

 Recently Brooks has been very aware of dressing and "changing" Bronco. Then when I told them they were matching he insisted on a picture.

 Dan and I went on two dates this month! Look at us! Not pictured it Dan and I attended the Temple while Tara watched Brooks. I was FLOORED when we left and Brooks said, "ba-bye!" and didn't cry. She said he was good the whole time and only cried when it was bedtime (like usual). The second date we went on was with Tara and Paul to The Nutcracker! I had never been so Tara got us all tickets for my birthday! It was so fun and I loved it! Such a thoughtful gift. Then we went and got breakfast after, delicious! I asked a young women from my ward to babysit Brooks and he did so good. Didn't cry and they played and ate pizza. After I took her home, all night Brooks was talking about her, "Hannah play, Hannah color!" He would get this big smile when he talked about her, it was so sweet! I'm so glad that he's gotten to a point where he knows we'll come back and can have fun when we leave. This also means he's going to nursery now too! Woo hoo! Took him 7 months!

We started off Thanksgiving week with a day trip to Waco. I had never been to Waco but I enjoy watching Fixer Upper. It was kind of chilly which was nice because it wasn't swarmed with people yet. Brooks loved playing with all their toys on the lawn. Everything is so expensive there home decor wise so I just bought myself a tshirt from their store. We also went to the bakery and bought us some treats- a chocolate cupcake, s'mores cupcake, orange cranberry biscuit, chocolate chip cookie and the silobration cookie. My favorite was the s'mores cupcake! I loved the orange cranberry biscuit but I have a very similar recipe myself. It was fun to see the silos and visit but to be honest- unless you're a die hard fan, I wouldn't travel far and wide to Waco just for this. Fun day trip though!

We didn't take a lot of time at the silos which meant we had LOTS of time at the Mayborn Museum at Baylor. This museum was amazing! So much so Brooks was sobbing when we had to leave because he loved it so much. I didn't take many pictures because there was a lot going on, lots of kiddos and I wanted to be in the moment with Brooks.

They had jeeps, trains, a music room, bubbles, lights and physics, a western room, tea party, a bus, a firetruck, a pretend grocery store, a water room, amphibians and fish, a blocks room- I could go on and on but there was just so much! Poor Brooks was so sad realizing he couldn't take the bus home, "Not ours??" This museum rocks though!

We ate at Torchys Tacos then headed home. On the way home Brooks didn't seem to approve of our music. He's usually so good in the car! But this trip and since actually he seemed to dislike it.. A LOT. I hope it's just a phase.

For the month of November we did a Thankful Turkey. Brooks LOVED this thing! He loved pointing out the turkey, petting him, giving him hugs, kisses, noggins- you name it! He'd point out his eyes everyday. Daily we'd write something we're thankful for on a feather and put it up. Every morning Brooks would answer, "Dada" until I could get a new answer out of him, sweet boy! His other answers include: soap, eyes, cars, trolls, candy

I didn't take a single picture on Thanksgiving because we were having too much fun in the moment. We had Thanksgiving with the Slaughs who Dan knows from work. We were with them last year too. It was so great and the food was awesome and Brooks was in heaven with all their fun toys. The trains and the stroller were definitely his favorite.

We really wanted to spend a night camping this week but pushed it from the beginning of the week to the end because the weather dropped. We decided to go on Friday when it would be 10 degrees warmer. We drove 45 minutes out to Decatur and camped by a lake. It was stunning! It looks nothing like what you would imagine, 'camping in Texas' would look like. Brooks loved everything about it to helping set up the tent, playing with flashlights, making s'mores and watching the fire. We threw rocks into the lake and searched for animals. We pointed out the stars, the moon and watched every air plane over head. 

That night when better than I thought. Brooks did pretty good in his sleeping bag. I practically pulled him over because for some reason I was freezing and couldn't get warm. I put some hand warmers in my socks and stole a blanket from Dan. It was just us and one other camper on the other side of the parking lot- nice and peaceful... right?

Not so much. Brooks was in the tent and Dan and I are sitting by the fire as it dies down. A car pulls up and two people are setting up a tent in pitch black. I thought it was weird but maybe some people just do that? I was in and out of sleep and kept hearing something but tried to ignore so I could sleep. Well I ended up being too cold to sleep then I realized the noise I was hearing was yelling and crying? My brain perks up and starts listening. I can only make out a couple words, "Jason" "sorry" "I didn't mean to". I don't hear the guy, he must be better at whisper yelling. I think I fell back asleep but an hour or so later they are LOUDER and she is SOBBING. She's HYSTERICAL and apologizing and BEGGING him to stay. Saying she's so sorry, that she'll make it right, "PA-LEASSS-(SOB)-EE-(SOB)-SE! COME BACK!" I'm thinking what the heck is going on? Does someone need help or is this just a random fight? I usually have a pretty good 'gut feeling' and I didn't feel the need to help. Soon enough the guy climbed in his truck and peeled off leaving her and her tent.

I thought this would end things right? Nope. They continued over phone. I'm guessing it's like 3am now? She's on the phone doing the same thing with an added, "PLEASE DON'T HANG UP JAS-(SOB)-ONN" And she walking around while talking yelling to him so I could hear her loud and clear. [I realize now she was very drunk, but it didn't occur to me then] She finally falls asleep or something and so do I with Brooks now in my sleeping bag -cozy! The trunk comes back at 5am maybe? and they're quiet for a bit, then start fighting again then they both leave in the truck. At this point Brooks is asking to get up and I'm like HECK NO it's waaaay too early. I bribe him to go back to sleep and we all sleep until 6 or 630? When ever the sun came up.

So the TL;DR version of our night- cold, not a lot of sleep but it was fun! In the morning Brooks and I put on as many layers as we could. Dan started a fire and we drank hot chocolate while he cooked breakfast. We played around, threw some more rocks in the water, rode his bike, cleaned up then started the drive home. I think we left around 9am so we stopped and got doughnuts on the way. I left my phone in the car because I wanted to unplug so here are the two photos I got.

We washed up from our camping trip and put Christmas up! Although I find this nook by our fireplace kind of awkward the rest of the year, it's a great spot for the tree!

Look! Texas finally got it together and decided it was fall! Also during this month out backyard was wild, but I didn't take any pictures (only videos). Brooks found two snakes eating each other, we found a big lizard in our house and found 3 or 4 fuzzy stinging caterpillars in our backyard.

Brooks has been insisting wearing his socks and sandals lately.

In one effort to get him to nap I laid down with him. It didn't work but he sure was being cute!

"Mama hugs!"