Thanksgiving and the big 3-0!

What a whirlwind month November was! Most of the month for me was spent cleaning clients homes and planning my upcoming birthday party. I felt like a chicken with it's head cut off. Or maybe a turkey :)
For Thanksgiving we went with my in laws to Mesa Arizona to visit my sister in law Maren and meet our new nephew Elijah. We left the night before Thanksgiving. We drove the 12 hours straight. It was a rough drive but we made it safely. We got there in time to shower and change and then head to Thanksgiving dinner well lunch actually. We joined the Roger family (Vaughn's aunt,uncle and cousins) and enjoyed a very yummy turkey! I never had a juicier turkey. It was so wonderful to see the Arizona group and have some warm weather! We enjoyed a lot of eating and talking. We also went and checked out the Christmas lights around the Mesa temple. Layla thought it was pretty cool. Sunday was Elijah's blessing. Then it was time to head home. There was quite the snow storm going through Utah while we traveled home but we made it to West Valley at least. A few of us got stuck a mile from our house in my in laws van. That was no fun. The snow was so deep and no plows in sight till 2pm the next day. 2 hours after we got stuck we finally were home.











The following Thursday was my 30th birthday. YIKES! I seriously have to really convince myself that I'm actually 30. We had great news on the morning of my birthday. Vaughn received a raise! It will be a nice raise too. So we will be almost back to what we were making before the job switch with out having to work the overtime to get it. Vaughn is doing so well at his job and they said they would give him another review at the end of 6months which makes us even more excited!
As for the rest of my birthday day it was pretty rough. I was running errands all over town trying to get ready for my Mock Prom I planned to celebrate my 30th. What was miserable about it was Layla crying the whole time. She really has been having a rough time lately. I'm not sure exactly what is wrong but I am guessing it's her teeth. She has been getting them one after another. I didn't see much of my house till about dinner time. For dinner my dad took out all of us for dinner to Applebees.
Friday, the day after my birthday was crazy too but lots more fun. I started planning my Mock Prom when I turned 29. I figured if I had to turn 30 I would do it in style. I rented a venue, had a DJ, photographer and rented a beautiful dress. I had my hair and make up done as well. I felt like a princess. I had so much help decorating and getting everything together from my family. I felt so loved. Before the party I went to dinner at the Olive Garden with some friends and family. Then went to my Prom. The party lasted 4 hours and I didnt sit down once. I danced so much that when I got home my feet were swollen. Saturday was spent recovering and today we went to my in laws for a family party. It was such a great birthday weekend. I have been so happy. Its been a long time since I felt this way. I feel so blessed. Enjoy the pictures.

Our Fall Fun

Ok major update time! Some how September and October both slipped away from me!
September was a busy month for my business. Things have really picked up. I have about 3 houses a week now. Sometimes more. Poor Layla has had to spend lots of time away from me. At least most the time she can be at Grandma Bigham's house and play with her cousin William. She loves him so much. I got to babysit him one day in September. Layla had an interesting reaction. Usually she is so happy to see him but having come to her house was a whole new thing. She was not happy. She would not let me go and screamed and cried for almost the whole time he was here. Finally for the last hour she decided it was going to be ok and had some fun.

In September Layla got to go on her first Trax ride. We took Trax downtown to see the Circus Parade. The Circus was in town and to advertise they marched all the people and animals in there show down the middle of the road. It was pretty cool.



One of our favorite activites this year has been going to Wheeler farm. We went with my friend Amber and her kids and fed the ducks and went on a wagon ride.




Layla and I have really enjoyed being a part of a group of moms that live around Salt Lake. We get together and have playdates and activites and moms nights. In September we went to a lot of activites. They had a end of summer BBQ that even daddy came with us to.



At the end Of September we had a visit from Vaughn's Grandpa Mat Bigham, Grandma Ronnie, aunt Cassie and her two kids Bailey and Jerome. We had so much fun spending time with them. Layla warmed right up to them. She even reached out for them to hold her. I didnt get the best pictures while they were here but this is what I got thanks to Hannah. I'm hoping to see their pictures they took!




Thanks to Vaughn I was able to get out and have some fun mommy time. Although I wish he would have been there to dance with me!


That was our September short and sweet.
Now for October!
October 4th was Vaughn's 28th birthday. We hosted a birthday dinner at our home. And packed our house full of people. We seriously need more room. Can you believe I didn't take any pictures? I was too busy entertaining. But Vaughn did say he had lots of fun. One of the presents I got for Vaughn was tickets to see Austarilian Pink Floyd. We go every year to go see them. Don't know who they are? You are missing out! We found my cousin Marco and his wife Amanda at the concert as well. That was awesome!
We finally had our first family pictures done! Here is one of them.

October was also filled with many Halloween activites. We had a hard time deciding what to dress Layla up as. As a last minute costume for a trunk or treat with my mommies group she dressed up as some kind of woodland fairy. She put on a leotard that her aunt hannah used for dance and I put some sparkles on her face. The Trunk or Treat we went to was the weekend before Halloween. It was raining so it turned out to be a picnic table or treat.



In my mommies group I am apart of the Charitable Events Committee. One of our favorite things to do is go to the Senior Center with the kids. For Halloween we had them dress up in their costumes and hand out candy to the seniors. I think both sides had fun.




We waited till last minute to go get our pumpkins this year. We didnt even get to the pumpkin patch till the sun was already down. It was a cold night. It had just snowed a few days before. Lukily all the snow was gone. We went to Wheeler Farm. They had a bunch of fun activites. We went through a hay/corn maze and the wagon ride. It was fun going on the wagon ride at night. They had some lights on the trail for deocration. We even had some hot chocolate. When we got back from our ride we went and picked out our Pumkins. Layla liked that part the best. She LOVES pumpkins. Every time she sees one she gets excited no matter if it's real or fake, Jack O lanter or plain old pumpkin.












Layla also got to go Trick or Treating at her Grandpa Bigham's work. With her cousin William and Grandma and Nathanial (my inlaws foster son)


Layla wasn't the only one who got to have some Halloween fun! Mommy and daddy did too. We went to two parties. I dressed up as a Dark Fairy and Vaughn was a Air Force Gunner.




Layla loved mommy's wings

In Utah, when Halloween falls on a Sunday most Trick or Treaters come on Saturday night. It always throws everyone off. We got enough candy though for both nights. After Layla's Halloween activities we decdied that we didnt need to take her out trick or treating. We stayed in and decorated and carved our pumpkins. It rained that night so we didn't get very many kids.







Wow that was everything. I hope you enjoyed my update.