This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family down in sunny Arizona....
So we threw out our hats and blankets and hit the road
We always worry how Nixon will handle the 11 hour drive, but to our luck Nixon did fantastic! I mean he either slept or played quietly by himself the whole way!
He did get a little fussy at times but we were always close to our next pit stop, and once he got out of the carseat he was back to his happy self.
We made it to my parents house late Friday night, and though grandma and grandpa were so anxious to see Nixon we arrived way past their bedtime.
The next morning was filled with a lot of hugs and kisses, mainly for Nixon (but who could blame them), And how does Nixon show his affection back, he breaks one of grandma's fancy plates!
But Grandma could never get mad at this sweet little guy
just being cute
Nixon was quite fond of these tiny, bright Christmas trees.
Good thing there were no breakable ornaments on the trees
Umm mom, do you really expect me to take that piece of banana from your tongue.
New talent: balancing a mini skateboard with his lips
Cuddling with grandma after a bath. The bottom right picture he is holding measuring cups, he held those the whole time cuddling with grandma.
If you don't already know, Arizona weather is amazing during Thanksgiving! We took every advantage to soak up that weather by taking Nixon on walks.
Checking out the park
One day we didn't just look at the park, Nixon got to play there! This kid loves the park! Especially the swing....
And the slides...
and the sand!
Even grandma had a good time! :)
Just taking a relaxing swing with Grandpa
On the night before Thanksgiving we had our annual bowling tournament. We divide the group into 2 teams, and whichever team wins doesn't have to clean up Thanksgiving dinner!
My team won! :)
It's an intense competition
Nixon is more interested in the bowling than taking a picture.
mom's weird
This is what happens when you play with Aunt Chelsie
One night while we were there my sister Chelsie and I hosted a little ice cream party for our friends.
Nixon needed to get ready for the party and was anxiously waiting for the tub to be ready.
My beautiful friends and their cute cute kids!! I love seeing these girls and catching up with them! It makes me wish we all still lived in the same state!
Future best friends (minus Katelyn)
Thanksgiving day had finally arrived.
The boys put up the Christmas tree while the girls started cooking Thanksgiving meal.
Nixon and the turkey
Nixon wondering what grandma is doing
Nixon doing his part to help
playing with grandpa
sizing up what toys to get on black Friday
The thanksgiving meal was delicious!
Nixon's always the center of attention
All the yummy pies. I believe we had 10 total and none of them were duplicates!
I'm not a big fan that they are starting the black friday shopping on Thanksgiving day, but I found myself getting sucked into the deals!
Doesn't Lance look excited to be waiting in the never ending line! :)
Another wonderful thing about Thanksgiving in Arizona is playing outside without having to be bundled up! The whole family decided to get some exercise after all the food we had been eating the past couple of days and went and played some tennis. Nixon was happy to sit out and hang with grandma.
Though he did get bored after a while
While we were all together we decided to update the good ole family photo. A big thanks goes to my wonderful husband who was the photographer for it all!
Nixon loved the water fountain
family photo
Nixon sure loves his grandma and grandpa
He also loves his Uncle Zac
I love this little cheeser!!
Cool Aunt Chelsie helping Nixon touch the fountain water
It was the best Thanksgiving yet! I sure have the greatest family!
Here is a little video Lance put together of our fun Thanksgiving.
This year was Nixon's first Halloween experience, and what an experience it was (more for mom than son). The excitment of his first costume, his first halloween party, and his first time trick-or-treating were all tolerated by Nixon but I think the true excitment came from me. I loved picking out his costume and I loved showing him off in it even more. :)
Isn't that the cutest dragon/dinosaur you ever did see!
Nixon got his first taste of Halloween from a Halloween party his Aunt Megan threw for her ward playgroup and she was kind enough to invite Nixon.
I wasn't sure how well he would tolerate the hood part of the costume but he acted like it wasn't even there. What a trooper.
Keeping an eye on Ben, making sure he doesn't take any of his goodies.
The two dragons and the beautiful princess
My sweet little dragon
Love this little guy!
There were a lot of kids at the party and I think at this point Nixon might have gotten a little overwhelmed.
Plus that day he figured out how to climb stairs!!
This makes me so proud that he caught on so quickly, but also terrifies me at what the future holds with this newly acquired skill. :)
Megan goes all out for her parties. She had a LIVE GIANT spider attend her Halloween party!
Scary!
So here is the real scary story about the spider. We were all having a good time, enjoying some delicious treats when someone noticed this giant spider on the ceiling. Megan turns to me and "says you kill spiders at your house, right? Well you should get this one."A little fact about the Mitchell's, my husband is terrified of spiders, so I have automatically been given the title of spider killer in our home. However, if the spider has a big butt and will make a "crunch" sound when smashed, that's where I draw the line. Seeing how this spider had a BIG butt and would most definitely crunch when smashed; I kindly said no thank you to Megan's request. Megan then went and got bug killer spray and mustered up the courage to kill this thing. The plan was to spray the spider (hoping to kill it) and then catch it on the paper plate (as seen in the picture on the right). That's not exactly how it went.
Megan did spray the spider but when the spider fell it did not hit the plate, it had a spider web string that saved it from dropping to the plate. Once the spider was sprayed it fell (as all the women in the room screamed in horror) but caught itself with its web string and hurried back up the string onto the ceiling. Megan quickly sprayed the spider again to which it fell, but again IT MISSED THE PLATE! And this time we had NO idea where it landed!! The poor lady holding the paper plate realized the spider wasn't on the plate and quite calmly (unlike the rest of us in the room) began searching around for the spider, when all of a sudden I spotted the spider on this WOMEN'S ARM! I began to point and yell "its on your arm! its on your arm!" Now in that moment if I were that lady I would be freaking out, but she new to be very calm and waited patiently as another woman grabbed a tissue and finally killed that ugly, awful spider! Ever since then I get the creepy crawly's when I go to Megan's, worried that spider isn't really dead. Scary story huh?!
Anyway back to cute pictures of Nixon. :)
The little boy witch and his potion
Had enough of that
Halloween day finally came and can't you tell Nixon is excited to go trick or treating.
I know I know we are lame for not getting into the holiday and dressing up
starting the candy addiction early
It was a little chilly out but I forgot his mittens, so we improvised with some extra socks. We soon took those off because he kept sucking on them defeating the purpose of keeping his hands warm.
Nixon was excited to join his cousins and friends trick-or-treating but he wasn't quite old enough to actually go to the doors and get the candy. He was ok just being outside and enjoying the great outdoors.
The joys of being thrown in the air.
This way is more fun than the stroller to go trick-or-treating.
I thought he would be scared of this skeleton figure, but he actually thought it was quite funny.
So funny he fell over laughing :)
Just hanging out on a pumpkin
I think after a while he realized what the kids were doing and didn't want to be the only one left in the stroller.
He finally got his chance to do his very first trick-or-treating. He needs a little work on saying trick-or-treat but we've got a whole year to master it.
It's sad that his first Halloween is over but I'm excited for the fun trick-or-treating years ahead.
and the sand!
