Hello Again

I didn't stay away too long, but it was a good break and now I am happy to be back in the blogging world again. I wasn't sure where to start since July, so I will give as much of a recap as I can. T his is a long update. Including 3 birthdays, 3 holidays and a whole lot of news!
As a family we've survived both wheat and beet harvest. (My first official tractor picture on the blog...big day right?)We're currently moving into Nolan's parents house and they're moving about 20 miles away. We've been living with them the last five months, and it's going to be strange with 2 less people in the house now. We've gone on a few trips. My family had a reunion in Island Park that was a lot of fun...Here's the Blodgett clan minus 2 of my brothers and a sister in-law. Then here is me and my sisters!Halloween this year was so great. Grace was a delicious looking ice cream cone, and Thomas was a scary shark. It was our first time actually going door to door. Usually we hit up the main street in Walla Walla, and then the trunk or treat and it's all we need, but those things are not here so we went old school. The kids had so much fun, and got a lot of good candy. Thomas is still working on his. We recently got back from a trip to Park City. We had fun shopping and swimming and taking it easy after a busy October. For Thanksgiving we went to Boise with my dad and little sister and her roommate. I saw Breaking Dawn with a friend from Walla Walla and my sister. Nolan went golfing it was great weather all weekend. It was a successful dinner, I'm so relieved when everything turns out well and on TIME. We love cooking the turkey with the turkey cannon, seriously, the most moist turkey ever, and it only takes 3 hours to cook. Thomas and Grace liked checking in on the progress. We braved the stores Thanksgiving night and finished our Christmas shopping!! It is the earliest I've been done and it's a huge relief. When we got hope we put up the Christmas decorations. Each year gets more fun with the kids. The were a huge help even if all our ornaments ended up on the bottom 2 branches :-) Notice Grace's outfit. She put the most hilarious combinations together each day and loves wearing sunglasses inside day or night.Okay now for individual updates...as if this post isn't long enough! Nolan crossed off skydiving from his bucket list. He and our brother in-law Paul went last summer, and said they were more scared of the plane they were flying in than jumping out of it. They had a great time, and now want to make it a regular thing. Not sure what my sister and I have started! Nolan celebrated his 30th birthday last month! Some friends from our Smithfield days met us in Park City and we had fun honoring the awesome guy Nolan is. He really amazes me so much, I'm more and more grateful for him each year. He's really enjoying farm life, and even though he works twice the hours, he says it goes by twice as fast. Wish it did for me too :-) I'm sure all know who are reading this but I am expecting baby #3 and due in March. We're really excited, and the kids talk about the baby in their prayers, and are constantly wanting to hug, kiss, tickle, or play peek a boo with the baby. I can't wait to see this little one. We're waiting on finding out the gender so our anticipation is even more heightened. I'm about 24 weeks along and have been feeling really well since the 1st trimester. I'll post belly pics once I have one.
I took a trip to Las Vegas in the beginning of November with all the Harper Ladies. We had so much fun shopping, eating, playing games, and laughing. The high light for me was seeing Phantom of the Opera. I've always loved that play and it was an incredible show. I feel so lucky to have married into such a great family, and feel so close with all my in-laws. These girls are just like sisters to me, especially since I've now lived with 3 out of the five of them. Gotta take a picture with my roomie who brought Nolan and I together :-)
Thomas started preschool! He actually rides the bus with all the kids from preschool to high school so that is pretty crazy to me. It's a 40 minute ride which is also crazy! I am glad that he is on there with cousins or else I might have a very hard time letting him sit there for that long with such a diversity of ages. He really enjoys preschool. He Thomas also turned 5 in October! Some other friends from Smithfield came to celebrate with us and he had a great time playing with friends all day. Nolan was doing beet harvest all day and got home around 8, so we hurried and ate cake and sent the kids to bed. Thomas really likes pirates hence the shark costume for Halloween, and this ship cake for his birthday. Lots of carving, but I liked how it turned out. He got a new job chart for his birthday. I know it doesn't sound exciting, but he loves keeping track of doing his chores and reading his scriptures etc. At the end of the week he gets a penny for every smile face on the chart. I'm sure it won't be long until he realizes how little that is, but he's loving it now. Every day he asks what he can do for chores, and once he is done he usually thanks me. I'm loving it too, hope it lasts! He also got some board games, and new CARS 2 cars. He is reading really well. I really didn't push the issue, he just was sounding letters out so much and spelling things that we got books out and he took off. Mostly the early reader Dr. Seuss books. We also had our first experience with one of our kids cutting their hair. I'm so glad it wasn't Grace, but I went and picked Thomas up at school and his teacher felt so bad, but then we buzzed it to salvage it, and he loves it short, it's a hard adjustment for me, I'm not a huge fan of the buzz, but it's warming up to me now.Grace turned 3! We had a good birthday with all things princess. She got a baby crib that Nolan made for her, some doll clothes from Grandma Susy, 2 pairs of cute shoes from Grandpa Blodgett, and five new dress up outfits complete with crowns, shoes and jewelry. She was very excited and put some clothes on immediatly. For her cake this year she wanted a castle cake. This was my best attempt, it was very sweet, and not the most beautiful. There was a ton of candy on top of it, and she loved it, so that is all that matters.She is quite the girlie girl, it's been fun spending the mornings with just the two of us, and then she gets so happy when Thomas comes home from school. She asks me often when she goes to preschool. I may have to start up a coop here next year for her.

So I think that's pretty much everything. I'm hoping to be posting more, and back to commenting on others. Happy DECEMBER!