{ a team } ::

 

Little Bear, you and i are a team. you capture my heart everyday! i love you so much!

{ tailgate time } ::

on friday we went to tyson's work for a really fun tailgate party that they hosted for the capital one college football bowl week! we got to see lots of mascots that represented the teams playing in a capital one sponsored game. they had lots of yummy tailgate food, games, a huge bounce house that brody loved, an all you could eat candy shop, face painting and of course time with the mascots. it was a great way to spend the afternoon!

 

{ up in lights } ::

last monday tyson had to be up in D.C. for work and was planning on staying the night because on tuesday he had a statistics conference. when he stays in D.C. work takes care of everything which is super nice and because tyson's company is so family oriented they encourage your families to go with you. and hello? like we would say no to that! we always go along with him on "trips". true we are just like an hour from home and could totally sleep in our own beds, but what's better then a little get away? 

 brody was so stoked to get up to D.C. and say in a "room" as he likes to call it. so let the fun begin! 

monday afternoon brody and i drove up to D.C. and picked tyson up from work, who had just been surprised by his co-workers with a baby shower for him. seriously! such love! he has the most amazing co-workers! we just love them and feel so lucky. after we got tyson, we went and checked into our hotel and then hit up cafe rio for dinner and then we drove over to the LDS Washington D.C. Temple to check out the beautiful Christmas lights. It was so pretty. they had a life size nativity which was amazing and inside the visitors center they had tons of nativity sets from all over the world. we really enjoyed ourselves. after the lights we headed back to our hotel and the boys went swimming. for an average monday it was quite a fabulous day!

 

tuesday morning we got up, ate breakfast and got ready and then brody and i dropped tyson off at work and then brody and i drove over to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. 

for Months...no really months...i've wanted to go up on a Tuesday to go the Butterfly exhibit because it's free. and brody has wanted to do the exhibit so badly too. so this was our chance! 

we got really lucky and found a parking spot right next to the museum, it didn't open till 10. so we had to wait at the doors for 20 minutes before it opened. brody was so excited for the butterflies, he was sooooooooo good just standing and waiting for the doors to open. once the museum did open we had to hurry up to the exhibit to get our tickets. luckily it helps to be the very first people in the museum because we had no problem getting tickets and then being the first in line to see the butterflies. mission accomplished! we loved it. so happy we did it. after the butterflies we hit up our normal favorite exhibits, dinos, oceans and mammals, then we hit up the gift shop real quick and got back in the car and drove home. sweeeet! 

good times and such a fun little get away!

{ mine } ::

i love this picture! this picture defines up perfectly. i count my blessings each and every single day that these are my people! they are mine. all mine. how lucky that i get to be the one with them day in and day out. i wouldn't have it any other way. i love them so much and i know they love me. that's all i need. 

i am blessed! 

 I think Henry B. Eyring said it best ... “Ask yourself, 'How did God bless me today?' If you do that long enough and with faith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. And sometimes, you will have gifts brought to your mind which you failed to notice during the day, but which you will then know were a touch of God’s hand in your life.”

{ little bit of this...little bit of that } ::

 

1.riding a tractor at a pumpkin patch that we stopped off at to check out pumpkin prices 

2. looking sporty 

3. finding fuzzy caterpillars 

4. piggy back ride while walking around maymont 

5. making pizzas for dinner 

6. taking a break from running around 

7. went to a friends super hero birthday party = so much fun! 

8. tyson getting in on the super hero action 

9. lunch date with our favorite person ever! 

10. mashing up bananas for banana cake, yum! 

11. family outing to the zoo 

12. riding the carousel at the zoo 

11. holding hands with friends is best 

12. feeding the goats at maymont with friends 

13. carving one of our pumpkins 

14. posing with our carved pumpkin, good job tyson and brody! 

15. making sock puppets one night = total blast! 

16. good ol' rexburg idaho - we were excited to see we were eating potatoes from our old stomping grounds 

17. week 31
18. playing basketball at costco 

19. a fun outing to the historical farm to play and of course i had to take of picture of us 

20. riding the train at the mall one night 

21. at the park playing 

22. watching the trains go by = brody heaven!

{it's a train thing } ::

the day after Thanksgiving...early in the morning we woke brody up and told him he was going to get to ride the train to D.C. he was so excited he jumped right out of bed. brody loves trains! we see them all the time around Richmond and he always ask to ride on one. well this day was his lucky day! 

 and lucky for us we have an Amtrak Station just a few minutes away from us. So i dropped the boys off at the train station and they rode the train up to D.C. and i drove and picked them up in D.C. 

 well to say the least brody was in heaven and loved every minute of it. tyson said brody was plastered to the window the entire ride. how fun for a little boy. he was bursting at the seams with happiness! 

 once i picked up the boys we decided to for go a trip to one of the museums and go hit up the zoo. it was a beaaaautiful warm day! we enjoyed seeing a bunch of the animals that were out and about. but after about an hour and a half. we were all ready to head home. so that's just what we did. a fun quick train ride up and a quick quiet sleepy ride home. 

 and you know what? i don't think there is anything much better than a fun little adventure, even if it is only for a few hours. it's always the little things that seem to matter the most. and when you mix in favorite things and pure happiness, you can't help but be filled with a great joy!