life is going too fast!

it seems like every time i blink, another month has come and gone. if only time could pause for half an hour once a week so i could keep up with this doggone blog!

november flew by.

the most exciting part of the month was that on the 7th we celebrated our little owen man turning 1! he's the best little dude and we love him more and more with each passing day (all except for the fact that he is STILL NOT SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. but i try to forget that each morning when the alarm goes off :) 

he started walking on his birthday, which was a gift to both himself and to his siblings because it made them all so happy!

this is the only video we took during his celebration thats small enough to upload

and here's a little snippet of him walking. its not on his birthday, but he is in his birthday suit, so it counts!

owen boy, you came into this world in a hurry and you hit the ground running, always trying to keep up with the rest of us. you are such a ham and love to make your siblings laugh and they love to make you laugh too. you are the runt of the four kids, weighing the least and are the shortest, but you'd never be able to tell with your loud personality and long legs. you are the pickiest eater and the worst sleeper of the 4 kids, and most definitely stubborn when you want to be, but thats ok, we'll keep you anyways. dancing is your favorite, especially to "i like to move it move it", you say mama, dada, and ba for both ball and bottle and you have a whopping 10 teeth. you're favorite toys are balls and spoons. you always have one or the other, if not both, in your hands. we love you O! and just for memories sake...

and as a side note, with his 1 year mark being met, i stopped breastfeeding!!! we made it! nursing is not something that i enjoy. its hard for me physically and even more so emotionally. but we made it! and within 2 weeks i gained almost 10 lbs :( it didn't help that it coincided with our road trip and thanksgiving. but, i'll work hard and get that weight back off. I'm so thankful to have been able to do that for little O and that i have some freedom again! 

jack also hit an exciting milestone at the beginning of the month. he received his Wolf advancement in cub scouts! thats right folks, this kid keeps getting more and more awesome!

chris and jack made a quick weekend trip up to kansas city to visit the carpenters and go to the BYU vs Mizzou game. they had a blast, despite BYU's pathetic game.

they even saw the weasley's car outside of taco bell on their drive ;)

also this month, i put chris' carpenter skills to the test. i was in charge of decorating for our wards Young Women in Excellence Awards night. our theme was The Celestial Awards (like the academy awards, but better!) i had chris cut out this gigantic outline of a temple and then we painted it gold. it was at the end of our red carpet and was the backdrop for our evening. the pictures are pathetic, but you get the idea.

the evening was wonderful and an absolutely perfect way to recognize the girls and all they've accomplished throughout the year for personal progress. I'm so grateful to work with these ladies. 

 also this month, i got my hair cut. this is worth recording because it had been almost 1.5 years since my last cut... yikes.

this month we branched out and did something a little weird for our family. we had our pictures taken by a professional. we've never done this before because we've never needed to with our dear rik being so capable. but since she's too far and we wanted to send out a picture with our christmas cards, we decided to take the plunge. and it wasn't too bad!

this was one of our faves:

at the end of the month we made our last trip of the year. we drove to OH to visit for thanksgiving and had a fantastic time. what a great month it was to remember and be aware of all that we have been blessed with!