Merry Christmas

one of my absolute favorite days of the year.

last night we had a wonderful christmas eve party at the ferrins. lots of delicious food! grandma leavitts homemade tamales, chimichangas, nachos, and grandma leavitts delicious carmels. we had a very entertaining talent show that included all of the kids singing or playing the piano. they are too cute. i wish i got some pictures! then of course, we had the gift exchange which is always a plus :)

this morning we woke up at 6:30..am. earlier than maddix! mostly for brigham. he could not wait to have me open up my gifts that he got me {and he was secretly..or not secretly..excited for his ipod touch that santa got him}

lets just say that i got spoiled again this year.. i must have been a good girl :)

brig got an ipod touch, church socks & athletic socks {since ALL of his have holes in them}, of course some new bball shorts, itunes gift card from brother in law, and money.

i got a flip video camera, an amazing nice cream jacket, gorgeous miss me jeans {picked out by brigham himself..impressive!}, money from family, forever 21 gift card from brother in law, an automatic ice cream/sorbet/frozen yogurt maker from my g-ma, and a bread maker from my madre & padre! :)

maddix got shoes and jeans, baseball and elmo toy from tate, money from grandparents, and pushing toy from grandma. he was not even interested in the wrapping paper! he was actually scared of it…

we went to breakfast at the weights and then visited family at the porters.

wonderful day!

   

i am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. i know that he lives and loves us so much. i hope that we can all make Him the center of our lives and work on following his amazing example a little more this coming year.

M E R R Y  C H R I S T M A S ! ! !

love, us

p.s. here is our Christmas card, if you didnt get one in the mail or see it on facebook..here it is :)

story time

so today was not the best day.

maddix slept a total of like 15 min during nap times today...not okay

walmart was extremely crowded and i only needed TWO things {one of them was needed to make dinner}.

took about ten minutes to exit the parking lot.
on my way home, went to pick up brig from getting his haircut at sports clips {free coupon}
this didnt help my day get any better, he told me the girl gave him a head massage, back massage {not with her hands thank heavens, otherwise i wouldve chopped them off}
and she kept asking him, are you happily married? do you like it? are you sure?
good thing i have a husband that loves to talk about his wifey and baby boy
he just kept talking about us to her the whole time :)
sorry lady, he's mine.

so, i got home, only had an hour to make dinner before brig had to go to school,

but the dinner i wanted to make took an hour and a half to make...

so, i told brig that he would need to be late to school because i was craving this dinner.

{i know, i'm such a supportive wife}

so when i got home from the store, i kindly asked brig to please take the groceries inside....

but the groceries were not there.

i forgot them in the shopping. cart. at. walmart. {second time}

brig asked with all seriousness, "does this happen often? like do other people do this a lot too?"

i didnt answer.

he laughed about it, i didnt

i pretty much thought i was going to die.

there was no way i was going to go ALL the way back {two miles :)} and get those dumb groceries!

{mostly because of the dang crowded parking lot}

{plus i wouldnt have time to make the dinner anyways...}

for some reason, this put me in the stinkiest mood ever.

just ask brig, if i have a certain meal/food set in my head that i get to eat and then i dont get to eat it,

no bueno.

might as well stay away from me. until i find something better to eat or to complain about.

guess what i did to solve my problem?

run.

after my run i was in a great mood and whipped up some pancakes and homemade syrup for din din :)

moral of the story: running solves more problems than you think.

try it out

waking up

there is nothing better than waking up to these two handsome beyond handsome guys in the morning.

 

 

this little guy is a rascal, let me tell ya.

chord in one hand, walking from his walker toy to the chair at the same time & to add to the kaos…he’s got crazy bed hair!

but that’s why i love my little man in the sleeper.

he always wakes up so happy and ready to play in the morning {probably because he’s in mommy & daddy’s bed}!

this is another reason why i love him…he is very spontaneous & creative just like his pops!

{if you’re wondering what on earth he is doing…he is climbing over the bar on the bottom of the kitchen chair. you’re wondering why he didnt just go around the chair? because he likes to make everything interesting!}

back to what i was saying before, i have the best big man & little man around. i love them SO much. they make me so happy everyday & definitely keep me on my toes! glad to have them for forever :)

{adorable pics of brigham & maddix by sarah webb}

ten months

happy ten months maddix!

• standing up on his own
• loves to feed himself
• still nursing
• sleeping through the night {never though i’d say this}
• not a great napper
• very very active
• loves waving his arms & kicking his legs
• loves to “talk”
• can say “mama” “dada" “bahbah” “nana”
• loves bananas
• has two bottom teeth & all four top teeth just barely came in!
• baby einstein now scares him, after watching the same one for 10 months.
• loves bath time
• does not like to sit still…ever
• getting into all  cupboards, chords, everything.
• loves to be outside. calms him down every single time
• cuter than ever

{the above pictures show this little mans attitude. happy/excited one second, nervous/worried/scared, then completely terrified & no one knows why}

***is it normal to get baby hungry when they are this age?

{NO we are not pregnant}

thanksgiving

turkey trot!!! best way to start out thanksgiving morning {unless you’re brigham..then its turkey bowl}. my family has been running this since before i can remember! in fact, a couple years ago…we won a turkey for having the most popular last name at the race. {meaning out of all families at the race, the LeSueur’s had the most runners.} i was extra excited about running this year since ive actually been running lots. it felt like nothing compared to the half. nate {my little bro} & i ran it together. at the last stretch of the race he stopped for a minute because he was feeling sick & i just kept running because i wanted to see how fast i could do it. once he took care of business, he sprinted the last stretch! i’m such a mean sister, i left him in the dust on his 18th birthday! and beat him by one minute :) i did it in 47 minutes which means i beat my personal record..yay!! my father in law and sister in law were so kind to come watch & babysit maddix, olivia, & gracie!
 
after the race, i went home, cleaned up & got cookin’! sweet potato casserole for the weight party & fruit salad for the lesueur party.. i was not a fan by any means of the sweet potato recipe. sad day. my parents had about 120 people at their house for lunch!!! i kinda have a large family. for the weight side we reserved a church building & ate lunch & played games! very busy, but fun day. maddix was so worn out by the time we got home, which meant he went straight to bed. brig & i cleaned up our ridiculously messy kitchen & then he headed off to his brothers for their madden tournament. katie & reagan came over & we had a girls night :)

yesterday morning i went out to target & to the mall with reagan & katie. maddix got a little tired of shopping after a couple hours..but i did get some cute stuff!! when i got home from shopping, brig had put up the tree, hung the stockings, hung the wall hanging from his grandma leavitt & another wall hanging & put up the alaska bear nativity set. too cute. brigham gets so excited about this time of year. i love it to death. we went to costco to walk around. we ate lots of samples & ended up eating dinner there {delicious & cheap…healthy? not so much}. last year we started a tradition the night after thanksgiving. so this year was our second time doing it! we made monkey bread & watched a Christmas movie together! it was delicious & lots of fun.
tonight we went to costa vida for dinner, stopped by qt for some amazing hot chocolate, then walked around & looked at the temple Christmas lights. maddix loved all the beautiful lights! we had an elder take our picture, but it was ridiculously blurry..& then had someone else try to take another one later but battery was dead..oh well. i’m sure we will be back plenty of more times this season :)

{picture found here}

go see them!!! they are wonderful. makes for a great, not to mention cheap, date night :)

i felt the need to ramble

yay for CHRISTMAS music!

{ive been waiting for delilah to start chattin up on 99.9 considering it started the night of halloween 2 years ago.}

this weekend was great. friday night we went to dinner and then walked around target. we had fun picking out toys and such that we would love to had if we were billionaires. i have come to realize, as has brigham, that my Christmas list is a tad bit longer than last years…and most of them are not what you call cheap or affordable. {please tell me i’m not the only one like this?} but after hearing the talks in sacrament meeting today i had a little bit of a change of heart. the youth speaker gave a great talk about learning to be grateful for what we have instead of always dwelling on what we do not have. brig and i both looked at each other and confessed that we could both use that great counsel.
last night my friend sarah took some pictures of our little family. she did great. probably my favorite part of pictures was towards the end when maddix was totally done, so brig would run around in a few circles while holding him to get him to laugh, then we’d hurry and pose and snap! :) it was awesome. after pics, sarah, melanie, and I went to costa vida for dinner with bentley and maddix while the hubs vegged out to ufc. then sarah and baby b came over, we put the kids to bed and had fun chatting about running, babies, bodies, and everything else. i love having girl talks! thanks sarah and melanie for the fun night! :)
 
    
thanksgiving is this week :) which means TURKEY TROT time!!! this has been a family tradition {kind-of-ish} for like the past…long time. brig will not be joining me due to turkey bowl-shmirky shmowl. im not bitter or anything :) {he will make up for it by running londons run with me in january so no worries!} im actually really ready for it this year so im excited!!
this morning i woke up to breakfast in bed :) i had a rough night with a terrible sore throat and a crying baby. did i mention i slept in until 8? dont remember the last time that happened! brig got up with maddix at 6:30, fed him, played with him, made me a delicious breakfast burrito and kindly delivered it to me in bed. along with a bottle of ketchup and my favorite pink water bottle :) thanks brig, you are the bomb dot com.
i felt the need to include my ridiculous Christmas list..just in case santa reads this.
 

1. NOT! okay, these are just weird. i saw someone wearing these at the airport. people really run in these?
2. these are hot. i would love to be seen running in these. i bet i could run 10x faster while wearing them as well! ;)
3. this is what i continue to dream about. maybe someday when im a rich nurse. HA! ya right. i would love to capture pictures of my little man and big man with this snazzy camera. but it looks like for now i’ll just keep dreaming about it..
4. santa, this one is a must. i cant stand to miss any more adorable moments of my sweet family. pretty please!! i want to capture every memory possible before my little man grows up too fast. {already happening by the way.}

oh and brigham wanted me to let you know that all he wants for Christmas is another year of health. i know, he’s so needy isnt he? sheesh. oh and a money clip while you’re at it.
love shelbs.
p.s i’ll be sure to leave you some yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and some cold milk :)

feeling grateful

the past couple of days ive been feeling very grateful for so many things.
i am so grateful for my family. my husband is so hardworking, loving, handsome, hilarious, patient, talented & fun. i’m so lucky to be married to him for eternity!! and there’s sweet little maddix. he keeps us so entertained and makes us so happy! plus he’s super handsome :) i love my family SO much and i’m glad they keep me around!
      
i am grateful for my Savior. the other night brigham & i were talking about how excited we are for the the second coming. it is going to be the neatest thing ever to see his face. we were talking about how we are so happy now that we can’t even imagine the amount of happiness that we are going to have at that time. i love my Savior & i am so grateful for the atonement that allows me to constantly repent & be forgiven of my mistakes.

i am grateful for my healthy body. i am so fortunate to have a body that functions well and allows me to exercise and to do the things that i love to do. this past weekend i ran my first 1/2 marathon with my sister in law katie. it went really well! it was so much fun to finally race after all the training i did! my time ended up being 1:52:30. I beat my goal so i was happy!  a couple weeks ago brig did a triathlon and competed against some family members! it was great.

i am grateful for the prophet and all of our church leaders. this past weekend we had stake conference. we were able to hear from the president monson & some of our other general leaders. we are so lucky to have satellite broadcast so that we can hear from our prophet and leaders so often. i know that they are called of God and that their messages are revelation from Him.

i am grateful for all of the comforts of life that i enjoy. my house, food, clothing, bed, furniture, car, and everything else!

i am grateful for my talents. i know that sometimes i complain and think that i dont have any talents, but i realized that i need to be grateful for the talents that i do have because my Heavenly Father has blessed me so much. 

i am grateful for this beautiful weather & time of year. i love that maddix and i can go for walks every morning & play at the park without being drenched in sweat. i love that i can run in the afternoon without dying of a heat stroke. i love the smell of Christmas. i was so excited to buy my autumn spice candle! it totally sets the Thanksgiving/Christmas mood in our house. i love the green garland with gold berries and sparkly red pinecones & Christmas light sitting on our ledge. i love that my husband simply cannot wait to put up the Christmas tree, watch Christmas movies, go see Christmas lights, and bake/eat Christmas goodies with me :) i love that i can open the windows all day long! i love that i can finally put maddix in his snuggly sleepers and me in my comfy sweats :)
  
 
thanksgiving: 9 days. Christmas: 34 days. 2 year anniversary: 43 days.
im a happy lady :) especially at this time of the year!