November

Bringing Alysha home was quite the adventure, but by November I'd pretty well settled into a routine everyday. We had a little bit of trouble at the beginning of the month with Aly's weight, but she finally started eating correctly and she started gaining weight, and once she started, she picked up speed!! We spent our days cuddling, watching Ellen and Oprah and the news, and trying to figure out the whole mommy thing! :) Loren had totaled out his car in September and then at the end of October, the car was a victim of a hit and run in front of our apartment. So needless to say we were ready to get rid of it! So we took the insurance money we got from it and bought my parent's van. They were selling it because they didn't want to move it to Washington D.C. with them. We have loved it so far! I love having all the trunk space and it's so much more reliable than my little 24 year old Honda :). Loren hates paying so much in gas, but I feel it's worth it to know that I'm not gonna be stranded in the middle of the street again. (Which happened in September.)
We decided to make a long trip all over Northern Utah for Thanksgiving. We left after Loren got off work on Wednesday and drove through "the blizzard of 2010" to Logan for the night. It took us over 3 hours to get there. It normally takes me about 2 or even just under 2 hours. Thursday morning we drove to Herriman, Ut to eat with a couple of Loren's siblings and their families. We had a fabulous feast prepared by Marlene and then we had a great time hanging out with Jeremy's family for the rest of the day. What a neat family they are. They're so welcoming! They had just moved into a new house and it was BEAUTIFUL! We watched the deer outside and enjoyed being together. We stayed there that night then left in the morning for my grandma and grandpa Howell's cabin. Alysha was so good! There were tons of people there and she did very well getting passed around all weekend! Though by the time we got home, all she wanted was her mom. :) good for me :). So Friday we ate another Thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents, and my parents, and all my dad's 5 siblings and all their children. The only person missing was my cousin who is living and working in California. It was the last time that was going to happen for a very long time so we were all very happy to be together!! We took a huge family picture and spent some time together out in the snow and doing crafts. My smart mom brought all the stuff for each family to make a "kisses" advent calendar.
On Saturday Loren and I headed back up to Logan, making stops along the way to a few more of his sibling's houses to show off AlyRae! She really is the center of our lives :D. We then met up with some friends in Logan, again to let them meet our baby, and had dinner and Spoon Me! :)
Thanksgiving weekend was a great success. We had a wonderful time visiting with so much family and we were SO grateful for such a great baby that tolerated all our driving around!