Iron Bowl

On Saturday, Jared experimented with cooking a turkey for the first time, and I say "experimented" because he cooked it out in our backyard inside of a metal trash can (a new one, not a used one). It actually turned out very well. His work gave him a gift card to Publix to buy a turkey, and Jared's favorite part of Thanksgiving is having turkey leftover to make sandwiches. Well, you can imagine with all the Mayfields that there is not usually much leftover, so he was happy to have a FREE turkey just for our little family. My mom and Nate Hughes came over that night to watch the Iron Bowl game with us. My mom brought a ham, chicken casserole, and green bean casserole, so we had another feast.

We had to get Taylor dressed up for the game, but as most of you know, we are a House Divided. What Taylor ended up wearing was an Auburn onesie with her Alabama cheerleading outfit over it (which Jared said was not fair), an Auburn hairbow, and an Auburn pacifier clip, and she had an Auburn rattle that says "Born to be a Tiger" (a gift from our friend Jessica). It wasn't the cutest combination in the world, but Taylor looks precious in whatever she wears (even if it is Auburn stuff).

I won't discuss how the game went because quite honestly I'm too competitive, and I'm usually a sore loser. Let's just say I was not happy and was pretty bored (with both teams) throughout the whole game. Jared was a good husband though and was not penalized for excessive celebration--- he knows better! ;-)

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving, we went over to Nate & Alisha's house. Alisha lined the tables with butcher paper, and she and the girls made turkey centerpieces and drew name cards for everyone onto the paper. There was lots of delicious food. My favorite (and Taylor's!) was the Honeybaked Ham that Dawn & Shawn bought.... I mean, cooked ;-) There was also a turkey on the door, and everyone could add feathers to it naming things that they were thankful for. I loved Christian's: "The 6 F's of Thanksgiving- family, friends, food, football, fun, and soccer (which he crossed out and put futbol)." We are definitely grateful for Nate & Alisha for being brave enough to have so many of the family gatherings at their house. We enjoyed the time that we had to spend with family. Mom and Barry, we missed you guys!

A Weekend with Carden and Nathan

Once again, I've got some catching up to do...

Two weeks ago, Nate & Alisha took a trip to Birmingham for the weekend. One of their next door neighbors was going to the temple to prepare for his mission, so they went with him and decided to make a weekend trip out of it so they could spend time together before the new baby comes. They left Emma with Dawn and Shawn, and Carden and Nathan stayed with Jared and me. I admit I was a little nervous jumping from taking care of one kid to all of a sudden having three.. haha.. but everything actually went really well. Carden was a HUGE help to me. She's 7, so I know it gets hard being the "mom," but I guess that comes with the territory of being the oldest child, and she was definitely my HERO ;-) I'm sure Taylor will have plenty of experience being the "mom" to her (future) brothers and sisters as she gets older too.

Taylor and Nathan "wrestling;" Carden and Taylor playing peek-a-boo; Rice Krispie Treats that we made; Taylor crawling on top of Nathan's suitcase; Taylor and Nathan watching TV; Carden eating cereal; Taylor giving Carden some good kisses; feeding the ducks at the park.

On Monday, before Nate and Alisha came to pick the kids up, I figured I would get them out of the house and take them to do something fun, so we went to Big Spring Park. We started feeding some ducks, and soon, they were swarming around us. I thought a whole package of hamburger buns would be enough, but I was very wrong. At first, Nathan just stood back and was content just watching the ducks. Then, he got brave and got closer to them and followed them around. I was carrying Taylor and trying to chase Nathan to keep him from getting too close to the water. Jared met us at the park after he got off work. I love the picture of Taylor and Jared on the bottom row second from the left. I don't remember if she was growling at him or if she was just really excited to see him, but it's a priceless picture. I love the onesie that she is wearing too because it says, "I am the alarm clock," which is sooo true!

All in all, it was a good weekend, and I'm glad that we were able to work things out so Nate and Alisha could go on their trip. I had talked to Alisha before about wanting an antique-looking picture of the Birmingham temple, so while she was there, she took lots of pictures (as she usually does) and then used a photo editing program to create some antique-looking pictures for me. How awesome is she?!! In fact, she is so awesome that I can't decide which one I like best! Every time I think I've made up my mind, I start liking another one more. So, Alisha, I will try to make up my mind soon, and THANK YOU so much! There is nothing better than when someone knows that you've been wanting something (especially the small, sentimental things), and then they completely surprise you with it!

Love At Home

Well, for those of you who have never seen our house, I wanted to post some pictures of it. It's in Toney, AL- pretty much in the middle of nowhere ;-) We have lived here for a little over a year now. The couple that owned it before us bought it very cheap and put new carpet, tile, and appliances in it. Most of the other houses that we had looked at in our price range needed A LOT of work. This house was a blessing to us because it was at the low end of our price range, and we really didn't have to do anything to it to fix it up. Part of us misses living in Huntsville where we were so close to work and everything else, but living outside of the city has its advantages. It's so beautiful- especially during the fall when all of the trees are changing colors.

We hung some trailing petunia plants from the porch, and Jared put a lot of work into the flower beds in front of the house. It turned out great! We planted daylilies, hibiscus, daisies, and purple heart. This was the first time for either of us to plant a flower bed, so it was definitely a learning experience. The hibiscus plants took forever to bloom. For a long time, they looked like really tall weeds. They turned out to be beautiful, but we think they really are too tall to be right there by our front porch, so we will probably move them next year. The daisies were pretty when they bloomed, but they really struggled through the summer heat. The purple heart has been the best. My mom actually trimmed it out of her flower bed, and then, we planted it into ours. It took right off! It has actually grown so much that we've had to trim it back a few times already.
Landscaping really does add a lot to your house!

Sunset from our backyard during the summer.

How gorgeous is this?! This is what our backyard looks like right now! I think it looks absolutely amazing with the cotton in full bloom and the trees changing colors. I have been wanting to get outside and take some pictures of Taylor by the cotton field but haven't gotten around to doing it. Well, yesterday, I heard something in our backyard. I looked outside the window, and they were starting to pick the cotton! So, I grabbed my camera and took a couple of pictures before it was too late.




I LOVE FALL! It's my favorite time of the year, and this is one of the reasons why!

I've Got Some Catching Up to Do!

Well, we have been home from Destin for about a month now, and I still haven't posted about our vacation, so I better get to work!

Our trip down to Destin went fairly well until we were about 5-10 minutes away and then somehow missed the turn off for the toll bridge which caused us to go probably 15-20 miles out of the way. Right about the time that we realized we weren't going the right way, Taylor had decided she'd had enough of the carseat and started crying and pitching a fit which only made us more anxious and made things worse. We finally got turned around and headed in the right direction. I fed Taylor some baby food, and luckily, she fell back asleep so we could relax a little and just concentrate on where we were going. We were definitely relieved to arrive at the house after traveling 45 minutes to an hour longer than we should have!

We stayed at a beach house owned by my OB/GYN (and also the OB/GYN of several of my sisters-in-law). My sister-in-law Alisha pointed out that it was cleverly named the "Sea Section" (haha... get it?!) We were there with some of Jared's family: Dawn, Shawn, Savannah, Christian, and Ty; Nate, Alisha, Carden, Emma, and Nathan; Misty; and Cari and Noah.

After arriving on Saturday, we just unloaded the car, had pizza delivered, and relaxed, and later that night, Alisha and I went grocery shopping for the week. On Sunday, we just hung out and

tried to recover from our long drive the day before.

On Monday, we had a full day of the beach! Yeah! It was very warm with a nice breeze, and the waves were huge (probably the biggest that I've ever seen in Destin) which the guys and the kids loved. However, I was disappointed to find out that Taylor was not a fan of the beach or the ocean. She would cry any time we would try to put her down on the sand or whenever we got near the water. I don't know if the waves scared her or what because she loved the swimming pool, so that's where she spent most of her time during the week.

Monday night, we went to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. I must say it wasn't the best experience that I've ever had there. The waiters weren't as enthusiastic when they danced (which was only once the whole time we were there and no one got on top of a table!), and we had some issues with misprinted information on the kids' menus (either that or our waiter didn't know what he was talking about).

On Tuesday, Dawn, Misty, and Cari went shopping and antiquing, but I, being the beach bum that I am, chose to stay behind to work on my tan ;-) Then, later that night, Jared and I cooked dinner for everyone. (We went out to eat about every other night and then traded off who would cook dinner the rest of the nights).

Wednesday morning, I went out to the beach pretty early. I noticed that no one was in the water, but I figured it was just because it was early. I overheard a lady telling someone that she had seen a manta ray in the water earlier, and then, I thought I heard the teenage boy she was talking to say something about a shark. A little bit later, my niece Savannah came out to the beach, and she got in the water to go snorkeling. The beach patrol drove by and told her to get out of the water but didn't give an explanation why. Shortly after that, a manta ray swam by. I finally asked the teenage boy if he had said something about a shark. He said some kids were in the ocean earlier, and a shark swam right by them. Not long after that, sure enough, we saw a shark! As a wave was coming in, you could see a shadow of it in perfect view. I heard other people saying that they saw more than one shark. Right after we saw the shark, the beach patrol drove up to the flag pole and added the red and purple flags. The red is for high hazard, and the purple is for dangerous marine life. Needless to say, the ocean was off-limits for swimming that day- not that we would have wanted to swim in the ocean that day anyways!

Wednesday night, Jared, Taylor, and I went out to eat at Pandora's. It's a really nice and very expensive restaurant in Fort Walton, but on Wednesday nights, they have a Prime Rib special that is actually affordable, and it is very delicious.

Thursday morning, when I got out to the beach, I heard people talking about a dead shark that had washed up on shore not far from where we were. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera out to the beach with me, but I thought that I would go ahead and go see it and then come back a little later to get a picture of it. So, my niece Carden and I walked down the beach until we saw the shark. Of course, there was a huge crowd of people gathered around it. Everybody was touching it and taking pictures. It was a good sized shark- probably 4-5 feet! Carden and I touched its rough skin, and I told her we could come back, have her lie down next to the shark, and see who was bigger- her or the shark! She didn't think that was a very good idea ;-) I walked back to the beach house, but by the time I got my camera and got back outside, they had already hauled off the shark. My story would have been a whole lot cooler if I had an actual picture of the shark to back it up.

Thursday night, the whole family went out to eat at Fisherman's Wharf. We had some good food, and a pirate even came to our table and made balloon animals and swords for the kids.

After dinner, Jared, Taylor, and I drove to the outlet stores and shopped for about an hour and a half until it closed. Then, we got up the next morning and went shopping some more. We got some cute clothes for Taylor and were even able to do some shopping for ourselves (which doesn't happen often!) Then, I dropped off Jared and Taylor, and I went shopping at a scrapbook clearance store where everything was 50% off! Friday night, we went out to the beach, and Misty took some family pictures of us. They turned out really great!! We greatly appreciate Misty and all she does for us!

Here are more random pictures from the week:

As you can tell, I love these collages. It allows me to post a lot of pictures without taking up lots of space (all you have to do is click on it to zoom in on them) and without having to upload them each individually.

Chris wasn't able to come to the beach with us, so Cari wrote "Miss You" in the sand and took a picture of Noah by it. The kids buried Christian in the sand. Taylor tooks lots of pictures with her Daddy because I was always the one taking the pictures. The kids had lots of fun playing in the sand, finding sea shells, snorkeling, boogie boarding, swimming- you name it!

We got everything packed up, and Jared, Taylor, and I were the first ones to leave Saturday morning. We took a different route home and made really good time. We made it back in time for Jared to coach his U-19 AYSO soccer team in their game that day. Taylor and I laid out a blanket and sat down to watch the game. Well, not exactly- Taylor was crawling around everywhere. She didn't like sand at the beach, but she loved the grass and dirt at Dublin Park.

It was an awesome week and a much needed vacation!

Oh yeah, Nate said we left the beach just in time. Check out this article to see why!

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/redir/9588.php

Halloween

On Halloween, we went to James and Sarah's house, ate chili and hot dogs, and then walked around their neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Well, some of us walked... Nate pulled a trailer behind his SUV, so the kids were able to have a hayride around the neighborhood. It was a great idea because it was fun, and it was a lot easier to keep up with all of the kids that way. I especially loved Carden's costume. She was an ice cream cone, and she carried around an empty MAYFIELD ice cream bucket to gather all of her candy in. How cute is that?! Jared made me carry Taylor up to the majority of the houses because it was OBVIOUS that the candy was NOT for her... haha Cari and Chris took Noah trick-or-treating, too, so I didn't feel so stupid. It turns out we didn't really need the candy though because my mom loaded us up with at least five bags after Halloween was over. (The picture of Taylor at the bottom is after I took out her pigtails. Her hair was sticking straight out. It was awesome! haha)

Tate Farms

On the Saturday before Halloween, Taylor and I went to Tate Farms with Cari, Chris, and Noah; Alisha, Carden, Emma, and Nathan; Misty and the kids that she nannies; our friends Robbie, Kami, and Logan; and we got to see my sister-in-law Sarah and my nephews Bryson and Rylan for a little while because they were there for Bryson's soccer party/banquet/thingy. It was a lot colder that day than we expected. Luckily, I had bought Taylor a jacket just a few days before, and Misty had a little blanket that I kept Taylor wrapped in most of the time.

Tate Farms was really fun. There were animals to pet (pigs, goats, bunnies), corn cribs, a playground, a hay bale maze (which we didn't go in because it was apparently made for small children- adults could see right over the maze walls and it was a very tight squeeze from what I heard), beautiful sunflowers, and of course, the pumpkin patch.





In the top left corner are Cari, Noah, Robbie, Kami, and Logan; then, Jillian and Taylor bundled up and sharing the stroller to get some body heat to warm them up (which didn't last very long-- you should have seen the look on their faces!); on the third row down to the left, I was able to lasso Rylan for a few seconds to get a picture (although I was the only one looking at the camera); the farm is owned by the parents of a girl that I went to high school with. I didn't know that until I saw her there, and she gave us a discount on our pumpkins and gave Taylor a free pumpkin for her first Halloween (you can see Taylor enjoying the pumpkin in the bottom right corner)


Hopefully, this will become a tradition every year. Next year should be even more fun because Taylor will be able to walk (and run!), and she will enjoy getting into everything!