Just Livin' Our Lives: Making Up For Lost Time

Seeing as how our boy was only 10 days old, I never posted Halloween. Here it is. Mariah was a witch for most Halloween activities we did, but for the big night she was a lion. She and I went out after the rain had stopped and trick-or-treated for a couple of hours, just the girls! It was the BEST Halloween I can remember, running from house to house and loading up on candy, even outlasting the older kids. Love you Girl! Thanks for being so fun and full of energy! The boys stayed home and answered the door. Gotta love them for that!

Next came Mariah's 4th birthday, November 18th. She got her "salon" with lots of my old makeup and hair and beauty supplies. She loves it and loves doing her makeup whenever she wants! Since her birthday was on a preschool day, Ben and I surprised Mariah at school with balloons and cookies for the whole class. She was so happy to see us there! Then she chose to go bowling for her birthday night. On Mariah's turn, Ben would help her bowl. They made a great team, but just like on our 2nd date, I beat Ben! After that we went to Chick Fil A for dinner and play time. Mariah's little "boyfriend" Cash just happened to be there too, so she couldn't have had a better day!

Next came the annual Harris Family Christmas Tree-Chopping Trip. This usually takes place the day after Thanksgiving and involves taking 4-wheelers/snow mobiles on a day-trip to Idaho to find and cut down each family's Christmas tree. I stayed home with Mitt this year while Ben took Mariah and met up with the cousins in Idaho. Mariah and Adri are sitting on the 4-wheeler having so much fun! Ben said M was the only cousin who stayed toasty warm the whole day:) Usually we get tall, slender, beautiful trees that don't really look Christmassy to me. This year Ben surprised me with a smaller, perhaps frumpier tree that more closely resembled the Christmas trees of my childhood. Mariah is in front of it. I loved our tree! First year it felt like a real Christmas tree!

The next day, all the Harris men road-tripped to Arizona to go see the Cardinals play the 49rs. They had fun, but I think Ben MUCH prefers college ball.

Mariah took dance lessons for the first time this fall at the Legacy Center. Her teacher was Miss Shanda, and her first recital was on December 2. She LOVED every minute of the classes! And boy is this girl a performer. She pranced out on that stage full of confidence and danced her little tutu off! At the end of her routine to "I'm Gettin' Nothin' for Christmas", it was heart-warming to see her proudly wave to her family while all the other girls were exiting stage left. Girl is anything but shy! Stage fright? What's that?

Now for Temple Square. I am ashamed to say that this is the first year we have taken Mariah to see the lights at Temple Square. It was one of the best nights of the whole Christmas season! We first walked all around Temple Square before heading over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. That is one of our favorite spots to walk around in, and the only disappointing thing of the whole night was that I realized the huge Christmas tree at the entrance to the JSMB is fake! We then wandered around and happened upon the Nauvoo Cafe. We decided to have soups and sandwiches for dinner, which were delicious. It was the most magical night, and I am so glad we decided to make it our yearly tradition.

To finish out the year, Ben and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary with dinner and a movie at Thanksgiving Point (neither of us can remember the movie right now, oops!,