Is it 2016 already?

Something in me can just not keep up with this blog as much as I think/want to.  And somehow it is 2016.  Like how? 2016 means that I have been out of high school for 10 years now.  That I've been out of BYU for 4 years now.  That I was living in Jerusalem 4 YEARS AGO.  That my baby is going to be 1 soon! That I will have been married for 3 years.  That I've officially been out of the career field for a year now.  That Ben is graduating from medical school.  That we are going to (hopefully!) match in a couple of months.  Like how?! Time really does fly, as cliche as it sounds.  2015 was one heck of a year- mainly with the whole becoming a mom thing.  I think 2016 will be a good one though, even though it will bring a LOT of changes.  Mainly the whole Ben graduating and us moving to who knows where thing. (Not stressful at all......) It'll be good though.  I'm trying to embrace change as it comes.  I've never been good at that, and this is going to be my year! Or so I tell myself.  I tell myself every time that a big change is coming that somehow this time it is going to be different.  I'm going to be able to just jump into my new situation and not even let it phase me.  (More often than not, this change is in reference to a move to a new place.) I'm going to get in there and make a bunch of friends right away and just absolutely love every minute of it.  That has yet to happen.  So this time around I'm going to give myself some time and not set too high of expectations.  Just embrace my need to warm up to new things, people, and places, and hopefully at least shorten my warming up time.  I can at least do that, right?  For those of you who don't know, I chose the word "embrace" for my 2016 buzzword.  And I'm really concentrating hard on it.  I feel like I'm onto something great here.  Embracing things/places/situations/people is really key to a lot of happiness to be had out there.  Mastering this will take longer than 2016 has time to give, but hey I'm trying.  Maybe it will be my 2017 word again, who knows.  

So a little about what we've been up to.  As always, I like to sum it all up with some pics.  We went to Journey to Bethlehem this year- which is this amazing thing that the great Harvester church does every year.  I've been going every year I was in town since I was in high school.  It is SO fun! And free! Highly recommended.  

We also went to Our Lady of the Snows to see the Christmas lights.  Again- another free thing that is awesome and Christmas-y.  Plus they have a petting zoo where you can ride camels.  Pretty sweet.  

 

And they have a life size nativity made out of legos.  (PS they charge for this now but just know that it is a trick! Aside from the nativity being cool, the rest of the lego exhibit looked like my baby brother's bedroom.  Literally just all of the lego sets put together on a table.  That's $7 I'll never get back.  And don't trust the old lady sitting outside that tells you it is totally worth the money.  I'm here to tell you it isn't.  BUT the lego nativity is cool!) 

Oh hey I also turned 28! My day included breakfast in bed, as you can see, a tour of a chocolate factory, a falafel bar for dinner (when else can I get Ben to eat falafel?! He didn't by the way...), and fun presents. Overall a great day.  And it's true... 28 is great!

I also took my bow tie shop to the next level and did a couple of shows in December.  My friend Kristy also has a shop and inspired me to join her.  The first one was up by Crown Candy in old north. It was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed myself.  

Plus we got free pics with Santa.

And a full pound of bacon between pieces of bread from Crown Candy.  (Oh I mean BLT's)

The babe turned 8 months old.  

Here's my second show:

I was proud of my bow tie Christmas tree.

Christmas was great with my brother and his wife coming in town.  Here we are for Christmas Eve dinner.  

                     

We did our annual gingerbread contest on Christmas Day this year.  The latest we have ever done it.  For all of you wondering- ours was this one.  We didn't win.  Better luck to us next year!

We did get to enjoy some Pappy's after seeing Wicked, which was great.  And the babe couldn't eat those ribs fast enough.  haha! He really eats anything.  We have yet to find a food he won't eat.  It's amazing.  

Then we made a quick last minute trip to Utah, due to Grandpa Wilson passing.  He was a great man and will be missed.  Here's Flint hanging out at the Chicago air port.  

And Flint got to see snow for the first time! I don't think he was to impressed...

Also- Flint got his two front teeth in on Christmas Eve.  I was so nervous his teeth would change his look so much that he wouldn't be as cute.  (I know that's weird).  But it turns out, he is still as cute as ever, if not more so.  Dang I did good on this one :)

Texting his peeps.  So old school with his flip phone.

And BAM he is 9 months old.  Say what?! The growth between months 8 and 9 was cray cray.  He learned to army crawl and then regular crawl, pull himself up on his own, and grew teeth in.  Oh and he has started eating us out of house and home.  Like seriously.  He eats more than I do.  And who knows where it all goes.  He's still a skinny little dude.  haha!

Here he is, ready to eat more even though he just finished his lunch.  *heart melt*

This babe is just the best most angelic and sweet thing you'll ever encounter.  How I got him is beyond me, but I thank God every day for it.  Being a mama is the BEST.  I can't state it enough.  Literally.  

Anyway- I'm currently getting into reading blogs.  It's been fun so far.  I'm feeling inspired to start something.  Not sure what yet (although it will be food insprired...cooking, reviewing, kitchen tips, all of the above, etc), but something.  It's all coming together in my head.  I'm starting a cooking club and our first meeting is on Thursday.  I'm excited and I will let you know how it goes.  

Peace.

We are finally back home

So we ended our time in Pennsylvania with another trip to Philly, since Ben didn't come with us the first time around.  We did a walking tour around the whole city which was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of cool things, including this mosaic.  There were a lot of cool mosaics on South street.

We met up with Travis again and ate lots of good food, saw the sites, and walked over 11 miles.  Crazy!

On our way home to St. Louis, we stop in Dayton, Ohio to see the national air force museum.  Ben's grandpa, Bernie Fisher, was a medal of honor recipient and we got to see his plane that he was flying when he saved a fellow soldier.  So cool!

We also had some fun in the NASA portion of the museum. :)

Here's Grandpa Fisher's picture displayed.  All 2 o

When we got home we had 2 weeks before having to head out for our final rotation.  So we made the most of it with lots of fun things.  We went to the zoo and saw the new polar bear exhibit!

We got a new bike trailer and went on a family bike ride. 

We went to the Haunted Hayloft at Purina Farms.

And we went apple picking at Eckert's farm.  

I also threw a Halloween party for friends since we were going to be out of town for Halloween.  And I managed to make the babe's costume as well.  Isn't he the cutest bald eagle you have ever seen?!

And of course Ben and I had to match him. Merica.

We then headed to Kansas City for our final rotation.  We stayed with my Uncle Denver.  It was fun to be with family.  We carved pumpkins with my cousins Haydn, Phoenix and Memphis.  

I also learned that the babe LOVES leaves.  We would go out almost every day and he would just play away in the leaf piles.  Thankfully this fall has been abnormally warm, so it was possible to do this.  

The babe also turned 7 months old.  I can't believe how fast time is flying, despite how cliche it is for new mothers to say that.  

We also happened to be in Kansas City for the BYU vs. Mizzou game and got to go.  It was my first BYU game.  I know, I know.  I went to BYU and never went to a football game.  

We had awesome seats thanks to Ben's cousin getting us tickets! 

As fun as it should have been, we finally found the one thing that the babe just can't handle.  Cheering.  He is such a chill and sweet baby all the time so I guess there had to be something that pushed his buttons.  And oddly enough it's people cheering.  Every time anyone cheered for anything, he would start crying and screaming.  And of course there was a lot of cheering at a football game.  On the bright side, it was so loud in there that no one cared that we had a screaming child with us.  haha.  He could handle the loud canons, loud music, and loud announcer, but something that cheering he just couldn't handle.  Who knows.  That's the last time I'll be taking him to a sports game for a while...  :) 

We also got to go to church right next to the temple, which was so beautiful.  

My bow tie business is also doing well.  And the babe really does make the perfect model.  

On our last night there, we went and saw my cousins in the high school musical, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat." It was a lot of fun! That music is sooo catchy.  And fortunately there was only one time that everyone cheered loudly enough to upset the babe.  haha.  Other than that he loved it and watched the entire thing!

And now we are HOME.  For good.  4 months away from home will really make you appreciate living in your own house.  That is for sure.  And now the holidays are here.  How did that happen?

I made this turkey costume for the babe for his first Thanksgiving.  I have to admit, I'm quite proud of it.  And it was a great surprise for my parents.  

I didn't make this Santa costume, but he is still so adorable! I can't get over it.  The holidays are so much more magical with a baby in your family.  

He loves the Christmas tree. 

And we are getting our Christmas swag on over here!

I got my tree up this year.  And if you remember the tree fiasco of last year (if not, you can go back and read about it), then you will be happy to know that thanks to a lot of saran wrap, we were able to get the tree up in a single evening! And it looks better than ever.  (In my oh so humble opinion.) 

We also got family pictures done.  Here is a sneak peek at one of them.  

So that's the Fisher family update for now.  We are finally back home and loving it.  I will not be leaving St. Louis again for a LONG time, if I can help it.  

Also- if you are in search of an extremely quick, yummy meal perfect for fall I have the perfect recipe for you.  Corn bread waffles with chili on top.  All it takes is a package of corn bread mix made in the waffle iron and topped with Chili (we used canned, but you can make your own) and top with sour cream, cheese, avocados, tomatoes, etc.  Seriously takes like 10 minutes to make and it is delish.  I had to tell someone, so why not blog about it?