Way overdue!

Sorry for my complete slacking on the posting front. Life is busy, what can I say? Here's a quick update on the comings and goings of the Plowmans...

We had a great Thanksgiving at my cousin Nancy's house (thanks again Nanc!). Since my whole family was there, we took a few family pics. I can't believe how many of us there are!

A cute one of my parents...

Nate, Claire and I

Claire with her Thanksgiving Day bib

We had a great dinner and then played games until the wee hours of the morning. Electronic Catch Phrase was the biggest hit and I got a few fun candid shots!

From the top: My cousin Jeff and his girlfriend Verona, then the Orgill family;

the next row is my dad and Aunt Annette, then my hot husband;

finally my darling cousin Megan and my cute brothers B and Ry

Then last weekend I have to give Nate props for getting our Christmas lights up. It took him almost five hours because of all the little clips and figuring out how to get electricity to every strand (note to self: on our next house, make sure to put an electrical outlet in the eaves!) But he did a great job! Thanks babe!

Finally, we brushed Claire's teeth for the first time last night. At first she seemed kind of into it and liked eating the toothpaste, but by the end she just wanted to play with the toothbrush herself. That's my busy girl.

Oh yes it's ladies night...

We had our monthly GNO at my house last night and it was SO fun! I love these girls. Aren't they a bunch of hotties? Its been so fun to reunite with them lately! They have always been such good influences on me...I'm grateful for each of them!

As promised ladies, here is the recipe for Chicken Taco Soup...

1 can corn

1 can black beans

1 can petite diced tomatoes

2 10 3/4 oz cans Cream of Potato soup

2 cups water

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 4 oz can chopped green chiles

3 chicken breast, cooked and shredded (or you can cheat like I do and use the Costco canned chicken!)

1 pkg taco seasoning

Add all ingredients into crock pot, including liquid from canned vegetables.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. And sorry, I never got a picture of what the final product looks like! But you just top with sour cream, shredded cheese and Fritos. TOO EASY!

It's birthday time

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!!

This is officially the last year that Nate can say he's in his twenties. Old man! I had to remind him all day about how old he's getting! :P We both had to work, so I tried to fill his day with little surprises. It turned out to be a fun birthday! We dropped Claire off at our neighbor's for the night (thanks Jamie!) and I took Nate to one of his favorite ghetto restaurants, China Gourmet. It's got a Mongolian BBQ that he loves.

He cleaned off every bit of his plate!

Look at the awesome fortune he got in his fortune cookie...

I am so grateful to have Nate in my life. He is the best husband and an awesome father. Happy birthday babe! We love you!

Wild animals and a lunch date!

The University Hospital had some of the land animals from Sea World/Busch Gardens come by for the patients and employees of the hospital. My friend's husband is a doctor there so she invited us to come along! I'm not sure how much of it Claire understood, but it was a perfect day and she loved being outside!

Here's our group with the reindeer...

Here's Claire and me with the baby camel...as you can see from her face I think she thought it was a little strange...
Then we went and met Nate for a hot lunch date at Mimi's. Such a fun day! It was hard to get Claire to look at the camera...she's so distracted by everything!


She loves to drink out of a straw, so our waitress got her her very own drink. Since this was a first...we had to document it with a picture!

This last one is just such a Claire face that I had to post it. She makes this face when she's frustrated about something. In this one she even has the hand simultaneously going. She's probably thinking right now, "I am sucking on this straw and nothing is coming. I'm not going to wait all day. Where is my water??!"

Finally, Claire and I did some shopping afterward and I'd feel like a bad friend if I didn't share my new favorite store with everyone. It's called Steve and Barry's and it's the first one in Utah. Sarah Jessica Parker just designed a clothing line for them and it's amazing and cheap! Check it out!

Claire is six months!

In honor of Claire's first six months of life on November 2, we did a little photo shoot. She was in such a great mood! Be prepared for a little bit of cuteness OVERLOAD!!!

I love how well you can see her two little teeth in these ones...

I grabbed a hat box that I'd received at one of my baby showers and put Claire in it...she loved it!

"Mommy, do you like my bracelet?"

She loved examining Mom's jewelry

We love this girl more than we ever knew possible. We are so grateful she is part of our family.

One hot chick!

Claire was a chick for Halloween! Notice that she already knows the purpose of Halloween...candy! We took her to Nate's work in the afternoon to show her off ...

Then that night we just took her trick or treating to a few friend's houses. Here we are right before we left...

Playing the in wagon with our neighbor, Carter.

Overall I would say this was a pretty successful first Halloween. But this was Claire by the end of the night...DONE!