Hello, November!

100% transparency… I am not sad to see October go. October 2020 was totally on-brand for this year. Sure, it had its highlights. But overall it was a challenging month despite every effort we took trying to make it amazing. November *should* be much more low key. I’ve got a busy schedule of photo sessions, but we’ve also got lots of downtime and holiday festivities to look forward to.

Loved in October…

Family pictures! We have a group of friends that are like our family and I took them all out for group family picture day. As a last-minute addition, we decided to get our family dolled up and update our family portrait wall. After I took everyone else’s photos, my friend Nicole used my camera to snap our group photo, and then I took individuals of the kiddos. It was a hot afternoon, but despite no rain and scorching temps for months on end, the desert was glowing. I’m so happy with how these pictures turned out.

A long weekend in Utah. My sister had a baby at the beginning of September so we went up to Utah to participate in his baby blessing. The whole weekend was so perfectly Fall. We went to the zoo and admired all the changing leaves and fed the elephants. One morning, we drove up to a small town in the middle of the mountains for breakfast and played at the park (with sweaters and hats on!). We stopped by a waterfall in the canyon on the way home before heading up to Salt Lake to an amazing pumpkin patch and corn maze. My kiddos LOVED the pig races and corn maze. I loved the freshly made apple cider donuts and feeding the goats.

Nora turned 1!! I made myself teary reading her birth story and watching her video slideshow. We celebrated the day of with presents in the morning (she loved ripping off the wrapping paper!), Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner with homemade angel food cake for dessert. She loved all the FaceTime calls throughout the day and her water table was definitely the favorite gift.

A week and a half later we celebrated with friends at a “Nora in Wonderland” birthday party. I almost called it off as I felt so overwhelmed with other things going on in life, but I’m so glad Scott convinced me to let go of my expectations and just enjoy time with our friends. We ended up pulling together the perfect little party and I so enjoyed celebrating our sweet baby girl.

My best friend was in Flagstaff for work and we haven’t seen each other since the beginning of the year, making it totally worth the 4 hour round trip drive for 17 hours together. Next time I’ll leave my rowdy crew at home but they were just as excited to see Kim as I was!

Halloween! We had so much fun getting dressed up, eating mummy dogs, and drinking root beer served over dry ice. A few friends joined us and we stayed up way too late eating and talking and laughing. It was hard to get out of bed the next morning but it was 100% worth it. A great way to say goodbye to October.

Looking forward to in November…

Thanksgiving! We don’t do the traditional turkey and sides. Instead, we enjoy a Planksgiving feast that includes a shrimp and crab boil. It’s delicious and we are counting down the days!

Decorating for Christmas! We are early decorators, though I’m trying to hold out until the temps are no longer in the 90s. Thinking we’ll get things put up around the 14th.

No-Spend November. Usually, we do No-Spend September but September was too chaotic and the past few months have been expensive!  Car repairs, AC issues, my kiddos all needing new uniforms as they returned to in-person school. We are all but finished with our Christmas shopping so we decided to take a break from spending excess for the month of November. I’ve cut back our grocery budget and we won’t spend on anything (outside of an emergency!) that isn’t already budgeted for. I’m actually really looking forward to it. I need to shift my money mindset and this is the perfect time to do it.

Our poinsettia tradition. On Black Friday each year, for as long as I can remember, my girls and I go to Home Depot to buy 99 cent poinsettias. We then spend a few days delivering them to people we love. It’s a way to carry on the memory of my sweet mother in law and spread some holiday cheer. And yes- the money for the poinsettias is already budgeted! It’s happening, even during No Spend November.

What are you looking forward to this month?