Happy Holidays, everyone! I know it's cliche, but I seriously cannot believe that it's the beginning of December already. I think time has sped up - at least for me. All of a sudden I'm supposed to be getting ready for Christmas and Thanksgiving has come and gone. So, this year was a Shields' Thanksgiving. All of the extended family gathered at the Oak City town hall for a lot food and a "talent" show. This was the first year I didn't stuff myself silly; little Nathan chose that time to be fussy and insist on being bounced. When he's like that he is not a fan of sitting down. That's okay, though. It worked out well because then I didn't feel like puking all over the place after we performed...Riverdance! Oh, yes, the Shields clan attempted to Riverdance together. It would probably have gone a little more smoothly if we had spent more than five minutes on preparation and choreography. It also would have helped if the CD hadn't started back at the introduction 5 times. When we started dancing, we made the CD skip back and it made the whole experience last much longer. The guy running the music finally had to pick up the CD player and hold it so we could get through the whole song. It was pretty intense. Definitely more of a workout than any of us have had in a while. And pretty darn entertaining, I think. Embarrassing? Sure. But that's just the way we like it. This week is an eventful one for sure. Monday we suddenly realized (around 4pm) that we could leave that night if we wanted to, which Aaron did. So, after getting the oil changed we went home and tried to quickly finish our preparations. I thought I had an extra day. But, we kinda pulled it off and left around 8 that night. No one knew we were coming. A few minutes before we got there, I called my mom and told her I missed talking to her. So we chatted for a few minutes she asked what we were doing. "Driving home." I replied. "From where?" I thought fast. "Wal-Mart." It was true. We had stopped at the Wal-Mart in Brigham City. So, a couple of minutes later, I said, "Hold on a minute, Mom," and rang the doorbell. Mandy came to answer the door but didn't say anything (her mouth made a really big "O," though) and we walked into the kitchen where my mom was baking with John. She gasped loudly, looked at me, then at the phone, then back at me and ran over for a hug and a look at the baby. Everyone reacted just the way we might have hoped. We didn't have a lot of time with them, but it was good to say hello. The next morning we drove to Fillmore just in time to beat Mom Shields home from work. We hid the car around the corner and put the baby in his chair so that he would be the first thing she saw when she walked in the door. Then we went and saw Papa Shields at the school and they carted the baby around to show to everyone. We had a grand ole' time hanging out with the fam. Thanksgiving day we drove to Oak City and ate a fabulous meal (or at least, tried to - Nathan didn't want me to eat.) Then got ready for the family talent show, which is where the Riverdancing came in. Friday, Kammi (Aaron's sister) got her bridal pictures taken and while the photagrapher was there we took some updated family pictures. There are three new family members just since last year. Crazy. After that, the girls went to Kammi's bridal shower and the guys "hung out" at home. Saturday was awesome. We got up fairly early (for a holiday) and went out to pick our Christmas trees. We found the one we wanted and hauled it off the mountain. In the meantime, Brock and Kammi watched little Nathan. Then we all came home and got ready to go to the temple. Kammi was receiving her endowment that day in the Manti temple. It was a 1 1/2 hour drive from Fillmore but it was well worth it. All of the older Shields' kids and spouses (or spouses-to-be) were there. It was the first time I had ever done a session in the Manti temple and it was absolutely beautiful. It was the first time Aaron and I had been since I was big and pregnant, so it was especially nice. Maili watched Nathan for the several hours that we were gone. It meant that he spent most of the day being cared for by someone other than his parents. That was a first. It was probably harder on me than it was on him. Sunday was the day we headed home. We left Fillmore at 5 pm and arrived home at 12:30 am. Why? We got stuck in nasty traffic, then stopped to see Mark and Julie Chandler's new baby (and feed ours). After that we stopped and got gas, also meeting my family en route from Boise to Orem. Then, we stopped at Jeff and Abby Anderson's so that Jeff and Aaron could try to finish the hairy-scary project due the next day and so that they could feed us. Finally we headed home, only to realize when we arrived that we had left the (much-needed) brand-new package of diapers in Fillmore. So, I ran to the store. Aaron proceeded to stay awake most of the night trying to finish his project. Yuck. Needless to say, none of us got much sleep that night. Speaking of sleeping at night, Nathan is actually making some progess. He'll wake up and fuss a little, but will usually go back to sleep with a little help and, if you don't count that as waking up, has slept through the night about four times now. We're trying to help him learn to be more of a self-soother so that we can move him to the crib and his own bedroom. We'll see how that goes. He's being awfully darn cute lately. He's discovered his feet now and is fascinated by his toes. He, of course, loves to put them in his mouth - usually when I'm trying to change his diaper. He's starting to pick favorite things. He has a favorite blanket and a favorite toy, and he's showing preferences for different songs and activities. We've discovered he likes the "5 Little Piggies" with the toes. When I say, "Shall we play piggies?" he laughs in anticipation. It's pretty cute. Aaron is trying to survive through the end of the semester. This one has definitely been the nastiest of his college career, which is really saying something. The bad news is that he isn't sure how he's going to get everything done before the end of finals. The good news is that next semester he only has three classes and then he graduates! Yay! It looks like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel after all. I'm just trying to learn how to take care of my baby, support my husband, and clean my house. So, what's new? I love my little family. I remember years ago when I used to dream about what it would be like to be married and have kids - to have a little baby. When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I answered with, "a wife and a mother." I got weird looks, but I was serious. And now, here I am, "living the dream." And it's better than I thought it would be...