On Being a Stay at Home Mom

I am very blessed that I get to stay home with Gavin. Jayden works so hard to provide for our family so I can work very few hours. A lot of people ask me what I do everyday. I have a lot of people ask, "Do you get bored?"  "Do you find enough things to do with your time?" "How do you keep your sanity being at home all of the time?" Being a stay at home mom is hard work! Gavin and I are also lazy sometimes though. We keep ourselves busy. Some days are busier than others. Some days are more exciting than others. But every day is fulfilling and rewarding in it's own way. Some days we don't get ready and stay in sweats all day. Other days we are ready soon after we wake up. Even though society is becoming less accepting of stay at home mom's, there is nothing better I could be doing right now. It is a miracle and a blessing to raise a child. Something that you don't truly understand until you have a child yourself. Here are a few snapshots from our everyday.

Gavin gets so messy eating, we usually have to give him a mid-day bath to clean him up

Lots of snuggles and naps together

It's amazing to watch a baby discover the world. Today I made Gavin a little quesadilla  for lunch and instead of eating it normally, he would fold it in half and take bites out of the middle. He cracks me up!

 As much as I love playing with Gavin and entertaining him, I love when it is nap time! It allows me to have time to catch up on doing things around the house, or to even get a nap for myself.

 I don't know why I added this picture of raspberries, because it isn't really relevant, but we LOVE raspberries. I buy them at Costco and we eat them constantly.

 We go on lots of walks. Gavin usually loves his walks, but since it has gotten colder he hasn't liked them quite the same. Silly boy will never leave a hood or hat on, always takes off gloves, and won't leave the blanket on. So his head and hands always get cold.

 A few times a week we will visit Jayden on campus for a meal. Tonight we brought dinner over to campus in between Jayden's classes.

 We love spending time outside together.

 Gavin makes me laugh so much. As I was trying to take a picture, I didn't realize until after that Gavin was eating my hair.

 I try to stay on top of grocery shopping and keeping the house fairly clean, but sometimes it just doesn't matter. One thing that I have learned is that your house isn't going to be perfect. Babies make a lot of messes! Your house is going to get dirty, but your baby is never going to get younger! Cherish each day you have and don't get caught up on trying to have everything perfect, because it is a loosing battle!

gavvinnn from Drew Flathers on Vimeo.


My little brother Drew made this amazing video of Gavin! Thanks Drew, you are the best! Doesn't he have awesome video skills? Anyway, take a look!

Enjoy the Day

 What a beautiful fall day it is! Get out and enjoy the weather and the leaves before the snow comes blowing in tomorrow. I have a feeling this will be one of the last nice fall days. Winter is coming soon!

50

This last Sunday we celebrated my mom's 50th birthday! We had a little family party on Sunday night. My dad cooked up a Mexican fiesta with tacos, rice, beans, chili relleno, and chips and salsa. My mom get a lot of great presents. My dad gave my mom a Tiffany's necklace, Drew gave my mom a missionary plaque with a quote, and we gave my mom 50 gifts for 50 years.

The cute decorations my mom's friend Laura made for her

Gavin helping Grandma blow out the candles

This boy LOVES chocolate!

My moms 50 presents we gave her

Drew's present for my mom

Family photo

4 generations

Our Halloween In Pictures

On Halloween afternoon, Gavin's Grandma & Grandpa Garfield and his Aunt JoLynn came by for a visit! They brought him fun Halloween treats and a new outfit. After they played with Gavin for a while, we all drove over to visit Jayden on campus so they could say hi to him before heading back home. Then we headed down to our wards parade and dinner. They have all of the kids in their costumes walk around the neighborhood and the adults line the streets to watch. We ended at a neighbors house for dinner. Then we took Gavin trick-or-treating! He liked it at first, and liked picking the candy out of the bowl, but got tired pretty fast. Overall, it was a really fun Halloween!

Gavin & Aunt JoLynn

Gavin and Grandma & Grandpa Garfield

Grandma feeding Gavin some Halloween Gummies

Practicing his walking skills

Gavin seeing Jayden for the first time with his costume on...he was a little freaked!

Gavin's cute honey pot and trick-or-treat bucket that my mom made for him

two girls in our ward that LOVE Gavin and always want to play with him. They asked if they could push him in the swing

Our ward friends the Wallis's 

Gavin picking his candy

Trick-or-treat!

Gavin looking at his elmo pumpkin

Cutest little Pooh Bear ever!