Nate and Lindsey

December

We went Christmas tree hunting up passed Idaho City after church. The boys loved climbing in the snow. Garrett loved the snow falling on his face. It was so peaceful hiking through the trees. We may be making a tradition out of this.

We had an 80th (I think?) birthday party for my grandma. She requested no red or green because that was always her birthday colors.

We went to see Santa at Cabela's and that was a big fat NOPE from Kade. The other 2 look cute though.

Our good friends hosted their annual Ugly Sweater Christmas party. It was so much fun and laughter. The white elephant gifts are always the best part.

We got a letter from Spencer's school in November that said he should probably get his eyes checked. Since neither me nor Nate has eye issues we thought it was just the school being overly cautious. We ignored it for a few weeks and then decided we might as well get him checked. We spent almost 4 hours at the optometrist and turns out Spencer has amblyopia in his left eye and was compensating with his right eye. I was amazed how bad his eyesight in that eye was. He could never really catch a ball and we thought he was just uncoordinated, turns out he just couldn't see!

We left with a prescription for glasses and directions to patch the good eye for 4 hours a day, so luckily not at school, and return for a follow up in 6 weeks. He choose green and black Michaelangelo Ninja Turtle glasses. They're the coolest.

Santa also visited Spencer's class at school, and he thought that was really neat.

We of course hit up all the Christmas lights in the area, and the carriage rides downtown. That was a highlight for the boys.

We spent Christmas at home this year which was a bummer as all the Moeller family was together in Arizona, but with Garrett being a hard baby and sleeping poorly, and with our travel history (remember how we ended up in the ER last time we were down there?) we just couldn't swing it. But we promised to visit in the spring/when we figured out how to help our baby feel better/be happier/sleep better. And when Nate and I felt sane again.
;)

Silly pictures from December

Instant Pot Korean Beef

Pros: gluten free and dairy free! First time buying short ribs

Cons: didn't make all that much

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs beef short ribs
1/2 cup liquid aminos
1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions:

In a small bowl, whisk together the aminos, sweet chili sauce, beef broth, sesame oil, onion powder, ginger and black pepper.
Place beef in the instant pot and pour the sauce over it.
Close the pressure valve, and cook on "Meat" setting on high for 40 minutes.
When done, turn off the instant pot and allow pressure to release naturally for 20 minutes.
Remove beef from instant pot and transfer to cutting board.
Turn instant pot to saute mode and simmer the sauce for 5 minutes, stirring repeatedly.
Scoop out 1/4 c of the sauce into a small dish and whisk in 1 tablespoon of cornstarch until smooth, then add the sauce back to the pot and continue cooking for 3 minutes, whisking continuously to prevent burning.
Shred the beef and add it back to the pot, stir the beef into the sauce.

Serve over hot rice, with sauteed vegetables (we used zucchini and cauliflower).

November

November 1, Spencer and I went to our dentist for his annual candy buy back! We had gone earlier in October for a regularly scheduled checkup and Nate and Kade made the flier for the candy buyback! Wish I took a picture of it!

At 6 months, Garrett started standing and trying to walk holding on to furniture. We thought hs was crazy but getting him to move like that started making him happier and sleep better. I also started him on a sleep schedule where if he napped for too long I would wake him up which was the worst feeling ever!!

Spencer turned 6 years old in November!!! I can't hardly believe he's getting so old right before my eyes! He is such a good big brother and he and Kade are developing the sweetest best friendship. I always tell them their brothers are their best friends but the fact that it's coming to fruition makes my heart so happy!

Spencer has always been our dinosaur loving boy. His love has at times transferred to other creatures, but dinosaurs have always been number one and I hope that never changes. But close second is reptiles so for his birthday we had a reptile rescue come with some of her animals. Spencer was in heaven! I'll admit it was pretty awesome too! But I also didn't realize how many people were creeped out by reptiles, I think they're kinda cool!

At Thanksgiving I ran the Turkey Trot with Laila and her friend, it was cold but I didn't puke.

Laila, my mom and I went to the Festival of Trees and watched one of my YW do Irish Dance, it was fun to see and I always love seeing all the decorated trees.

my favorite tree

We spent Thanksgiving in Boise and enjoyed Spencer having a week off school. Spencer started going skiing almost every weekend and is getting pretty good! He's outgrowing his stuff like crazy and he's getting so tall!

how we got things done with Nate was out of town for work

October

Nate and I ran another year of Race for the Steaks. He did the 10k and I did the 5k. Again, I didn't do as well as I wanted because I got sick and puked right near the end. Ugh.

Spencer had a fall carnival at school that we attended as a family. It was a fun time with lots of food, lots of games, we met some of his little buddies and their parents, and Spencer even won a goldfish that has miraculously lived for 6+ months!

Nate and I celebrated 7 years of marriage! Couldn't have asked for a better best friend to get to raise 3 fun boys with! And I guess we didn't take any pictures of the occasion.

fed the baby lots of solids and prunes trying to help him feel better!

I had lofty goals for Halloween this year. I was going to make sea themed costumes for everyone in our family but Nate and I were in full blown survival mode and we were doing the bare minimum to scrape by so that went out the window and luckily the big boys were more than pleased with their minimalist jellyfish and turtle costumes. We made it to a few fun Halloween activities and then Nate won dad of the year taking them trick-or-treating all over which was a hit. They had so much loot!

September

Garrett reached 4 months old and took a turn for the harder. We could tell he was really uncomfortable but we couldn't figure it out. He slept terribly at night but would compensate by sleeping a bunch during the day which in turn made nights even harder. It was a rough couple of months.