.randomnicity.

Crazy to think that we are in the last few days of November...another year is drawing to a close...wow!
As fast as time is flying I thought I would just post some of the radomness that has been happening.

-We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday surrounded by lots of family.  Thursday we did dinner with my whole family, which is a feat in and of itself.  I'm so blessed to have these amazing people in my life and call them my own.  I never got the joke about people hating to be with their family during the Holidays...oh well.  Friday we had our second Thanksgiving with the Lamberts, which is just such a fun thing to do.  As always they made the best food in the entire world, of which I ate entirely too much.  Love our families!!

-Christmas is getting into full swing around here now.  We finally got our tree last night...which is a few days too long in my book.  This is my favorite place in the house right now, and will be until the end of December.

-I love getting short trees because I can reach everything when I'm decorating...even the star on top.
-These are my two new favorite decorations... a wreath I made out of peppermint candies

  and Finn's ornament of choice...red jingle bells.  As you can see it doesn't stay on the tree much.

-Finn has also found other uses for the many boxes that have been pulled out for the decorating process.  Like using them to get to even more things...he was turning the pages of the piano books.

-I've started what seems like a dozen projects and have yet to finish one of them.  I'm feeling slightly flustered by that fact.

-With being so busy I also forgot that this is my 30th birthday year.  Roy was so kind to remind me how old I was getting last night.  I might have had a slight panic attack at the thought of leaving my twenties in the dust...its been a good decade!

-Roy is in charge of decorating for our ward Christmas party this year, which in turn means I'm in charge of helping.  What he needs is lights...lots of them, but as one would suspect most people are using their lights this time of year.  I shot down his idea of buying all new lights at our expense so he went a different route.  Can I tell you how much I love KSL classifieds.  Roy scored tons of lights last night for free from an older lady.  Roy couldn't believe the steal, so he helped her out with a few things around the house for payment.   What a service on both ends, we got our lights, and she got some company!

-I've been playing with the idea of doing Christmas Cards this year, but I can't justify the expense...am I a humbug or what???

-I'm so done with washing bottles lately.  Dishes are not a problem, but the bottles are driving me nuts.  

-The weather had been wonderful, but I really want to see some snow flying soon.

There it is....random thoughts and happenings from the family Hoffman.

.shower ninja.

This little guy (who is orange, even if he looks yellow), is what I like to call our shower ninja.

 He perches up on our shower shelf and has since our first year of marriage.  His origins have passed into obscurity for neither Roy or I can tell you where he came from or why he's up on the shower ledge, but there he stays...for neither Roy or I have ever felt inclined to move him.

.little shoes.

Few things are better then little feet, but little feet in these guys...

oh and they squeak when he walks in them *sigh* so sweet!!!

.i love technology, and healthy babies.

Among the many tech gadgets cluttering up our house, one of our favorites is the i-pad.  It's Roy's, but I think I end up using it more then he does.  Today I used it to look up some yummy recipes and made my up my grocery list for the week.

oh and this is what a sick little boy looks like...mostly just more sensitive, really red cheeks that came with his fever, and a raw little nose to boot, but still playing with his fish as you can see.

.snowy night.

We have been distracted around these parts with a sick little boy.  I sure do hate when that little blue eyed boy is not feeling well.  Anyways, this is the best I could do with a slow shutter speed shot.  It's not much, but the snow that is falling makes it look beautiful none the less.

Those dang street lights give everything a yellowish hue.

.10 means double digits.

Finn,
It's true, you have entered the double digits of life, and suddenly you are so grown up.  You have discovered that crawling is not the only thing you can do to get around.  You climb up on everything

and have started scaling the furniture to move.  Your personal favorites are the piano bench, because you can tap out a little diddy with the keys, and, much to my dismay, the TV stand...I've got to find a better place for our movies now.

a few of your favorite things: toothpaste tube for chewing, and a box to sit in

You're still so small 9month pants are worn old man style

 You have started imitating us more and more, especially with clapping and toy playing.  That has been some of my favorite things about this age is that I can see all the learning your doing.  You also make some of the greatest faces I've ever seen...especially when eating.  You do this one where you try to close your eyes, but keep them open ever so slightly so you can still see what's going on.  I need to capture it on film so you can enjoy it when you get older.
You still eat amazing, but when you're either full or you don't like what I'm feeding you protest by scraping the food off your tongue with you gums or just by plain old spitting.  Thanks for the dinner entertainment.
Other things that bring entertainment are animals, dogs and fish in particular.  We caved and bought a tank full of fish for you to gaze at, and we haven't been disappointed.  It keeps is all entertained watching you watch the fish.

We are getting excited about celebrating the holidays with you

Our friend Wendy who did our family photos needed a little model for a Holiday promotion she is doing.  If you want some great photos, check her out.

 even if you wont know fully what's happening, and we look forward to many more together as a family.
Happy 10 months baby boy!!!

.trying to catch my shadow.

This is one of my favorite places to hang out in the morning because the sun is so inviting and warm, and provides a good way to see a silhouette.

.eyes.

You can't imagine how hard it is to get a decent picture of your own eyes.

.12 fish & a finn.

I was going to do a very elaborate picture with me and 13 things that describe me, but as it turns out, I just didn't have the energy to make it happen today.  So instead you get...

Finn and his tank of 12 goldfish.  He has been standing at that tank all day jabbering at those fish telling them who knows what.  It also takes his interest away from the tv stand, giving me a break from taking him away from that.  It's made for a wonderful day.

.sunset.

Sunrise in the valley of the Goblins

I totally copped out on this one. I miss calculated my sunset time yesterday, and didn't get anything worth sharing so I'm sharing an oldie, but a goodie.  I'm also cheating because this is actually a sunrise, but it's so beautiful even being captured with a crap phone camera.  ENJOY!

.blue.

I had a college professor that graded papers in blue instead of red because he said that blue was psychologically more calming.  I don't know if that is true or not, but I do like seeing blue.

If you guessed aquarium rocks...then yes, you were right.  That's right we bought some fish because as it turns out...Finn likes fish.  He also likes dogs, but since we don't have a place for a dog right now, fish it is.

.who needs a cup.

Growing up in my house we learned a lot of things and we did a lot of things.  I remember the big events and holiday traditions we did, but what surprises me are some of the simple things I remember.  Like when we would sleep in as kids my mom was notorious for the flipping on and off the lights...and if that didn't work we got the spray bottle.  Or the songs my mother would sing to me as a child, I know I'm not the only one of my sisters that sang them for their babies.  But those memories are somewhat intangible. Then I remember Mason Jars. 

My mother always canned delicious foods for us to enjoy during the long winter months, but during the summer those jars had another purpose...watering her offspring.  Instead of cups my mom would fill Mason jars and request that they be drunk in the span of a few hours only to be filled and drained again in a few hours.  I myself use a glass or a water bottle nearly every time, but Mason jars of water can still be found on the counter tops of my parents kitchen...and that is simply how it is.

.love somebody.

The love that I get to spend most of the day with is him. Whether it's cruising around in the walker, helping cook, or stuffing our faces with yummy waffles there is never a shortage of smiles and love!

LOVE you baby boy Finn!

.bad habit.

I thought of taking a picture of my sink full of dishes, or my laundry basket of unfolded clean clothes, and even my amazing skill of stacking the kitchen garbage to extreme heights because if Roy's not home it rarely gets taken out.  But instead I took a picture of something that I see on regular basis that drives me CRAZY!

The CARTON DRINKER....aghhh

.red.

These red apples were so beautiful I couldn't resist buying a few.  I've never bought produce mearly on looks alone, but last Monday I did.  I'm usually a golden delicious or gala apple girl myself, but these little reds were beautiful and yummy.

.look out below.

Finn through the blades of grass...reminds me of "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" movie.

.looking down on the world.

Its been one of those Sundays...sunrise to sunset...you know what I mean.  We just barely got a moment to sit down and relax, or in our case, rough house with daddy.

Even on busy Sundays, we have to make a little time for trucks and some WRASLI'N.

.something green.

I love plants, but more specifically, hearty ones. Why??? because I have a tendency to kill them off all too easy.  My sister gave me a sweet Ficus plant that is going strong, and Roy has gifted me two cacti, because they are the most resilient of all.  But this is a little plant that I bought myself.  I saw it this morning and knew I had to capture all of its glorious greenery.

Thriving life against the stark white of the first real snow fall of winter...beautiful!

.i really don't know clouds at all.

If it wasn't for the fact that leaves scattered the ground it would have felt like spring today.  It was warm with nary a cloud in the sky.  But we have been adequately warned for the upcoming cold storm approaching tonight so Finn and I knew we had to enjoy it while it lasted.  I went out with camera in hand planning on taking some cloud pictures, but as previously stated they were few and far between.  So instead I snagged a few shots of the little man trying out some leaves.

 Don't worry though, those dark clouds rolled in this afternoon and so I snapped a shot.  What an ominous gray sky it is with these clouds.

.what will you wear today.

I thought I would really class the place up today and put on some of my best duds...or at least most comfortable.  I'm stuck inside today watching Finn and our neighbors little Lilly.  This is my day of the week to lounge a bit as I only get stuff done if they BOTH are sleeping.  So comfort clothes it is:

You almost can't beat a pair of great jeans for comfort....almost.  Pair it  with some floppy sandals, and an old worn Tee and that is what I'm wearing today.

.maybe.

I want to try something different around here for a bit.  I'm never creative enough to come up with this stuff on my own, I've always been like that...even with drawing.  I could never come up with a picture idea in my head, but if I saw something I liked I would try and copy to the best of my abilities. So in that fashion, my friend Hayley posted this, and I want to try it. 

Now I'm in no way a photographer, so more likely than not I will just end up with some crap pictures, but we will see...it might be interesting.

enjoying some quiet sun time

.on this, the first of november.

It's snowing outside....it's crazy to think that yesterday it was nearly 70 degrees and sunny. I wore flip flops and a hoodie, which felt nearly as perfect as the weather. Today it's wool socks and layers, but I guess that's one of the things I love most about the weather here in UT...all the extremes and ups and downs, always changing.
With all the dreary weather the day is calling for some cleaning, lots of playing, and warm food.