Gingerbread House Party

Have I mentioned how much I love having girls?
I love doing fun, crafty things with this Lola of mine. She loves planning a good party with me and gets so involved in all of the details. We decided to invite her friends over for a gingerbread house party and had such a fun time planning it together.





Cute Stella wasn't about to be left out of the preparations. Lola made sure they were both wearing their holiday outfits for the festive occasion.



Could she have cuter friends? I LOVE these girls!



They got so into the decorating. It was so fun to see them all be so creative and work so hard on their masterpieces. They decorated those houses for over an hour, loving every minute of it.










After we wrapped them up, we ate cupcakes and then cuddled up for a Barbie Christmas movie. What a fun time!

The Annual Hunt

We headed up to Preston on Thanksgiving weekend for to find our Christmas tree. We love this tradition and look forward to it all year. It was such a beautiful day - the sky was bright blue and the snow so deep and pretty.

















Jacks was so excited to cut our tree down. He did it totally by himself and was so cute focusing on sawing.

After some mountain-side hot chocolate, we trekked home for our "Christmas Kick Off." We had a yummy dinner, lots of delicious Christmas-y treats and my mom had made the most fun Christmas gift sacks for all of us. The kids all got new Christmas books, shirts, and advent calendars and the adults got cute decorations and festive Bath and Body Works loot. So much fun!

We finally got the tree lit and decorated last night and are loving it. So far Stella has refrained from knocking it over and undecorating it completely. We will see how long that lasts.

Thanksgiving

We had such a fun Thanksgiving with Nate's family this year.



We arrived to find the most perfect kids table set up by my amazing mother-in-law. She and Katie made the cutest little gift packs for each kids chair, 'turkey legs' filled with popcorn, and turkey crayon holders to go with a coloring page placemat. The kids had so much fun with it all!







Nate's dad has officially perfected the art of turkey cooking and we ate the most delicious turkey I have every had.



The kids played with their cousins, wrote in their Thankful journals, signed the annual tablecloth, and watched a couple movies. The men watched at least 7 football games. In their entirety.



Katie, Betty and I scoured the newspaper deals, planned our Black Friday and even had time for the crafting of our annual Christmas Organizer.

I am so grateful for these in-laws of mine. I feel so blessed to have married into such a wonderful family. We have such a great time together and there are few people my kids would rather be with then these cute cousins of theirs.

Path Of Destruction

This morning I had to make a pie. This is the path of destruction I found when I popped it in the oven:


Toy box dumped out. . .



Cupboard completely emptied. . .



Pantry ransacked. . .




Body being crammed into the tiny shoe bin. . .



At least she's cute!


And the twins made themselves a stellar fort. Awesome but messy.



Never a dull moment. Wonder whats happening while I'm blogging?

The day Baby Girl turns one

Hard to believe this one is turning one.
She has brought so much joy to my world .


I remember having Jackson and feeling such a crazy amount of love.
Then I found myself about to deliver baby number 2 and couldn't fathom loving him as much.
But I did.
When baby number 3 arrived, everything was just as exciting and I loved her every bit as much as when that baby number 1 was placed on my chest for the first time.
When Stella arrived my heart just opened wider and I felt so complete. I was so smitten with her and found every moment of her first year so amazing. I have enjoyed every minute of this little one and tried to soak in all of her newness.

Everyone tells you that babies don't keep. . .
I've tried to make her stay little but time is moving at warp speed this time around.

Happy, Happy Birthday to the sweetest, happiest, smiliest, most fun baby girl around!

Partying 1 Year Style

We had Stella's 1st birthday on Saturday night. Her real birthday is on Wednesday, but since most of our family live in SLC, we did it this weekend.

We were so happy to have ALL her family come. . . other than Joe on his mission, everyone was there.



She loved everyone singing happy birthday to her, but she was not so sure about her cake. . . she didn't especially love the frosting mess all over her hands!



Love this little birthday gal of mine!

How to Have the PERFECT October

Visit the Paradise Pumpkin Patch. . .


Go Trick or Treating with the Hollands at the Jensen Historical Farm. . .


Go to the Pumpkin Walk. . .


Have a super fun cousin Halloween party thrown by grandma and grandpa. . .


Go to an adults only neighborhood party and laugh until your cheeks hurt. . .



Be amazed at the over-the-top Halloween festivus put on by Tierra. . .



Help with as many classroom parties as possible. . .



And finally. . .go trick or treating on the most beautiful, warm night ever. . .


It's been non-stop busy-ness this month, but we've had a blast!