Merry Christmas Eve...

One of my MANY favorite Christmas songs.. especially at the 1:20 mark (swoon at the voice NOT the hair.. that is some serious business in the front and MAJOR party in the back)

And the laughs continue....

I found this off another blog and it is so true!

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

Because sometimes....

You just need a good laugh....

Ah....Sugar... ahhhh honey, honey.....

Time for the annual Baking day...

We ended the night with sugar headaches and
watching The Polar Express... so much fun!

It's the most wonderful time....

How I love Christmas Specials that come on TV. I always have loved the claymation of Rudolph. Watching them takes me back to when I was younger and being SO excited because I knew Christmas was soon approaching.

Glee!

So I have just started watching this... Love, love LOVE IT! I, for the most part, watch it for the music. But the high school drama part of it has me hooked too.

They had me at Queen...



Oh it gets better!!! You can't go wrong with Journey...


and had me in tears on this song..

I am a GLEEK you say? I say thank you verah much!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Oh Christmas Tree... how lovely are your branches...

The Simple Things...

The Holidays are fast approaching. We get stressed over everything. Trying to find the perfect gift, do I send cards this year, where is the money going to come from? It is times like these, that usually take the fun out of the Holiday's. It is also when I need to take a "step back" and look at the simple things.

I love the Jim Brickman song "The Simple Things" because it is the simple things I need to remember.

All that matters in this crazy world...

Hugs. Whether a hug is given or received... Hugs are the best.


Laughter.. after all it is the best medicine.


Taking a walk...


Catching a nap...


Reading a book....


The simple things just are.....

Halloween

Kaden was a cute Pirate.


Annika on the move, she would not sit still for the camera. She was Tinteer (Tinker) Bell

This was taken when all of them were dressed and everyone kept saying Ohh how cute! Tarah was Tinker Bell also.

This Halloween was a fun one. The week of Halloween, it was sick-ville at the house. My sister, Kaden & I ended up getting sick (swine flu, well other than Kaden) during the week of Halloween and I was hoping we would be better by the time Halloween rolled around so we could enjoy the festivities. Luckily we were. We were still coughing our brains out, but at least we could some-what function.

We went to my parents for Halloween. Had the usual chili and corn bread and then the kids went trick of treating around the neighborhood.

Grant it, Halloween is not as fun as it used to be, like when we were young. But it is fun seeing my nieces and nephew get excited about dressing up and catching on with what Halloween means.. WHICH IS TO GET MORE CANDY! :)

WEEEeee he's 3!!!!

My nephews birthday was a couple of weeks ago and he had a total ball!

My sister thought of a cute idea to have the kids make a craft for them to take home.


We had pizza for lunch


Yummy cake for dessert


and ended with Kaden saying thank you to everyone for coming and for the presents.


I have had the opportunity to watch Kaden since he was 3 months old. I have enjoyed watching him grow up before my eyes. I am so thankful for my sister who is giving me the opportunity to be 'sort of a mom' by letting me watch him. Now that he is in pre-school, there are days that I miss him but it is so fun watching him learn new things.

HOO-DAY!

As I was driving by Target the other day, I came upon the most awesome of sites.


THIS is why I always have my camera with me...

I know right?! Seriously, no more driving 8 hours to Vegas to enjoy. If only Sephora would show up. Come on Sephora! Come on Sephora!

The Fair

Yay for the Fair! On a whim, my mother and I decided to take my nephew to the State Fair that was happening a couple of weeks ago.

Kaden had fun looking at the animals, while my mother and I had fun people watching.

He was a little hesitant at first.

But then warmed up to them and would walk right up and start petting them.


Ow, I think I just got a cavity. A must have whilst there! Good thing we shared one!


Kettle Corn + a Diet Coke x People Watching= Awesome night at the Fair.

Woo hoo! Look who's 2!!

It was my niece's birthday a couple of weeks ago.

She is so cute. I heart her in piggies.



Blowing out her candles


She still to do this day, will say.. "A Birthday, a Kitchen (she got a play kitchen), a candles" and then pretend to blow them out.

We were also able to see the debut of my brother's new puppy, Emma. SO CUTE!

Ah Comfort

I saw this in the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and had to buy it!! Delicious!



it's two, two, two comfort foods in one.

Swiss Days

(the only picture I took ALL weekend. My scone at Swiss Days. YUM!)

I had a great GNO this weekend up in Park City. The festivities started Friday afternoon, to which I headed up to Park City to stay at a Condo with some friends.

We went to Cafe Rio (drooool) for dinner and then waited for the rest of the girls to come up. That night we stayed up way too late talking, having awesome chocolate fondue, and laughing. I seriously have never laughed that hard in quite a long time. Thanks ladies I seriously needed that!

The next morning we packed up and then headed to Midway for some Swiss Days fun. On the bus ride into town I ran into a friend who I haven't seen in quite a while (Hello Lisa!! Your family is adorable!!) It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. But with how 'busy' it was, it made the people watching great. After spending a couple hours there, we then headed to a much needed lunch and then to the outlet mall for additional crowds and shopping, which I ran into another friend (Holla Tracie and her cute family!!)!

The day was long and exhausting but it was fun. A big thanks to my cute friend Gina, for getting everything arranged. It was a much needed weekend that was full of laughter and fun!

8th Grade?!?!

My cute niece started school today. In celebration of her starting a new year at school I told her she could choose any where she wanted to go for lunch. She chose The Cheesecake Factory.

She spent a lot of time with my nephew and I this summer. She was a tremendous help and I enjoyed having her stay with me. I will miss not seeing her as much as I did this summer.

To Disneyland and back in 43 hours?

Yes, it can be done. How you ask?! Well, you are in for a story.

Friday we (my mom, sister Kristin, niece Tarah and I along with 50 other people) loaded on Le Bus at 7:00 pm in Sandy.


(why hey-llo there drivers. I shall call you smooth driver and can't pick a speed driver)

The bus ride down was fun. We watched Disney movies & were treated to oatmeal chocolate chip & sugar cookies in the shape of Mickey Mouse.

(thank you Matt's mom, they were delicious! )

I didn't get much sleep on the ride down. My iPod died around Vegas,and we were asked to "de-bus" around 3am so the bus driver could refuel. BOO!

We arrived just outside of the pearly gates (yes, I heard angels singing) around 6:00am. Had breakfast and then headed towards the park.

The rest of the day was... a whirlwind and we were pretty much running on adrenaline. I saw throughout the day subtle reminders of what I had to get.


(I see you, bouquet of fun, in the distance)

(Holy vast sea of Strollers batman.. and yes I still see you, thanks for the reminder.)

(the cast member noticed that I was trying to take a picture of you and posed for the camera.. little did he know.. I wanted a picture just of you.. and not him..that was nice of him to stop anyway)

I should know by now to ALWAYS have my camera out and ready to take pictures, because the people watching was, yet again, spectacular. So you will just have to take my word for what I saw. My most favorite of favorites was the entire family (seriously there were 10 of them) all dressed in neon green mickey mouse shirts and every single one of them were eating one of the giant dill pickles you buy there. Of course my camera was still in my backpack.. darn it I wished I would have noticed them sooner.

We partook of churros because.. hurlo! That is a MUST have while there!




We were able to ride the 2 rides that we missed when we went last year as well as a few others. We watched the parade and had awesome view, thanks to my mom, (3rd row in dead center of the Castle booya!), to watch the fireworks. To which I cried whilst viewing them. Misha my friend, you were right... amazing!


Part 1 of cry-fest


Part 2 of cry-fest

We ended the night with a bit of shopping.. I got my balloon (YAY!!) and had wonderful ice cream.

(Me.. after a loooong, fun and exhausting day!)

The drive home....

(See the balloons? That is where I was passed out!)
I will just say, I remember putting in my earplugs and taking some Advil pm, that is about it. Wait, I do remember getting off the bus to use the restroom at one of our stops.. I don't remember anything after that. We left around 12:30am early Sunday morning and arrived back in Sandy just after 1:00 pm.

A HUGE thank you to both Matt's for putting this trip together. I (as well as my family) had an incredible time!!!

(more pictures will be added later.. my sister has pictures that I want to use also.. so check back!)

Aquarium--aka Stink Eye...

I took my niece and nephew to the Aquarium today.

We, looked at some Jellyfish..


I thought this was a rock.. and then it moved.. and I may or may not have yelped. (and by may not have yelped I mean I did.)

Tried to touch the Stingrays

were creeped out by a hairy spider.

Awwwed at the cute Seahorses..

and I gave the stink eye to some 'plastics'. (click on the word for an explanation)

These ladies were beyond rude. I am not going to label them with what they looked like or how they acted or what city they "possibly" live in.. because you probably already know the type I am talking about. Let's just say there were groups of them EVERYWHERE. They had staked out their claim in the aquarium. Let their children push in front of others, run wild and had NO concept of wait your turn. They protected themselves in their cackly, wagon circle of strollers. Ok you will probably say I am just as bad for speaking ill of them here. My reply.. Meh.

The important thing is.. my niece and nephew had fun. I am having my fun now making fun of the them. So take that Escalade* driving plastics.
*If you are reading this and own an Escalade I am not calling you a plastic but if you were at the aquarium today and driving one I AM!