Lights at Temple Square

We drove to SLC this year to see the lights at the Temple. The girls have never done this and every year we say we're gonna go. It was way cold and wet, but I still think they had a good time. We also took them to eat at the Mayan Restraunt - it's the place with the divers. The girls LOVED it. They thought it was the coolest thing. Kam wasn't so sure about looking over the edge, but Lexi took it all in. We also stopped by and say Kelsie, Joe, and of course Keni! she's the cutest little girl, my girls love her. After doing the temple lights, we stayed the night at Bri and Chalyce's. We stayed up late with them hanging out, them spent the next day shopping and doing lunch with them and the little kids. The girls were excited to play with their cousins.



Then onto Preston we went. I of course got my hair done while I was there, I went dark and like it. We also were able to finally see baby London. My brother now has two little ones, 13 months apart. It's pretty crazy for them - but they are adorable. We exchanged Christmas gifts and had fun hanging out. On a last minute whim we decided to bring Mckoy home with us for the week. I was surprised that Amber and Kelly let us take him - and Mom and Rob were having withdrawls after about a day.

We loved having him with us for the week. He is a little crack up and quiet the entertainer. It was fun but different to have a little boy running around this house - my girls are not use to that! :) So then on Friday - I drove to Twin Falls to meet Amber and Kelly to give back Mckoy. We of course ate at Nine Beans and a Burrito - we had a great time and decided we need to meet there more often, easy quick trip and we could see each other more often.

My birthday!

My sweet friend Emily takes me out to dinner for my birthday every year. We always have a blast and it's always so fun to do. We went to Olive Garden - yum yum. I said I was going to Boycott that restraunt since they have gotten rid of my favorite meal: Manacotti. But I have found another meal that is 'okay' :)

My friends Rosie, Michelle, and Janie came as well. We then did our traditional walk around Target afterwards.

I love these girls - they are such good examples to me and are truely great friends. Lara didn't get to make it because she was on bedrest for 2 more days to have her baby.

I was spoiled for my birthday this year and I'll admit, I loved it :)

My friends got me: lots of mt. dew :), a willow tree figurine (which i collect, and love), jewlery and jewlery tree, cute craft stuff, hours of cleaning at my home :), pistachios, sonic card, twilight woods body spray :). My wonderful YW girls brought me cookies and more Mt. dew - it was wonderful. My friend Rosie made me lunch on my actual birthday and had some friends over - that was fun. She is a wonderful friend.

Mike spoiled me - he got me slippers, a blanket, and let me go shopping for clothes. I LOVE it :)!!

My family also spoiled me with jewlery, money, and a wonderful photo book of memories! Thanks everyone for making my special day very special!!

I will enjoy this last year being in my 20's - it's gonna be weird to hit 30 next year!

Need to DE-junk!!!!!, but....

Alright so I'm having a dilema - one I think that has been going on for the past 6 yrs!
I'm tired of being over ran in my own home with JUNK! My house is constantly cluttered with stuff everywhere until I can't handle it anymore and I make everyone clean....lasting about a day. Seriously where did all this CRAP come from? it's like it multiples at night when it's dark.
I can't handle my shoe situtation anymore - I just cleaned it up and went thru it (of course throwing nothing away). I did however box up flipflops and sandles for summer and only kept out what we'd wear.
But I can't throw anything out because...because...well because: I just may need them one day, I may have another baby girl, I may need those one boots the kids never wear, what if they need to wear that pair at least ONCE this year, and the excuses go on and on.

I have this same dilema with clothes - we have way TOO MANY and I need to get rid of 1/2....(because they don't wear 1/2) but again what happens one day when I just happen to need everyone in a certain color, or whatever and they will finally wear that specific shirt? it's pathetic, I know - but I can't bring myself to throw things out. HELP!! what do I do?
(The bad part is, I need to throw them out b/c their stained, wrote on, or worn out - so it should be simple)

This is happening with furniture, toys, blankets, and more. I don't know how I ever got from ALL my belongings growing up down to the ONE rubbermaid that is sitting in my garage. But I need to do this for each of my girls and my house.

We have entirely too many toys, so many infact that they've all been locked up in the closet, and yet they are still finding toys to play with - I don't even think they miss them. But how do I toss their 1st baby doll, their first____, every toy seems to have sentimental value to me that I just need to get over!

(just to let you know I have 2 huge diaper boxes and a regular size box of shoes just put away for winter...That doesn't count what is still out, or what is too small for the girls and packed up) yikes! sad thing is...we don't really wear them :(

any tips??!!

Baby Shower Time!!

My friend Lara is having her FOURTH baby!! YAY:) She should be having her little boy here in a couple of weeks and I'm so excited. Lara is so awesome and a great friend - I wanted to do something special for her and this new little bundle of joy she'll be having. I got some friends together and took her out to dinner, we had a special night filled with food, gifts, laughs, and sharing how much we love Lara.

Unfortunetly I only got these few photos - bummer we didn't get one of all of us together.

Here are some more photos from Thanksgiving. The girls played in the snow, we made cookies, cuddled watching movies, and did lots of 'DRAGON' rides! The story behind DRAGON rides: the girls wanted Mike to DRAG them on the blanket across the floor so they would yell DRAGGING ride - but it comes out DRAGON ride. HAHA so it is now infamously known as DRAGON ride :)

Thanksgiving Break

*So much has happened in the last week. Mike, Kirk, and Brian were suppose to go to Lake Powell for a sailboat trip during the week of Thanksgiving - they were excited and prepped for it until we found out there was a winter storm coming across the west that would bring freezing temperatures. So plans got changed and Mike and I were going to go to Preston to do Thanksgiving with my family. I was excited Mike was coming so I wouldn't have to drive alone with three kids - aahh! But on Monday the storm hit and things became icy and yucky, so we went back and forth numerous times on whether to drive across the state or not. We finally decided to stay home and just go again in a couple of weeks when we can take Christmas gifts, see baby London's blessing, and go to SLC with the girls to see the lights.

*Tuesday I went to Lexi's school for her Thanksgiving Feast, it was alot of fun! Then we went to the store and stocked up on some goodies and food. Wednesday we cleaned the house so we could enjoy the rest of our break and veg.
We ended up going to Grandview for Thanksgiving since we were around. Some others didn't risk the roads either. We had a lot of fun with everyone. We were able to be up at the new house - the kitchen was Fabulous!! We had plenty of room to cook, clean, serve, eat, everything...it was great. Lori made her yummy rolls and Shelby sat by her and helped.

*Mike and I LOVE LOVE these caramel apples from Rocky Mountain at the outlet mall, so Mike thought we should try making them ourselves. They were a hit and just as yummy as the stores: we got about 11 apples for their price of 1!!! We dipped them in homemade caramel, then dipped in white chocolate, then sprinkled cinnamon on them.

*We also shot some guns while we were there. Lexi was all excited to do it, but she was soo cold and I think a bit scared, so she backed out. I try a few shots, I sucked...didn't hit any clay discs. I don't do so well at moving objects. The windchill was ridiculous...I can honestly say I've never had my hands be so cold - they were burning :(

*The rest of our break was fun too. We did some Black Friday shopping, ate out, made cookies, watched movies, and watched our BSU team loose (bummer deal). Ashley and I braved Walmart at midnight for Friday - it was Ashley's first time ever doing Black Friday. It was a rush - and I've never seen so many rude people in all my experience's with BF. We managed to get all we'd wanted - but Ashley said never again. I'm gonna have to get her to another store next year :)
Mike was up at 5am for me again - we wanted a recliner, turns out the sale was the day before - bummer deal! We also missed out on a computer we'd wanted.

*We had a good vacation lounging around. Lexi was back at school today, Mike was back to work. Now I need to get back to reality and clean house among other things on my list of to-do's!!! Hope everyone had a good holiday - we're looking forward to ChRisTmAs!!!!

Fun with Dad

I got Lexi this Hello Kitty shirt and she is now in LOVE with Hello Kitty! She came home from school and painted her very own face this way...just from looking off the picture on her shirt! I was real impressed at her skills!!! So I when I went to YW later that night, the family broke out the face paint and did everyone's faces...lots of fun :)