our December so far.......

December is my favorite month of the year. We have my mom's birthday, our wedding anniversary, Christmas and my birthday. Just Christmas alone is such a magical time and I adore everything about it -- the music, the lights, the trees, the decorations, the wrapping, the stockings, the elves, the nativity displays, Santa and all the excitement that surrounds him, the countdowns, the parties, the treats -- everything. I love Christmas. Here is our month so far leading up to the big day....

We took the kids to the Valley River Center mall in Eugene and they met THE best Santa. He was great! He just sat and chatted with the kids for forever and didn't make it feel rushed. He even talked about Sam and how the kids need to keep an eye on him this year because last year he tried to eat his cookies. (which the kids thought was so funny) He made it so fun. And the kids soaked it up. Jackson was totally enthralled with him. It was darling. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!

We took the kids to Build-a-Bear because I purchased some groupons for it which expire at the end of the month - so we made a trip out. Sam is against Build-a-Bear because it's just a gimmick, but I don't care. The kids LOVED it. Addie has done them before but this was a first for Gwen and Jackson.

Here is Gwenny with her new little friend "Hannah".................

Addie with her new friend "Star Wars" -- (which the whole Star Wars obsession in a whole different post)..........................
And Jackson with his new friend - "Two" (that was my favorite name of the day) :)............

We had our ward Christmas party. We had dinner and then the primary was in charge of the entertainment -- and since I am the primary president - that meant I was in charge of the entertainment. (along with my counselors and secretary of course - who are HUGE helps)

Anyways -- we dressed the kids as angels and had them hold little electric light up candles and sing 'Away in a Manger' and 'Silent Night'. It turned out really cute and the kids did a great job.

and some of the kids (my nephew Dallin) used their candles as lightsabers :)
after their performance they sang "Here comes Santa Claus" till Santa appeared....


and I had to include this one of my poor terrified niece...............

Next is my new obsession with craft blogs. I love them. And I especially love them around holidays for decoration ideas. These are the cute glitter trees that I made this year - courtesy of some craft blog. Aren't they cute?!?....................

Storybook Land. This year only Gwenny got to go. And that was just because she went on a field trip. We missed out this year for the rest of them for different reasons - I've been sick a lot this month - plus it ends so quick that we kinda just lost track of time. I haven't brought it up to Addie that it's over. I'm hoping she'll just forget about it this year.

Anyways - when Gwenny and I went - she got to meet Santa's top elf - Elfie -- and she hung on every word. It was cute.
Ginger bread houses (and trains). For family home evening we had Keith and Alicia come over to make these - because Maci insisted that she was left out at some time in the past when we made these before. I have no clue what she is talking about --- but we wanted her to be part of the fun anyway. :) It was a fun and frustrating activity --for all. The trains are much easier for anyone who is wondering -- the darn roofs of the houses would not stay on.

We also decorated sugar cookies - which we actually could eat - so that made up for the frustration. :)



someone got into the chocolate chips...............

Wacky Bounce and new camera

We recently got a new camera. It's a nicer one - and it should take some really good pictures -- I just need to learn how to use the darn thing to make sure I take good pictures. We took it to Wacky Bounce the day after we got it and took a bunch of pictures of the kids playing. I got some good ones and a lot of bad ones. Still learning. :)

Anyways -- this was our first time going to Wacky Bounce -- which is a place in Corvallis full of different bounce house things for the kids to jump and play on. Even the adults can jump and play on everything - so that was an extra bonus. It was really fun and it won't be our last trip there. Our sister-in-law Alicia and her girls went with us and they all had lots of fun.

my best friend

We had our 10 year anniversary on the 15th of December. I was telling Sam on that day that it's weird because years ago -- I thought 10 years sounded like forever - but now that it is here - it seems like it has gone by so fast. To which Sam responded - "It seems like longer to me!!" Hardy-har Sam. That's the great thing Sam -- he always makes me laugh. That's what drew me to him in the first place -- I love to laugh and he loves to make me laugh.

I can't even get into how I feel about Sam without turning into a blubbering sappy mess which would make you all sick and never want to read my blog again. But just know this -- I love him -A LOT!! :)

Our day didn't turn out quite as planned due to some medical issues with some family - so we ended up helping family instead-- which was just fine with both of us. We both agreed at the end of the day - that it was a good day. We had fun together no matter where we were or what we were doing. And the cool thing is -- we have a trip planned in April to go to China - so that will be our real celebration. :)

We managed to sneak out for a little bit to grab some dinner together. I didn't get any pictures of the two of us together that day -- but I did get this one at the restaurant. That's my Sammy - making me laugh again.

look what he has turned them into.........

This was yesterday. I walked out of the kitchen and ALL of my children had an electronic device in their hands. (all Mac products of course -- Sam will have nothing else!!) Sam loves it -- I think it's sad. :)

Addie in Wonderland

For Addie's birthday party this year she wanted her theme to be Alice in Wonderland. She's been asking for that for almost a year -- ever since she saw the new Alice in Wonderland in the theatre -- it's her very favorite movie. So that's what I did -- and it was lot of fun. I wish I had taken more pictures so you could see everything - but of course I didn't. Most of the ones below are from other families cameras. Since the theme was Alice in Wonderland - I decorated with big over sized playing cards for the Queen of Hearts. I put up little signs that said Eat Me and Drink Me on the food. My sister Misty made mini cupcakes that said Eat Me on them too. They were really cute. We had a couple of stations for the kids to do some crafts at. One was Painting the Roses Red - where I just printed off coloring pages of roses and put out some red paint and paint brushes and they painted the roses red. There was also a Mad Hatter station where they could design and make their own hats. I just gave them tons of pipe cleaners and they made them out of that. It was cute to see what they came up with. It was a fun party. We waited to have her party until her baptism day so all of the family from out of town could be there too -- she was very patient - but it was worth the wait - we had lots of fun!

Our Alice -- I made Addie a big blue tutu and Sam's mom helped us put the whole outfit together it turned out really cute - I'm going to try to get her to wear it for halloween next year

her cake -- she always requests for me to make the gooey chocolate cake.........
The adults drinks.......................
the kids drinks (notice they ALL have little drink me signs on them - lots of work :) ........


one of the mini cupcakes Misty make............
the kids watching her open presents -- so exciting!!! :) .............
Addie has been begging me for years for a violin. This year I felt she was old enough to get one and start lessons. We are lucky enough to have Kelly in our family now who plays so beautifully and is willing to teach her. I think I am just as excited about this as she is -- I LOVE the violin. I'm hoping to pick up some skills of my own. :)
Happy Birthday my Addie May!!

Addie's Baptism

Addie's baptism was wonderful!!! Such a special day. She was beaming all day long! Everything went smoothly, the speakers were wonderful and there was such a sweet spirit about the whole thing. Her sweet cousin Ella also sang a song for her special day. She did an excellent job and it just made it more special since Ella is so special to Addie.

We are so blessed to have such an amazing little lady. We are so proud of the great person she has grown to be (and has always been actually).

We are also so grateful for all our dear family and friends who came to show their support and love to Addie. She really felt loved -- and that makes me extremely happy. She is the oldest in our family, the oldest cousin on my side and she's had a hard time watching the younger ones gets lots of attention because they are "little and cute". So for her to be celebrated for being the older one was great for her. It was her special time to shine. And she did!! She literally could not stop smiling all day. It was infectious. :)

Addie's confirmation circle of family....
some of the crowd to come watch (lots of cute cousins) -- all of the seats were taken when it started
Us with Addie and Sam's parents and my parents...........
Sam's side of the family - his parents up from California, his brother Rich and his family and his sister Raeleen and her family - down from Washington.
I wish I had got a picture of my side of the family too. All of my family was there -- Amber and her family came up from California -- it was great having everyone together.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Sam and I have had the same mattress for almost 10 years and it was finally time to get a new one. Costco was having a sale on one of those Novaform ones - so I bought that one. I LOVE it!!! That along with my fleece sheets - fitted and top sheet (also from Costco) -- my bed is the most cozy place there is!!

Here is Jackson and Pete enjoying it before I put in on our bed -- it had to air out and take shape before we could use it.

Money well spent!!

Halloween Highlights