Cooking blogs!!

I have two friends who have great cooking blogs-- check my side bar!! My friend and amazing cook, Candace recently started a cooking blog, The Cook Next Door. She is having a give away for the cutest Anthropologie apron-- I love it Candace!! I love her recipes and would love this apron-- so anyway check out her blog!

AZ!!

We went to AZ the week after Christmas for a family reunion with my family! We had so much fun!! It was so neat to watch to kids together-- they don't get to see their AZ or FL cousins very often!! It was worth our 2 15 hour drives!! Crazy!! The kids did great and it was so much fun to be with my family--it's been way too long!! And I must say December in AZ is amazing!!
My sister Dianna and her little boy Dean, and my brother's son, Grayson
Carousel riding!! We went to this cool train park in Scottsdale!!! (Thanks Julie for the fun idea-- it was so good to see you!!)
Demolition Day! The men decided it would be fun to rip down a wall in Brian's house-- so they did!! They rebuilt it later though :0)!! They kids had fun smashing holes in the wall and not getting in trouble!!
We spent a day at the Phoenix Zoo. The kids had a good time!!
Sisters!!! We really didn't mean to match-- so funny!!
My mom and Kate-- so sweet!!
You gotta love cute little Dean!!
Karson and his cousin Koby
Karson and Grandpa!!

Christmas Catch-up!!

We hope you all had a super Merry Christmas!! Sorry about the picture overload, but you know how Christmas is, there is just so much to document!!
Kate got her first American Girl Doll-- a Bitty Baby-- she loves her so much!!
Claire and Jason couldn't handle all the excitement of Christmas morning!!

Sword fights!!!
Kate got a Belle dress from Santa-- it is all she asked for and was so excited to dress like a beautiful princess!!
Jammies!!! We had to take a "rear-view" picture of the boys silly jammies-- Kate can't handle being left out-- so cute!!
Christmas jammies-- don't they all look so cute!!
Beck Christmas Party-- we always enjoy it so much!!! We love you G-ma Beck!!
Gingerbread house!!
Kate was a little doll for the Magic philharmonic orchestra concert she performed ballet and was so cute!!

Projects

Here is my tree. It is still a work in progress-- will hold out for after Christmas sales to get it just right. I love the classical Christmas look, so I kept with that. We have special Hallmark ornaments and ones from Germany so I wanted to use all of it and tie it together.
This is our tree topper from Germany-- I love it and would love to collect some more wooden ornaments like this.
I made some fun rag garland this year. I used scraps of fabric I had around the house (I have tons since I sew a lot). I got the idea from my amazingly talented friend Erica.
I finally finished my family history pictue wall. I got all the frames from thrift stores, target clearance, and estate sales and painted them in dark orange, aqua and black, then I took various family photos from mine and Jason's families-- I love how it all came together and it is so fun to look at and tell the kids all about their grandparents and great-grandparents.
Fabric flowers. So these pics are a little blurry, but the best my camera would do. I have had fun lately experimenting with fabric flowers they are so fun and there are so many fun ways to wear them. I think I will have to try out some more very soon.

Dancing, vacationing, and Christmas Tree cutting

Last weekend when we got home from our vacation we headed up into the mountains to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. It is always so much fun!! I'll post pictures of it all decorated soon. It took me awhile to finally get it decorated because it kept tipping over and after the 2nd time I decided I needed some new decorations anyway and had fun redoing my tree a little bit.


Family Vacation!! We went to St. George and Vegas with Jason's family it was a lot of fun. I was not very good about taking pictures, my sister in-laws have much cuter pics on their blogs from the trip. I guess I can blame it on having to juggle three kids-- right?!

Kate is in ballet this year and loving it!! I love watching her. I've decided that I would love if she stayed in ballet forever!!! She was a super cute gumdrop in Hansel and Grethel and did such a great job. Plus she was so cute to watch!!!

Chicago!!!

Jason had a seminar for work in Chicago and I jumped at the chance to go with him. We had never been before and it was soooo fun!! I spent the first two days relaxing and shopping while Jason went to his seminar. I got to meet him for lunch and then the evenings were ours. We got to eat at lots of yummy restaurants and relax-- so nice. On Friday night we went into Chicago and walked around Navy Pier and ate yummy shrimp at Bubba Gumps (yes, it was named after Forest Gump). On Saturday we took a tour of Chicago--which I would totally recommend and made Jason and I want to visit again-- so much to see and do. We also got to go on Sky Walk in the old Sears tower (103 stories up) it was amazing and we were so lucky to visit on a clear, beautiful day!! It is always nice to get away and great to come home. I definetly think that I need long weekends away to really reappreciate the amazing gifts mychildren are and the blessing it is to be a mother.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. We started the day off carving the pumpkins we had picked out at the pumpkin patch a few days earlier. We then took Karson and Kate to Grandmas and headed to Twin Falls for an "eventful" day at the car dealership. To make a really long story short, my car went kapoeee on Friday and we are now proud owners of a new Honda Odessy. I told Jason, "I guess I should never say never, I live in Burley and drive a minivan" Such is life :0)!!! (and by the way I do love where I live) We finished up the day by going to grandma and grandpa's ward halloween party. Kate slept through the whole thing, but woke up in time to take some pictures and do a little trick-or-treating. All in all it will be one Halloween we will never forget. I made their costumes-- thank you Pottery Barn for the inspiration. Kate and Claire were little lady bugs and Karson a pirate. We found a little pirate costume for $2 at Old Navy for Rudy, so he got to join in the funl.