Oh Christmas Tree

We started decorating our Christmas Tree! We have been placing certain ornaments up higher and higher this year than we did last year.

We have also spent a lot of time collecting them out of bedrooms, purses, pockets, and blankets. These little ornaments are all over the place! Is there an ornament fairy? Or just 2 sneaky girls??

Oh Christmas Tree

We started decorating our Christmas Tree! We have been placing certain ornaments up higher and higher this year than we did last year.

We have also spent a lot of time collecting them out of bedrooms, purses, pockets, and blankets. These little ornaments are all over the place! Is there an ornament fairy? Or just 2 sneaky girls??

Gross Out

WARNING!!!

Please do not continue reading this post if things like food stuck in someone else's teeth gross you out. I am serious. This post is not for the faint of heart.

Okay, so you have been warned. This first post is the Santa that the girls got to see this weekend at the Festival of Lights. Ryann said, "Santa, don't forget my house!" and he pointed at her and said, "I will NOT forget your house!"

She was soooo excited and happy and had to tell everyone about it.

And here is the gross out part. Seriously she wanted to take a picture and she was eating Cheetos. I almost threw up in my mouth when I saw this picture on my camera. But how could I not save this picture for her future husband and children.

All wrong. So wrong.

Sunday Stroll

I accidentally ripped part of my big toenail off today.

Seriously, gross.

Why did I tell you that?

Maybe because I couldn't keep up with these girls even if they were going at the same pace on our Sunday walk today.

Which, by the way, they weren't on the same pace. Cara had to be pushed cause her little legs are too short to reach the peddles on her trike and Ryann was cruising on her scooter- that was supposed to wait for Christmas but she found it and demanded it.

That girl has us whipped. Seriously. But look at how dang cute she is with her little helmet on and her boots on the wrong feet...

Thanksgiving Recap in Pictures

Cousin/Uncle Rob with his pilgrim.

About time my husband and I have a cute picture together.

The delicious turkey (my first was a success!)

Rich's siblings.

My turkey on the unbaked cherry pie.

Our place settings. My inspiration was pinterest.

All together it was quite the amazing day.

Beware Bad Guys

The highlight of my Thanksgiving dinner was Ryann eating her "chicken bone."

She demanded a turkey drumstick and she actually went into her room and cried until we finally figured out what she wanted.

Once we did she was in heaven. She ate that thing, more than half of it. She ignored the rest of the Thanksgiving meal though.

The best part though is when she takes the drumstick in her hand and starts hitting it in the palm of her other hand. She looks at me and says, "mom, if a bad guy comes to our house I am going to hit him with my bone."

bahahaha. I seriously couldn't stop laughing. That girl cracks me up.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.

Today is such a wonderful day. I am making my very own turkey. I guess at age 27 and with 2 kids you should probably be able to make a turkey. We'll see.

I also made my apple, cherry, and pumpkin pies.

I have some fresh spinach and artichoke dip as well as a delicious sweet potato dish.

My mother in law is bringing the rest for us to cook over here.

The house smells amazing.

Rich is off to play football. I took a picture of his ridiculous outfit because it was too good to pass up. He was walking around the house "jamming" to his music from his ipad. He is the best dork ever.

Even better was when he said, "I totally need to get pumped up for football- I better turn on backstreet boys."

True story. Please tease him about it. Most of you who know Rich know that this is how he is, but still, he deserves to be mocked for that one.

Here is a quick list of some of the things I am thankful for... in no particular order:

Rich, Ryann, Cara, the rest of my family (i wont name you all)... even my not really blood family like Levin and his new wife because I can't be more happy for anyone in the world right now, for my baby niece in my sister's belly Hazel, for Facetime, pinterest, my job, the miracle of birth, a warm house, a car that won't die even though it is 12 years old (the echo!), for my ward family, my best friends, the baby in Heidi's tummy that we pray for daily, for prayers, for prayers from a 2 and 4 year old, for the innocence of a child, the song "see the joy", my savior, a living prophet, scriptures, my brother on a mission who is serving so selflessly, apple pie, my friends, the women I visit teach, my sitters who watch my girls faithfully, blogging, black friday, cameras, phone calls on my commute, hiking, seasons, freecycle, Laborlooks, the dollar store, and my wonderful relationship with my savior. I know my savior and I love him and he knows exactly what I can and can't take- he blesses me in my times of need and teaches me every day through trials to push me to be more humble, patient and to become a better wife, mother, and person.

Jumping Bags Video

Jumping Bags

Ryann looks a little CRAZY in this picture... but she and Cara were having so much fun using these bags to jump around in. I will post a hilarious video about them tomorrow.

Can't wait for Thanksgiving!!

Rock Band

This is a very momentous occasion. Rich actually let the girls play! It wasn't just pretend. It was so cute to see them stare at the screen and have absolutely no idea what they were doing.

Maybe Rich is finally accepting that he has no boys to play video games with so he better teach his daughters?

I don't believe they got any encores for their performance, but they sure had a fun time playing with daddy.

Thanks love!

Hazelnut spread

For Devyn's baby shower last month she made home made hazelnut spread- very similar to nutella. Cara and Ryann both told me that they wanted chocolate on their pancakes so I whipped this out and as you see below, it was heaven.

No forks necessary.

Delicious.

Pinkalicious Card Game

The girls got a cute surprise gift in the mail yesterday... a Pinkalicious card game.

These girls LOVE pinkalicious.

I find myself saying, "you get what you get and you don't get upset" a lot because of that book. It is oh so fitting some days.

Thank you auntie Devyn for sending us this game. We have played it A LOT!

The girls wanted to call you when we opened it up this morning at 7, but I thought I would let your prego self sleep and we would call you later.

Breaking Dawn part 1

Rich was out of town this week so I knew there was no way I was going to go to opening night of Breaking Dawn. However, a wonderful dear friend was helping to host an event at a movie theater in Scottsdale and her husband volunteered to watch all of our girls.

Around 8 I dropped off my girls (turns out they didn't sleep well) and I went out to the theater. I played a couple games (see Pin the Mustache on Charlie game below) to win some prizes and free movie tickets.

Then I took my picture with the extremely handsome Embry from the series...

Finally I topped it off with the movie. I don't care what people have to say about it. I loved it. I loved the ways they changed it from the book and I love the parts that they stayed true to the book.

I think my girlfriend was a getting a little annoyed with me because I kept saying the next line of the movie before they would say it. Oh well, she offered to let me come (did I mention it was for free and I ended up winning 6 free movie passes? Oh yeah, I scored on this one!)

Riding a Broom

"Look at me! I'm riding a broom!"

I hear this about 2 to 3 times a day. She thinks it is hilarious.

If only she would learn to sweep while she was riding her broom.

Tuesday Mornings

Every Tuesday morning we drive down the freeway to meet up with a friend who has been watching the girls one day a week. Sometimes we get there first, other times she gets there first. The days we get there first the girls love to come up to the front seat and play with me and push all the buttons.

I was surprised that they both are trying to look at me. This is one of the best pictures I have of them together right now. I love it

Dinner Time!

We went out to dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday this weekend. It was wonderful even if the girls got a little crazy. I wonder where they learned that from??

Time to eat.

Toddler Model

I think Cara is ready to start her career in modeling... She has given me quite the crazy poses lately.

What child does this?

This last one was she wanted me to take a picture that she was eating her asparagus. She only ate it because Ryann ate it, and then she only ate one part of one.

Hiding in the Jail

Ryann was very convinced the other day that the bath tub was "jail."

I recently put a ban on Spiderman cartoons and I believe that is the culprit.

Instead of time out Ryann has been telling Cara to be good or else she'll go to jail.

hmmm....

I guess that lesson has to be learned sometime.

I did think it was pretty cute and funny that Ryann was hiding in the tub, so I grabbed my camera to take a picture. What happens when I grab my camera? Cara wants to be in the picture too. Cara came flying down the hall and jumped in the tub just in time to get into the picture too.

Silly nuggets.

ps.. happy 11.11.11

2 Whole Days!

Yes, we know it has only been 2 whole days since you flew home on your airplane... but can you come back? We really miss you!

We want to play some more, and go to the zoo again (maybe actually go inside the zoo instead of just walking around the outside. hehe), eat some yummy chicken and hot dogs, go to mcdonalds, play hide and seek, go to the mall, sing songs, watch movies, and play games and puzzles.

We also would like to take a walk, feed the ducks, and go to the park again. Our mommy and daddy try to do these things, but they are way more fun with grandma and grandpa.

**Ryann finally gave up the nickname Paca for my dad**

Cornocopia

Last year I crocheted a cornocopia for a Thanksgiving decoration. I thought I was so crafty and clever as I filled it full of fake food from the girl's kitchen set.

It is really cute, I promise.However, you will probably never see it actually used/displayed how it was intended.

For the obvious reason that it is way more fun to put on your head than stuff with fake food.

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend with my parents in town... they were only in town for about 3 days and it was way too short. But I was happy to see them anyway. We ate a lot of Halloween candy and played a lot of pandemic.

What is pandemic you ask?
One of the best board games ever.

Pillow Cases

How come no one trick or treats with pillow cases anymore? I remember thinking the bigger the bag, the more candy I could get. Never really worked out that way.

Anyway, my cute girls learned how to take off their pillow cases this weekend and thought it was too much fun to play with them.

Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth

Here is my devilishly handsome husband. I have talked a lot about the "house beard" since he has been growing it out. We listed our house to attempt a short sale on August 10th, we got a 1 buyer within a couple weeks. Then that buyer backed out and we got another one 5 days later. So for the past couple couple months we have been waiting on the bank.

We were attempting to do a short sale without ruining our credit so we were keeping up with our mortgage payments. The bank finally approved the short sale but our mortgage insurance did not. Which in the long run means we were denied the short sale. So now we have to make the horrible decision on whether or not we start missing payments shave the beard.

It was a no brainer for me... "of course you shave it!" I told Rich. He wasn't so sure. He wanted to keep it until we sold the house. Since we technically didn't sell the house it took a lot of convincing for him to shave it.

I was quite surprised when I downloaded my pictures today to the computer and saw these beauties.

He was having way too much fun.

Let's just say he may or may not have kept the mustache, but I will let you in on a little secret- he looks much more handsome today than he did yesterday.

My costume!

I forgot to show the picture of me dressing up for Halloween! I was a hippie midwife of course.

I forgot to wear my sunglasses in this picture. but they were stylin as well.

I did have a patient look at me and say, "is that your Halloween costume or some kind of religious thing?"

She was 17.

My Cara Kay wanted a picture of her throwing out a peace sign too.

Love her.

The Haul

Wow. Our kids had a blast trick or treating. These bowls are now going on top of the fridge and hopefully they will stay there for a long time.