Thanksgiving 2011

For our first Arizona Thanksgiving, Wesley’s parents drove down from Utah to spend the holiday weekend with us.  They arrived on Wednesday and stayed until Saturday.  It was a short, but very fun visit.  I felt like we had equal amounts of “relaxing time” and “tourist time”.  It was fun showing them some of the sights around here—we really do miss living close to them.  Jake was especially happy to have their constant attention.  Mia has become more animated than ever in the last couple months, and I think she enjoyed sharing her spunky personality with a larger audience.  All in all, it was a top notch weekend.  We took a few pictures here and there, I hope you like the handful I’m posting J

 I can't believe it, but I actually never took any pictures during Thanksgiving dinner.  Which is a shame, because I was pretty proud of the yummy spread!  This was my first time doing the turkey (I've never hosted before, so that part was always done by someone else!), and with a little help from my mother in law (and some pre-cooking pep talks with my own mom)  I pulled it off!  Yay me! :)

yeah--the only food picture--Jake enjoying his "feast".  That kid is so incredibly picky..he wouldnt eat a single part of my special dinner.  (except the dessert of course..)

little punk :)

 Jake was very eager to take his Grandpa to the "gummy bear store" (as he calls it).  

 Usually when we take him there, he gets to choose like 5 pieces of candy.  But grandpas are much cooler/more fun than moms and dads.

One of the best moments of Jakes life ;)

 Mia couldn't have the candy, but she was still as happy as can be!

Before they left, Grandma and Grandpa bought Jake a special early Christmas present.  His very first big kid bike!!!  Jake was so so excited!

Proud new owner

On Saturday night, even though the Grandparents had headed back to Utah, we packed up the stroller and walked down to Kierland Commons for the tree lighting festival.  They had Santa, carriage rides, and lots of other fun stuff going on, and we heard that there would be snow falling over the square when the tree was lit.  It was a magical moment, standing in the crowd with Wesley, holding our kids, and watching the snow fall, Christmas music playing in the background.  Mia and Jake didn't seem to care that the "snow" was actually soapy foam, or that the weather was warm enough to hardly need jackets.  Their eyes were bright with excitement, taking in all the pretty lights, the enormous Christmas Tree, those sparkly little "snowflakes."  It's hard to describe that little moment, but it's one I don't think I'll ever forget. 

Life is busier than ever, but also better than ever.  I'm so thankful for my 3 best friends.  Wes, Jake, Mia--you guys mean so much to me. Love you tons.

Fall Fun

After Halloween, we were very ready and excited to welcome the holiday season at our house.  The weather finally cooled down, and we've been very busy--but busy with so many fun things!  At the beginning of November my cousin Jerai flew down to visit Jessica and I for a long weekend.  She was able to come without her son, and our husbands pitched in with watching our kids a lot as well while she was here.  The time flew by, but we had a blast going shopping, giving Jerai some fresh highlights, and going to "Time Out for Women".  Thanks for flying down to see us Jerai!

Scottsdale Fashion Square--oh what fun :)

Mia was such a happy camper while we shopped--all girls like to shop..right?

 

Mia still loves her Ergo Carrier...when she's not trying to dive out of it ;)

So..not my best picture..but its the only one I have from "Time out for Women"  It was an all day event on Saturday at a convention center downtown.  I came away from it feeling very uplifted, inspired, and empowered :)

With the holidays soon approaching, I've begun doing some more baking.  Some of it's healthy, some not so much.  But it's all been yummy, and totally worth it :)  Jake loves to help me mix all the ingredients together.  In these pictures we were making our special German Christmas bread called "Stollen".  This bread has been a tradition in our family since I was a little girl, and I love continuing it with my husband and kids.  And really, if you combine a yeast bread with cinnamon, lemon, raisins, and more..topped with layers of butter and powdered sugar--You just can't go wrong.

 We made 6 loaves.  (and stuck most of them in the freezer)  Plenty to enjoy all season long! :)

Ok, so this next sequence of pictures is unique in several ways.

1.  Mia's hair is long enough for pigtails.  !!!

2.  She's in a red dress.   I realized one day that I had dressed Mia in something red for like 6 days in a row.  I think my subconscious is missing my cold snowy Utah Christmas.  Bring on the Holidays :)

3.  Most importantly--call me vain if you'd like, but usually I photoshop out the cuts and scrapes on my kids--especially if it's a frame worthy photo.  But I couldn't edit that little forehead scratch away, because my friends, Mia cut open her face with....a Dorito.

...You read that right.  She gets very excited when she eats, especially if she is enjoying her food.  And that day she got carried away with her chip, and sliced a chunk out of her forehead, and grazed herself all the way down to her cheek.

Little Stinker.

Of course, she's one tough cookie and didn't even notice when she did it.  Crazy girl :)

Jake is becoming such a big boy.  Falling asleep random places :)  If I squint, I can almost imagine him as a teenager, slumped over on the floor like that. (ahhhh!)

 Up next, a post about Thanksgiving.  If you read this, thanks for taking an interest in my little family.  I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season, and finding little ways each day to feel joy. :)

Halloween 2011

We had a fun halloween this year! The Friday night before halloween we carved pumpkins with my sister and her family (i'll post pictures of that when I get them from her one of these days..) On Saturday night we went to our church Trunk-or-Treat. They combined all 3 wards from our building. They had food and games set up in the middle of the parking lot, surrounded by all the cars where the kids were trick or treating. It was so strange being outdoors for Halloween when it was 80 degrees!

Our little Mia was dressed as Tinkerbell and it was warm enough to go barefoot just like a real fairy ;)

Jake was our little Pirate, and Wesley and I (in a quick effort to match the kids) threw together "Lost Boys" costumes for ourselves. Holidays are so much fun with little kids!!!!

Jake was very brave, and put his hand into the dry ice cauldron to get his candy from this very creative trick or treat station!

Mia showing off her talents.

She has become very enthusiastic and cheesy in her photos lately. Here she was clapping!

On Halloween we met up with Jessica's family again. Since we both live in apartment complexes, we drove to a random neighborhood so the kids could go door to door the old fashioned way.

(look mom, no hands!)

Violet was little red riding hood, Sawyer was the big bad wolf, and mom and dad were the granny and the hunter :)

Eating (as usual) :)

Jake and Sawyer love each other so much! They had a great time going door to door together! Some of the houses had some pretty scary displays with music and creepy lighting, and the boys held hands and watched out for each other! (or in some cases, ran away together--terrified)

We are super cool.

Its not an Arizona holiday without a picture in front of a hideous cactus (sorry to all of you who like them, but I'm not a fan)

Happy Halloween!

Zoo with Dad

We are very excited about our recently purchased annual zoo passes. We wanted to wait until the weather cooled down before buying them, so the week it got below 90, we decided that on Saturday we would go with Daddy! Of course, that day ended up being unusually hot (99 in the middle of October???) but we went ahead and spent the day anyway. It was very hot, but very fun too. Here are a few pictures from the day. :)

We all loved petting the stingrays. I love those things, so soft and squishy!

Mia was pretty happy just eating nonstop in the stroller :)

say cheese!

petting the goats.

VERY typical Mia expression when she cant have what she wants (in this instance, to grab the goat and chew on him)

see her craning her whole body to get her way? This phase is not really my favorite, especially with such a determined/curious/fearless baby girl.

Good thing she's so cute!! ;)

Its a pretty great zoo--lots of great exhibits and kids play areas--I think we will definitely make good use out of those passes this year. :)