Twin Falls Trip

So, we made the trip up to visit our friends the Dilworths again last summer and true to form, didn't take any pictures of them or us all together... We're real good at that :) We were touristy a little and saw Shoshone Falls, and the Snake River. We also saw Toy Story 3 with them and grilled steaks and celebrated Father's Day with them.

{Wordless Easter 2010, well almost}

I think Max slept through the whole hunt....

{V-day 2010} pt 2

Last year for Valentines Day, Jim and I went to Monster Jam, Monster Truck Rally!

It was the first time either of us had been to one and it was so cool!

Extremely LOUD!!! and very fun :)
We like our romance big, dirty and dusty! Ha

{V-day 2010}

Valentines Day 2010

I forgot about these treats!
It's just popcorn,
v-day m&m's
and then melted white chocolate chips
mixed up
Yummy and so easy :)

Easter/Spring Break Recap

Sorry, the pictures are all out of order...my blogging skills have been lost and I can't find them...

Easter Sunday

Since it was a month ago now, I guess I should give a little recap of our Spring Break trip to California and Easter. We had a great time! It was pretty cold and windy part of the time we were there but we got to visit lots of friends and family and enjoy the annual easter egg hunt on the ranch.

Max on a mission!!

December Recap

A lot happened in December and I need to catch up with the NEW year... here's a recap with

A LOT of exclamation points:

the 1st part of the month we were all sickies and there was pretty much no Christmas Spirit to be found.

Then Sam was Santa's helper in the Jingle Jam at school.

Jim's brother Nathan came to visit on his way home from Rexburg

We made an INSANE trip to INDIANA for Christmas!!

3 days in the car, 4 days to visit, 3 days in the car.

Trip of a lifetime!

Never going to happen again!

Way too much family togetherness!

We found out Kansas is 1 of the worst drives ever!

Who knew that orange muppet was so good??

The midpoint in Kansas is a small town with a BIG name!


and in Abilene Kansas, they like our name and make some pretty good chocolate!


We drove right under this in St Louis

On Christmas Eve I turned 36 and took a pretty bad picture with Max



Max really enjoyed himself with the cupcakes

Our Christmas was pretty good but no pictures were taken to prove it.

We had good weather during the whole trip and no snow which made the drive a little more bearable. We spent a small fortune on new videos for the kids to watch in the car, but totally worth it! I am really glad we have that thing!

We got home to a couple feet of snow in the driveway but were so happy to be out of the car it didn't matter.



Our New Year's Eve was quiet except for the ROCK!

We had to try out the new Guitar Hero we got for Christmas.

Tomorrow is Sam's Birthday.

I am having a lot of trouble with Blogger.

I am CAUGHT UP!

Happy New Year!

36

Happy Birthday to ME!

and Merry Christmas to you all!

you can't take your eyes off him for 1 second

Monday night we made candy houses for FHE. It was a really messy reminder of why I don't do crafts with the kids.

The kids loved it! And while we were concentrating on the candy,

Max helped himself to the frosting...

He was willing to share...

and the stockings were hung.....precariously

The garland looked like this for about 2 weeks... I didn't feel like decorating it because Max kept unplugging it. Then I figured out a way to run the cord up the wall and over the top railing and plug it in a spot that he doesn't notice very much.
{poor photo skills at work}

Now he is more interested in the buttons on his stocking. I am just waiting for him to pull it all down.

A fun Christmas game

We have been out of commission with the sickies but I think we are finally out of the woods and I can see smooth sailing ahead. (How's that for a whole bunch of different colloquialisms mixed together) At least I had most of the decor up before I got sick so I could just lay around and be sick and think about how to change stuff up. Max has been helping out a lot with the rearranging of the decorations.

Notice how the bottom half of the tree is ornament-less??

This is the usual array of pulled off ornies, he just pulls a couple off whenever he happens by the tree. luckily most of them are wooden and unbreakable.

The Culprit caught sled handed!!

He's the only 1 of the kids that has ever been this grinch-y about the christmas decor.

Tomorrow I'll show you the before and after of my garland. {Before and after I figured out how to outsmart the little grinch. :)}

It's the most wonderful month of the Year!

Please disregard the mess, I am trying to Christmas-ize this blog and blogger is being the biggest pain ever! It's Dec 1st and you know what that means right? IT IS MY MONTH!! With all the important holidays! Don't worry I'll start the countdowns soon!

PS if you thought that was a ghost in the picture you are not alone. So did Brooke.

Baking Day

{assorted Thanksgiving crafts from school}

Today I am baking and baking and brining and baking....

all new recipes this year...

pumpkin-banana bread

chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

white chocolate raspberry bars

apple pie

and our new this year tradition...

the boys pick a pie and then make it with Daddy

this years choice... oreo

Tonight a new turkey trick, brine. We'll see if we can cook like the pros.

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and are grateful for you all!

Anyone want to come for pie?? We'll have pu-len-ty!!

Turducken or Tofurkey, Hardly a Choice

{image from yee design.com}

OR

So we haven't quite decided the T-day menu but it will not be including any of the above meat(less) products. We thought about deep frying a turkey but that is turning out to be a lot more expensive than we wanted to go. Gotta save money for pie! :)

Here are a couple of Thanksgiving vinyls from the website.

After Turkey Day I am starting a new blog to advertise the website, you remember the website right?

Trendycrafts.net

and there will be a sale or discount or giveaway or some thing...

so tell your friends!

{I'm starting a new blog because it seems a little weird to me to keep advertising only to 3 friends and my mom who read this blog. and it's another good reason to blog!

like I need another reason :)}

at least 3 tips to remember for next year

{ I love this little vintage looking tag, the flash washes it out though}

SO I have just awoke from a candy coma and need to get this down before I forget and next year turns out like this year did... not that this year was bad or anything... it was really good but it could have been a little better...

Tip #1.

Plan dinner ahead of time and (feed daddy before t o' t-ing or else he will be grum-py!)

I thought about it all day, I almost put something in the crock pot, I really wanted to get the Jack o' lantern pizzas from Papa Murphys, when I finally called to order it was an hour wait...

I guess everyone had the same idea... plus it was already 5 o'clock. (dinner time)

We went to Jim's workplace to trick or treat around the cubicles



and ended up with a ton of candy before the main event even started.


Sam is sort of a half hearted, casual costumer.

He didn't want to wear all the parts of his costume ie. no fangs, white face, whatev...


So because we already had a bunch of junk, imean candy, we had plenty for when we had trick or treaters which were only a few because we were t o' t-ing at the same time as everyone else on our street.



Tip#2.
Don't buy a ton of candy unless you know you will need it or else you will have a mountain of candy to last til next Halloween (or at least through the holidays :)


This girl didn't care about smiling all she wants is candy!

This is the best I could get of this guy. He would not stay still or keep his horns on.

too much candy? perhaps.

Tip #3 bring an extra bag along.

I don't have a photo of, but i'm sure you can imagine,

by the end of t o' t-ing I was in full costume.

I had 2 capes on, a handful of glow sticks, a glow in the dark pirate ring, (that wasn't glowing) a princess wand and a princess candy bucket that got "too hebby". Oh, and a baby devil who wanted to ride in the stroller, but had to fight for it with his princess sister and lost. Next year they are all going as "beach bums" in shorts and t's so there is no complaining about their costumes all night. Unless it's cold, then they will go as "kids in coats". :)

When we got home we were so tired, we didn't even turn on the porch lights

which is why we have tip #2.

Now I must get back to my candy.

Halloween Preview Guessing Game

Last night we tried on costumes and inspected accessories...

Can you guess who is going to be what?

Is Brooke going to be Batman?

Or is Jake?

Or is Jake going to be Dracula?

Or do you think it will be Sam?

Maybe Brooke is going to be a mix monster...

or maybe she will just wear nothing and go as Miss Piggy (family joke)
Tomorrow hopefully I can get them to nail down a costume and keep it on...