Christmas Update

It seems our blog is a little behind the times when it comes to our Christmas activities, so we will try to cram in as much as we can to get things up-to-date. First, we went to Donny's family party the weekend before Christmas, where we enjoyed the annual white elephant gift exchange. The star of the show was, of course, "the grapes" - they make an appearance every year and are always the life of the party. Grandma was the lucky winner this year, so they will be proudly displayed in her house. (Lucky Grandma....)
Tyler enjoyed making wrapping paper to get ready for Christmas - Megan's family used to do this when she was younger.

We came home a couple days before Christmas and got ready, then went to Megan's parents to spend the holiday. We were glad that we made the drive before all the snow came on Christmas morning. Tyler had a great time opening presents, though he couldn't understand why we were up so early. (Neither could we - he would have to ask his uncles about that one.) He loved his presents, and most of all he loved eating treats. (Maybe a little too much....) There was an early morning silly string attack, but most recovered from it fairly well. (Tyler didn't know what to think about it.) We also got to talk to Donny's brother Kyle, who is serving in the Independence Missouri Mission.

Megan's aunt's family had extra tickets to the Jazz game Friday night, so we were lucky enough to be able to go with them. We had a great time there - we sat on the very top of the arena. We also arrived early enough to get a free Jazz fleece blanket. Sweet!

Saturday we were off to another family Christmas party, this time with Megan's Dad's side of the family. Megan made some cupcakes from her new cupcake book (great gift!) Here are some pictures of how they turned out.

Christmas is coming.....

Christmas is coming so soon. Just one more week. Yipee!! I thought I should get on the ball and post a few of our christmas adventures we have had this year, before the season is over.

We made gingerbread houses this year, two in fact. I don't ever remember making one before so this was a new adventure for me. i think they turned out pretty fun. The first one I made with Donny's brother and sister. My favorite part is the Santa and reindeer on top. Complete with a sleigh and santa's bag of toys on the chimney. They next house Donny and I made while Tyler enjoyed eating the red hots. It was a lot of fun.

We spontaneously went up to SLC on Monday night. We were driving to the store to rent a movie from the redbox and heard a commercial on the radio about a sing along up at the ESA with free admission, free food, and free parking. So we looked at each other and said "Wanna go?" So we turned around and headed to Salt Lake. It was a lot of fun. We got free hotdog and soda. They had a orchestra playing all the music. We sang Christmas songs and then Santa and the Jazz bear came. Tyler wasn't sure what to think of all the people in the arena. He pulled this face for the first little while. then he warmed up and was clapping and dancing and even trying to sing. It was so cute.

After the caroling sing along we rode trax over to Temple square. It was cold so we were not there very long. It was so nice to see all the beautiful lights. Here are a few pictures of that.

Then this evening my sister threw a suprise gradutaion party for her husband. It was fun. he had no idea. We had pizza and cake and ice cream. I didn't take pictures of the party but here are the cakes I made.

He graduated from UVU. We are so excited for him. Congratulations ROB!

Christmas Craziness

Welcome to our living room, 2008. Some might say that we went overboard in decorating for Christmas this year... They're probably right.

Festival of trees

I love the festival of trees. If you have never been, you should go. It is awesome. It is really not a bad price either. $4 for an adult. Less for children, free under 2. It is over now. It ended on Saturday. The best part about it is that all the money goes to primary childrens hospital. There are thousands of trees, decorated and set up through out the whole South towne expo center. People start planning for these trees and gather things for them through out the entire year. Some are all bought, others are hand made. This year one family's tree included a entire life long Santa clause collection of a relitive who had passed on. The tree was selling for $3500. That was one of the most expensive trees but most sell for at least $500. Again it all goes to primary childrens. They have other things there as well besides trees. They have delicious scones and cinnamon rolls! YUM! They have entertainment, a little shop to buy mostly hand made crafts and stuff, door decorations, and my favorite.... the ginger bread houses. WOW! I cannot believe the talent that go into some of these things. It is wonderful. My husbands family usually donates a tree every year. This year they took a break but I think they missed it. I hope they plan to do it next year because I really want to help. Here are some pictures of our day at the festival.

This tree was made of glass. It had lights behind each leaf and it danced to the music that was playing. Very cool.

This is our family picture with the snow man. Tyler got a little bored and fell asleep. This ginger bread castle was HUGE! You cancompare it with the people standing behind it. I cannot imagine how much ginger bread they used.This was one of my favorite gingerbread houses. I just thought it looked cool. They had a awesome cabin gingerbread house but my picture turned out fuzzy. It was my favorite. Very detailed.

Tomorrow we are making gingerbread houses with my sister and her family. If only we had this kind of talent.

Also, we had our ward christmas party last Friday evening. It was a Christmas morning theme. We all wore our PJs and had a yummy breakfast meal for dinner. This is becomming a tradition in our ward and it is so much fun. We also had a visit from Santa Clause. I'm not sure if that was a good or bad thing. I'm not sure one child was smiling while sitting on his lap. Those that dared were not very sure of him. Most were screaming their heads off. Here are a few pictures of Tyler with Santa.....

Aren't we cute elves?

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Myth... Busted.

I have always been told that you can't carve those miniature decorative pumpkins.... But as it turns out, yes you can! (cell phone added for size comparison)

(Maybe our next post will make the transition to Christmas instead of Halloween topics.)

Look who's walking!

Look at our big boy! Isn't he so grown up? He's had the balance for quite a while, we were just wondering when he would be brave enough to take his first steps. Well now he wont stop. He loves it and he's so proud of himself. We are very proud of him too. He is a bit clumsy, even more so on our slippery wood floors but he's doing very well for just learning a couple of days ago.

Blog? What's a blog?

For all of you accustomed to interesting, high-quality posts, I'd like to apologize. This is Donny, making my first post.... ever. So don't abandon our blog if you're unimpressed - Megan will still be handling most of the posting responsibilities. With that disclaimer, here goes...

I had a birthday last week. I am now a quarter of a century old. (sounds more impressive when you say it like that.) Megan (and her family) put together a very nice dinner & surprise party for me. She's good at things like that. Thanks to everyone that came, too. Here is a picture of me looking surprised.

In her usual style, Megan decided to make multiple cakes - which didn't clue me in to anything because she has done it before because she "can't decide which one to make." Here are her latest two creations: a football player and Lavell Edwards Stadium. Very impressive!

Thanks Megan for a great birthday!

Halloween update

We had a lot of fun this year for halloween. We got to dress up quite a few times. First, our ward put on an awesome halloween party. Everyone had very creative costumes. We carved and painted pumpkins and then made carmeled apples. Yum! I didn't get a very good picture of our costumes but here they are....
I am a girl being abducted by an alien. (I wish I had a better picture) can you tell what I am? My boys are the MEN IN BLACK! Don't they look so good? I think so!

Second, We went to a family halloween party at my parents. We had a lot of delicious halloween treats. We played halloween pictionary. Then we split up into groups and made scarecrows out of anything we could find around the house. It was so funny. This is what my groups scarecrow turned out like. I'll tell you what, it would definitly scare me if I was a crow! haha

Donny and I brought Tyler to the pumpkin patch. We dressed him up as a frog for that. Tyler was also a frog on halloween night. We went to St. george and went to a trunk or treat and around the neighborhoods with my little cousins. Here are a few pictures of Tyler at the pumpkin patch and of our pumpkins we got there.

My pumpkin is the painted one. Donny's is the carved one. We later carved Tyler's when we were in St. George, but didn't get a picture.
We went to St. george because one of my best friends(Megan) got married on Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding. They are such funny people. Tyson (Megs husband) decided he wanted to wear a kilt for his wedding. Random, he is not Scottish, he didn't serve his mission in Scottland, he just wanted to, so he did. haha Then for the reception, they had everyone wear their halloween costumes. It was awesome. I didn't get any pictures of the reception, but here is a picture of the happy couple! I love you Meggs!!!

Bad Spagetti?

I made spagetti for dinner. I'm not sure Tyler likes it. What do you think?

baby shower

My mom, sister, and I threw a baby shower for my two cousins. Felicia and Cherese. This is Felicia's first and its a girl. I am so excited for her. Then Cherese is having her 3rd but first boy! Yipee. We love boys! Anyway, I was incharge of the treat and I completly forgot to take pictures of my treats. I made fruit flowers, but not with out the help of my wonderful sister-in-law Amanda. I also made flower cupcakes that looked like a bouqet of roses. So just imagine, they were beautiful. Here is the only picture of the food I made......frosting.

I did get pictures of the gifts I made them. I made them both a diaper cake. Well Amanda helped wrap that diapers, which was the hardest part. Really they were pretty simple and fun to make. They had 2 cans of formula in the centers. Here they are....





Congrats! Felicia and Cherese, I can't wait to see your new babies.

Birthday time!

My sweet baby turned 1 year old today. I can't believe he's so old. Seems like just yesterday he came into this world, yet it feels like he's been a part of my life forever. The year has gone by so fast. We had a fun rubber ducky birthday party for him on Saturday. He got so many gifts, thank you everyone that came. He loves them. He enjoyed opening his gifts and eating his cake. Here are a few pictures....

Tyler's party this way...

Follow the duck feet

The sign says, "Welcome to Tylers tub! "Come on in the waters fine."

blow up duck full of drinks

Snacks

These are the cups to put your snacks in. Cute little ducks eh?

I couldn't decide on what cake to make. So I made 3 small ones. I know I am ridiculous, but most of it was eaten.

This one fell apart as I was putting it on the table... but you get what it was right..?

We had some baby bottle bowling! GO MADILYN!!

Tyler opening his gifts. He tried to climb right in all the bags to get his toys. it was so funny!

He finally got a ball. Thanks Chels!

Tyler mostly just picked at the ducks face. I think he was nervous with everyone looking at him.

He finally dug in when the attention was off him.

I thought of buying a bubble blower but instead I had my brother Matt. Tyler loved the bubbles! Thanks Matt!!!

The birthday party was a blast. Now we just have to find a spot for all his new toys. Thanks for everyone that came. Happy birthday Tyler. I love you so much!