The Real Meaning of Christmas

I loved this video, especially told from the viewpoint of a child. Please watch it!

Happy 27!!

Adam turns 27 tomorrow. That's right, he can no longer claim mid 20s, he is now in his late 20s... old man :) I met Adam when he was just barely 22. Five years might not seem very long, but sometimes it's hard for me to remember life before Adam. My life is definitely much better with him in it. I consider myself very lucky to be married to such a wonderful person. I'm grateful for his VERY young heart (sometimes I tell people that he's my third child), it helps me keep things in perspective. He doesn't have to make himself play with the kids, he just does it because he likes to :) He works very hard for us and he rarely complains about anything. Sure, I like to poke fun at him and call him nerdy and laugh about his love for video games, but he takes it well. Thanks for the past 5 years, love.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!


p.s. a little better shot of the cake... adam was nice enough to let me make him a charlie brown cake for him this year

A Few of my Favorite Things

In tribute to the holiday season and my love for all things Christmas, I thought I would take a moment to tell you all "A Few of my Favorite Things". Perhaps it's also in tribute to my old friend Oprah (we broke up a few years ago due to a difference in morals and beliefs) who does her annual My Favorite Things episode... even though I can never afford any of the products.
So here we go, in no particular order.

The Pilot


I was worried that making this purchase was a little extravagant when we first bought it. We could afford it, but it still felt a little too luxurious :) However, I don't know that there's a single day that goes by that I don't think about how grateful I am for this car. Sure, we've only got 2 kids, we could squeeze them into a sedan, but it sure makes grocery trips, vacations, and large item maneuvering a breeze. I love it. And it has leather heated seats. Every mess wipes right off and I love heated seats when I'm pregnant. Weird? Yes. All pregnant women have weird things like that.

My Foundation


I love this foundation. It's water based, so it feels weightless and it moisturizes well. And it's only $7 (at Walgreen's, anyway)!

Satin Ice Fondant


I've sworn to never ever ever ever use homemade marshmallow fondant EVER again. This stuff is about 5 billion times better. I used to get so frustrated trying to figure out why my cakes wouldn't have that flawless smooth look like professional cakes do. Turns out they use this stuff, although I've heard Massa Grischuna is the best, but their smallest fondant order would cost me close to $100. Little pricey for me (or a lot pricey), even if it is 13 pounds of fondant... I'm just not sure how well it would store. I have yet to use Fondx, ChocoPan, or Fondarific, all of which I've heard are even better than Satin Ice, but I really do love this stuff. I can find it here in Vegas too, so I don't have to pay my life savings on shipping.

Water/Ice Dispenser


Ok, so this thing has been a blessing and a curse. It's wonderful to have because we all drink a little more water in our house because it's just so convenient. However, Hallie also likes to fill numerous cups and bowls up with it to slurp out of like a cat, only to dump it all over the floor. Oh well, at least my kitchen floor gets mopped on a regular basis.

2 car garage
I don't have a picture of our garage and I'm too lazy to go take one right now, but I love having a 2 car garage, or just a garage at all. We've become so used to going outside when it's raining or snowing and scraping off ice and snow. We live in Vegas now, so we don't really have to worry about the snow, but we do get nasty gusts of wind... and we live in the desert, so we get a lot of dust. It's just nice to have a little extra storage space too. I think that might have been our most favorite thing about getting a house :) (We have yet to put in a yard, but I'm sure that will be the new favorite once it's in)

The CHI


What an inspired product. This thing has saved me hours of time over the one year time span I've had it. Love it. It's a little more expensive, but I promise, it's well worth the money. My mom has the GVP brand which is cheaper, and she says she likes it just as much, so it's definitely something to look into if you're interested.

Mint.com


I'm the budgeter of the family. I feel like I'm a pretty serious budgeter too. I check it 2-3 times a week to make sure we're on track and I always know where all our money is going at all times. We've got our money in 5 different places, 3 different credit cards that we use regularly, the mortgage, and some student loans. All this can become really overwhelming if it's all with different companies and banks. However, mint.com will bring it all together for you, for free!! It takes a little to set it all up, but you'll never regret it once you do. It sends you emails reminding you to pay off credit cards, you can set up a budget for every category, it gives money saving tips, it shows ALL your transactions from all your different accounts on one page, it's a very secure and safe way to keep track of your money, and the list goes on. In short, it's marvelous. Do it. Now.

Christmas


I'm in love with Christmas. I love the lights, the music, the parties, the food, the gingerbread houses, the shopping, the cold weather (only until Christmas though, after that I want it to hurry up and get warm), the hot chocolate, the bell ringers, the magic, everything. I love it all. It makes me sad when people complain about the decorating or the hussle and bustle. To me, you do it all because you're celebrating the birth of Christ and to show other people you love them. I still wake up early on Christmas morning, it's still super exciting to me to see all the presents and stockings stuffed to the brim. I'm really really excited to go up to Idaho this year. I love my family, and I miss them.

My Hubby


There he is. The man that keeps me sane. He's my anchor in life. When the kids are driving me insane and the house is a disaster and I just want to run away, he helps me pick myself back up and gives me the courage to keep going, even if I don't want to. He wakes up with the kids every morning at 6:30 (or earlier) so I can get some extra sleep, and he always does his best to be home as much as he possibly can. He works hard for us, and he puts up with me, which is saying something :)

The Kids


I love my kids. Sure, they cause most of the stress in my life, especially the older one there, but I still love them. My life centers around them. I do what I do because I have kids. I love all the cute things Hallie says, and despite all the frustration she causes me, she has a good little heart. Ashton is impossible not to love. He loves all people. He's my little snuggle-kissy-food-eating-fat boy. I have great kids :)

the kidlets

I was putting up a photo frame collage on one of the walls in our house and needed some extra candid shots of the kids. So we packed them up and headed over to the Morris' to use their uber camera. Here's some of the goodness.

Roller Toasters and Hiccups

We had a very fun week! On Wednesday we made the trek down to Disneyland with Adam's family. The kids (especially Hallie) had a GREAT time. Hallie was always asking to go see Mickey or Minnie, ride on a "roller toaster" or the "hiccups" (aka teacups). The girl takes after her dad for sure. Adam and Hallie like to go crazy and do lots of things all the time while my favorite parts of any vacation is the relaxing, sitting in the hot tub, drinking hot chocolate, not having to cook or clean parts. Let's face it, I'm just the lazy terd while they're the go-and-doers. I have a feeling Ashton might be more like me. His favorite part of Disneyland was eating. I had never met a child that loves to eat more than Ashton until I saw this picture at the Anne Geddes store in Downtown Disney...



This kid takes the cake... and eats it too. He truly is fatter than Ashton, which is quite a feat in and of itself.

Anyway, here's some pictures of the kids at Disneyland!


Who thought that Hallie would be afraid of Mickey? Not I!





Naturally Ashton's first stop at Minnie's house was the fridge. He was a little upset when he found out that the food wasn't real.


Hangin' out with "Grampy"


I actually got part of my inspiration for Ashton's Cars cake from some other person's blog standing by this exact same Mater.


And of course, what would Disneyland be without Goofy?

We got back into town Saturday night just in time to hurry and change into costume and go Trick or Treating. I still need to get pictures from the actual Halloween night from the Morris' but here's one from our Trunk or Treat night with the ward earlier in the week.


We bummed our costumes off Adam's family. Hallie was pretty excited to be a kitty after becoming obsessed with my Mom's cat when we visited earlier in the month. Ashton was rather indecisive about his costume so he was a lion for Trunk or Treat and Superman for Halloween.
All in all, it's been a pretty fun week for everyone! We all just have some catching up on sleep to do and hopefully Adam won't be too far behind on his studying :)
(....right)

It's OK to eat the cake!

Many people have told me that they would feel guilty eating one of my cakes. It's true, a lot of time and love goes into my cakes, but if you DON'T eat them, they will rot, disintegrate, and just be nasty in a month or two. So PLEASE, EAT THE CAKE. After all, it's meant to be eaten. If you are still finding yourself a little nervous about taking the initial plunge, may I provide a brief visual tutorial.

Part 1. Seeing the cake for the first time, and feeling a sense of guilt knowing that it will soon be destroyed.






Part 2. The Birthday Boy


Part 3. Deciding what to eat first... (Mater or McQueen?!? It's so hard to choose, Mom!!)


Part 4. THE PLUNGE, YUM!


Part 5. Basking in the Deliciousness (No, he's not hemorrhaging from the mouth, it's food coloring)


Part 6. The casualty


The End.
Hopefully this little tutorial has settled some of your nerves about eating these cakes. I promise, they really are very good, and as long as you get a lot of fabulous pictures, you won't feel guilty for eating the cake.

Despite Ashton's grumpiness and refusal to smile for any of the pictures, his birthday was a success. I can't believe my little boy is already one! Happy Birthday, Buddy!! Mommy and Daddy love you tons!

Trip to IDAHO

Last week the kids and I went up to Idaho for a much needed love-cation. Since the move to Vegas, I have been a bit upset about my new surroundings and have really been missing my family. I knew Adam could use the time to work in some overtime or study, so we took off to the cold but oh-so-wholesome land of Rexburg. We had a fantastic time while we were there. Hallie and Tate got along great and rarely fought, Ashton eventually warmed up to the place and Hallie found her new best friend, the "kitty" (apparently my family doesn't wish to become too emotionally connected to the cat, which is why she doesn't have a name). We also got to meet our new cousin/niece, Sydney! What a CUTIE! (and such a nice baby)
It was just wonderful to be with my family and to know that they're always there for me, even if I am far away.



Sydney... love that expression, looks like she's trying to embrace her inner Elvis.


You can never get them to all look at once, so this is about as good as it gets. GO TRIBE


Hallie and Tate doing their favorite exercise... jumping off the fireplace. However, this exercise appears to be a gateway to other, more dangerous practices, such as jumping off the table, jumping off the couch ONTO the table, and so on, so close attention is required.

We had such a wonderful time! Thanks family, for such a great trip (hopefully the kids didn't destroy the house too much)! Can't wait to see you at Christmas!

BYU v UNLV 2009

So, I was able to go to the BYU/UNLV game this w/e. I had a pretty good time and awesome seats. My dad was able to secure 2 row seats on the 35 yd line! ...not too shabby.

Anywho, I brought along my parents uber-camera, unfortunately, I failed to bring the uber-lens. I got a couple decent snaps here and there, but being a night game, the lighting wasn't ideal enough to get some good action shots.

ENJOY!

Game ON! CHALLLLLANGE!
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaBTaok3qG0 )
 

Here’s some ACTION FOR YOU! This was the best, non-blurriest action shot of the night for me…what a budding photographer am I!
 

UNLV’s coaching staff has recently decided that recruiting high-school students wasn’t nearly as effective as recruiting Wild BEASTS! Yeah…and this one is lickin’ his chops. He must be hungry, like Julius PEPPERS!
 

Another recruiting strategy UNLV adopted, Mr. T! I got no time for the jibba-jabba!
 

Who needs Mr. T, when you can have KISS!
 

[meow]
 

Jake and Matty...Matty is pretty much a celebrity at the football games. He frequents the scoreboard with his wicked sick dancing movezzz.
 

-ADAM

50th Birthday!

My dear father-in-law just turned 50! My mother-in-law asked me to make a cake for his birthday in exchange for watching the kids all day for me. That was a fantastic trade-off for me, so how could I say no (I LOVE my kids, but it's just nice to have a break occasionally, ya know)? Anyway, he's quite the runner, he just ran St. George last week, so I made a cake to show off his talent.

A new 'do?

I need a haircut, BAD. Haircut time is always exciting for me, I like to try new things. However, I still don't know of a good stylist in Vegas and I don't want to pay more than $30 for a cut. So the first obstacle will be finding a good stylist (I prefer people that specialize in shorter hair) that fits my budget.
So until I figure that out, I need to find a cut!

Should I go with the trim and keep the cut I have?





Go back to the Victoria Beckham asymmetrical cut?



Try out this cute cut?







Or grow it out? (Not likely, I have no patience)