Thanksgiving

For as long as I have know Jon, (15+ years) they have spent every Thanksgiving in California with is Grandparents. This past summer they moved into a new home and decided to have Thanksgiving in Utah.

It was a very nice day of good food and family.

Brianna and Carly treated us all to a puppet show about a troll who wants to have trukey for Thanksgiving dinner but all the turkeys have run away so has to have fish instead.

They made it up by themselves and it was so cute!

They had tons of fun playing with Courtney

Jon's sister and her family.


My cute little family.

Happy Birthday Atty!

Yesterday was my cute nephew Atty's 2nd Birthday.


Car's Pinata.


Yummy cupcakes!

I made him some Curious George Jammies

And some Cars Jammies

My Little Niece Zoe love the jammies she got for her birthday so much that I had to make her some more.

I made matching ones for the 3 girls.

Forgive me for waxing cheesy, But, I just love that the girls loved their jammies so much. It made me sew very happy to see them dancing around like the princesses they are in their nightgowns. I love giving people things I created. It's like a present to myself, because I had so much fun making it and now I get to watch them enjoy it. When Bri woke up this morning she didn't want to take hers off. I hope when my nieces and nephews get older they will talk about how Aunt Alison always made us the coolest jammies.

Our New Fireplace

Many of you know that we have spent the better part of this year redoing the main floor of our house. We finished the kitchen mid summer and took a bit of a break before starting on the living room. We painted and put in new floor, but our biggest project was the fire place.
I've always loved that we had a fireplace and hated how it looked. This is a random picture that shows the before.

This was taken right before we started to work on it.

And this is the finished product. I absolutely love it. It turned out far better than I imagined. We decided it would be to expensive and to big of a pain to tear it out completely so we decided to tile over it in slate. Jon and I layed the tile together. I even used the tile saw and finished it by myself one day when I got antsy to get it done. We also built the mantel ourselves. I love it. I never loved my house before because it didn't feel like us. Now we can never move because we have put so much of ourselves into it. As much as I want to be done, we really have had fun doing our house. Jon and I are a good team. He is becoming much more patient with me and lets me do thing he wouldn't have before because he know I want to learn. Now we just have to figure out how to decorate the rest of the room.

Happy Birthday Grandma Phyllis

Happy Birthday Mom! We hope you had a wonderful day.

To have the worries of a 6 year old

Thursday night I was awakened at 3 in the morning by Brianna crying hysterically. I ran to her room thinking she was sick, but she had just had a bad dream. So I brought her into our room to sleep the rest of the night with us. When she climbed into our bed Jon asked her what her dream was about. She said, "I dreamed that I ripped my Bell dress and mommy couldn't fix it and I couldn't wear it anymore." Jon and I just laughed.
How nice would it be if your worst nightmares were about ruined Halloween costumes.

New Do

I love Carly's pretty long blond hair. But I don't love the daily screaming that we endure every time we want to brush it. I really don't know how other Moms get their daughters hair looking so smooth and parted straight, with cute little pony tails and twistys. My kids would never go for it. It is torture just to brush it. So, I give up. As much as it pains me, we decided to cut it off.

My good friend Tammy cuts our hair and when I threatened to cut it as short as Daddy's one day she said she wanted to look like Brianna's.

When Tammy asked me how to cut it Carly piped up and said she wanted it cut like her sister.

Six inches! I didn't realize her Hair was that long.

Very cute!

The Party

My girls are always planning a party. When this party is or what it is for has yet to be determined, but the are planning. So far Carly has a stash of bubble gum and other assorted candy left over from Halloween stored in her room for the elusive party. They are always changing the menu, but chocolate chip cookies, brownies and 'Pite' (Sprite) will be served,along with spray cheese, princess fruit snacks and peel cheese. The guest list is growing too. Carly has me write the names of all her friends of post-it's and she has them arranged going up the stairs because apparently this is where her party will take place. Brianna's party will be in her room and everyone is to wear hats. She also would like for me to arrange for a horse to be there. The biggest insult one can give in our house lately is to be uninvited to the party, tears ensue and when they finally make up they are of course re-invited.
Who knows maybe you will be invited!

As good as it gets.

I know this doesn't look a heck of of alot better, but the fact that there is carpet showing is amazing. This is pretty much as good as it gets. It is the catch all room and I always have about 20 projects going, so it never get clean.

Ahhhhhhhh

You might be thinking that my house must have been ransacked recently. But no. Sadly this is a picture of the current state of my sewing room. Scary! This is my project for the day. Don't worry I will tie a string around me so I can find my way out again.

31

This is a long one folks.


I saw this one day when I was blog stalking and it got me thinking. So I have been thinking of 31 things or people that most influenced my life. Why 31? Because I turn 31 today, of course.

1. Moving to Utah. I was only 3 but it obviously changed my life.
2. Rachel Lee (Banks)
3. Tiff Waldron (Houston)
I met Rachel and Tiffany when I was 3. I'm happy they are still my friends today.
But they were who I learned how to be a friend from.
4. Annie I loved this musical when I was a kid. Music has always played a big part in my life.
5. My Baptism.
6. Utah Opera & Sandy Musicals
7. Natalie Nelson I met Nat the first day of middle school. She was a good friend for alot of years and helped me through a lot of rough times. Sadly we have parted ways. I miss her.
8. Mrs. Walton this is strange one I know, but she encouraged me to dance even though I didn't look like a dancer. She really helped me to accept my body.
9. 2nd period Girls chours. What a fun class where I met some great friends.
10. Jill Roundy (Oaks) I've know Jill since middle school, but we didn't really get to be friends till high school. She is sill my best friend, I even named on of my girls after her. She is such and amazing mom and I really value her advice. I really admire her. I don't know what I'd do with out her.
11. Brother Thurson was my seminary teacher my jounior year. He helped me get through the worst year of my life. It is because of him I still have faith today.
12. My parents divorce. Sucked, But I know I never want to go through that or put my children through it. I think I work harder at being married and learned from their mistakes.
13. Mr. Bently (I know he is Dr. now but he was Mr. to me.) taught me I can change lives with music.
14. Vocal Ensamble
15. Getting married at 18
16. My dad living with us.
17. Nora Roberts, cheesy I know but her books reminded me how much I love to read and what a great escape from reality it is. She also introduced me to a great group of ladies and helped me to step out of my comfort zone and have some great adventures.
18. Infertility
19. Brianna my sweet little girl. I didn't know I could love so much until I had her. I learn from her everyday.
20. The miscarriage of my 3 rd baby. I lost this baby at 17 weeks. It was one of the wost days of my life. By I learned so much from it.
21. Carly's Birth. I had Carly very fast and with out drugs. I realized how strong I am.
22. Carly my little monster. I love Carly so much, but it is a good thing she is so cute and sweet, because she is a handful.
23. Bertha Blondquist, is a 92 year-old woman who lives on my street. For her 90th birthday she crochet 90 baby hats to donate. She is serving people every day even thought she can't get around very well. I want to grow up to be just like her.
24. My brother Jon. Jon is one of the best people I know. He is always willing to help, even if he doesn't want to, but is quiet in his service
25. My sister Jen. We have always fought the way sisters do, but for a lot of years we weren't friends. Now I don't know what I'd do with out her. She is the best aunt to my girls and we have become the best of friends.
26. My family, for many years after my parents divorce my family was broken. I learned that we can have our differences and still love each other.
27. 9/11 It changed all of our lives. Jen lived in NY at the time and I've never been so scared in my life.
28. My Dad
29. Bompy, My Bompy passed away this past spring. It was very hard for me to let him go and I still get a little sad about it sometimes. He was a great example of service and determination. What a life he lead. I'm sad my girls will probably not remember him. He loved them so much.
30. My Mom. So probably doesn't think she is a great influence on my life but I saw how much she sacrificed for us and how hard she works still. I really love her and she is always there for me whenever or for whatever I need her. She is always a friend to the friendless.
31. Jon where would I be without Jon. I love him so much. He is truly a partner and I love working with him. I think we are the perfect team. He loves me no matter what I look like. He is the most giving person I have ever met. I'm so lucky to get to share my life with him.

So there it is. The sum of my life so far. I like my life and I think I have become a pretty good person, thanks to some pretty incredible people I have been blessed to know.

Sick

So I've had the blah's and now they have turned into sick. I caught a virus last week that was mainly annoying but didn't make me sick, and since I had so much to do, I just kept going. My doctor told me it was brought on by stress and I needed to slow down, but how? So now I caught the stomach flu. So I spent the better part of yesterday home in bed. (I still had to be at a PTA meeting and take Carly to pre-school and get Bri when she came home sick) I'm feeling a little better today, but still rather run down. SO I'm going to hope that the girls will stay out of trouble this afternoon so I can get some rest.

Happy Birthday Zoe!

I'm a little late with my Birthday wishes, but my sweet niece Zoe turned 3 on Sunday. She is the smartest and cutest little 3 year old. Aunt Misti did a great job with her party. She Had all the kid wear their costumes since it was so close to Halloween.

Baby Jack the Bumble Bee

Atticus the Tiger

All the kids. Brianna, Kenzie, KJ, Carly Atticus and Zoe. Jack was a sleep.

All the kids got to frost their own little cakes.

Then we opened presents.

I made Zoe some new Jammies.



She liked the princess ones best and wore them the rest of the night.


Her favorite present was a little tent that all the kids tried to get in.

Atty giving baby Jack a kiss.

Baby Jack doing what he does best. Being darn cute!

I really love my family!

Happily Ever After

Twelve years ago I believed in fairy tales. My reality at that time of my life was not ideal. My parents had just ended a 25 year marriage in a very bitter divorce that left our family in pieces. My mom was living with her parents and my dad was getting remarried. I had just graduated high school and was pretty much on my own. The bright spot was that I had met my Prince Charming and we were in love. So at the age of 19 (technically I was still 18 for one more week) I married my High school sweet heart and we started a life together. We heard the whisperings that we were too young, getting married for the wrong reasons and that it wouldn't last.

Twelve years later I still believe in Fairy tales. But my reality is better than any fairy tale. It has not always been easy. We have had our struggles along the way. We've dealt with family issues, at times we've struggled financially, we've had fertility problems and miscarriage. But through all the hard times I've always known that Jon was right beside me. to hold my hand and give me strength, or make me laugh or be my shoulder to cry on.

Our life is not spectacular, but we have a lovely home, Jon loves his job and best of all we have the two most beautiful daughters in the world. Jon is and amazing husband and father. What more could I ask for?

Even though I believed in Fairy tales, I never dreamed that Jon and I would be this happy. He Really is my best friend. There is no one else I would rather spend time with. We have both changed a lot in the last 12 years. But I love the man Jon has become more and more every day. And I have never doubted his love for me. I can't wait to see what the years bring. And good or bad I know that I will always have Jon by my side and together we can do anything.

I Love you Jon! Happy anniversary!

More

Here are a few more pictures from Halloween. What a busy day!

Brianna in the School Parade

I helped with the party for Brianna's class. Carly came too.

Three Princesses. Cousin Courtney

Cinderella really likes olives.