Santa!

My Aunt Sherrie host our family Christmas party every year. She has an in with Santa so we are lucky enough to get to see him every year. The kids have so much fun.

Bri asked Santa to bring her a microscope.

Carly was so excited when he arrived that she was jumping up and down like she was on a pogo stick. She was so cute with him.

Who cares if they are naughty or nice, they are just too darn cute!

Joy!

It is worth every penny and all the time I spend standing out in the cold to see this look on her face.

Two little dancers

Dance recitals are always very exciting but this year we have two reasons to be exited because Carly got to dance in the recital for the first time.

Miss Brianna in all her 50's fabulousness.

My little ballerina Carly. She was so excited to wear make up and kept asking all day long if it was time to get ready yet.

Bri was so cute to help her sister out. She would practice her dance with her and tell her all about how things would work at the recital.

First up was Brianna with the Jingle Bell rock.

She is such a little performer.

Bri and her class have really improved since last spring. I was very inpressed.

I'm glad to know she has so much fun.

Next was Carly in Once There was a Snowman.

The song was so cute and the girls all knew just how cute they are.

My favorite part of the song. His arm's, are twigs.

The Flash trick step. Her favorite part of the dance.

The other thing Carly was excited for was for her daddy to give her flowers after the performance. They do two shows one right after the other, but at the break in between shows. Carly said to me "Isn't anybody going to give me flowers?" She was so excited when Daddy gave them to her after the 2nd show.

Of course sister got some too. I'm so proud of my sweet little dancers.

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth! (and a pony)

She is so stinkin cute, even without teeth! I love that kid.


I'm having more fun than usual decorating and thought I'd show a few pictures of our cute house.

I love our tree. It is fake and we got it our first Christmas after we got married so this is it's 14th Christmas. Somewhere along the way we wrapped the lights on it so they stay on. Every year we say that if some of the lights don't work we will get a new tree, and every year they turn on. Our tree is starting to look a bit like Charlie Brown's tree but I love it anyway. Our decorations are ones we've collected over the years and I make sure to write the year we got them somewhere on them. We usually buy new ones when we are on vacation and we always let the girls pick a new one each year. My favorite part of decorating the tree is remembering the stories that go with each ornament. We have one from my Grandma who passed away 7 years ago and it is nice to remember her every year. My favorite is the story of the star on the top of our tree. When Bri was 3 she thought the tree needed a star. When we got home from the store after getting the star, she walked in the house and said. "We're home tree! And we got you a star." Good times.

We especially love our fireplace and think it looks extra fabulous decorated for the holiday. I made our stockings. The first one I made was for Jon when I was still in high school and he was living in Tennessee. I later replaced the cuff on the stocking and embroidered our names on them. I kept the extra fabric and made one for each of the girls when they came along.

We went to Jon's company party last night. Bri took our picture before we left. I think we still make a pretty good looking couple.

I hope your all enjoying the holidays!

These are my choices?

I feel like my post have been a little on the negative side lately but, I have a bit of a rant.
Jon's company does a pretty nice Christmas party every year. It's one of the few time we get to really dress up and I really enjoy it. So you would think that having lost 60 pounds that it would be fun to shop for a party outfit, But it's not. I'm currently a 16 which is just on the brink of being in the Misses department, but I was extra blessed in the boobs department so the Misses still just doesn't quite do it for me so I'm still stuck shopping in the plus size department. The problem with plus sizes is that they tend to have two styles; old lady clothes or hooker clothes. Why are my only choices either Stretch velvet tops embossed with glitter, or low cut satin and lace that people my size should not be wearing? Usually I have some luck at Lane Bryant but this year is a different story. Is it so much to ask to be able to have a nice flattering shirt with just a bit of bling? I don't even want a dress (which are near impossible to find) this year. I ended up with a shirt from Old Navy. I'm not in love with it but it should look nice at least, and at least Old Navy cloths run big so I can actually fit into something that doesn't have an X in the size.

I promise my next post I will try not to be so ornery.

One day at a time

For about the past month I find myself thinking, "if I can just get through this boutique things will calm down." Then days later thinking again, "if I can just get through donut date (I'm in charge of donut dates at our school which is an activity for the whole school that we do about 8 times a year and about 300 people attend, I ran out of food my first time in charge so I'm pretty stressed out every time I have to do it) life will calm down." Then a few days later I again think, " if I can get this house decorated and this family dinner over with, life will calm down." A few days later I think again, " Just one more boutique this year and things will calm down" I'm currently hoping things will calm down after I finish up the church activity tonight, Only to realize that we have a day of rehearsals for a dance recital , followed by a company party. Then a few days later the actual dance recital, about 10 special orders to be completed before Christmas, family Christmas parties, wrapping, more sewing, and, and, and. So will life ever calm down? Probably not till Dec 26, which is fine. I like to be busy, I wish that the busy could be a little more spread out sometimes. But, I'm starting to get in the Spirit of the season. Decorations, wrapping and continuous Christmas music have helped. My little bossiness is actually doing rather well, which is keeping me busy, but I'm glad that people are liking my stuff and actually want to buy it. I've done several in home Boutiques (if your having one and want me to come I'd live to ;) just tell me the time and place) and they have gone really well. I'm so excited to see my little dancer and watch them with Santa and get together with my family. I'm sure I'm not the only Mom who is just trying to get through the day. I hope you all are enjoying the season and aren't too busy.

He's the best, and a little Christmas fun

My husband thinks it funny that on all the blogs her looks at the wife all ways talks about how their husband is the best. Mine says that too, but the thing is, mine really is the best. I have been with my honey for 16 years now and I often wonder how I manged to find such a great guy at the age of 15. He is the best daddy to our girls and they love him so much. But he is so good to me. I can always count one him. Friday he worked all night (midnight to 5AM) and he still got up at 7 to get the girls ready and help me with something I had to to at the school for PTA. He is a good man. He is such a hard worker and everyone who meets him likes him. Best of all, he loves me. I never doubt how much he loves me, even when I am at my worst he thinks I'm beautiful and he is so patcient with my moods. I am so very lucky to have him.
Happy Birthday Honey!


Now on to a little Christmas fun.

We got our tree up.

Merry Christmas!

Just not feeling it

I'm having a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I don't know what is wrong with me, This year has the potential to be one of the best. Even with the extra sewing and stuff I've taken on this year I'm still not terribly stressed out. I have a strict no Christmas music till after Thanksgiving rule and usually by the time it rolls around I'm pretty happy to hear some Christmas tunes but this year they are more annoying than festive. I even had to sing at a church function tonight and still just couldn't quite feel it. We don't have our decorations up yet, we don't usually put them up till Jon's birthday which is this weekend. Hopefully that will help, But I also plan to turn on my favorite Christmas CD (Yo Yo Ma and friends) and wrap some presents. Cuz we need a little Christmas, Right this very minute. Need a little Christmas now!

Finally

What could be good enough to wait in the cold for 45 minutes for?

An In and Out Burger, of course. Jon has been a long time fan of these delicious hamburgers. Every time we go to California he eats there pretty much every day (sometimes multiple times a day) He was very happy to hear they would be opening some near us soon. They opened about a week and a half ago and we tried to go eat there last week but decided not to brave the cold and long lines. But, today he decided he couldn't stand it any longer so we bundled up the girls and headed out. The line wasn't too bad and it only took 45 min from the time we got out of our car till the time we got our food. We took it home rather than fight for a table, which could have been pretty ugly, especially since Jack Sparrow was there. No joke, some guy was there dressed up in full on Jack Sparrow eye makeup beaded beard and all just to eat a burger.

One very happy Daddy!

Even Carly loves them.

Bri had a hard time eating hers because of a loose front tooth but still managed to polish one off.

Hopefully the lines will die down soon and it won't be such an ordeal to get one. But even with the long line in the cold it was totally worth it.

Too Cute

Carly has been taking dance for a year now, but this year is the first year she will get to be in the recital. At class the other day they had a costume check and it was just so cute.

Have you ever see a cuter choo-choo train.

She loves Dance and really loves her teacher.

I can't wait to get to see her on the stage in a few weeks.
I had a little video of her dance but it wouldn't upload, so if you want to see it, it is on my facebook page.

The Big Jump

Last week at Bri's lesson her regular horse was feeling a bit arthritic and not up to riders so her teacher suggested she try riding one of the ponies instead.

To Bri a horse is a horse not matter how big (or little) they are so she was more than happy to ride Little Bill.

One would think that ponies are easier than full size horses but, you'd be wrong. Ponies are are notorious for being stubborn. But Bri did pretty well with Bill. She took him through some different exercises and other than having to be prodded a bit all went well.

So well in fact that her Teacher decided to have Bri jump Bill.
I'm still not sure how I agreed to the jump, but I'm glad I did because she was awesome!

When my Mom asked her how she got bill to jump she said, "You just sit up real straight, look straight ahead and hold on tight." So stinking cute. She is fearless and she amazes me.

Reflections

Last Year Brianna entered one of her drawings in the school's reflections competition and it was a bit of a disappointing experience. She didn't win anything and was devastated. She decided early on that she would enter again but this time she would do something different than a drawing. She entered a picture she had taken this summer while we were in Yellowstone.
So the evening of the awards ceremony as we were walking over to the school she said to me
"Mom even if I don't win anything tonight I'm going to be okay, I'm not going to be sad." I was so proud of her good attitude. Little did she know that I had gotten a call and knew she was going to be getting an award.

She received an award of merit.

She was so happy!

group photo.

The masterpiece.

I'm so proud of my sweet girl. Not only for doing well in reflections but for having such a great attitude.

Showing my age

I remember when I was little thinking how weird grown ups were, why did they always want us to be quiet all the time and why couldn't we just listen to music on the radio and watch regular TV. Well I must be getting old because those things just don't seem so strange to me now. Here are a few ways I'm showing my age.

I recently added NPR to my presets on the radio.
I think added fiber in food is a brilliant idea.
I'm older than the heroines in my romance novels.
I watch more and more of the History & Discovery Channel.
I'm constantly telling my kids to turn it down.
When I stand up it takes about 4 steps before I'm actually standing up straight.

Okay, So I know I'm not ancient or anything but I'm defiantly well on my way to being a fuddy-duddy.

Another Boutique

I'll be Participating in another Boutique this Saturday. It is from 11-2 in South Jordan. I have been working hard to get lots of new stuff ready.
There will be.
*Hoody Towels
*Quilts
*Crayon rolls
*Toy bags
* Pillows
*Ballet Skirts
*Doll Blanket & Pillow Sets
I Haven't had time to take pictures yet but if you are interested in any of these and would like to know more before the Boutique I'd love to hear from you.

For the address and more information on Saturday's boutique click here.
Hope to see you there!

A Movie review, Some random thoughts, a milestone and miracle.

We had a chance last night to go see the new Disney Christmas Carol movie. My kids both wanted to see it and were pretty excited, but, it was not the best show to take little girls to. It had some pretty scary images for little ones and since it was in 3d it was right in your face. I think they took a great story and added a ton of special effects and forgot about the true meaning of the story.
One of Jon's friends from work gave us the tickets to the movie last night and his family was there also. They have 3 little girls, 2 of whom are the same ages and Brianna and Carly. We had told them that there would be friends there. We hadn't been there more that 5 minuets and Bri and the other girl her age were fast friends. Since it was a Disney movie and sneak peak too, there was a DJ there (Who just happened to be my cousin Rob who is really great) and they had dancing and fun stuff to start it all off. By the time we left the theater the girls were holding hands and wondering when they would get to play again. I love how fast kids make friends they are just so accepting, I wish we could all make friends so fast.

Yesterday Jon and I also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. We have been together for 16 years now and I still think I'm the luckiest girl alive to have found such a great man.

I still think we make a pretty cute couple.

I have the cutest little family.

And the two pretties little girls ever.

All these great pictures were taken by my best friend Jill. you can see more of her photos at her site jilloaksphotography.blogspot.com

The Cousins

And now for the miracle

My parents divorced 15 years ago and it has been even longer than that since we had a family picture taken. There still some tense moments in my family, but I love them all so much and am very very happy to finally have a picture will all of us.