A Christmas post?!

Yes, I know. It's been weeks since all the decorations have been packed away, trees recycled, stockings stuffed back in boxes. Valentine's Day is almost upon us and I am just now finally getting around to posting about our wonderful Christmas holiday. I'll keep it brief and just the highlights since most people have already moved on with their lives.

To begin, does anyone remember where we went for the holidays? Arizona! And guess what? We almost had a white Christmas. Since we were in Prescott about 1 1/2 hours north of Phoenix, we could actually get snow.

I was bummed since I was ready for a taste of the Arizona sun and warmth but the boys loved playing. And hot chocolate was had by all, so it wasn't all bad. And it only stayed 2 days.

My parents are real "do-ers." Trips are always been filled with lots of activities, everyday having some fun outing planned. But this time around, all the parents of small children (therefore, all of us) asked for a quiet vacation of us staying if pj's all day, playing games, reading, taking naps and watching movies. And that is exactly what we did.

Chess was a very common activity for the men. Our ten year old nephew Jack won the majority of games.

3 boys, 3 buddies who played lightsabors and Legos, wrestled and explored, challenged each other on Wii and fought very little for 2 weeks straight. It was yummy.


We made "ginger bread" houses one afternoon. Goofball, who won't smile normally...

Katherine and I glueing the houses together with burnt sugar.


"One of these things is not like the others..."

Katherine (the 2 year old crying niece above) has a presonality like no one else. She has energy bubbling out her ears and must be the center of attention at all times. You instantly love her because she instantly and so wholeheartedly loves you. One Monday night we were having Family Home Evening, one night each week where we have a lesson from the scriptures and a family activity, and my dad was teaching about how to respect your parents. He was standing in front having the kids make a list of 10 ways to show respect when Katherine just couldn't stand it anymore and she had to go up and yell her 2 cents. She keeps us all thoroughly entertained...

Jonah was his usual curious self and into everything, the pantry being a favorite hang out.

Luke and Jack got ENORMOUS Star Wars Lego ships from Nana & Papa and about 25 collective hours were put into getting these puppies together.


Jonah opens his very first Christmas present EV-ER...a phone he nevers plays with.


He did love the chaos and wrapping paper and music and ornanaments though...

And the great cuddle time with Nana...

and his beloved chapstick.....

and Papa.

Papa and JB

What a beautiful and peaceful place, looking out the back window of my parents home.

Until next time. Thanks!!

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

Jonah turns the Big O-N-E

Did he really go from this (our first pics of Embryo Jonah)...

To this... (Be kind. It was early Christmas morning and I was retaining oh-so-much "water". Apparently mostly in my cheeks :)...

To this... To this...

Has it really been a year? It feels like last week when I was minding my own business and suddenly my water broke (Just like it does in the movies. Whooosh. I didn't know it really can happen like that.) and I went into labor. He was surprisingly early but miraculously he seems no worse for the wear. He has been the blessing we had been praying for for 9 years. I remember when we first brought Jonah home, Aaron and I felt almost guilty and disloyal to Lucas as we cuddled and loved on this new baby. Yet this new member of the family fits right in with the 3 of us and has brought new joy and laughter at each new trick he learns and milestone he passes. We couldn't imagine life without him.



Jonah is our Dog Food Lover, Book Chewer, Screeching Screecher, Non Food Swallower, Open Mouth Kisser, Big Brother Chaser, Mommy Biter, Peace and Quiet Destructer and the joyful center of our little world.



Happy 1st birthday, little one!

Working on it...

Yes, I am doing what I said I would never do. I am "cute-ifying" our blog. I said I never would because then I would feel like this is a real blog and thus more responsibility to post regularly and actually have something worthwhile/funny/clever/meaningful to say. Now, well, I realized that since my content is a little sparse and inconsistent and rarely any of the above mentioned things, maybe I could make up for that a bit by making it look cute. Or maybe I just thought it would be fun to mess around with. So...you can tell it's a work in progress. I have never in my life edited HTML and it took me over an hour to change the fonts just of the post titles and such. Wow. Yes, colossal waste of time, but what else am I going to do on a Friday night while Lucas and Aaron are away babysitting and Jonah is asleep? Okay, the list of more productive activities could fill up this page but I thought it would be fun for Friday night home alone. Could I count this as developing new talents? The fine art of editing HTML? Anyway, I can't find a background I love (especially since I'm only looking in the free section) nor a good header. Not that I could edit it even if I found one. I might get it to where I like it someday. Meanwhile, it might look a bit hodge-podge until I get some time to get back to work on it.

Jonah's 1st Christmas: A Photo Shoot

And my personal favorite...



Merry Christmas, our sweet boy!

Chi-town (only tourists call it that)

I know my 6 die hard readers (5 of which are family) have been oh-so-eager for my blogging return. I've been too lazy to get back into it yet but today (after a gentle reminder from my dear mother in law) I thought I'd get back on the horse.

One of my projects last month was this wall hanging I wanted to copy from Red Letter Words. I had been looking for something new to do and when I saw these, in the words of one of my favorite craft queens Victoria, I thought to myself "I could make that." My parents moved from Chicago a year or so ago after 35 years so I thought Chicago themed art would be perfect for their new game room. So I bought some 14x16 canvases on sale at Michael's and had paint already at home. All I needed (wanted) was a paper cutting machine so I wouldn't have to do each letter by hand. After trolling friends to borrow one with no success, I ended up buying myself a Cricut on Black Friday. Merry Christmas to me! Super fun. To me at least.

So to start, I taped butcher paper to the top of the canvas and penciled in where I wanted the words to go. I then started to cut out the words with the machine, changing font sizes and moving things around as I went.

Then I glued the letters straight onto the canvas with just a glue stick and then brushed the whole thing with a thin layer of polyurethane so the letters would stay put and the paint wouldn't bleed underneath. (A great tip from Victoria!) Then went to town with a little black paint.

Afterwards just peeled off the letters with some tweezers. The wording looked a little stark, a little too clean, so I brushed a touch of black paint over them to rough it up a bit. And done. It was my first attempt and I learned a few things. I made one for my sister, I thought to use thin plastic instead of paper to do the letters and they came off like butter. I feel badly my parents and sister got my first attempts at this but I ran out of time to do any more. I know the letters are a little crooked (my sister's came out straighter) and I would have changed some of the spacing. Maybe added another site or two. But overall I like 'em. I want to make a bigger one for my (being redecorated for the last 4 months but I am creatively and completely stuck) dining room but I haven't decided what city I am going to do. Chicago where I grew up? Seattle where I've spent the majority of my married life? Buenas Aires where my hubby and I spent our missions (different times)? Maybe a set of three? Who knows.

Oh ya... I sewed these crazy pants for Lucas and our nephew Jackson for Christmas. Lucas loves them as I knew he would (see this post) but I'm not so sure about Jack. I made matching pillow cases as well so hopefully that will fly better with him.