december 2013

it has been a CRAZY month. we moved. we were in charge of our ward party. craig had a surprise appendectomy. aaaaaand it's christmas. so things have been a little different this holiday season. for instance: i cut down our christmas tree. (craig was still recovering from surgery)

despite the insane-ness we have still tried to keep up our traditions. this was my moms ornament exchange. loved the fancy lunch!

the tree in our new family room.

my boys and me, going through my winter hats/scarves. those smiles kill me.

my brother, elder short, (the guy on the left) sent us his chritsmas card. love it!

the boys visited the nordstrom santa this year. he was so jolly.

ornament exchange wit ma boos.

craig's healing stomach. he is so proud of this thing. i kid you not, a pure stranger could ask to see and he would happily oblige.

grace, my mom and me, on our way over to the christmas carol. my favorite tradition.

talk about being proud: i was so proud of my miley cyrus wrecking ornament! i made it for emily and andrew's white elephant exchange.

white elephant exchange/ugly sweater party. thought my friends would want me to clarify.... :)

tagg and sully helping set up for our ward party. 

we had a hot chocolate bar, sugar cookie decorating, a live nativity and wiseman with chocolate coins for the children. a successful party but i AM glad it's over. 

and then last night we had our annual gingerbread house decorating party. megan went above and beyond and made these mini houses for our mugs. to die for!

i love december (even a crazy one). and i love my family and friends (even my crazy one/s).

thanksgiving weekend

we enjoyed another fantastic thanksgiving at my parents' house this year. here is our classic several-tables-shoved-together set up. griswalds!

the spread. i think we all agreed it was our best thanksgiving meal yet.

my mom's beautiful turkey.

happy after a wonderful meal!

later that night, we took tagg and sully to see "frozen". sully went for the popcorn.

looooove seeing movies with my boys.

the next day was black friday. after a little while my boys were bugging so i told them to go play in that alcove. after a few minutes i looked over and this is what they were doing. guess they were over it.

they perked right up when we went over to the hotel to relax and swim a bit. snowflake lane behind the little fish! (apparently sully needed to use the restroom)

very fun.

little divers.

after swimming we got dressed and went across the street for dinner. what is sully doing in this picture?!

what is tagg doing in this picture?! they're nuts.

the group.

after dinner we enjoyed (except for sully. he was tired and cold) opening night at snowflake lane. wouldn't be able to usher in the christmas season without it.

SURPRISE.

a few weeks ago, i flew out to colorado to surprise jocelyn for her 30th birthday. with the help of brady (her husband) i really DID surprise her when i popped out of her bed after she got back from the gym. this is me, waiting under her covers...

she didn't know i was coming (duh) so she had signed up to make cookies for their ward party that night. i offered to help bake them so she could get ready. yeah, shouldn't have offered. burned the crap out of my arm on the cookie sheet.

after fulfilling her cookie assignment, we headed to the outlets to shop and eat CHICK-FIL-A!

the prettiest skirts we had ever laid eyes on.

after shopping, we did the next obvious activity: seeing "the best man holiday" in the theaters. makes me smile to think about.

the following day was sunday so we just played at the house. i painted lucy's nails and we made cookies together.

that night we watched junk tv. 

monday was jocelyn's actual birthday. first stop: bar class. 

then we went home to get cleaned up. brady and lucy had bought giant roses and presents to surprise jocelyn.

this one really shies away from the spotlight.

a wonderful weekend with my wonderful friend.

friendsgiving 2013

at the beginning of novemeber we had our annual friendsgiving. emily hosted it at her house and i decorated the table with weird berries and cotton. :)

the kids. 

kaitlin, ella's new jacket, and bat woman.

i'm very grateful for an amazing group.

halloween 2013

the monday before halloween was our annual donut party. this might be the last year we host it at my mom's house (next year: our new house?!) so i went all out on a pretty labor intensive backdrop. worth it though. anything for our donut party.

tagg and sully put the luminaries together this year and were so proud of them.  

the girls.

another wonderful donut party with friends, family and delicious spudnuts!

on halloween day, i had my first opportunity to work in tagg's classroom. while i was waiting in the hall to go in his classroom i saw this haunted house he had drawn up on the wall. i might have teared up a bit. be quiet.

tagg and his classmates. (he's in the back middle with a bat hoodie on)

lining up for the costume parade. he was just a little happy to be standing next to valentina. :)

later that night, we met up with our friends for trick-or-treating. sully and deacon are soulmates.

trick-or-treat!

bat #1. cute bat.

bat #2. evil bat.

sad to say goodbye to my favorite holiday. happy halloween!