have a cup of cheer

I realized this Christmas that if I could freeze time and live my life Groundhog Day style, I just might have done it to relive this holiday over and over again. Celebrating the Christmas season with my two beautiful little girls, my husband, my parents, my siblings, my grandmothers... I can't imagine that life will get much better than this. 

But, since things can't last this way forever, I will inundate you with many more holiday photos.

Resistance is futile.

 Look at these two beauties! I can't get over them.

 Here's Uncle Spencer (Carter's favorite. Shh! Don't tell the others!) and my little mischief-maker.

 Those are some runway-ready faces.

 Making cookies with my girl!! Look at that frosting face! Don't worry though- she takes about three baths a day when we are either at Grandma and Grandpa's cabin or their home in Las Vegas. It's ridiculous and I love it. 

She loves cooking with me and is such a great helper!

No, really. She is!

I mean, you know, I go through about 15 spatulas because she keeps forgetting that she can't lick them while we are still baking, but other than that...

 Cousin Twins. Three weeks apart (Carter is older), baby Giles and Carter are the best of pink-cheeked friends.

 I love these boys! (Zach, Giles and K not pictured, but included in the sentiment none the less).

 Look at them!! So sweet.

this is Halloween... err... Christmas Town

Our Christmas was wonderful, in a Nightmare-ish kind of way. 

Yes, Avery's obsession with the macabre has yet to end, and I for one am loving it. Who needs more adorable, bright-eyed little girls who love ponies and dollies and pink and flowers and sunshine?! Bo-ring

Santa, therefore, brought Av a Jack Skellington doll, and a few shrunken heads (that last part was a joke). 

No, this is not our front yard. 

Yes, we are the kind of parents who will slam on the brakes, flip a U, and hop out of our car to take pictures on someone else's front lawn to make our adorable little goth baby happy. 

Moving on. 

We spent Christmas at the cabin in Pine Valley, in the mountains just outside of St. George, and it was super wonderful. The kids all got along really well, there wasn't much snow (yay!) and I love spending time with my parents, siblings, children and hubs. The End. 

 ...okay, not quite the end. Here are some great photos from our great time. 

The boys in their matching Christmas PJs. Aren't they cute!? Oh, and yeah, my little brother, Spencer, likes to pretend he is the devil.  NBD

 Matching babies!!

 

 Santa brought Carter her very own baby doll! She loves being a mama, which naturally includes sharing binkies, giving kisses, and dropping baby whenever she is bored. Isn't she the sweetest!?

 Christmas Eve story time!

 Christmas morning makes grumpy babies. Oh, and Carter looks pretty sleepy, too. Oooh Burned!

 Sleepy Gi.

 Avery with her Jack Action Figure!

 For my brother-in-law, Josh, my mom bought Christmas Crackers. I rocked that paper crown with my sister sister.

 Josh and Carter twins.

 Uncle Spencey and Gi-guy.

 Candy and toys and not enough sleep. Isn't Christmas the best?

Avery's new ladybug backpack was a big hit, but as the day wore on, her smiles for the camera wore out. 

I know this is a month late, but I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

step out into the dark

Beginning a new semester after what seems like six months off (wait, it was six months off!) is daunting. It means new schedules and more organization. Less sleep and a lot less "me time" with infinitely more guilt peppered into my days because there are infinitely more "Go to your room"s and "Not now, Mommy is doing homework"s. But, as I type this in the last five minutes before Avery's rest time movie ends and Carter inevitably wakes up cranky and hungry from her nap, it also means more organization, more quality to the time I spend with the girls, more structure and more fulfillment. I hope.
I love resolutions and this New Year I have a lot! If everything goes according to my carefully laid plans (ha!) then this year is going to be spectacular.

oops

I did it again. 

My now-famous blog-disappearing-act, that is.

BTW Did Ricky Perry ruin the word "Oops" for anyone else? I can't say or hear it without thinking of a Texas dum-dum saying "...I can't remember the third one... Oops." Boo to that. 

Anyway, hello friends!! Not dead. Just crazy. I won't say busy because I know a lady with 32 kids (slight exaggeration) and she somehow has time to quilt and read to the animal shelter and volunteer at the Elementary Schools (strike that, reverse it.) so saying busy just seems like I'm a light-weight at this point. 

But I am still here and need to update you on our insane house overhaul project that shares a motto with the Energizer Bunny. Well, it is actually the Energizer Bunny cross-bred with a Gremlin- when you get this house wet and/or feed it after midnight the projects multiply and turn evil and keep going and going and going and going. 

AND the inside of my head almost-always feels like someone is banging on it with a bass drum mallet.

Yep, that is the best analogy I have.

I also have updates on our incredible Thanksgiving Adventures in Portland and Seattle.

And how these kids just keep growing (and growing [boom!] and growing [boom!] and... STOP! Enough.)

And how I start school again in just a few short weeks *gulp*

 I will catch you up soon! For now I will assure you that Christmas preparations are in full swing here: Our (unfinished and constantly evolving) halls are decked, wishlists written, and we are now in the mood for cheesy Lifetime Original Christmas films!! My favs? So glad you asked: Undercover Christmas, The Recipe for a Perfect Christmas and 12 Men of Christmas.

Possibly three of the worst films ever made. And I eat them up every year. Embrace your inner cheese-ball this year and give them a try!! 

Or don't. That's better. It will give you one less reason to think about unfollowing this blog. 

MERRY CHRISTMASTIME YOU GUYS!

hair like snakes

This week is Avery's half birthday!

I can't believe it has been six months since all of this.

I can't believe in six more months we'll do it all again. 

I can't believe that a few short months after that she will be in Kindergarten. 

Wow, my heart stopped for just a second when I wrote that. 

Here is her Pre-K school picture. She loves going to school and I am grateful every day for the great teachers and kids at her school! 

I might die (just a little) inside when she heads off to real live big kid school, though. 

Don't worry. 

I'll try to be brave.

the horn

In case you're interested, you should check out the cake I made for K's birthday last month on my new food blog! I don't mean to toot my own horn or anything...

but Toot Toot!!!

I mean, look at this thing! 

TOOOT!

this, our town of Halloween

 Have I mentioned yet that somewhere in the middle of the month of October Avery watched The Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time and subsequently became obsessed with said nightmare?

Well, that happened.

 So, days before Halloween, she decided that instead of being a SuperHeroLadybugAvery she had to be Jack, the Pumpkin King. 

For only spending $4 on the costume (we had a long-sleeved black shirt and black pants for her already- we picked up a little boy's suit vest at DI for $2 and spent another $2 on the sparkly black ribbon for her bow tie) I think she looks pretty incredible. Laura did the face paint!

 Carter was our little warm Cupcake again, and K pulled out his old bull-rider costume from our college days. Classy, right?

 I was incredibly sick on Halloween with the worst head cold I have had in a really long time, AND, just to add some spice to our lives, we decided to undertake a big project in the house with our contractor on Halloween. You know, for fun.

They tore down the wall surrounding our stairway (a mother-of-a-toddler's nightmare) and began the process of reinforcing walls and putting in a banister. The finished product is wonderful! More on that to come. But they were at our house until 9:30pm, the poor guys. ...though I think they DID have some fun with the wood saw and creating sound effects when trick-or-treaters would ring the doorbell. 

MUAHAHAH!!

 Even though I was feeling sick I just couldn't miss out on some trick or treating with my little ghouls. So I phoned it in with a Dodger's Fan costume (an easy find in my closet) and a little black face paint. I only look like I am in slight pain in this picture, so I guess it was a successful night! ...though I can't really remember that well. I was on some pretty fun cold meds.

I think the Oogey Boogey Man would have approved of our Halloween had there been more bugs and less cuteness, but who cares? That guy is a jerk anyway.

gossip folks

 Did you know that in the middle of the forest, just north of Ashton, that there is a Haunted Forest, Hay Ride and Trick or Treating? Oh, did I mention that it's free (just bring a can of food per person for the food bank!! ...okay, so it's practically free.)!? 

 Every year Harriman State Park employees and volunteers go all out to decorate cabins and the surrounding forest with spooky and fun sights and sounds! There is trick or treating at every turn, games, prizes, hot cocoa and cookies... did I mention the hay ride?! 

We missed our ward's Trunk or Treat to head up to the park for all of this fun, but I can't bring myself to regret it. In fact, I am pretty sure this was a tradition in the making.

(We dressed the big kiddies as kittens since my great friend, Laura, gave them all those cute headbands. We figured they could still be cute but stay warm since it is QUITE chilly up in the mountains at the end of October. Carter went as a cupcake, a cute and very fleece-y warm costume my mom got her at Old Navy. See her cherry on top!?)