Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Another great Birthday

Every year around November I start to stress that my birthday is coming and I don't want to turn another year older. But then my birthday gets here and I have such a great time celebrating and get so spoiled by all my friends and family and loved ones, that I realize getting older isn't too too hard if you have wonderful people in your life like I do. Now if only those pesky wrinkles would stop growing. 

This first picture has nothing to do with my birthday. It was actually my Christmas gift from my sister, but it came late. It ended up being perfect though because Desiree came in town the day after Christmas  which meant she was there when it came on the 27th and she got to watch me open it. It is so beautiful and I absolutely love it!! 


Ok, back to the birthday celebrating. Since all my family was leaving on my actual birthday, we celebrated a couple of nights early with an amazing dinner at Kishos. I think I must have said how much fun I was having and how yummy everything was about 50 times. It really was the perfect night and I can't remember the last time I got to celebrate it with both my siblings and my Mom! 








And a huge thanks to my sissy for doing my make up. I never do as good of a job. Even when I try. She's a true artist!


And as if dinner wasn't enough, we stopped at Cold Stone on the way home. I managed to eat all my dinner and all my dessert. You could say I was definitely indulging. I didn't even feel guilty. Just wish calories on your birthday didn't really count.


THEN…on my actual birthday I woke up to about 10 texts and 30 FB messages from friends and family wishing me a happy day. Then I came downstairs to a banner and decorations outside, a dozen fresh donuts and yummy smelling lotion from my two sweet friends Brooke and Becky. 


So to thank them, I made them get a pedicure with me. Lol! Ok, I didn't make them. But I was sure glad they wanted to come with me.



Then I came home to an "Edible Arrangement" platter from Tina who deserted me and moved to Henderson, but who I still love now that she sent me an edible arrangement (haha…just kidding Tina. I loved you anyway). Seriously, I've never gotten edible fruit as a gift and I was so excited. I've always wanted to get one. It was so good. I pretty much ate them all by myself. Ok, I shared a few, but not many. As you can see, I dived in before I even thought to take a picture.


Then that night we went to dinner at Rubio's (because Olive Garden had an hour long wait and the kids couldn't have lasted that long). It was still super delicious and I was so glad Callie could come with us. She's part of the family anyway. Leah is scowling at me because I wasn't in the picture. But someone had to take it.


Then we came home and I opened gifts from my cute family and we hung out and chatted with Callie until late into the night. It was a great weekend of celebrating and I felt so very loved. And an extra special thanks goes out to my hubby for always doing his best to make sure I'm happy, not only on my Birthday, but every day. And even when I don't deserve it. He's one of a kind and I love him! 

Friday, December 26, 2014

Christmas Day Came

We had such a great Christmas morning. I think the kids were all happy with their gifts from Santa as well as their gifts from us and family members. We got to be with Mom and Ron in the morning and then hung out together as a family for the rest of the day. I made ham and cheesy potatoes for dinner and we all laid around, played, relaxed and stayed in jammies the rest of the day. It was so nice. 


Ashlyn got lots of clothes from Santa.


Leah got her new bike.


My final homemade baking for the Holiday season. I ONLY made these because I promised the kids I would make cinnamon rolls for Christmas day. So even though I forgot about it until about 9 pm on Christmas Eve, I still pulled it together. Made them that night and baked them up in the morning. They're a friends recipe that I tried for the first time and they were delicious! Thanks Laurie. You're the baking queen. 


Carter got a dino zoomer robot (you can see it charging in the background).



And even though Brandon asked for a WiiU, he seemed pretty happy with his Nintendo DS. 






Leah finally got a set of scriptures (A late "birthday" gift from turning 8). 





Leah's quite expressive with her gifts. My mom, as you can see, found it pretty scary to sit next to her. This was her opening a book she had begged me for from the Book Fair. I snuck and bought it and then saved it for Christmas. She was beyond thrilled.


Ashlyn gets to paint her room. Finally!!! 


Leah was super happy to get her "hideaway pet".
She named him Chewy.



Cute Mom and Ron. Too bad it's fuzzy.


I got two diffusers from my mom and lots of essential oils to put in them. I also got a Ninja blender that I love and I'm super excited to be able to make smoothies again. 


Paul had a great Christmas too. He got lots of art supplies and Itunes gift cards (his favorite). Then he finished the afternoon off with a snuggly nap with Carter.


It was a great Christmas. I'm sad to see it go! Sure love these cuties of mine.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas Eve Fun

On Christmas Eve Paul took Ashlyn, Brandon and Carter down to the Battleship Iowa with Grandpa Ron. So me, Leah and my mom decided to go see the new "Annie" movie. It was really cute and we had a fun time. Then we headed home to start cooking and getting ready for the festivities.


We had soup and bread for dinner. Then the kids decorated sugar cookies, we read the story of Christ's birth, sang a couple of songs and then read a religious version of "Twas the night before Christmas". The kids all opened gifts from their cousins and then after they left, we let them open their Christmas Pj's and then settled them down early. Yippee! The only night of the year they comply with getting to bed in a timely manner. 

Paul and I then watched "The Nativity" with Mom and Ron, set out milk and cookies for Santa and then went to bed for the night. It was a fun day and we all were excited for the next morning to arrive.











The girls got gift cards to get their nails done and the boys got Menchies gift cards. Fun!
 Can't wait to use them.


Khloe's not much of a picture taker, but we at least got her to sit relatively close to everyone else.




Brandon doesn't like new pj's so he opened a different gift. The rest of the kids were all decked out in their new jammies for pictures the next day.