friday's favorite

this week has been CRAZY! Party central is in action and we're getting ready for a big event tomorrow night, wish us luck!

One of my favorite things of all time: when family comes to visit!

and I'm one lucky girl- today mom, dad, and little sis are coming to town! WOO HOO! I can't wait to see them!

birthdays galore

Wow- November's a rockin' birthday month for our family! I wish we were able to be there physically to celebrate with each of you birthday folk, but unfortunately we can't... but our birthday wishes party to the other side of the country for each of you!


Today's my Mommy's birthday!


Woo Hoo! Happy birthday Mommy! Oh, I love you sooo much! I'm so grateful for you and the friendship we share!


I'm glad we can be silly together! We always have so much fun and I love our special bonding time! I love playing games, going to movies, getting pedicures, eating caramel popcorn, running around and shopping like crazy and just sitting and staring at the wall together. (okay, so maybe we don't really do that last one... but we could, and I'd still have fun and love it because I'd be with you!

I love doing crafts, and learning from all of your talent and creativity. You are wise and witty and I will be happy to have half of the greatness you posses.

I love that you were born, and that the four of us can be together and be goofy together because of YOU!

You are BEAUTIFUL! Absolutely beautiful. You are a great nonnie and the little ones are so lucky to have you spoil them rotten with love.

And I'm so lucky to have you spoil me rotten with love too! You are truly one of my bestest friends in the whole universe and I'm such a lucky girl to be able to say that! I miss you so bad and wish I could be there to give you a giant birthday hug and some great big birthday spankin's! I love you past the moon, around the moon, and back x 100,000 bagillion, trillion, million! I hope you have a very special day!



On the 9th we wished a happy birthday to this awesome dad:

Happy Birthday! Thanks for finding time out of your busy schedule to have fun with us and teach me how to play tennis (and for not laughing when I struggle to hit the ball!)

Thanks for visiting us in Florida! We had so much fun and loved being able to spend that time with you! We miss you and wish we could spend more time together, but we are so grateful for each moment that we are able to! And thanks for bringing that goofy guy into this world, well, all 4 of your goofy guys actually.

They are all talented, dedicated, and adventurous... and that is in big part thanks to you and all that you are!

{I had to share this picture... it's too funny not to, and yes, that's me hunched over like a baby. But, hey- come on now, it was scary! You might not believe it because every one else is smiling so nicely... but trust me, it was!}

Thanks for being so fun and so generous! You are always so kind and I love our talks about books, the gospel, and life in general. I'm so lucky to be part of your incredible family. Thanks for taking me in and loving me, I love you!

Hope you had a very happy day!

And then we have Bryan, who celebrated his big day on the 4th.

Bryan- you are awesome... not only for growing up with 3 other guys and surviving the craziness, but for putting up with me as a sister! :) You know you love me! You are such a great brother and I'm a lucky girl to be able to call you one!

I love that you can be goofy with me- and laugh with me, and not at me! (Although, I'm sure you're probably very tempted, I don't blame you...I would!) Thanks for having fun with me!

And thanks so much for marrying this cute girl and adding another sister to the mix! I'm so happy you love her, because so do I and I am so grateful to have her as a friend!!

You are so talented and smart! I love when you guys all jam out on your guitars and when we eat ice cream and breakfast cake and giant pizzas! I wish you weren't so far away- but I'm so glad that we can visit and it was so fun to have you and Rachel come out, thanks for that!

You're a great big bro, and I love ya! And hope you had a fabulous day celebrating you and all the coolness you are!

Happy birthday to all of you, we love you all and we are so grateful for the support and love you give us! We love you!

friday's favorite

I love pizza.

Jeff and I have had fun making our own pizza lately. Well, I guess almost making our own pizza. We buy the dough at the bakery in our grocery store. Then we roll the dough, add our toppings and stick it in the oven! About a month or so ago, I was going to try out a recipe for a whole wheat pizza dough. When we went to the grocery store to buy some toppings, we found the wonderful dough the bakery has... and for $2.95 you can't beat that! They have regular pizza dough and also whole wheat. (last week when I was buying some dough, the guy in the bakery department told me the secret to their whole wheat pizza dough- they just sell the whole wheat bread dough!)

Our favorite toppings (besides the sauce and cheese of course) are pepperoni, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese and green olives. I know, green olives? The first time I was apprehensive to try it... but now, it's hard to make anything different.

These are the faces of two happy pizza eatin' people!

Do you have a favorite pizza recipe?

oh, now cards.

Now that I've been pondering my handmade Christmas gifts... I've been doing some more pondering about my Christmas cards. I wish I new how to use Photoshop so I could design something unique and "me", but I don't... so I could opt for the handmade route like I did last year, or I could let someone else design my cards! There are so many companies out there that design cute cards, once again- so many talented people! Skip To My Lou is having a card giveaway, maybe I could win my Christmas cards along with some Christmas gifts. (Now, maybe I'm just being too hopeful, but it doesn't hurt!)

Do you send out Christmas cards? A letter? A picture? All of the above?! I want to know the details of your Christmas card secrets...

inspiration station

I'm a fan of handmade Christmas gifts. I've done my best to be the maker the past few years, this year I'm feeling a little stumped. I came upon Tip Junkie's "Mom Prenuer Shop-A-Thon" and glanced through a few of the shops... wow! There are some seriously talented people out there! I think it's great to support these women and if I can't make it, I can buy it from them- it's still handmade, just not by my hands!

So, you should stop by Tip Junkie and check out the shop-a-thon. Oh yeah, and they're doing a shop-a-thon giveaway for the next 12 days! Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to win a Christmas present!

In the years past I've made a box of cards, a Christmas quilt, photo frames, blankets, vases... I have some ideas bubblin' around in my little head, but I'm still trying to pull them together. What about you, are you a fan of having a handmade Christmas? What gifts have you made?

friday's favorite

I confess... I was a naughty girl. But what's a girl to do when she's sick, alone and in need of a "pick me up"? I turned to one of my tried and true boosters, none other than Mr. Ben and Mr. Jerry. Okay so, definitely not the best choice when dealing with a wicked sinus infection- but like I said, I was naughty, I couldn't help myself. (At least I resisted the temptation of eating the entire carton by myself!)

How happy would I be to see this truck pull up to my driveway?! It could live here with me, no problem.

I love ice cream... duh! I LOVE Ben & Jerry's! It's nearly impossible for me to choose a favorite flavor, there are so many incredible options. Last night I opted for "Neapolitan Dynamite"- delicious! My other top choices include "cherry garcia" and "half baked". The "pistachio, pistachio" is a great pick too- especially for a lighter taste. There are so many flavors I've yet to delight my taste buds with, so many options! Check out all of the "original" flavors, what's your favorite?

update

It's November. November 2008. Where in the world does time go?

Halloween's gone. Thanksgiving is in 22 days and Christmas is right around the corner. Wow!

So, what have I been up to lately?

Well I made some sweet treats with these little munchkins:


Actually, that's not really true. I made the dough and put them in the oven, they did the rest all by themselves. I was thoroughly impressed.

Participated in the yearly pumpkin carving with this handsome man:

Here's his awesome pirate pumpkin:

And after about 2 hours of trying to come up with some cute and clever face to carve... My creativity just wasn't flowin right at 12:30am so I ended up with a simple:

Spent some trick or treat fun with the three cutest kids in the world. We went to our branch trunk or treat earlier in the week and on Halloween night went to a friend's for some more candy fun.


This weekend we went on a little camping getaway. It was so much fun to have the Packer family there with us as well. Reef was a trooper for his first ever camping trip and both of the girls were sad when it was time to pack up the tents. The weather was perfect for camping, a little chilly at times but just perfect for a sweatshirt and jeans around the camp fire. And yes, my dog's wearing a sweater. We're not typically the "dog sweater" type of people, (not that there is anything wrong with that. nothing wrong at all) I was just worried Ziggie would be too cold, his fur is a little short right now. Of course Jeff laughed at me, but I couldn't help it- it was only $2.50 at Target.

This camping trip I was finally able to test out my revamped smores idea, and it was delicious! Nothing too fancy- just a reeses peanut butter cup instead of a plan hershey's bar. Oh yummy.

And take a look at this little monster friend we found:

Is that not the largest caterpillar you've ever laid eyes on? Crazy looking bug!

And yes, I'm still sick. Thanks to those of you who shared some of your favorite remedies. I'm always up for trying something new! And always up for testing out the old faithful... so now I will go shut my little peepers for some more quality rest.