Wedding Bells

This is a little over due, but better late than never!

My youngest sister, Whitney, got married in November (the popular date of the decade 11-11-11). She was a beautiful bride! They were married in the Salt Lake Temple, and it was so crazy crowded! I couldn't believe how many brides had chosen that day to get married!

All of my siblings are now married (two in the Timpanogos, one in Salt Lake, and one in Logan temples) except my youngest brother who graduates this year and plans to serve a mission soon after! Our family is just moving right along...I give a huge pat on the back to my parents for getting us a great start in life and teaching us well! As a parent, I understand how hard that challenge is. I hope I do a good job in raising my children (and can one day look back and have a chance to feel as proud about my children's choices as my parents feel towards us).  

I forgot my camera, so I had my sis-in-law Taraleigh send me some photos she took (she'd talented in that department too).

Santa's Big Event

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, while most people were black Friday shopping, we took the kids to go see Santa. I am not one who will stand in line at a mall for hours to let my kids cry on Santa's lap...but...I did see an ad in the Utah Valley Magazine announcing KSL 5 flying Santa in to university mall by helicopter! Now THIS was the way to see Santa!

We got there at 9:30 and the helicopter arrived about 10:00-10:15. It was such an exciting event for the kids, I'm so glad we went! 

 

 Can you see all their excitement!! OK, maybe I was more excited for them to see Santa than they were...

  a little cocoa to keep the kids warm....

The copter coming in for a landing....

Getting wind blown by the chopper blades....now the kids are starting to get excited!

Santa, Mrs. Clause and the elves did the rounds around the square and chatted with everybody...the kids couldn't believe it! Jackson got to shake Santa's hand! It was quite unbelievable! We all enjoyed it.

My opinion, the best way to see Santa!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We spent the morning finishing up our pie baking. We had started the night before and didn't get it all done. We made two pumpkin pies, two apple pies, and one pecan pie. They were delicious. Both beautiful to look at and tasty! 

Later that morning I was fortunate to go for a run (I wasn't feeling sick! Yeah!!), and Brian got to play some Turkey-ball. At noon, we headed over to the Bell's and spent the day with Brian's family. It was mostly a relaxed, casual day spent hanging out with each other and eating lots of good food! It was perfect. That night we all slept really well... it must have been the turkey! 

Christina and I made these place setting for the table. I think they added just the right touch! 

We have so much to be grateful for. It was a great day to be reminded of all our blessings. I love the symbolism of the huge turkey feast, with tons of food (way more than we could possibly all eat in one meal) compared to the abundant blessings in our lives. We have more than we can our cups can hold!

Zoey's Birthday!

We celebrated Zoey's 3rd Birthday! She is such a sweet girl and was super excited about her birthday this year. It was fun for Brian and I to make it a special day for her.  

It snowed overnight, so she was surprised to wake up to a few inches of snow, which got her day off to a special start. The first snowfall of the season! For breakfast, we took her to the local doughnut shop to pick out a "birthday doughnut", which happened to be a vanilla cake doughnut with pink icing and sprinkles. After doughnuts, she and Jackson went to play in the snow (good time to work off that sugar before cake and ice cream!). 

When they had enough of the cold, we let Zoey open up a couple gifts from us. She got a new stroller and a Rapunzel doll with matching dress for Zoey to wear. She was ecstatic about it! She wouldn't take the dress off all day. She loves the movie "Tangled" and thinks she looks just like Rapunzel... and wants to be just like Rapunzel, so this was the perfect gift for her! They were side by side all day. She and her dad enjoyed watching the "Tangled" movie together while I frosted the cake.

After lunch, we invited the grandparents to come over and eat cake with us. Zoey had requested a "My-little-pony-and-Tinkerbell" cake, so I did my best to mix the two themes. It turned out like a float with the pony pulling the cake with fairies on top... Zoey loved it and that's what matters. We had fun decorating it. She loved it so much she didn't want to share her cake! Her grandparent's on the Beutler side got her a Berenstein bear collection of books (I love those!) and her grandparent's on the Gray side got her a puppy in a travel purse (so cute!). The Bells also joined us and got her a huge pencil with a coloring book and stickers (Zoey will enjoy this too!). She was very "showered with love."

She had a fantastic day! And as she would say in true Rapunzel fashion: "THE BEST DAY EVER!"

We are so grateful to have Zoey in our family! She is a very special girl and is quick to show love to her brothers and parents. We appreciate the big girl she has become!

November 9th

We celebrated my birthday yesterday! I made a pumpkin roll for dessert (which Zoey was calling the "birthday taco"), but my neighbor dropped off a chocolate cake and the candles worked better on the cake than the roll, so that's what made the picture (although I did try a little of both, and I must say the pumpkin roll hit the spot!)

 The kids helped blow the candles! It was a great day, thanks to all who made it special for me with kind messages or visits! Brian took me out to eat the night before and we did some Christmas shopping, which I love to do (especially before the holiday crowds- I have no patience for it).

 We didn't actually have to spend much money for my birthday; when Brian and I were married, we had used all our wedding money on investing in a really expensive, but nice set of pots and pans. Unfortunately, six years later, they were in horrible shape! The non-stick coated had all worn off and was flaking into our food. I was sooo disappointed. Brian did some checking and found they had a lifetime guarantee, so we took them back to the store, without a receipt, and got roughly $800 in store credit! So it felt like Christmas coming home with a trunk-load of brand new pots and pans. I am so excited! And, if we ever have a problem, we can always take it back and get a new one! It's a wonderful thing! I think new pots and pans will make cooking exciting again :)