using our Christmas presents

Evelyn received from her aunt "b" a paint set that has the sponge brushes with paint already in them. We pulled them out today, and she ended up using them twice in the day because they were so fun! She painted the paper, the tabletop, her arms, her hair, her face (well, her face by default because her hands had paint on them). She had a ball!

I have been playing with my new vinyl cutter. I decided to make these signs for my lesson on Sunday. So, the laurel girls will be gettting one of these. They turned out so cute! Mostly because it's my first real project using my cutter!

Here's another sign i put together this afternoon. ($10)

I made this sign for the top of my piano. This was the color of vinyl that came with the machine to practice on, and so it was perfect for the blue winter color I have around my house. Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas 2010

MY NEW TOY!!! EEEK!! Can you believe it?!?! I got a vinyl cutter for christmas! Justin got it all set up for me and I sat down to play, and I couldn't think of a single thing to do with it! Now that a few days have passed, and the shock has worn off, I have kept it plenty busy with the motor just a hummin' away! I love it!

Christmas eve morning, we go to breakfast with my family. After breakfast, Justin had to go to work for a few hours, and so I went with my mom and dad and sister's Meg & rach to see the "windows" at the Grand America Hotel. It was a lot of fun and put us in the festive spirit. I love being downtown at Christmastime!

Christmas morning was a blast at our house. Evelyn slept until 8 a.m. and loved her new dinosaur train. She plays and plays with it. We've already been through three sets of batteries for the engine because she plays with it and then leaves it running...ugh...but oh well. Anyway, she received this darling sweater & skirt from her one grandma and the peg board toy from her other grandma. She puts the little pegs on her fingers and walks around with them.

She loves her train! Justin found a piece of scrap wood at Home Depot on Christmas Eve! Can you believe it!?! Yes, he has good luck like that; not me! So, he found the wood and it was perfect to place her train on. In the last couple days it has moved all over the house taking the train with it. She plays with the track, and then with the dinosaurs and then tonight we had to come up with a bed for them since she wanted to take them in her crib with her. I knew she'd never go to sleep if she did that, so we improvised. They are now resting peacefully in the little wagon. Good night dinosaurs. kiss kiss.

Merry Christmas 2010

Evelyn in her Sunday dress and christmas bows

My sister in law made these darling blocks with her original photography ($5). I gave them to my young women ladies whom I adore and appreciate so much!

we had a dinner party with the young women leaders and the spouses. What a blast! We had such a fun night being surrounded by amazing and fun people!

Evie's blanket is found!

two days after a major snow storm, i decided to take a jog. we had Evie's blanket and baby blanket. Somewhere along the way, we lost the baby blanket. I was devestated! We had to tell evie and find replacement baby blankets. So, a few weeks later, the roads were cleared, sidewalks clear and I decided to go for a jog this morning (little promptings leading me to go). As we were jogging along, I saw somethsomething that looked like a dead rat on the road, but bigger, and was going to go around it when I saw the little ribbon sticking up from the blanket. I stopped dead in my tracks! It was her blanket, and in a totally different place then where I thought I lost it! What a blessing! I started to cry on my jog i was so happy!

Here is the after picture. It cleaned up perfectly with no stains or marks at all! YIPEE!!

I was wrapping some gifts for Christmas and I asked Evie to take them from the room I was wrapping in, and put them under the tree. I came out of the room when finished, and this is what I saw: She had taken the little trees and put the present literally UNDER the tree. She had placed the other gifts around the other ones. (She probably couldn't lift the others!). It was so funny!

thanksgiving point at christmas

We visited Thanksgiving point with the overman family last night. It was a lot of fun to see the 2 reindeer they had there. We also drove through their fun lights display. Evie was in awe the entire ride! Here we are in front of a reindeer (you can kind of see it in the dark behind).

Here is Jackie, Evie and me standing outside the gates. Evie loved throwing the straw into the pen.

Here's a better pic of the reindeer.

Evelyn with Santa!

We went to our fun ward party tonight and this was how Evie responded when it was her turn to sit on his lap. However, she loves her little santa stuffed doll they handed out! She even rock-a-bye'd it tonight and had to go to sleep with it. It was a fun party!

Christmas Decor

I love this nativity set. Justin made the cool stable for these blocks. $20
Stacked blocks and cheerful words! Each are $12 and can come in a variety of words and color schemes! Stacked blocks are $10 each.

Evelyn's first icicle

Evie was playing with my camera and i was trying to teach her how to work it. We took this self portrait and it turned out amazinly well for her wiggli-ness!
Evelyn's first icicle! She loved it and wants one everytime we are outside!

Christmas Countdown tins

Here's a countdown I made for our family. they are magnetic tins and situate perfectly on a fridge/freezer for the holiday season. $15 set

Snow Day!

The biggest snow day of the year so far! Look at all of that snow Justin had to shovel this morning. It took him 2 hours!! It was a ton of snow! It definately brings the Christmas/holiday spirit!

Good things Utah broadcast

Kristel, Kathy and me went to Good Things Utah live broadcast the day before Thanksgiving. What a lot of fun we had! These 4 ladies are the hosts of the daily show.

Christmas Wood Crafts

I love how these blocks turned out. For only $10, you get a darling Christmas tree complete with bling (or jinglebells!)

Every household needs a cookies for Santa plate!$10

I love this snowman Justin designed for me. Add some paper to it, and a scarf and you are ready for December & January! $10

Nothing helps bring in Christmas cheer more than Christmas words around your house! This is one example of many others. NOEL is $8

Mutual Theme for 2011

Here's my take on next year's theme for the mutual program of our church. It's the 13th article of faith. These are on 6x6 blocks & painted different colors. $8 each

Don't we all want to know the answer for this!?! ($7)

Block Nativity with star ($10)

Justin's Birthday

Here is the table decor for Justin's birthday. Finally, I am young again since he moved up an age... The flowers (and leaves) are right from our garden).

So, i'm not a very good cake decorator, but i try to make it fun. {it tastes good though!} Here is his cake this year.

the big 35!!! Time flies when you're having fun! happy brithday Justin!