A Tea Party... For Moi?!

For my 31st birthday, my sister, Cindy, invited me to a birthday tea party--in my honor! It was incredible. Beautiful. Amazing.
I must share.
It was a very, very special birthday, indeed.
Two of my friends came to the tea party--we all had so much fun!
(Bec & Charity, thank you so much for coming! It was so fun to see you!)

The invitation I was sent ...


Beautiful decorations with white daises (my favorite) and butterflies...


Delicious teas (Black cherry herbal), Lavender (blooming tea) and Wassail.


Wonderful food (quiche, cucumber tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, chicken salad in pita bread).... Can I have "thirds"?


A beautiful table setting, unique place cards, fine china, gold pumpkin candles, a bouquet of daises (which she went to the ends of the earth to find for this late November birthday)...


31 mini chocolate cupcakes...(I love, love, love cupcakes!)
My beautiful sister, and event planner...


My wonderful mom and co-hostess...
and the guest's party gift (a giant chocolate cupcake with a flower stick/sucker on a gold plate).

It was such a fun, unique, special birthday party! I loved it!! Everything was just beautiful and so fun! Thank you so much, Cindy!
So, Cindy, are you busy next year?

Ho Ho Ho Santa's Workshop

Santa was in Old Town yesterday! After we went iceskating, we stopped at his little workshop/cabin and the kids got to talk to him (we were with some friends of ours). Mcayden immediately showed him his cool shark and checked out his beard.

Next, Addison got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time. She didn't seem to think anything of it, until she got a good look at him. I had just said, "Addison is doing so well", when she burst into tears.
Sweet Santa felt bad she started crying, but I still had to grab the camera and take a picture. It was really cute and funny (as insensitive as that may sound, it was. )!

Iceskating in Old Town

We took the kids iceskating in Old Town yesterday and had a great time! Rick and I hadn't been iceskating for years. Ooh, scary.

Old Town is so awesome. It's only $3.00 (including skates) to skate for as long as you want! How great is that?!

At first he was unhappy about being forced onto the ice.

Whoever the smarty was that thought of flipping garbage cans upside down for the kids to hold onto, while they skate, is a new hero of ours.

Mcayden got a little more comfortable and skated around with Rick.

Addison and I "skated" along the wall. I say "skated" because it was more like making baby steps/glides as I held onto the wall. I didn't want to chance falling with Addison strapped to me.

Ooh, look at our little man, venturing out on his own (with Daddy close by). Mcayden skated a bit with only the help of the garbage can. Wahoo!

Oops! Mcayden had his first (and only) spill, or "crash" as he would say.

Daddy brought "Sharky" out of his pocket and told Mcayden he could show "Sharky" how to iceskate. Immediately there was a renewed enthusiasm for iceskating and he took his little shark for a ride atop the garbage can.

There is definately not a shortage of things to do with our family here. We are so excited for the Christmas season. In Old Town they have decorated ALL the trees with beautiful white lights. The entire main street (College) is lit up. It feels like a winter wonderland already. I will try to shoot some pictures of the lights, but for now I have added a picture I found on Flickr from 2007.

Nothing is Better Than a Long, Restful Sunday Nap...

...Except, waking up to freshly baked, homemade rolls. Rick makes awesome, delicious rolls (yes, from scratch). He is all around amazing! I'm so lucky!

Where Does Mail Go?

Today we went on a tour of the post office and the kiddos (and us moms) got to learn all about what happens to mail. It was really fun and the lady who took our group around was great at keeping the kids' interest.




We got to see where the mail (letters and packages) is received, how the mail is sorted, etc. The kids even got to go inside a semi trailer, that takes mail to Denver. They loved that.

Would You Like Some Salt With That?

A couple of weekends ago, Rick and I went to dinner at the Melting Pot and we bought some of their Garlic & Wine Seasoning. It's kind of like a "Season All" that goes well on salad, potatoes, etc. Well, to make a long story short, Mcayden was having dinner after Rick and I had finished. Rick and I were both upstairs and then I heard Rick walk downstairs followed by, "Oh, no. No. No." He came back upstairs and asked, "Do you remember the bottle of seasoning we just bought at the Melting Pot? ..."(See picture below.)

Yeah, it's all gone. Mcayden decided to try some and ended up dumping the entire bottle on his dinner. We actually thought it was pretty funny. This is a picure of exactly how much Mcayden had poured on his plate.

A Girl After My Own Heart

Out with the girls tonight, at the Chocolate Cafe.
I enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate.
Rich. Creamy. Delicious.
And a couple bites of pumpkin cheesecake.
I couldn't make any more room.
Arrived home late and handed over the cheesecake.
Rick grabbed a fork.
And handed me the camera.
He showed me pictures of our little girl.
And explaining he let her try some Peppermint Bark tonight.
We both laughed at her deliriously happy smile.

She is a girl after my own heart.

Turkey Craft Activity

Today the kids (in our Mom's Club) made Thanksgiving placemats and "decor" for a Retirement Home. We'll be delivering them in a couple of weeks and visiting with the residents. It was so fun to have an activity like this. Addison played on the floor and put everything she could get her hands on--into her mouth. She's crawling now and is a speedy little munchkin!

Auntie Julie was a big help!

Mcayden showing off his two masterpieces!

When it Rains it Pours (in a good way)

The expression "When it rains it pours" is so true!
Julie called me from Tanzania, Africa a couple of weeks ago and asked if it would be okay if she flew out for a visit once she got back in the states. We hadn't seen her in almost three years (since Mcayden was six months old) and were really happy she was coming to see us!
She was landing in Denver the same day as the BYU/CSU game (when our friends were here visiting, from out of state), so my mom and Cindy drove down (from UT.), picked Julie up at the airport and then they spent two days at Estes Park, before heading up to our place.
After our friends left, family arrived!
We had such a fun visit with them! The kids loved having Grammie and TWO aunties here. And we loved that the kids got to see them all and we got to spend time together.
Grammie and Cindy headed back home a couple of days ago and Julie flew out today. Our house feels almost empty now.
I feel so blessed to have a family that always makes time (and spends the $$) to come see us and be with our little family.We know it's not cheap or easy to fly across country or drive seven hours! Julie, Mom & Cindy, we really enjoyed having you here! Thank you so much for the visit! We love you! We hope to see you later this month for Turkey Day!

A Lion Gets Loose in Old Town

On Saturday, we spent the morning shopping in Old Town. Julie bought some beautiful jewerly at some local shops and then we headed for the toy store. They were having a really fun family event--lucky us! There was a magician, face painting, cookies, punch, live music, and all the hands-on play time a kid could ever want.

It is a great toy store with really unique toys and clothes. It would be really easy to spend a small fortune there! Auntie Julie took Mcayden to get his face painted, while Addison and I scoped out the sales. Mcayden chose to have his face painted like a lion and then totally played the part. Following the toy store, we enjoyed lunch at the Spicy Pickle and Mcayden proceeded to growl at people sitting at nearby tables. He also tried to crawl on the ground, growling, but we didn't want to scare everyone away (or be asked to leave the building!).

He loved "being a lion" and couldn't wait to show Daddy!

Tutu

I wanted to take pictures of Addison in a little tutu, so Julie and I went shopping for one! We were successful! The fourth store we checked had one and it was just what I was looking for! I will take (and post) more pictures of her in it, but wanted to post a couple that I shot. I love taking pictures of the kids, especially when we get some great shots. I'm glad Addison doesn't mind being my little baby model.

Pizza Making

We went to a local ma & pap pizzaria, "Nick n Willy's", where Mcayden (and his little friends from play group) got to lean all about making pizza. They were all very impressed when the pizza was tossed up so high it hit the ceiling tile (yum). They learned how the dough is made, bakes, etc. They even got to walk into the big fridge. They were each given a big ball of dough to pound on and practice making pizza crust. Mcayden liked making and eating "snakes". And Addison liked sucking on the dough.
After learning all about pizza making, it was time to eat! It was such a fun activity. The kids got really into it and the pizza was delicious!

Family Pictures

A good friend of ours took our family pictures the other day (our new family pictures are on the right side bar) and I shot a couple pictures as well. I just fell in love with this one that I shot of Addison with Daddy.

Our family pictures turned out so great! I am excited to have a nice, big picture of our family on the wall. Below are some other pictures I got of the kids. Addison makes me laugh so hard!

BYU vs CSU

Our good friends Mike and Charity came down to Co. this weekend for the BYU/CSU game.They are loyal BYU fans and had been planning this trip for almost three months! They even bought us BYU shirts to wear to the game! We literally didn't know who would win until the last second when 95% of the crowd went silent. BYU won. It was a close game! Rick and I didn't really care who won--we're not really BYU or CSU fans (yet), so we just cheered them both on.

Rick and I got a babysitter for the kiddos, but Kadon went and cheered on BYU with his Mommy & Daddy. What a cutie!