Holiday Baking

This year I volunteered to make home made goody boxes for Justin's co-workers in his department at work. The task didn't seem too undaunting as I only needed to make 12 boxes of treats. The first day I set aside to make Christmas goodies I had my mom come over to my house. Somehow by the end of the day we hadn't made much progress. I stayed up late that night after my mom went home and got back on track. I guess I can't have any distractions while baking. Some of the things that I made included: chocolate peanut clusters, caramels, chocolate covered pretzels, ginger cookies, fudge, my great grandma's fruit bread, and homemade cheese balls. The cheese balls were really easy and fun to make. My neighbors got to enjoy those! Happy Baking!

Silver and Gold

Here is our tree this year.

Closer

...and even closer

Diane's 25th Birthday!

On November 6th I turned 25! This by far has been one of the best birthdays for me. The weekend before my birthday my parents took Jessica and I out for our 25th birthday. It always rocks to have another person to celebrate such a fun day with! Then for my birthday Justin had me get off work early on Friday the 5th and we dropped Mckayla off at Grandma Humpherys. Then we went to eat dinner at Rodizio Grill in Trolley Square. We got so stuffed. It was delicious. Then we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast and enjoyed great shopping the next day! Forever 21 is my new favorite store by the way. They have so many cute clothes to look at. After all this fun and celebration I still got a special home made dinner by Justin's mom who is the Betty Crocker of the century. On Sunday the next day we went to my in-laws and ate ribs and twice baked potatoes with lots of good sides. Then to top off the night my brother and sister in law made a home made Sponge Bob pinata that we could hit. This was no ordinary pinata. It was supposed to be almost indestructible. My brother in law Jake was so proud of his construction. It took over an hour to finally break all the candy out. Only a little bit of candy came out when it started breaking open. Most of the candy was shattered into pieces because of the intense hits that the adult guys took a whack at.

Sweet Dreams

Isn't she so sweet sleeping?

Mommy's Helper

Mckayla helping mommy make chocolate chip cookies!

Abominable Snowman and Frankenstein

Justin and I were assigned these characters for the night at a Murder Mystery Party. It was a ton of fun. I had never been to one before. When I first saw the character I got assigned, I was quickly discouraged and thought how was I ever going to pull off dressing up like the Abominable Snowman AKA Yeti. Thanks to Costume Castle, I was able to pull it off.


Here were some Halloween treats we brought to the party. They are cream cheese oreo balls dipped in chocolate. They are divine!

Happy 2nd Birthday Mckayla

Mckayla is now two years old! She is such a big girl. We had a birthday party on Saturday for her. The highlight was her Sponge Bob Pinata which seemed to have indestructible force. We had to have Mckayla's Uncle Jared give a whack at it to finally break it open. We enjoyed pizza, cake and ice cream, and seeing family.

Discovery Gateway Adventure

Okay, so Justin and I took Mckayla to the Discovery Gateway last month. We were a little disappointed by what you got for your buck. I thought hey, it is during the middle of day in the middle of the week that there wouldn't be a big crowd. No, I was wrong. I guess every other mom had the same mentality as me that since it wasn't a weekend that it wouldn't be too busy. It ended up that Mckayla loved the plastic play balls the most. They had a system of tubes that went up to the ceiling where the balls traveled and then all came down into a bin. I think we will stick with going to the Treehouse Museum. That is a great place for curious toddlers.

Backyard Makeover

For those of you homeowners that have ever had the challenge of getting green grass, or even wanting green grass over obnoxious weeds, you will appreciate our excitement. At the end of June we hired a landscape company to come clear out our entire backyard of two feet high weeds, install a sprinkling system in the front and backyard, and then lay sod. Here are some of the before and after photos.

Family

Here is Alexis. She has been a great babysitter to Mckayla this summer. She really is her favorite auntie!!



Here is Justin and Mckayla on Father's Day. Boy oh boy she is a daddy's girl. We call her "cling on."



Mom and Mckayla before church.



Here is the cutest girl ever. Mckayla is 21 months old and in the "toddler" stage. We can't believe how fast she is growing. She speaks very well and has an extensive vocabulary. She can say calculator and elephant. She loves to be outside and explore her world. Her favorite phrases include: "I want to go outside." "I want to go to the park." "I want a snack." "I want to watch elmo." "I want my blankie." Can you see the pattern? "I want...I want....I want...."



Here is Justin with Mckayla and our nephew Caden.

4th of July Weekend

For the 4th of July weekend we decided to bike the Ogden River Parkway. Mckayla got to be pulled by daddy in the bike trailer. We started in Riverdale and biked to the mouth of Ogden Canyon. It was about a 14 mile ride. Mckayla loved it. She did so well for biking so long. Later that day we went to my parents house for food and fireworks.