Here it is my long awaited post...

unfortunately it will be shorter than I would like because I am taking time away from packing to do this. Yep packing, tomorrow we are leaving for Mexico for 10 days with no kids! For that I have to give my sister Renee a huge thank you for coming to babysit again. So to get down to it since my last post we have been busy. December always comes in like a lion. It seems that we are constantly running around. We did manage to get to a couple of Christmas parties including one for Pat's staff and the Ward Christmas Party. They both were full of great food and good company. The kids were also able to see Santa again! I think we saw him 3 times this year!! Emmy was terrified of him so no picture this year.



We also have a family Christmas party every year at the home of a friend of Pat's parents. This year I was without Pat because he was stranded in Calgary due to a broken bus. He was at a Wrestling tournament for the high school. With all of the hustle and bustle with 3 kids plus food to bring I of course forgot the camera, but hopefully will get some copies. Every year they do a nativity and this year Rawley was Joseph and Hadley was an Angel.

Rawley stole the show at his Preschool Christmas concert. They had some great poems and songs. And don't you think he looks handsome.




Hadley's school didn't have a concert this year. The schools in our district rotate to visit Fort Whoop-up and this year was their turn. We didn't make it out to see the lights and take part in the festivities. It was much too cold for my liking.

We also took some family pictures thanks to my SIL Shauna. We were able to get one fairly good one. Which most of you hopefully got!



We decorated gingerbread houses and made cookies for Santa.




And got a couple of unexpected gifts.





This is the gift that we gave to their teachers this year. It was filled with popcorn.




We celebrated Christmas Eve at Pat's parents house and the kids all got to open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa. We also got to eat lots of yummy food.





We spent Christmas at home this year. No running between houses which was nice. We also had Grandma Reggie celebrate with us. I made Gingerbread Pancakes for breakfast which were supposed to be waffles but were still super yummy. I have to thank my friend Jamie for the recipe. I hope she doesn't mind that I give it to everyone but they are something that have to be shared.


Gingerbread Waffles (Makes 5 Belgian waffles)

1/4 C. butter, melted

1/2 C. brown sugar, packed or can substitute 1/3 C honey instead of sugar

1/2 C. molasses

2 eggs beaten well

1 C. milk

2 C. sifted flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

bananas

whipping cream


Cream butter, brown sugar, molasses, eggs and milk. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Add to molasses mix. Bake on greased waffle iron. Top with sliced bananas, buttermilk syrup and whip cream.

Buttermilk syrup recipe

1/2 C. butter

1/2 C. buttermilk

1 C. sugar

1 tsp. corn syrup

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil and boil until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla.


Santa was good to us this year. Maybe a little too good. I think next year I will take the advice of my friend Rhonda and give my kids just 4 gifts.
1. Something they need.
2. Something to read.
3. Something they want.
4. Something to wear.

We hope everyone has a Happy New Year. I know we will!

Has it really been that long since my last post?

Yes, I know it has been more than 2 weeks since I last posted. I truly feel like there has been plenty happening, but that also means that finding the time to post about these events is a lot harder. I promise that I will get to it soon. The last day of school tomorrow only means that there will be more to add, but I will wait till that is over then bombard everyone with a post like no other! So stay tuned!

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

Today we have been married for 11 years! It is amazing how quickly the years pass! Happy Anniversary Honey! Love you!

Giveaway!

I usually don't do this, but I thought that I might give everyone that reads this a little heads up about my friend Traci and her awesome creativity! Check out her craft blog here for a chance to win one cute little outfit for a baby of course!

So I have to wonder?????

Today I got an unexpected phone call from school. Hadley is not feeling well can you come and pick her up? Of course that meant that I had to wake Emmy up from her nap, load her and Rawley back into the car and drive to the school and pick her up. Only to find that the second we walked in the door at home that she was not longer sick! I did of course threaten to take her back to school, but decided that it would just be easier to keep her home for the afternoon. I guess that her punishment will have to be keeping an eye on her sister to make up for her shortened nap! I am still trying to figure out when it is legit and she is really not well or just an excuse to get out of things!!

Halloween Fun

We had some exciting Halloween events that we did, but instead of writing about them considering my last post was ginormous I decided to fill this one with pictures of our fun!

Choosing out pumpkins at the Pumpkin Patch and Petting Zoo.


This sheep actually gave him a nibble on his finger.



Carving our Jack O Lantern and spider pumpkins. Hadley decided to have her face painted at school during her lunch Halloween Carnival. She was a black cat.

Hadley's School Halloween Parade.

Getting ready in her classroom.

Rawley's preschool Halloween Party.
Auntie Nay and Jonas joined us for the fun.Making cookies!
The babes. A Monkey and a Lost Sheep. One of the few times they weren't screaming and pushing each other.

The whole Gang.

Cutest Little Bo Peep ever!
And finally my Handsome little Frog!

I will admit I am glad the fun and festivities are over for another year, and my kids have enough candy to last them till then too. Now on to Christmas and the craziness that will occur with it!

Can you say Neglect?

I sure can! I have been seriously neglecting our blog and I want to apologize to all of you who check up on us now and then. I wish that I could say it was because I have been busy, but that would only be partially true. We have been doing a little traveling as well as the usual for this time of year which includes Halloween and all of the festivities that are involved with 2 kids in school. So to catch everyone up here it is.

A visit from my sister!!

Well she was actually coming to watch our kids, but her real reason was to go and see this:


We are both hooked on these cheesy kiddy movies, but I decided that my interest is solely for Hadley and her complete obsession with the "gang". I won't say that it is the same reason for my sweet little sister because she has a crazy crush on Zac Efron's character Troy. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and can't wait to buy it and add it to my collection. Next was:


Vegas Baby!!

We spent 4 days there during the middle of October so that Pat could attend a course at LVI. We finally got our vacation sans kids. We started out our trip star struck when we found out that Donny and Marie Osmond were on our flight from Salt Lake to Vegas. We were pretty much standing right beside them walking through the Vegas airport. Not every day something like that happens. But now back to the trip. I was able to spend my days lounging around the resort, shopping, reading, sleeping in etc etc...all of the luxuries that I am not really able to take advantage of when I am at home including a well deserved trip to the hotel spa for a pedicure. Thankfully I didn't have to shop alone because there was another wife on the trip as well. We stayed at the Red Rock Resort and it was beautiful. All I can say is wow. There was a ton of restaurants on site as well as a bowling alley, and movie theater. With the additional shopping they are planning to add in the next couple of years, it could end up being a place we go and never have to leave to do anything else. Although Target is only 5 minutes away! We did of course venture to the strip to take in the sites and see a few shows. We basically filled every night with something just to keep it interesting. Our first night was spent walking the strip and picking up our tickets for the rest of the week. Wednesday we saw this:



My favorite show of the week. I have seen it before, but there is something about Phantom that makes it easy to watch over and over! Then we splurged and went to The Delmonico Steakhouse for dinner which is an Emeril Lagasse Restaurant in The Palazzo. Soooo good and sooo expensive!!!

The next night we went to PF Changs for dinner with everyone that was on the trip and then saw Cirque du Soleil KA with Clayton and Amie. We had front row seats which were cool. Pat had an especially fun time razzing the actors who walked around before hand making sure no one took any pictures or got to close to the edge of the set. I was laughing so hard!! It was a great show as well.

Our last night we went to a preview showing of Criss Angel Believe. This one got a thumbs down for me. I don't know if it was because we had bad seats or if they were still working out the kinks because it hadn't actually premiered yet. Not sure. Haven't read any reviews since it opened on Halloween. There was one highlight of this show as we were leaving we had a Celebrity moment. The red carpet was laid out for Reggie Bush from the New Orleans Saints and Kim Kardashin plus an entire entourage of people we really didn't know. Kind of fun to see, but crazy as well. The picture is not the greatest considering there was a lot of people trying to do the same thing as us.


An early flight home the next day and a lost bag to boot ended our otherwise fabulous trip. I don't think we will be taking any trips without our kids again any time soon, considering Emmy walked around most days calling for us and now won't let me out of her sight for longer than 2 minutes. Although the older 2 did have a blast with Auntie Renee.