Thursday, November 29, 2007

Happy Birthday Monique!
Today being Monique's birthday I thought my post should be a tribute to her. We took this picture together last summer at the opening of the new Harry Potter movie. The movie started at midnight! We were so excited to see the movie along with thousands of teenagers in Littleton, CO. It's sad to say but I don't have many pictures of us together. We were able to live in the same state for one short year! It was one of the best year's of my life! It was great to get together almost monthly! Our kids became great buddies also. I was so sad when they moved from the Seattle area! The other day Jon asked me "If you could choose anywhere to live where would that be?" I replied, "anywhere near my sister!" Happy Birthday Sis! I love you and miss you tons!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

So You Think You Can Dance?

Last night Morgan and I went to the "So you thing you can Dance" show at the Rose Garden in Portland.It was so much fun. We bought our tickets with Temple, Paige, Mckenna, and some others friends (Kim and Micaela Grahm, Kim is Morgan's ballet teacher) The dancing was incredible and the show was fantastic! We all had so much fun we just wanted to dance right out of there! It made it for a late night though.The show was 2 and a half hours long so we didn't get home until 11:30 pm! A big thanks to my friend Joni for watching the other kids since Jon is still out of town. I went to bed at 1 am after I watched "Dancing with the Stars" (I just couldn't get enough dancing for one night!) At 2 am Maddie woke up and kept me up until 430am! I felt like I had a newborn again. I'm dragging today but it was all worth it for a great evening!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thanksgiving Weekend!

What a fun, busy, and exhausting weekend it has been! Thanks giving was very yummy as usual. I stayed up so late on Wednesday night thinking that Thursday would be a breeze. NOT! I didn't shower until 1:15 pm and dinner was at 2:00 pm. We had great food and company. But being the host this year means that I was unable to really relax and enjoy the day. This is everyone enjoying dinner:
And then some of us enjoyed a nap (Jeff & Jon were supposedly upstairs playing with the two little ones in the bonus room):
We then went to see the movie "Enchanted". It was a cute movie but very crowded! And then back to our house for yummy Pie where some of us enjoyed the whip cream (Brinley & Paige):
By the time I hit the pillow at midnight I was exhausted! The next morning at 5 am Morgan and I went shopping! We hit several stores for the early sales. It was lots of fun and Morgan is now officially my "Black Friday" shopping partner. Jon hates to go! By the time we came home at noon I was even more tired than the previous day. That evening I took Jon to the airport so he could catch his red eye flight to NYC. Saturday was spent playing with friends, more shopping, and getting out the Christmas decorations. I have already done about half of the decorating, but I can't throw out my Thanksgiving center piece yet! My neighbor and I made them on Wednesday with the BIG help of her friend that used to work at a floral shop. Stephanie and I were very proud of accomplishments. We ended our fun holiday weekend with the Dustins Annual Pie Night. Some of our great friends invite families over to enjoy several holiday pies. It is always very filling, and fun evening. It is now back to regular bed times, our crazy schedule, and more holidays to come!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Making Ravioli!!!
My grandpa Prina had a family tradition of making homemade ravioli on holidays. My mother continued this tradition in my home growing up. I am also trying to continue this tradition. Some years it has happened and others NOT! This year since I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner I really wanted to serve this yummy dish with everyone. I was planning on making them on Sunday evening with the kids, but we were all exhausted. Mom seemed very excited when I told her that we were going to make Ravioli. We all had a great time making the Ravioli together tonight while we were listening to Christmas tunes. These three were the best helpers! Brooklyn especially loved the whole process!Morgan counted all the Ravioli's and the grand total was 154! It's a good thing we didn't double the recipe! The great thing is that I can freeze some and have them now for Christmas.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Thursday November 15, 2007
Maddie's Obsession
Madelyn loved everything about Halloween! She especially loved this pumpkin bucket that I got for $1 at Walmart. She packed that thing around for days before and after Halloween. It got so worn out and used that the wire that was giving its shape kept coming out. She would put everything and anything in that bucket. For example: books, stuffed animals, her favorite DVD's, play phones, socks, and of course candy. She filled that bucket up fast with candy on Halloween! She then proceeded to carry it around until all the candy was gone! I finally had to take it away because I kept on finding wrappers everywhere and candy stuck to my brand new carpet! Last week at the Gymboree sale I got these PJ's for her. I thought they were appropriate!

Friday, November 09, 2007

Friday November 9, 2007
Insanity!

Do you ever wonder why you put yourself in certain situations? This morning was one of those occasions. I decided to go to the mall at the last minute. I usually go kidless because I have Morgan at home or one of my friends is watching the little girls. Well not today! I went to a mall in Portland because a friend told me that they were giving away $10 gift certificates for the first 500 people. (this mall is having a grand opening for a new addition) I loaded up the girls with snacks, drinks, and a movie for the drive. I had to go up stairs to the food court,and stand in a long line just to get my $10 gift card. I don't own a normal stroller anymore, only a jogger stroller which aren't very compact, so I was holding Maddie the whole time! I then went to only two stores. The first one was called the Pumpkin Patch. They have darling clothes. This is where I spent my free $10, and where I got Brinley this outfit:We then went to another store for a return, and that was it! I stopped at See's Candy to pick up Jon's favorite treat, Rum Nougot, and I was going to get a sucker for the girls. Well, they were both whining for this expensive Thanksgiving candy! I ended up just getting Jon's candy and our free samples. I left with both girls in tears and the employee's starring at me! When we got home I immediately fed them and put them both to bed. About 30 minutes later I heard them upstairs talking and playing around so I decided to see what they were up to. They had taken every book and puzzle out of their hutch and were playing with them on the floor. Brinley said it was all Maddie, Yeah right! I then separated them and decided that this is definitely going to be a Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry Day!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Tuesday November 6, 2007
Our Den

For the past few weeks Monique has been asking me to send me some pictures of my house. I decided to put them on my blog so others can see them too. (Sorry Christy, you're the only one that has actually seen my house) This is our den/scrapbook haven: My side
I took pictures of both sides of the room: Jon's side It's very similar to my old den. Although, I do have much more storage and shelving in the closet. Sometimes Jon and I will both be in here together (on our own sides of course) in the evenings working on projects. Jon often gets tired before me and will lay on the carpet and immediately fall asleep. Yesterday, I was working on some thanksgiving invitations.(inmy scrapbook room) I think they turned out really cute!For FHE last night we delivered them to our family members that will be invited for the feast. I also made them a gratitude jar. Each day every family member must put something they are thankful for in the gratitude jar. I told everyone to bring their jar to my house on Thanksgiving day and we will share with each other what we are grateful for. Both Temple and Becky loved the idea. Thanks to Monique for the great idea. It will make us appreciate everything we are blessed with!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

November 1, 2007
Halloween!
This year was one of our best Halloween's EVER! I think it was for many reasons. Ever since I have been in my current ward (ten years) we have had our Harvest Festival on Halloween. It's always been fun but we never go trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood. We had our party last weekend so last night we were actually able to enjoy the neighborhood. We first went to some friends house the Dustins for appetizers. Jon then took our children around for about an hour, while I stayed with Maddie. It was so fun for them to go around the neighborhood and see all their friends. The weather was absolutely fabulous. We usually have rain or it's very cold and windy. This year there was neither. The kids had a blast and got tons of candy. Overall, it was a very Happy Halloween!!!

Morgan & Emily getting ready to trade candy.