Holiday Review

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year, well, we always have a wonderful Christmas!! How could we not with all of our families around and good friends to spend time with. We started off with the Davis party last Saturday, complete with a wonderful meal, a live nativity presentation(I wasn't able to get a picture because I was delighted to play the role of Mary, check Paulene's blog to see a picture), and great presents for everyone. It is always fun to see the anticipation on the kids faces as a beautifully wrapped present is placed in front of them!


Christmas eve we had my parents over to go and look at the lights at Thanksgiving point and then came home for hot chocolate. The girls loved talking their ears off the entire ride over in the car while the snow was coming down around us and listening to the Osmond Christmas album. It really was a fun evening and am so glad they were able to come with us.

Then the girls went to bed and Santa arrived with all his gifts. Before leaving he taped off the stairs so that the girls couldn't come down to see the gifts without us!! When the girls finally got us out of bed they were totally thrilled to see that Santa DID know that Abby wanted the pet shop house and accessories and Liv wanted the Pony Tea Pot house! Eva was happy with her new Care Bear, and baby doll, although she immediately put the binkie in her mouth, how could she remember that is what you do with it!!!!

Following all that fun we went over to my parents for the Griffiths Christmas party. It was so fun to have the entire family together this year including Hillary and Rand who made it into town from Missouri after a 17 hour drive. Trace also had Amber with him, they became officially engaged over the weekend so congratulations to them again!!! We had a great Turkey dinner, played the family trivia game, which Paul won again, yes that is 4 out of the last 7 years people!!! Then we commenced with the traditional Nativity play and the family present opening chaos!!


I have to say that I am very pleased to announce that with the Wilson's help this year I was able to get Paul a gift that he was very pleased with, the new Skil Lithium-ion hand drill. He used it three times that morning including hanging up my present, a new chandelier for the kitchen - which I just love!! Thanks again Paul!!


All in all it was a great holiday and we will continue it on Monday starting out with Abby's much anticipated Princess tea party for her 5th birthday. It should be the most exciting social event of the year!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It has finally arrived and our house is full of excitement for the fun things to come. Yesterday after the Griffiths family pictures(of which I think turned out so wonderful, I can't wait to get the proofs!) Abby was finally able to make her greatly desired gingerbread house, with the help of her Grandpa.
Thank you Grandpa for all your architectural skills!!!


Everyone have a great holiday, and after all the festivities of the day I will post pics of both the Davis(thank you Paulene and David for a wonderful evening of theater, food, and perfect gifts!) and Griffiths parties, as well as the Christmas morning reactions!!!

May the spirit of Christmas be in all of your houses, we love you all!!

It's official

Today I bought my membership to the American Fork Rec center! Thank you Paul for a very wonderful Christmas present! I am very excited to get back in the water twice a week to swim away my stress!! Shamae is also going to start meeting me on Saturday mornings for a spinning class and I am very happy about that. So the triathlon training will begin this Saturday and hopefully it will help me shed this last 10lbs that I can't seem to get off my body. When I lost all my weight after having Liv it was when I was training before, and doing the secret recipe of running, swimming and cycling over six days of the week. You all know that I was a little sad to only enjoy being back at my high school specs for only about a month before I found out I was prego and quickly started expanding! I am optimistic to reach my goal and accomplish my greatest dream of completing a Tri with Shamae, and whoever else wants to join us, by the time Summer hits!

Sorry to those of you who care, but I have been busy this week getting things ready for Christmas and haven't been able to scrap, after the holiday I will get back on track with that, so don't you worry.

This weekend should be a lot of fun with the Davis party on Saturday, Griffiths family pictures and dinner on Sunday, and then the Griffiths party on Christmas day. Can you believe that it is only 4 days till Christmas!!! I am so excited I could pee my pants!!

Love to all!!

Early Birthday

Because Abby's birthday falls during the holiday brake, her day to celebrate with her school class was today. Last week she and I were curled up on the couch watching Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee (oh, I do love how Abby likes to watch my cooking shows with me!!) and it just so happened to be full of Christmas cakes and treats to make. So it was quickly decided that we were going to make the Reindeer cupcakes to take as her treat for the birthday fun. However, as the two of us hit the store on Saturday we quickly found that it was pretty much wiped clean of all the holiday candy needed to decorate, no bags of chocolate covered pretzels, gumdrops, licorice ropes etc. So being the creative woman I am, and buying a gift box of overly priced pretzels we came up with some pretty cute cakes that Abby was so excited to take with her to school.


She also brought home the gift she had been making to give me for Christmas, but couldn't stand it and made me open it right then. Isn't it the cutest little candle jar that they glued tissue paper on to make it look like stained glass. Teacher's these days are so creative.


Last but not least I wanted to share my layout that I totally scrap lifted from Digital Scrapbooking magazine - told you I was going to do this one Audrey!! After the last snowfall I took this picture just so that I could make this page with the beautiful kit that Paulene so wonderfully shared. This is when I begin to wonder if I scrapbook to live or live to scrapbook!


Have a good one everybody!!

Is it bad....

......that it is noon and I am still in my pajamas, sitting at my computer scrapbooking while the girls run crazy? I didn't think so!!!

Enjoy -

Out for the count

Sorry I have been MIA for the last week. Sickness has befallen me and my house. I need to put a Quarantine sign on the front door! Paul has been suffering from a head cold, Abby had one as well, and then last Thursday pressure started to form behind my eyes and then I had a tickle in my throat and I new what was coming - my dreaded illness that I catch if it is within a 10 mile radius- Strep! Friday afternoon my wonderful brother-in-law Steve so kindly took me into his home office, ran the test which quickly sealed my fate for the upcoming weekend. I sat at the AF wal-mart for no lest then one hour and twenty minutes to get my prescription filled (worth it
though because the drugs were only $4 on the new plan there!) with three kids and not feeling well. My down fall was swift and devastating to the whole family. By the time Paul came home from work I was on the couch under three blankets with a high fever giving me an intense case of the chills. Now as bad as this all seems, and how much I hate being sick, I was mostly upset because our only Party and get together with friends this month was that night and I was unable to go, oh well, Paul went, and took Abby, and they had a great time while I was home sweating out my fever in bed tossing and turning amid sicky dreams comprised of unnerving hallucinations!!!! Thank goodness by Sunday night I was feeling much better. It did make me think how lucky I am to live in a time that we have antibiotics available, what in the world did people to without them!!! And thank you to Paul, who reminded me to take my medication (I am one who just doesn't think to take some Advil to bring down the 103 temp, I am crazy!) and did the cooking and cleaning and child care all weekend.
With that all said I now have to jump into overdrive this week to catch up on everything that had to slide while I was out for the count. I would share all the Christmas projects that I have been working on but all the people that I have this year read the blog so alas, you will just all have to wait for the family parties to see what I am soooo excited about!!! (well some of you have already had a sneak peak!) And just to leave you with another glimpse of my life here is a picture of "Ariel" that helped to take care of me all weekend by getting up every day from Friday through Sunday, put on this crazy wig and hike her fin up so that we could see her cheeks and strut around giving me this sweet grin.


Now that did make my burdens a little lighter!

Finally here is Eva experiencing her first snow fall. Paul went out for the 10th time to clear off the dish and left the door open. She crawled out and was just laughing and grinning away as it gently fell on her head and nose.

She was so upset when I brought her back inside!
Love to all

25 Christmas things

25. How many more days til' Christmas?
19...the excitement is really starting to set in!!!

24. What color is your Christmas tree?
Green, all ornaments are wood or rusted metal, I just love it.

23. Bought any gifts for anyone yet?
I am almost done, except for a couple of cousin gifts.

22. Are there any Gifts under the tree?
One for Abby from Liv, one for Liv from Abby, one for Paul from me.

21. Will it snow this Christmas?
I do hope so, as much as I hate it Christmas HAS to be white...

20. How many family members live in your house?
Four good girls and One very patient boy!

19. Is Santa coming?
yep...although it is threatened otherwise on a daily basis to Liv!

18. Have you been naughty or nice?
I am always nice :)

17. Favorite place to get presents from?
I don't care, It really is the thought that counts to me.

16. How many places do you go to celebrate the holiday?
Christmas Eve with the Davis' and Christmas day with the Griffiths. I love having both families close, especially during Christmas.

15. Ever 'peeked' inside a present?
When I was a child we would ransack the house when Mom was gone, we found quite a few, but I learned that the surprise is really much better.

14. Ever tried egg nog?
The Mormon version, and I love it! Paul thinks I am crazy!!

15. How cold is it now?
I'm not sure but it feels like 32 degrees

14. Decorated your house yet?
Yes, and thanks to Audrey we have two trees this year, one in front of the bay window and one down stairs by the TV.

13. Do you still leave the cookies and milk, just for the fun of it?
yes, Santa truly does leave better presents!!

12. How many presents would you say you got last year?
I think it was seven, I am so spoiled to have such a large family.

13. Name 3 things you asked for this Christmas:
I am only asking for one thing, a membership to the Rec center so that my Triathlon training can officially begin by starting up the swimming. Thankfully Paul has said OK!!

12. Ever watched The Christmas Story?
Yes, it is the best part of Christmas.

11. Have you ever been sledding?
Not since college when a friend and I went down Old Main Hill at 2:00am, it was very fun!

10. Do you get more money, or clothes for Christmas?
Money

9. Ever had a snow ball fight?
Yes, but not since I was a child, Paul better watch out when he gets home!!!!

8. How many stockings will hang from the fire place?
We don't have a fireplace, but we have 5 Davis tradition felt stockings hanging from hooks on the front room shelf.

7. Does your dog/cat get a stocking?
Thank goodness we don't have one!!!!

6. How many people would you say you buy for a year?
I am counting 12, I sure hope that is right!

5. What kind of food do you celebrate with?
Oh, where to start! On Christmas day my mother makes a whole turkey dinner with all the trimmings, she also makes fudge, caramels, chocolate drops, divinity, orange drops. But it still wouldn't be Christmas with out Orange sticks or a Chocolate orange to whack!!

4. Did it snow on Christmas Day last year?
I honestly can't remember, does anyone know?

3. Do you have one or more trees that are decorated for a specific theme?
Just the one described earlier. But my mother-in-law Paulene, has several, Santa's only, silver and white snowflakes and crystals, red and gold stars, the list goes on and I love each and every one of them!!!

2. Do you go to Church on Christmas Day?
Only when it falls on a Sunday.

1. Merry Christmas!

If you have a fun answer to any of these, leave them in the comments!!!!!

Oh, it taste really very good!

This is what Abby told me when I looked outside to find her doing this as the snow was coming down this morning.


They don't get their love of snow from me! Catching the snowflakes on the tongue was quickly followed by this beloved childhood pass time:


As I promised Paulene this evening, as we were sitting around flipping through scrapbook mags. and discussing important details of the sport, here are the layouts that I have been working on for the last two days (leading to much neglect of my home, oh well, sacrifices must be made for things of the up most importance, as scrapping would be!!)

This first one is a complete and total lift from a layout entry into last weeks Digidare. I just fell in love with it and immediately had to try my hand. Here is the result, I did this all by scratch except the tree was a template that I just popped the green paper into and layed on the layout and then decorated to my hearts content with many of my favorite things! I just love it!!


Here is #1 of soon to be 3 layouts for our Thanksgiving adventures (I know that you are all so not tired of seeing these pictures!) I think that it turned out just lovely using a cute two page template, Abby's must have fun little Turkey, and some of Audrey's oh so generous to share bobbles and trinkets (thanks, they are great!)


Hope everyone has a fantastic rest of the weekend, my goal is to get back on track with the dieting and much needed exercise and plain 'ol life routine next week. Somehow my mind and body still thought we were on vacation this week, silly self of mine!!!! I will be better by Monday!

I can't believe it has been a year

A short twelve months ago we welcomed Evangeline into our family. I can hardly believe that much time has gone by. I have often told people that I wish pregnancy would go by as quickly!

She was born in the same hospital with the same doctor and the same nursing staff as her two other sisters, so the day wasn't that much of a surprise. I was induced, like always, and everything was smooth sailing. Two hours and three pushes later we had our darling third daughter.


She was such a good baby from the moment we brought her home, only getting up twice a night to feed, all the credit for that however goes to my mother!


Her birthday fell the day before Thanksgiving this year, but we didn't let it slide. Kevin made the cakes in a cute "bug" pan and I decorated them to the girls specifications. They turned out very cute if I do say so myself!!!!
You REALLY loved that cake!!


Eva we love you very much and are so happy to have you in our family. Your cute scrunched up little smile makes us all happy and we love to hear your excitement as you come down to breakfast every morning waving to your sisters.


Happy first birthday my darling girl.

Talk about a temperature shock!

We have arrived safely back home after a fantastic week spent at Audrey's home in California!

They are always the perfect host and the girls had a great time together (I hope you have all check her link for pictures of all the fun! She took much better photos than me!). As we were leaving we had to take note that the gauge in our car said it was a perfect 71 degrees out and we were sad to not only leave our wonderful family but the perfect weather as well. What other place can you have Thanksgiving dinner (it was so good, thanks for the stuffing!), then go to the midnight shopping sales for "Black Friday" and only wear a light jacket (I had no idea stores did a midnight opening, it was a lot of fun and sooo much better then trying to get out of bed at 5:00am), then go to the beach the next day! I have to say that the first time Paul and I went to visit over the holiday I found it very strange to not have snow, or be bundled up, but now I love it and look forward to it!!! So after all that fun and sunshine we made our way east and back into Utah. After stopping in St. George for dinner we decided that it was starting to get cooler, as we advanced our way north the temperature gauge began to plummet - 50, 40, 38, and yes it was a crisp 27 degrees as we pulled into our garage!!! Thank goodness for the kindness of my father who went over earlier to turn the heat back on in the house!!!! It was fun to see the frost on the houses and lawns this morning and everyone's Christmas decorations out, it has very much put me in the mood to do the same, this evening I think we will do just that!!! Thanks again Wilson clan for a wonderful week in Paradise, we are however, very happy to be home for the Christmas season!!! So without further adue click on the following link that Audrey so artistically created for everyone to join us Davis' in ushering in the Christmas season!!! Be patient, it takes a minute to load. Enjoy!!!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9592877683

We found it to be completely hysterical!!!! Check back soon because my baby turned one while we were away and I will be sharing those photos!!!

California or Bust!!

We are on our way this morning, wish us luck on our 12 hour plus drive with three children in tow!! Abby is so excited to see her cousins that last night she told Paul "I just might not be able to sleep because I will be having fun dreams". So check Audrey's blog for updates on all our adventures for the next week and every one have a wonderful Thanksgiving with all of your loved ones!!

Until next week, so long!!!!

A bit out of sorts

I haven't been feeling the best today, I woke up this morning with an upset stomach and it has been hanging around all day. Paul has already made the pregnancy jokes so I don't need anymore of those!!! Mostly this upsets me because I wasn't able to run this morning, and with our much anticipated trip next week for the holiday I had wanted to stick to my workout schedule this week, next week will be a free for all! Oh well, the good news for all of you is that I was able to scrapbook instead!

This first one is using a bunch of my birthday goodies that I just love.


And these are the girls Halloween spreads - I have changed Abby's about 10 times and I am still not sure if I am completely happy with the results. It just may have to be revisited another day.


I have now finished a yummy bowl of soup and I think that it has made me feel better, hopefully it will continue through the evening!!!

Love to all, until next time.

Afternoon Confections

We decided that dessert was in order for after dinner this evening (mostly to give the girls something to do on an otherwise boring Sunday afternoon). So after a quick trip to shop in my mother's basement for a cake mix, and her happily sharing her chocolate frosting recipe, we had cupcakes, much to my children's delight!! Should I be worried that Liv gets this much of an emotional response from bakery goods?!!



Yes Audrey, thanks for the dress, she hasn't worn anything else since she saw it!!! It is her new "very favorite" dress.

Oh, and since we only ate four of the TWENTY FOUR the mix made, does anybody want one? PLEASE!!!!!

My favorite time of day

Abby and her dear friend Audrey(the little girl across the street, not you Paul's sister!) are upstairs in her room putting glittery make-up on each other. I really should go and take a picture because they also have on fairy wings and princess high heel shoes! Liv is, of course, watching her favorite movie "Cinderella" while decked out in full costume. My darling little Evangeline has just settled in for her afternoon nap. What does this all mean? I now have a moment to share my latest page creations! I am quite proud of these because 1. I made them from scratch, no templates, and 2. I scrap lifted the page ideas from one of my favorite blogs "multi-photo layout gallery". I love the simpleness of Eva's page, kind of reminiscent of the paper way, and I love Abby's bike page for the same reason as well as having everything grouped together in the middle.



What do you think?

Just a quick one

I can't believe that this week is almost over! It has just flown by. I don't have a lot of time today, I seem to have triple booked myself this evening, along with letting the toys and dishes pile up! Tonight Paul is going to be at the BYU game. Thursday night games are not my favorite seeing that I left this morning to take the girls to story time at the library and yelled a quick goodbye to Paul as I ran out the door and he won't be home until after 11:00pm tonight. My mom is having us over to play for a while this evening, being interrupted by a baby shower that I need to be attending and then hurrying back to go walking with Jerianne, then taking the girls home and getting them to bed. So while my day wasn't all that busy my evening will be, but I am glad for all the things I will be doing. Now I need to go and do the before mentioned cleaning so that I don't pull my hair out when I walk in late tonight!!!

I will leave you with a layout. Eva turned 11 months old a couple weeks ago, can you believe that she will be one in a short two weeks!! I can't believe it!!


Have a great evening everyone!

Me at 30

Abby of all people helped me take these self portraits the other day and I have to say she did a pretty good job!! I will also say looking at these pictures has made me realize that Hillary and I might just be sisters after all! I am seeing alot of her in my face for some reason. While putting this layout together it let me think about this whole turning 30 thing. Many people really dread this milestone, makes them feel old and start to wonder if they have done all the things they thought they would by this age. I am one that has totally embraced turning 30. I feel as though it is the right age to be when you have been married nearly seven years and have three children. Quite frankly I feel like I have been thirty for the last 10 years. Now don't get me wrong, at times I wake up and think to myself, am I not still 16 because I swear that I am 16! Then I look in the mirror and realize that I definitely don't have the body I did then, but my heart and mind still feel that young and free. I have always felt responsibility for my life, I have just never really been a flighty giggly teen girl (I admit that there have been times, before everyone contradicts me!). I have worked since I turned sixteen, put myself through school until I was 22 and got married at 24. I have had a great life thus far, done many of the things on my to do list of my teen years, not necessarily in the right order or time frame, but the checks are there and I feel great about it. I love being thirty, they say a woman's greatest time is in her 30's, I think I will just put that to the test!! As Kelly Conroy told me the other night, "Welcome to the thirty-something family!" I join with great happiness and pleasure!!

Good things for my Birthday!

Did you all tune in and watch Good Things Utah on Friday?! Because if you did you were able to see my 15 minutes of fame! Paulene and I had such a wonderful time attending the show that morning. It was really interesting to see how it is made, all the people behind the scenes and get a few freebies.


I was the only birthday in the audience so I was able to have a close up and wave to everyone, it was really very fun and exciting! I have to say the ladies look exactly the same in person, but they were very genuinely nice. Here is our photo with the girls after the show.


After the taping Paulene took me to the opening day of The Cheesecake Factory, my father in law David joined us. I have never eaten at one and being opening day we had to wait no less than 1 hour and 45 minutes to get a seat, but the food was fantastic and I ordered the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, now that was amazing!! Thanks you two for spending your entire afternoon with me!! I had a great time with you!

I have to thank Paul for his gift of my Salon evening the night before and then taking the day off of work so that I could go to the show and lunch with Paulene. We were gone longer then expected and it turned out that Abby had her first day of her new Preschool that morning so he was truly Mr. Mom that day! That night he took our little family out for wings (I LOVE wings!) so that I wouldn't have to cook dinner. Thank you honey, I love you and all that you did to make my day special (including doing all the dishes cleaning up and sweeping and mopping the floor!)

Then I was surprised by a visit from the Conroy's, Jerianne the sweet girl that she is, made me little bite size cheesecakes topped with all kinds of sweet and yummy things and they sang to me, so wonderful and appreciated.

Last but not least I need to thank all of you who took the time to call, (the Wilson serenade was fantastic!), or even sent me a gift certificate and downloads to my favorite digital scrapbook stores. Audrey and Michelle, so nice of you and I have already filled my cart!

This really was a fun birthday and I felt very loved and special. I will be posting again soon with a layout of me at 30. I loved that Jerianne did that and with Abby's help yesterday I was able to get some pictures of myself(something that I never do) and I will be scrap lifting Audrey's "Me at 35" page, I hope you don't mind :)

So stay tuned!!!

Halloween, Halloween, Trick-or-Treat!

We had such a fun day yesterday celebrating the holiday! How can you not with school parties, dressing up, getting a jack-o-lantern pizza (thanks Mom!) and carving pumpkins, all combined with being able to go door to door asking for candy! We did the usual routine of Paul taking the girls around the neighborhood while I stayed home with Eva,all dressed up in my Maid costume, to answer the door and see all the cute costumes. Funny story about my costume, I put it on while Abby was out playing and when she came in it scared her to death to see this unknown blonde woman taking the pizza out of the oven. I turned and said hello, she let out a nervous "Mommy, I didn't know it was you!" Very funny, and little Eva kept looking at me funny all night, although she loved having all the people come to the door. She would crawl over to the open doorway and just grin and grin until one of them would get down to her level and talk to her. So cute! Here are the pictures you have all been waiting to see(sorry I am always the one behind the camera so there won't be any of me!:

Abby was Sleeping Beauty, the new favorite princess because she is pink and has three fairies! Thank you Taryn for letting her borrow it and to Michelle for making it, such talent!


Liv was her favorite, Cinderella. She has been wearing this costume all day everyday for about two months now. I think it is very funny that at the exact same age as Abby, she decided that Blue is the best color and Cinderella is the greatest thing in the world. They might be sisters after all.


Sweet Eva was my little Tinker Bell - She didn't know if she liked the wings very much but she sure did look cute with them on!



And here they all are ready to head out with their Dad to fill up the buckets with good things to eat!


Hope you all had just as much fun last night, I really do love this holiday and am sad that we have to wait an entire year to do it again. I guess that is when it becomes a good thing that you have three girls, everyday is a dress up day for them!!

Tomorrow is my birthday! So tonight Paul is treating me to a Salon evening, I will be getting my much needed makeover with my hair. Nobody get too excited, I won't be cutting it all off, just some maintenance! Then tomorrow morning Paulene (my sweet mother-in-law) is taking me to be a member of the Good Things Utah audience!!!! I know that it sounds funny, and that for several years all I did was mock those ladies, but now I have been watching it three days a week while I run on the Treadmill and wouldn't you know, I have formed a bond with them!!! I really enjoy the crafts, profiles of events and businesses in town, and don't get me started on the cooking segment! I have tried several and they have become staples in our house!!! So everyone tune in on Friday morning at 10:00am, or like me, Tivo it, because Paulene and I will be in the audience waving to all of you, and hopefully getting some giveaways, and maybe even I will get a birthday spotlight!!!! One can only hope!!!

Everyone have a fantastic day, mine has already started off well!!!

Just some scrapps

We have spent most of the day today tending to the yard. We cut back all our shrubs in the back as well as taking down the apple tree. All of this is in preparation and anticipation for spring when we will be re-doing the back yard, new trees, garden space etc., so it was time well spent and now it won't have to be done when the snow melts.

I have to speak in Sacrament meeting tomorrow, I really dislike doing that!! I always feel very inadequate to be teaching people about a principle of the gospel when most of them, if not all, have been on missions, taken more classes, or have just lived longer, thus having much more knowledge then me. Oh well, hopefully I don't make a fool of myself and I just keep reminding myself that it is only 15 minutes of my life and I can do it!!!! Paul keeps telling me that no one is listening anyway! I also need to remember that once I am done I will be off the hook for a long time, cross my fingers!!!

With that said I had better go and practice my talk for the 100th time and leave you with my latest page!!