Let the Fun Begin!

Winter Break has officially started and we have lots of plans! So excited to spend two weeks with the family! I am hoping to bring you more posts than usual with our Winter Break Adventures!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Wish we could be there to sing to you in person! Until that happens, enjoy these two...

Happy Birthday Donna!

Tonight we celebrated Chad's mom's birthday SURPRISE style! Hubby Michael took her out to eat and then swung by our house, where the Durhams and Kristen were waiting patiently to yell, "Surprise!" at her! When Lola answered the door, she was still clueless! It wasn't until everyone popped their heads around the corner before she realized everyone was over (they all parked by the park, so she didn't see them)!

A Grandma and her 6 grand babies! Of course not everyone is looking, but that is just how this crew was rolling tonight! The cousins play so well together (usually it is Lola and Saige that are inseparable and Kyan and Michelle).

The funniest part of the night is when Donna had to blow out all of her candles (without saying her age, lets just say there were a lot) that her daughter, Kristen, insisted she needed on the cake!

We visited and opened presents (she actually got ours last night, we paid for her hair to get done at Beauty Brands...I went there to buy her a gift card and there she was, in the chair, so I snuck them her payment, wrote a note on a ripped piece of paper that they delivered to her once I left the building, and ran out the door before she noticed that I was in there)! We visited for a little over an hour before Grandma Donna called it a night! She thinks she is old or something!

Love you Donna, Happy Birthday!

Homemade Peppermint Vanilla Sugar Scrub

I work with very amazing woman at school! Of course my 8A team is the cream of the crop in my eyes and no one deserves this scrub more than them, but there are a lot of woman behind the scenes that keep me going on a daily basis too and there is no way that I could leave them out when it came time to make Christmas gifts for the girls at work! So tonight I made homemade sugar scrub for all of those wonderful ladies that I work with (and Kyan's teacher to0)!

What I love is that the recipe is large enough to split into several small containers, so if you can't afford to make everyone the full 8oz (I would be broke if I made everyone I work with the large container, remember, I am a teacher after all!), you can fill smaller jars to share between quite a few people!

And because I couldn't make everyone the large container, I included the recipe (you can print it off too) with their mini scrub and card! It is super easy to make and really doesn't take that long at all (unless you make 10 batches of it like I did tonight)!

If you would like to see the recipe broken down step-by-step, click here, this isn't my first time making this scrub! I just switched up the fragrance oil to make it more Christmas-y!

I did make those labels (and the recipe card) using picnik.com for you to use too if you try the scrub and want to give it as Christmas gifts! They fit perfectly on the lock-a-bles from JoAnn's! I haven't ever posted printables online before, so not sure if I am doing this correctly, but you should be able to click on the picture and it will pull it into a new screen where it is bigger, then you just print from there (if someone knows a better way, help a sista out)!



I am excited to play Santa tomorrow!

Family Picture Time

Almost two weeks ago we met up with Rae Lynn to have our family pictures taken! I have been so busy over at Rosie J, but managed to find (really beg, borrow, and steal) a free Friday evening to squeeze ours in! Last year I think I waited until the very last second to get 'em done and it was a rush to get them ordered and I had to pay to have them rushed and then mailed out to our friends and family, but not this year! Happy to say, with the help of Shutterfly and their promise to bloggers everywhere of the 50 free holiday cards (you can find that post here and how might still be able to get yours?!), that my cards went in the mail this morning and should be arriving in mailboxes as soon as tomorrow!

*Little side note, I ordered my pictures on a Sunday night, they were supposed to be on my doorstep 9 days later, however, they arrived in just 3! I was so excited at such a speedy delivery, especially during the holidays and the quality was top notch! I would expect nothing less from Shutterfly though, they always amaze me!

Check 'em out (if I had every followers address I would send you one personally, this digital one will have to do!), along with the rest of the photos from our mini shoot! I love them!

Shimmering Ornaments Christmas Card

Personalize your Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Chad and I attempted to get some shots together and were being silly for some, but these really did turn out to be my favorites, despite the fact that we aren't looking on most of them! It was hilarious and Rae did a great job of catching our candid moments, which happen to be my favorite kind of picture!

My turn! Figured if he jumped on my back, it was only fair that I got to return the favor!

Oh, how he has grown. I loved every picture that this kid took!



And my little diva.
She was NOT having picture taking time and so did not feel good! I was lucky that we got a few with her smiling at the beginning of the shoot because what you see below is pretty much how she looked the rest of the shoot!

Despite her diva-ness...

Our Christmas Tree

On Saturday night we headed out to find the perfect Christmas tree! This is a fun family tradition, as daddy insists on having a real tree, and it was awesome to see how excited the kids got over trying to find "the one"!

After picking our tree, we hopped in the truck and drove through the Arizona Celebration of Lights! It was an unexpected detour, one we didn't plan for, but a wonderful surprise! We listened to Christmas music and ooooh'd and aaaah'd at the beautiful lights!

We had the truck (to get the tree obviously), which has a moon roof, so the kids enjoyed much of the show just like this, standing on the middle console with their heads poking out the top (in fact, Kyan rode the entire way like this)!

We got home pretty late, so we just set the tree up in the water and decorated it this morning when we woke up! The kids were so excited to help!

And here is our finished tree, both day and night views! We love it and it smells so good!

The countdown is on to Christmas now! Just need to start adding the presents underneath! I have been doing lots of online shopping and trying to support my favorite etsy shops! I have also done lots of ordering from Amazon.com, I love them ! No tax and because I am a prime member, I get free 2 day shipping!

So how about you... real or fake tree at your house?

All That Glitters

Is Glendale!

On Saturday we went to watch Jayla perform at Glendale Glitters! What a big girl she was performing in front of hundreds of people! I tried to capture some pictures for mommy and daddy to remember the night and was squished between Jearel (daddy) and Phyllis (grandma) who were so proud of their girl and were there to capture the moment as well. Cutest thing I heard her daddy say was, "I am so nervous I can't even snap a picture"! Melted my heart a little bit! He didn't need to be nervous at all, Jayla did great!

The second she was done performing we dashed to grab a bite to eat! The kids could have cared less about eating though as soon as grandpa bought them their glowing things! Kept them entertained for sure (and came in handy later)!

We were talking about taking a carriage ride earlier that evening, so after dinner we headed to the spot, only to see the very long line that we thought might take us two hours to wait in. We tried walking away, but this little one turned out to be quite convincing to her grandpa and well...she won! She is very good! I think it is because she talks with her hands so much!

So we stood in line for about 45 minutes and waited to get on our carriage. I thought that there was no way that the kids would behave for that long, but they were very entertained by grandpa and the line was right next to a stage so the kids were dancing in the street and didn't even realize that it took as long as it did! It was while waiting in line that my mom realized just how many pictures I take when we are just hanging out. Chad told her this was normal and that he was used to it. I just smiled, hopefully one day my kids will be grateful that I documented our life and don't just have posed pictures of them. I am not saying posed pictures are bad, I love them (wish we did them more than just once a year), but glad that I have hundreds of pictures of them being THEM!

Dancing Queen! She was gettin' down!

All I needed was one picture of the two of them all bundled up...instead I got these! They make me giggle.

Me and the hubs! Tried to make him get in on the fun of waiting in line too!

And finally, we got a ride in our carriage! Lola made sure that she rode by grandma and grandpa and even told me that I had to get my own horse-y! Ha! When she realized that we could all fit and that she could sit between them, she was a happy camper and all was well! Kyan was excited to get to sit by mom and dad so it all worked out in the end! The ride was worth every penny (especially when dad is paying)! It lasted about 15 minutes and the kids had so much fun! At one point, Lola looked up at her grandparents and said, "You know guys, I love you!" It was so sweet!

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