"All I want for Christmas is the Earth and Sky"

Friday was Abbi's Christmas dance recital and she did AWESOME! I love watching her up on stage and always get a little teary-eyed because I am so proud of her. She did a great job and all her hard work paid off. They were also able to perform their dance at the Festival of Trees. Way to go Abbi - You looked great!

Christmas Craft

While reading one of the many blogs I follow, I came across this fun and easy craft and decided I needed to try it out. So off to the dollar store to get my ornaments and then to my mom's house where I met up with my mom and sisters. After about an hour of laughing, talking, and crafting this is how mine turned out.

I really liked how it turned out but the one thing I would change is to buy better ornaments. The ones from the dollar store are pretty flimsy in that the tops of them break easily which means they fall off the hanger. I think I'll wait for some great after Christmas sales to score on some better ornaments. But, in the meantime, I will enjoy my ornament wreath.

"I want some Mamma Mia."

Today I asked Alex what he wanted for lunch. He replied: "I want some Mamma Mia." I see you have the same reaction I did so I asked him: "What is Mamma Mia?" He then went to the fridge, opened it up and took out a package of edamame. "I want some Mamma Mia."

The Travelocity Gnome costume

Adam is funny when it comes to Halloween costumes. He never wants to be what I want him to be which this year, was a soccer goalie ghost. I got him to dress up as the ghost for his friend's halloween party last week, due to lack of having anything else, but I could tell he was not happy with it. A few days after the party he came to me and told me he wanted to be the Travelocity Gnome. Okaaaay! (note sarcasm). So, on to the internet I went trying to see if they even have those costumes. The answer to that was Yes - for $39.99. No way am I spending $40 on a costume for Halloween. So, I gave Adam two choices: 1. Be the goalie ghost (which I thought turned out awesome) or 2. I will make you a Travelocity Gnome costume. He begrudgingly chose the second option. So, I went to Target and purchased an oversized mens blue shirt and then went to Roberts and got stiff felt, red posterboard, and ribbon and came up with this (all for around $10):

Pretty good if I do say so myself. Adam was even impressed and that is hard to do.

Alex and Abbi were much easier to dress. Abbi decided she wanted to be a 50's girl and we found this cute costume at Walmart:

Alex changed his mind several times. Throughout Halloween day he went from being a Lego Knight to a pirate to Elmo. For Trick-or-treating he was this:

Carving pumpkins

We bought a fat orange pumpkin

The plumpest sort they sell.
We neatly scooped the inside out
And only left the shell.

We carved a funny funny-face

Of silly shape and size,
A pointy nose, a jagged mouth
And two enormous eyes.

We set it in a window

And we put a candle in,

Then lit it up for all to see

Our jack-o'lantern grin.

Happy Halloween!

My fabulous girls weekend in Disneyland

What can I say about 4 fun-filled days with my friends in the Happiest Place on Earth? It was a fabulous, entertaining, rejuvenating, happy, laughable, stay-up-all-night, laugh-till-you-hurt, free-fallin', good time. It was so nice to get away with Lori, Shelly, and Debbie and what a better place to go than Disneyland. We left our families Thursday morning with a kiss and jump in our step and made our way to the airport. After a short 2 hour flight, we skipped off the plane and headed straight towards Disneyland. From that moment on it was non-stop laughter and fun as we rode screamin', Tower of Terror, Madderhorn, Peter Pan, teacups (well I watched on that one), The haunted house, Midway Mania, Splash Mountain... well you get the idea. We hardly slept and by the end of our trip our stomachs hurt from laughing so hard everyday... Poor Armand (but that is a whole other story.) By the end of our 4 day vacation, we had ridden every ride (sometimes two or three times) and eaten our way through every churro stand. We were so sad to see it come to end but have vowed to make it an annual event. Thanks Ladies for being a kid with me again and for making our trip to Disneyland so much fun!

MMM, Churros!

Being Brave on the Tower of Terror

(Notice the death grip Shelly has on Lori and Debbie. She wasn't going to let them chicken out.)

Me, Shelly, Lori, and Debbie

General Conference Weekend

I haven't always loved General Conference - especially as a child but as I have grown "wiser" I have come to love and look forward to General Conference. To hear the testimonies and the counsel of our leaders is so motivating and uplifting and the spirit it brings into our home is amazing and peaceful. This past weekend was no different. I loved listening to the many talks and it never fails that one or two of the talks seem to have been written specifically for me. I can't wait to receive the Conference talk edition of the Ensign so I can re-read the talks.

One of my favorite things about General Conference is that it gives me a chance to get with my family and do some crafting. While the men went to Priesthood session, here is what my mom, my sister, and I did. It was so easy and so much fun. The idea and the kit for these cute pumpkins can be found here on my sister's blog. She is so creative!

During Sunday's session, Alex and I made yummy chocolate chip pumpkin bread while Adam and Abbi made scrapbook pages. It made for an enjoyable afternoon.

Have a Nice Day

Sometimes Alex says the funniest things and just gets everyone in our family laughing. The other day, we were strolling through Maverik and Alex heard the cashier say to another customer "Have a Nice day!" We continued walking through the store and I could hear him say that phrase over and over a few times. I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying until he came to me and said:

"Have a nice day! That don't make sense." I bust up laughing and realized he had been playing it over and over in his head trying to figure it out.

Another funny moment was when I sat down with Alex and asked him what color something was. Usually when I do this his first answer is always "pink" and then he proceeds to shout out colors until he either gets it right and I say "Yep!" or I tell him what color it is. After doing this a few times, he stopped me, pointed to a color and said "What color is this?" When I replied "It's blue", He said "Yep!" (As if he knew that was the color the whole time.)

I had to add one more thing to this post that I remembered yesterday. Alex has a funny way of putting things. Instead of saying "Are we going to Grandma's house?" He will say "Are we going to your mom's house?" or "Did your mom give you that?" or "Is your mom coming over?" He is so funny! Sometimes I wish I could be inside his head and hear the thoughts going around in there.

Finishing up a few crafts

I found a great idea for a family message center here. I loved it but needed to tweak it to my needs. I wanted something I could take with me easily (in case we ever move - and no, I am not saying we are moving.) I just wanted to have the option. So, I went to The Wood Connection and found this magnet frame. It was unfinished so I painted it black, sanded the edges, and stained it. I already had the coat rack. I purchased this from At Home America a few years ago. It was hung up but it was too high for my little ones to reach. So, I moved it down. After hanging everything up, I really liked the way it turned out. Now there is one place to put all school papers for the kids. I am still going to add pictures of my children in the frames but need to go to visit Gardner Village to get those really cool shots!

The next project I completed was a necklace hanger for my jewelry. For this I simply went to The Wood Connection again. They had these simple boards for $1.99 (I think). I then went to Roberts and bought the cup hooks ($2). I simply added the hooks to the board, spray painted the entire thing black, then sanded and stained the edges. I then took small pieces of scrap book paper and applied those with spray adhesive. So cheap and easy and now my necklaces are organized instead of sitting in a pile on my dresser.

I love easy solutions!

Grandma and Abbi's Girls Day Out

Yesterday, Abbi was in for a real treat. Grandma came and picked her up for a special day of one on one time. They had a great afternoon! They went to lunch, went and got pedicures and manicures at the nail salon, and even got in some shopping. Abbi had so much fun. She came home with new earrings, pretty hands and feet, and a big box of bendaroos. (She has been wanting Bendaroos forever!) What a great afternoon! I guess there are some perks to being the only girl in the family. (Next time, though, I think I'll hide in the trunk so I can go too!) Thanks to Grandma for making her feel so special!