All dressed up

Chris was nominated for another Nike Maxim award this year. We had the chance to get all fancied up and go have a catered dinner downtown. It was nice to actually know a few people this year that we could sit by. The food was really good. There was salad, super tender steak, and some kind of strawberry custard dessert. The best part was that he won! That makes 5 years in a row that he's won an award. That's crazy awesome. It's pretty hard to even get nominated. I'm so proud of him.

I decided that for this fancy party that I was going to go all out with my hair and makeup. I spent an hour on you-tube watching videos on eyeshadow and hair styles. :)  (I know I am a little bit crazy, but hey, it was fun) I was finally able to pull off the smoky eye look. It actually worked, and I was quite pleased with it. I ended up curling my hair and then pulling it into a low side pony, and then pinning the curls all around to make a curly messy bun. The pictures don't really do it justice, but we had a great night, even if my girls thought I looked "weird".

Vegas anyone?

It all started with Chris. One day he said, "I want to go snow camping with friends." I was thinking, um ok...avalanche, slick roads, hypothermia, getting lost, bears, etc... you name it, I didn't really like the idea. He was super excited though and promised that he'd return, so he went. They had a blast! They even found a snow cave and slept in it. Although it sounds super crazy to me, I have to admit it was pretty manly.

Anyway, I was home with the kiddos on my own, so we ended up hanging out with my parents. They were busy getting ready for a trip to Las Vegas. My dad was traveling there for work and my mom was just tagging along for fun. They were like, you should just come with us. I was thinking that sounds fun and all, but it's TOMORROW. Flights are usually crazy expensive last minute. Sure enough when I checked the usual airlines it wasn't even an option. Then I looked at Spirit. It ended up working out perfectly. I texted Chris as he was coming home from the mountain...."um, honey...I want to go to las vegas." He replied, " okay, sounds fun, when are we going?" "Actually, I'm just gonna go, and you are gonna stay here with the kids...and it's tomorrow." I have a truly great hubby! Not only did he agree to this madness, but he encouraged me to go and live it up.

It was a great little trip. I got to travel with my parents and stay with them in their fancy suite at the Pallazo. We went to fancy restaurants and spent lots of time just talking and having fun. It was freezing cold there, which is strange for Vegas. There was even ice in the fountains. My dad had to work most of the time, so my mom and I shopped and ate our way around the strip. The best was the nightly trek for dessert. I can't wait to go back and try out a few more places!

(view from our 34th floor room)

(brrrr)

(yeah, totally hung out with The Rock)

Christmas 2012

We've had so much fun this year over our Christmas break! On Christmas Eve we had family over to our house for some dance central fun. We also enjoyed a rousing game of chubby bunnies. Yep, we all stuffed our faces with marshmallows. My dad was the clear winner with a total of 11. I did surprise myself by taking second place with 10. It was surprisingly awesome. Next year we will have to come up with another equally fun game.

 

On Christmas morning we opened our gifts from Santa and from each other. It was nice to have a little quiet family time. Then we were off to the Phillips' house for breakfast and more gifts. We spent a relaxing day playing games, watching Brave, and eating food. The next day was Christmas 2.0. We headed over to the Moyle house to eat another tasty dinner and do more presents. The kids had a great time, especially since my sister's puppies were there. They really like playing with them.

The rest of our break was spent mostly just hanging out and playing around with our new stuff. We got the new Dance game with all new songs...so get ready to bust a move if you come over. We also played lots of games, and got together with lots of family.  We went and looked at Christmas lights a few times. Even made the trek to Peacock Lane. I had to work on New Years Day, but we did have a tasty brisket dinner when I got home. It has been so nice to have Chris home over the last week and a half! It will be a bummer to have him go back to work tomorrow. Today we were planning on heading up to the mountain for some fun in the snow, but the girls woke up sick so we had to bag that idea. Oh well. We've had plenty of fun this winter break!

Uncle Ben's big day

My kids just adore their Uncle Ben. He has been the fun uncle, always being willing to play and tickle even when the other grown ups were too tired. Last weekend we were happy to watch him be sealed to his beautiful bride Jill in the Portland temple. It was a crazy weekend, full of family, food, and fun activities. We sure did live it up, and we are still recovering.
Lots of family and friends were able to make it up for the occasion, and we had a great time hanging out with everyone. The guys all partied hard on Friday, spending most of the day paint balling. Then they were off to Fire on the Mountain for 359 wings, and then bowling until late. We ladies were of course working hard getting all the finishing touches ready for the big day.
Calvin (also known as Ben) and Jill looked amazing! We packed a large sealing room, and it was special to be there with the whole family. They got super lucky with the weather. It was chilly, but stayed dry long enough to take pictures outside. There was a luncheon and reception in Gresham, and so we spent the rest of the day and night out there. We had a great time socializing, eating, and dancing! Congrats Cal and Jill, we are all so happy for you both!

 

 My two handsome Men!!

Lately

The last few weeks have just flown by. Honestly, where did November go? It seems like yesterday we were putting out our pumpkins. Thanksgiving was really nice this year. My sisters were both able to come to town, so we were able to spend lots of time with my family. This year Chris wanted to be in charge of the turkey, so we tried something new. We spatchcocked it (yes, that is a real term) then used a dry rub on it, and it only took a couple hours to cook. It turned out pretty fabulous. It's a bummer that I didn't really get any pictures. We stayed up late and played lots of games, and we went to the movies. We even braved shopping at Target on Thursday night. Overall, I really wasn't ready for this short holiday week to end.

Friday was our 11th wedding anniversary. It poured rain the entire day! It made me so grateful that our wedding day was dry and mild. We really did get lucky for Oregon. We had a really fun day. We took the kids out in the rain to find the perfect Christmas tree, and watched as daddy chopped it down. It was too wet for pictures, but the kids really enjoyed running around in the mud and warming up with hot chocolate and cookies. Later on, Chris and I made it to a movie and even had Thai for dinner. It was a perfect way to spend the day!

Happy anniversary honey! Here is to another fun year and lots of great memories together!

Halloween is FUN!

Halloween turned out to be a lot of fun this year for us. It is always a busy time of year since it falls just after Grace's birthday, but we managed to get our pumpkins carved just in time. 

After eating dinner, we drove over to Grandma's x2 houses for hugs and treats. Neil was a lion, and it's a good thing I just borrowed a costume for him because he HATES dressing up. He would only stop crying about it for a piece of candy. Finally he got over the wearing it part....but if we tried to put the hood up....it would be a disaster. Needless to say, I didn't get many pictures of him. At one point I got on the floor to catch him under the table with it on. Score!
Grace was excited to be Minnie mouse, and she definitely looked adorable!
Claire decided to be a giant pumpkin. We stuffed her with balloons and she looked great. This pumpkin costume was actually one that I wore as a kid. It was fun to see her in it!

Trick or treating was really fun in our neighborhood. The weather was mild and it even stayed dry for us! We walked until our legs were tired, and we didn't even make it to half of the houses here! Neil LOVED going up to people and asking for treats. He was pretty cute to always say, "thank you". He made it to about 10 houses and then went home with Daddy to pass out candy, which he also really enjoyed. The girls and I came home with full buckets and had a great time. It was fun seeing some of our friends. Overall, Halloween was a success! Now on to getting this sugar taken care of. I hope it doesn't sit here looking at me for too long.

Grace is 5!!!!

   Five is such a great age. Five year olds are sweet and generally are good at following directions. They are past the toddler stage, and are becoming real kids.  I really enjoy five. It is just so hard to believe that my little girl is now five. I know it is so cliche, but seriously, where has the time gone? We moved back to Oregon when I was very pregnant with Grace. It just doesn't seem like that long ago. Now here she is, learning to read, teaching her brother how to dance, playing soccer, and showing off her sweet yet stubborn personality.
   We had a really fun weekend celebrating Grace. First on Saturday, I ambitiously invited 9 of her friends over for a party. It was a little daring only because Chris was running his 1/2 marathon that day (good job honey! We are super proud of you!), and he wasn't going to be home in time to help me. Thankfully, the kids all did really well together and my mom was able to come over and help me out. We played pin the tail on the rabbit, made halloween crafts, ate cake and ice cream, opened presents, played play dough, and just played. The kids had a lot of fun, and we all survived. Afterwards, we took her to Red Robin for her birthday dinner. She wanted them to sing to her and she loved her b-day sundae.
   On Sunday evening we had our family over for more cake and ice cream. Grace was spoiled with more gifts. She had a fabulous time! She is one lucky girl to have to many people around that love her. Overall, we had a very busy but nice weekend together. We love you Grace! Happy Birthday! ...Please don't grow up too fast.