Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Christmas Morning and others

This guy makes the BEST faces!  He's definitely related to MY side of the family.  We're all face makers and can spend hours in a mirror.

Eryn hugging her new dress.  (I found a couple really great deals on Black Friday sales on JCPenney's website and thanks to Grandma & Grandpa they all got at least 1 really nice new outfit!)

Ian got his very first tie!  Welcome to being a guy and getting a tie for every present holiday.

She had to pose and show off her new dress.  It's a mint green with ruffles and black tiny polka dots.

Ian discovered that Santa put Skittles in his stocking and then no longer wanted anything but those.

Brooke in her Brave dress. (Which she wore for the next 3 days straight.)

No idea why, but Brooke really wanted a Lalaloopsy this year.  They proved more difficult to find than we thought.  I'm not a huge fan of them, but she sure loves it!

It's amazing how a couple of lip glosses from the Dollar Store can make Eryn so happy!

Although this picture doesn't show it off well, I bought a shelf just for the stockings this year.  They were all displayed nicely on stocking holder hooks and not tapped to the wall as in previous years.  It's the little things that make me feel more "high class" like not using duct tape in decorating for the holidays.

Mike was so excited to play Legos with his son!  Ian pushed this box around with his blocks and plays with them all the time.  Sometimes I just hear them smashing together in his room and then him laughing.  It always makes my heart melt.

One of our children has OCD and the other doesn't.  Wad of Blankets bed on the left belongs to MY child and the neatly made bed with decorative pillows and a collection of stuffed animals belongs to Mike's child.  Ha ha!  Mike doesn't have a collection of stuffed animals, but he does like the bed to be made neatly and I could honestly care less most of the time.  It's a funny observation, but one I thought that my mother would appreciate.  All those years she tried so hard to get me to make the bed...  For some kids it just comes instinctual and for others Wad O Blankets is perfectly acceptable.

THIS is what the holidays are really all about, right?  Ahhhhh...  Cold pumpkin pie for breakfast covered with whipping cream and some nutmeg.  Oh it's so good!

I still have a few pictures from Andrew and Dayna's wedding to post, but that can wait until another time.  No point in getting all crazy and neglecting my ability to procrastinate, right?  He he he...

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Christmas? Yep...

Because I'm just a little behind here are some of the events of December and Christmas all thrown together and not in order.  Muhahahahahaha!

We made Christmas Tree ornaments together with felt and some buttons.  It was really easy and the kids liked it, even though they couldn't use the hot glue gun.
 This is what they look like closer.
We also made pink bulb ornaments out of felt to give to the cousins that we drew this year.  My Grandma Crawford always used to give ornaments as gifts attached to packages and even though others might not think that they are very special, I like to give them to honor her tradition.

 These 2 are trying so hard to be friends and nice to each other praying for LOTS of presents!



I took this on Christmas Eve of the 3 kids getting ready for bed and looking at the tree.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Bird Watching

I've often said that my obsessive love of bird watching/stalking came from my father.  Lo and behold while driving to a photo shoot the other day I spotted these 2 hanging out in the same tree on the side of the road.  Like a crazy woman, I pulled over and jumped out with my big telephoto lens and snapped a few!

I swear that I've seen them before, but never such an obvious Bald Eagle pair in Utah!  Especially so close to my own home.  Totally made my day!  Mostly because soon after that, I ended up stuck in the snow with my van and then needed to call for back up from the local Police Chief and his wife.  Long story short- when you need new tires, get them and carrying a bag of salt in your vehicle is a good idea.