Happy Birthday Mom

My mom turned 60 last week!!!  If you know my mom you know she doesn't want a big deal made of her.  This is just impossible when you turn 60!  A while back when my sibs and I suggested having a birthday party she quickly shut our idea down and absolutely DID NOT want us doing anything for her.  We even were told not to buy her gifts.  Well that is just unacceptable.  So we got planning a surprise party for her...

El Corral Steakhouse is a special place for my family so I decided to make reservations there. We got a room all to ourselves since we had 30 people there. We had to change our plans on who was delivering the birthday girl at the last minute. It was so great though, she had NO IDEA! At least she had no idea until she got there and like a a little snoop she peeked in the window where we were and saw my nephew and then all the rest of us! It was still great and we all had a wonderful time celebrating my wonderful mom. Happy Birthday Mom, you're the best!!

Happy Birthday Stephen

Stephen turned 34 last week!!  I can't believe how old this guy is (makes me feel young).  I woke up early and made him some yummy waffles with whipped cream and strawberries.  Oh, and don't forget the cold can of pepsi max.  The girls were so excited to get their waffles with chocolate chip smiley faces.  I'm such a boring mom that I've never given them that before!  Stephen sat and played on his computer game all day like he wanted to.  Then we had plans to go out to eat and see Harry Potter...but Stephen didn't feel up to it when it came time.  Can you believe that?!  Who turns down PF Chang's and HP!?  An old man that's who.  :(  Maybe next year I'll force him to do something fun for his 35th.

Merry Christmas - this never gets old

HaLlOwEeN 2010

I'm super late on posting about Halloween. The girls both dressed up as dragons and Ethan was sort of a skeleton (just wore a cool skeleton sweatshirt). Ethan is just getting too cool for dressing up. We trunk or treated at our ward's party on Friday night and then at my mom's tri-ward trunk or treat Saturday night to trunk or treat with all the Tucson cousins. We had tons of fun, especially becuase we got the always delicious caramel apples at Butterfield Ward!!!

BuNcO!

I hosted a Halloween bunco at my house this month and it was super fun!  Everyone dressed up and we had tons of yummy treats to eat.  And even though my carmel apples stuck to the wax paper they were delish!!

Projects, Projects, Projects

Lately I have been in one of my "wo-is-me,-i-wish-i-didn't-have-to-work-and-then-i'd-have-all-the-time-in-the-world-to-do-what-i-want-to-do-and-just-be-a-mom" moods. So I decided to do a few of the projects I've been putting off and wanting to do.

I got these chairs from a friend who was donating them to our ward's drop 'n' swap.  They just had a few stains on the old beige fabric so I covered them with this pretty burnt-reddish fabric.  I love them!  They look like new!

This is a semi-failed project.  This was supposed to be a Halloween advent calendar on a cookie sheet but I didn't like how it turned out.  I mod-podged all this ribbon though and didn't want to trash it so I put magnets on the backs of the ribbon and put it on my fridge!  Just as fun.  So if you can't see, each of the circles are paper numbers cut out and glued to the bottom of those marbles that you put in the bottom of vases.  Then each of those has a magnet on the back.  I put a magnet on the back of a milky way and every day it gets moved so we can count down the days til Halloween.  My kids love it!

I love this little flower box!  I got the idea from a craft blog.  I just cut scrapbook paper, folded it, glued it, buttoned it, and planted it in some foam and a cute painted $1 box with tissue paper cut up and crumpled on top.  Cute, right?!

How long have I had these pictures and never hung them up??  Well this was Maddi's 1 yr and Bailey's 3 yr pictures so that tells you.  (Ethan's picture is only a year old so not nearly as bad...)  So I put some cute ribbon on the back and hung them up with a bow on top.  I'm going to make some cute flowers to go on the girls' frames but I think they're even pretty cute the way they are!

Last one...I saw some bags and stuff with zipper flowers on them and I have been thinking about them daily ever since.  I HAD to make some of these super cute hair bows.  I made black and grey and I love them!!  They even gave me some motivation to create even more ways to make the hair bow which I am also loving!  The best part is, my girls actually LOVE these and WANT to wear them!! Hooray!

Time Out For Women

My WONDERFUL mom took my sister, Jana, and I to the Deseret Book Time Out For Women this month. It was AWESOME!!! We stayed in Phoenix overnight and enjoy a day and a half full of great speakers and amazing inspiration. I hope that we can go every year. It was especially fun spending time with my mom and Jana...even if i was fighting back the pukes all day the second day. I regretfully came home to a puking kid (Maddi). I swear I can't leave without one of my kids puking their brains out while I'm gone. :(

                                    Jana and I trying to be as cool as the chairs in our fancy hotel