It's Christmas!

Christmas is here!!!

Somehow this was the best picture I got of them in front of the tree. 

Dashy's first Christmas!  He didn't know what to think of it at first, but he quickly caught on.  Those binks were by far a favorite.

Here's some of Jerz's favorite gifts, or at least what I got a picture of.

To say they loved the bean bag is a big understatement!!! They all thought this was THE coolest gift!

Jete had a lot of favorites too.  He's growing up too fast! That picture of him on the bean bag just relaxing, listening to his headphones about kills me.  He's not a teenager yet!

Had got a new road bike and I got a Bosch!  Both things we've been dreaming of!

I love seeing everyone so happy, and being able to spend time with my family.  I love the Savior, and am so grateful that he came into this world for us.  What a great Christmas!!

Christmas Festivities

We love to go look at Christmas lights!  Ok, so maybe everyone doesn't love it, maybe they just like it, but I love it.  It's one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time.  When I was little, my mom used to drive us around Rexburg, all packed into our station wagon, looking at all the Christmas lights.  There were so many of us crammed in that car, we'd fog up the windows and not hardly be able to see out, and then complain cuz we couldn't see the lights. My mom would tell us to quit breathing so much.  HAHA So we would all try and hold our breath as long as we could.  Those were the good ol days.  So now we take our family all around and try and find the best lit up neighborhoods we can. This is right outside the hospital that Had works at. Houston knows how to light it up.  I love love love going downtown Houston at Christmas!!  The palm trees and walkways and down the sides of the road are just the greatest! Lit up palm trees might be my new favorite.  

We have to make our gifts for our siblings each year, so I spend a lot of December trying to come up with ideas.  I finally decided, and made this giant wreath and picture for Ang.  

We went over to our friend's house (Gusty and Teri Graham) for Christmas Eve dinner.  We had so much yummy food, then we roasted marshmallows and had smores.  The kids ran around and played outside, played catch, and jumped on the tramp while the grown ups visited.  If we're gonna live in Texas, we might as well embrace the warm weather at Christmas time right? Then we had everyone come in and we got all the kids to act out the story of Jesus' birth.  Dashy got to be Baby Jesus, Jerzi was the angel, and Jeter did not want to be in it at all.  He finally accepted the part of holding the star.  All in all it was such a good night, and I'm happy that we got to share it with friends!!!

Gettin Away

I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to run away from your problems, but on this particular day, I was having a bad day...and me and Had got in a fight over something dumb.  I needed to just get away for a little bit.  So I grabbed this little light in my life, and we went for a bike ride.  We rode and rode.  For miles and miles.  

He's the best little biking partner.  He seems to just soak up the surroundings and stare at everything in awe.  I feel that way too when I'm out in nature.  I love this particular bike path because it is so lush and green, and I feel close to the Savior when I'm in places like this.

We stopped at this overlook and watched for alligators.  We took pics, and threw rocks in the water. I just felt so lucky to be a mom.  To live in this beautiful world.  To have a husband that cares about me.  I know life isn't always gonna be perfect, and there's gonna be ups and downs, but I am grateful for what I have, and for the chance I had to get away for a minute to help me put things in perspective.

Thanksgiving On Our Own

When you live as far away from family as we do, sometimes ya have to do holidays by yourself.  This year was no exception.  We had our own little Thanksgiving dinner.  I tried to teach the kids about the Pilgrims and Indians, which I'm sure they listened to really good. Ha

Then we made our own little placemats.  They loved doin this, and I think they turned out pretty cute.

Even though it was just us, we still made sure to have all of our favorites: home made rolls, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, a yummy apple pomegranate salad, and of course a big ol' turkey.

We may not be fancy, and we're small in number, but we still love our food!  I have to say, it felt kinda nice and cozy to have our first Thanksgiving dinner in our first home we've ever owned.

Life in November

Here's just a little look at our life and what was going on this month. 

We stopped and ate lunch at Arby's on our way to Utah.  This is the first time Dash has ever eaten fast food before.  I hope this isn't an indicator of what's to come with this kid.  This is what is left of Dashy's meal!  He ate basically the whole sandwich, an applesauce, and fries. He's only 9 month's old!   

Jerz-girl graduated up to the next level in gymnastics!  I'm so proud of her for doing it, and working hard at it.  She is uncomfortable around other people, to say the least, and she still gets out there and owns it each week! It's been so fun to watch her learn and get better.

I try and come up with things to stay busy with Jerz and Dash while Had's at work and Jete's at school.  We go on LOTS of bike rides.  And I figure it's never too young to teach them how to make yummy rolls!

Jete finished his football season!  His team ended up playing for the championship!  The bad thing was it was the same day as the Ducks game in Utah.  We let him decide what he would rather do, play in his championship game, or go to Utah and watch the Ducks/Utes game.  He said he would rather go watch the Ducks play.  Then his team ended up losing the game while we were gone. :(  It was a good season though regardless.  He can't get enough football!!!

It wouldn't be normal at our house if someone didn't have a big ol' goose egg right in the middle of their forehead.

Derek Jeter announced his retirement in September, and Had knew how much I loved him, so he surprised me with this Derek Jeter jersey for my birthday.  I love it!  It was so sweet and thoughtful of him!

Jete's Fall Party

 I felt very lucky that I was able to go and help at Jete's class party.  It was so fun to watch him interact with the other kids, and to talk with his teacher for a little bit about him.  She just raves about Jeter, and what a good boy he is.  I know there will come a time when it isn't cool to have your mom come to school, so I'm happy to have any chance I can right now. I even got him to stop and take a pic with me.  ❤

Mommy Daughter Date

Disney on Ice came to Houston and we knew that Jerz would just love it, especially since the Frozen characters would be in it this year.  So we got a couple tickets, and I got to take her out on a little Mommy-Daughter date!  We got all dressed up and went downtown.  I bet I had the cutest date there!  We had so much fun together, eating snacks, taking selfies, and watching all the Disney peeps come to life.  Love this sweet girl and memorable nights like this!  

Ducks vs Utes

We got to fly out to Utah and meet up with the Pocock clan so we could go to a Ducks game together! John and Melissa rented a house, and all Had's siblings came.  We always have a blast hanging out together, but throw a Ducks game in with it, and it just makes it the best!  The Ducks game was on Had's birthday, so we had cake and ice cream at the house, went shopping, and then headed to the game that night.

I didn't get a pic of the house...only the kid's bed.  :)  Jete had to bring Little Man and Jerz had to bring her American Girl Doll.  

Before the game, we went and did a little shopping.  You can't tell, but me and these cuties are on a ferris wheel ride in the store.  We didn't really care for shopping.

Somehow this little stinker got to come with us to the game.  And somehow Melissa ended up staying at the house with all the grandkids (except Jete).  Not sure how this all worked out, but I do know one thing...my kids have the best Grandma ever!  She played games with them, fed them, colored, and had them each color a picture for us while we were gone.

It was a cold, cold night, and Jete promised us that it wouldn't be too cold for him, and that he wouldn't complain. Instead, he opted to go with taking off his coat, insisting that it wasn't cold at all.  Haha It was fun taking him with us, and we LOVE that he loves football so much, but we did have to take him to the bathroom about 40 times during the game. Ugh!

The Ducks went on to beat the Utes 51-27.  Touchdowns all over the place!  Great day to be a Ducks Fan.  Such a blast!!!

Halloween 2014

Halloween was so great this year! We got to go to our ward trunk or treat, and also trick or treating in our new neighborhood for the first time.  We had a Halloween block party before we all took the kids around to trick or treat.  This is gonna be a fun place to live!

I just can't get enough of these little cuties!!! 

Jerzi:Elsa, Dash:Duck Dynasty guy, Jeter:Oregon Ducks football player

Jete's definitely developing his own little personality.  He didn't want to be anything I suggested, ya know, to go with a cute family theme.  :(  When he kept telling me he wanted to be a football player, and Jerz was requesting something also not to do with anything themed, I finally gave in to them both.  And besides, is he not the cutest football player you've ever seen?

What a little stud!

And then there's this girl!

She's got so much personality, I didn't really try to convince her of anything else.  She loves Frozen, and loves Elsa, so what else would she be other than Elsa? 

I thought all the Elsa costumes in the stores were just blah, so I decided to make one for her.  I've never used a pattern before, so I didn't want to try and attempt one for this. I just made it up as I went. and I think it turned out so so cute!  I love how it looks on her, and she loved it too!  All her Elsa powers were in full force!

Poor little Dashy... I couldn't think of anything for him to dress up as.  When I saw this in a store I thought it was pretty funny so I grabbed it.  He's for sure the cutest of all the Duck Dynasty guys.

I dressed up as an angel cuz obviously I am an angel.   haha

So a little backstory before I talk about Had's costume....Supposedly Had invited rodeo clowns to our wedding reception.  Before the reception, I told him that he better be kidding.  He said, no they're coming.  And they're gonna turn our reception into a party.  (It was a pretty formal reception) and I was so worried they were going to come.  I kept checking the door all night.  Luckily they didn't come and Had was pretty disappointed.  I learned later they were legit supposed to come.  After we got married, Had told me he wanted to go to clown school.  I about died.  Turns out he has an obsession with them and wants to be one. HA  Well this year was the year Had finally got his wish to be a rodeo clown.  I'm just glad it's not his real life job, like he wanted it to be for awhile. 

He found this bullrider walking through the streets as we took the kids trick or treatin, so we had to get a pic.

This was the year of the Elsa's.  I would say about 75% of the girls Jerzi's age were also dressed as Elsa.  Lots of peeps told us she was by far the best Elsa they had seen of the night.  Aww.  I was just happy her dress didn't come apart!

Here are a couple of her friends that she had to get pics with.  

Lydia as a snow princess, and Rachel as another Elsa. 

Frozen Party

Jerzi is obsessed with Frozen and she loves Elsa.  So she asked if she could have a Frozen birthday party. After I looked on Pinterest and saw so many cute ideas, I had to do it for her.  I wish I took more pictures, cuz it all turned out so cute. She was dying over all of it. She loved having friends come over and give her all the attention too!

I just thought these food labels were so cute!  I printed them off of delicateconstruction.com and the kids loved seeing what all the food was called, way more than I thought they would! 

Ice Blocks= blue jello jiggler cubes

Frozen Hearts=strawberries dipped in white chocolate

Olaf's Noses=carrots

Sven's Antlers=pretzels

Elsa Punch= blue Hawaiian Punch, Sprite, vanilla ice cream

I didn't get a pic of the cake and punch I made, but here's the ones I copied.  :) 

They painted and decorated little wooden snowflakes for a craft.

They played Pin the nose on Olaf, Freeze tag, and Do you wanna build a snowman? (who could create and dress the snowman the fastest).

Happy Birthday sweet Jerz-girl!