December and DONE!

Christmas Photos in no particular order...

We began our season with welcoming Mr. Elfie to the family, the name of course was chosen entirely by Brylie. Despite Shawns efforts to be more inventive but Bry was positive and I thought it fit nicely.
Mr. Elfie was given to me by my amazing friend Jamie who honestly knows more about kids than I ever will, and man I wish I could keep him around all year. He came to us at Thanksgiving from the North Pole to spy for Santa and he would pop up in the most random of places.
Lauryn just basically loved playing hide and seek with him and would call out his name first thing in the morning. "Mr. Ephie, wer aur ou??" but he made sure Brylie was on her BEST behavior at all times! Really she was an absolute angle ALL month, I kept waiting for the excitement to wear off and her attitude to reappear but it never happened. She was the sweetest most helpful, polite little girl I have ever met. I sure did love Mr. Elfie, THANK YOU Jamie.

Christmas Eve P.J.s





All cozy in their snuggies from Grandma.

Our Little Family Christmas Party




Polar Express on the Heber Creeper

My dad set it up for the whole family to go on the Polar Express this year and Bry was the perfect age for it. She was SO excited about everything that was happening. Mr. & Mrs. Clause came, we sang Christmas songs, had hot chocolate and cookies made with pixie dust...which she told me tasted quite good! It was so much fun to have all of the cousins with us and I loved watching as her eyes lit up over EVERYTHING! 2 months later she is still talking about it.







While wrapping presents I looked over and immediately recognized Bry's guilty face but it took me a while to realize what she was hiding in the box.








It was a wonderful holiday but now i am ready for spring. :)

November in February...(but I'm getting closer :)

Of course the frost begins to come early in Cedar City so this is the view from our living room window the very first of November...

in my opinion that is MUCH too early for the cold to come so we headed to Page, AZ for my nephew Landon's baptism, lucky for us it also happened to be the Hot Air balloon festival that weekend.

So after Shawn's amazing talk (thanks for getting me out of that one baby ;) we headed down to mainstreet where they had tons of booths and you could walk right up to check out the air balloons.

I did not get to ride in one "this time" but it is definitely still on my to do list,

still very cool though, they would send signals to light all the balloons at the same time, loved it! I think we need to get this started in Cedar City :)

Most people know that although I LOVE the mom thing, it is the stay at home part that gets to me occasionally. So lucky for us we have a BEAUTIFUL little getaway only 30 minutes away, we don't do it nearly often enough but we headed to my parents condo in Brianhead for some fresh air and non interrupted family time.

Halloween Times

"Angel & Devil" Perfect fit for our two little diva's. Brylie has really turned into a little sweetheart, always wanting to help and make her sister happy. Lauryn on the other hand is the poster child for the terrible two's. She sure is cute though, with more attitude and personality then we know how to handle.

Poor Lauryn was TERRIFIED of Jaxon's mask, she burst into tears any time he came out wearing it.



And how about this bike we won in a raffle at the Halloween carnival? Lucky huh?!

I really was SO excited! They were giving away a ton of stuff but I didn't even consider entering because I never win anything, Shawn on the other hand was sure he had it in the bag, he put in his crinkled ticket and we waited till the very end for them to announce the BIG prizes. I found myself getting so nervous I couldn't believe it but what do you know. YAY, we had Jaxon ride out our brand new bike. Of course it was the wrong color though, only pink or purple would do.

So this is the bike Brylie traded it in for...

Shawn: "Bry, what do you want to be when you grown up?...Do you want to be a doctor?
Brylie: "No,....a butterfly"

Birthday Bug

Even crazier than the fact that my baby is two is that I have a FOUR YEAR OLD!!
I know... nuts right?! I always thought you had to be a grown up to have kids that old, turns out I was wrong and Bry pretty much takes care of all of us. :)

On the 25th Brylie had her 4th birthday, at the time she was currently obsessed with ladybugs...she requested a ladybug pillow pet as her birthday present, insisted on being one for Halloween, and begged to have a ladybug party with her cousins. She really didn't have to work that hard talking me into it because well I love to throw a party, and immediately thought of many, many cute black & red things.






















Bry really has turned into such a sweetheart! She is sooo helpful, the BEST big sister, and very neat & tidy (always cleaning her play room). I honestly LOVE this little girl, she is one of my best friends, and already all grown up.

All about Brylie Jo:
FAVORITE FOOD-Hot Kind Noodles & Mommy Kind Cereal (Cajun Chicken Pasta & Special K w/ strawberries)
FAVORITE COLOR- Purple
FAVORITE ANIMAL- Ladybugs (although she recently told me maybe she was getting to big for ladybugs and was considering switching to kitties and horses)
FAVORITE PRINCESS- Rapunzel (she is now determined to grow her hair to the floor)
FAVORITE MOVIE- Tangled
FAVORITE SONG- Taylor Swift "Princess Song" ...(everyday #8 mom)
FAVORITE THINGS -Fancy parties

And on to OCTOBER...

In October my dad was taking a group to visit Eastern Europe. He happened to have a few extra spots and luckily that happens to be Shawn's down time (except for hunts of course.) even so being the amazing husband he is, he offered to keep the girls while I went.
Obviously I didn't hesitate and jumped at the opportunity to tag along.
It was BEAUTIFUL!! Seriously amazing, every place so different and gorgeous. I now have the itch to travel even more, I told Shawn we have to make it happen at least once a year or I would be willing to go without men if anyone else wants to join me ;)

Overlooking Montenagro

Bled (probably my favorite, straight out of a fairytale :)




Island of Burono, Italy

On top of the Castle in Bled

Dubrovnick



Plitvice Lake (Most beautiful walk I have ever taken)

Best gelato ever! Yum, so smooth and creamy, really it makes me want one just looking at it. My mom and I had at least one a day. :)



The ONLY picture you will find of my dad

Venice