...Pattern...

I have had a few people ask me about the flower pillows I made below. I got the pattern from Amy Butler and its free to download. On the site there is also the stockings that I made and a few other freebies :) Here is the link...

Amy Butler Design

...Mini Face-lift...

When we moved into our home, we had very little furniture.
We came from a townhouse and the only furniture we brought with us fit perfectly in our tiny front room.


In our townhouse I loved these couches because they looked great with my green accent wall. Here our walls are tan and I wasn't diggin the tan on tan on tan in this room.
Every time I walked into our home this room would depress me.

So I decided to make a few minor changes to brighten up this room.
Here is the room now...


Not a lot changed, but enough to make me happy.
First I put up some beautiful silk drapes.

Next I made some pillow cases to cover the ugly brown and green ones from before.

The flower ones are my favorite.
They took a bit of effort to make, but I think they add so much character.


I love how the pillows tie in with my peonies.

And the whole reason behind this blog is to have this book...

Now the only thing this room needs is an updated family pic...sorry Trey!

...Happy 2011...

I love celebrating New Years!
This year we threw a party at our place and had a total of 31 people!


We all went to dinner first so we didn't plan a ton of food for the night.
Just some simple chip dips and an awesome hot chocolate bar!


We got our groove on with some Just Dance.
Seriously, funnest game ever (to play and watch)!

These two entertained each other all night long. Love these boys!

Adam and Jessa...and Arass in the background...

Alex, Melanie and baby Jaci...

Josh and Brooke...

Bracken and Jasmine...

Bethany and Jeremy...

Jake's girl was in Cali so he toasted with the boys, who stayed up all night!

and this one woke up for 10 min just to ring in the New Year!...


2 days after New Years, this little man turned 6 months old!
He is already close to 16 pounds and says DaDa all the time.
He is growing way too fast!


Happy {late} New Year!!

...Christmas Vacay...

Here is a run down of our Christmas Vacation...

{Christmas Eve}

We spent Christmas Eve at the Wilson's.


We enjoyed a HUGE dinner, a Christmas program and opening presents.


That night we went home and opened our Christmas jammies, put cookies out and read stories about Santa.
Tatum went to bed to the sound of reindeer on our roof, compliments of Uncle Jake.
Its so fun to re-live the magic of Christmas through your Children's eyes!

{Christmas Day}

This year we woke up Christmas morning alone in our home, which was a first.
We had a nice relaxing morning with homemade cinnamon rolls and we stayed in our jammies almost all day long.

Ahh the joy of Christmas!

I gave each of the kids their own homemade gift.
Tatum's was a batman blanket and pillow...

and Trey's was a wobbie...

Santa was also very generous this year.
He brought us a 3D TV!! Pretty much the coolest thing EVER!


Christmas Day was spent with Eric's family.
Lunch at Uncle Steve's house and then dinner at his parents.
Then the kids stayed at Grandma's house that night for a sleepover.

The day after Christmas my family came in town.
It was so nice to spend some quality time with both sides without feeling rushed.

The whole time Logan snacked on Tatum's gingerbread train. Funny kid!

These next pictures explain why our kids are spoiled!
(It was probably the most foggy night we have ever had, so the pictures aren't great.)

We took them outside in front of the garage and told them their present from Grandma and Grandpa was inside.
Then we opened the garage and their reaction was priceless!!

Yup they each got a....

POWERWHEELS!!


What did I say? Spoiled!

...[Pre] Christmas Festivities...

Wow I can't believe how fast this Christmas has come and gone.

We started our celebration with our ward Christmas party.
Santa came to visit and Tatum was thrilled!
He wrote Santa a letter and got to personally hand it to him.


We then had our Polar Express night at Grandma Mary's house.
We made gingerbread trains and our very own Polar Express train with all 7 grandchildren.


Trey was the caboose...


Next we celebrated with the Larsen's where we enjoyed decorating cookies, singing carols and the nativity.


The next morning we woke up to this...

The perfect snow before Christmas!