Projects

Before we left I made the kids a little Christmas countdown. But since we were leaving for Utah it was only a countdown to Utah! It looked easier than it really was but I was happy with how it turned out. The kids were thrilled to wake up each morning and open that days present. There was a candy for each of them and then something fun to do. There was go to our favorite restaurant (which is of course Red Robin), drive around and look at lights, read the story of Jesus birth, shop for each others presents, do a craft, make hot chocolate, a few other random things. Between that and the Elf the kids were waking us up awfully early!

Since there has been a few other projects I am just including them here. I sewed a few pillows when we first moved here.

My favorite project was the painted curtains. They make the room look so much better. We really needed curtains because in the summer the sun set right into that window and made the house so hot.

I also did a little address subway art. It took way to much time and it's exactly right but I was pretty over it. And I was excited to use my silhouette too! It's fun to have since we have lived so many different places.

And the last was a mantel shelf I asked Eric to make. I have to say that he is quite the handy man. He did it pretty quick and it only cast around $60! The one from pottery barn was like $300. Pinterest has so many fun ideas. I am so lucky that Eric knows how to build fun things for me. It looks perfect and he did an amazing job. Our house is lacking in shelf space so it's great and I can't wait to actually decorate it!

Eric and the kids working on it.

And this is just a coffee filter wreath that will probably stay on the mantel hanging from a frame or mirror.
Our house is far from being all cute and decorated but its hard to do when we are only here for a short time. (only 18 more months if your wondering)!

snow

The kids had a blast in the snow! Of course this was months ago when it actually was snowing! Today it got to 60 degrees and we haven't seen snow for awhile.

It was pretty cold so they didn't last very long but they sure loved playing outside. The snow was too soft for a snowman but they didn't seem to care!

Dresden mostly wanted to just eat the snow! Every where we go he picks up snow. We had to have a talk about not eating the dirty snow from the side of the road! :)

Our Elf... Candy Cane

We got a surprise visitor the first week of December! Our Elf on the shelf came and the kids were beyond excited! Eric read the book and they also had a t.v show about it so we let the kids watch that too. The naming was difficult but the kids finally ended on Candy Cane. It was so much fun watching them get excited EVERY morning and try to find him. They were so good about not touching him after we named him. I heard Ava telling Dresden not to touch him or he will loose his magic! Dresden said goodbye to him every time we left the house and Candy Cane was also the first to be told when Dresden went potty! We caught Dresden talking to him all the time. He did a few silly things that the kids loved. They really are at a great age and had so much fun with it. They have asked about him a few times since Christmas too. We are all excited for him to come back next year!



Eating our cookies with a mess face.

Turning the milk green.

Dresden's Gymnastics

We put Dresden is gymnastics back in Oct. It was a fun little mommy and me class and he LOVED every minute of it. I think he especially loved that it was just him and not Ava. He doesn't get to do alot of things without her so he enjoyed having Ava leave for school and then getting to go to HIS class. I have so much fun with him and really enjoy that time together. I was so impressed with his gymnastics skills! :) He is super flexible and loved doing the balance beam all by himself. Also anything that involved running. I'm so glad we did and we are going to do it again for sure.






Dresden got to do it with his friend Talmage. They are pretty funny together!

Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving was our first all by ourselves. It was kinda weird but also a fun experience. I tried to make it fun for the kids so it didn't seem like just another meal. Eric is such a great cook and did most the cooking. We halfed most the recipes since it was just 4 of us and the kids hardly eat anything anyway. Everything was delicious! It was a wonderful dinner with my favorite people. We have so much to be Thankful for. It was fun hearing what the kids are thankful for and putting them on our little tree. After dinner we went to a movie. It was so fun and might have to become our new tradition. The kids wanted to see Arthur's Christmas. It was really cute too. We really missed our families though and are excited for Christmas.

The line up. Turkey, rolls, green beans, sweet potatoes, and stuffing! Eric also made a pie! And since Ava was begging for pumpkin pie we bought. She must have talked about it in school because she was pretty adamant about it.

Our little Thankful tree.

The kids(and Eric) loved that they could color on the table. We left it up for while after too. It was kinda fun to have.

Our attempt at a family picture.

And some silly faces.

Dresden VS the potty

My little Dresden is half potty trained! I say half because he is 100% pee potty trained! But only about 4% poop potty trained. For some reason I thought those would go together. But apparently not for Dresden. We started a couple weeks before Halloween and he got the hang of it pretty quick. He loves choosing his big boy underwear every day. One of my favorite things he says right now is "big ber underwer". I love his little voice. He loved getting a potty treat and would never forget to remind me! I should have remembered from when he was a newborn but the aiming is still an issue. When he would go by himself he would forget to "hold it down" and pee was going every where. :) But he is better now. There were a few accidents but after a few weeks he passed the tests of going to Church, the YMCA, out running errands and to friends houses.

We haven't gotten far with the other. He has only gone like 3 or 4 times in the potty. We are still working on it though and I'm sure he will get it! I'm so proud of him! He tries so hard.

Dresden in his big boy underwear after doing some painting. Which is what is all over his armpit.

Time out For Women

I was able to attend the Time Out For Women this year in St George with all my Vegas friends! Becca and Dayna and I went last year and it was such a fun girls trip. I couldn't believe I got to go again this year. My friends here in Lincoln were so nice to watch my kids for a few of the days and then Eric had most the time with them. I have to say how grateful I was that Eric was so nice about me leaving for like 5 days. He took such good care of them. They went out to dinner at Red Robin, a ward party, to the Children's Museum, played games, had a movie and popcorn night, and cleaned the whole house for when I got home. I'm pretty blessed to have him!

I got to Vegas Friday morning and was able to hit H&M before meeting up with all the girls at Becca's house. It was a packed car with 7 of us and then another car of two girls. It was my first time meeting a few of them but I can really say that by the end of the trip I felt like I had known them forever. It was such a fun group of girls. We went to Tai Pan and then Texas Road House before heading to the the first session of TOFW. Of course if was wonderful and I was so happy that Hilary Weeks was there. She was amazing. After that we headed back to a really nice house that Casie let us stay in to chat and play games. Then it was the Saturday session. The talks were so wonderful. There were so many good reminders about how lucky I am to be a mom to two beautiful kiddo's and great ways to serve others. It was a very uplifting weekend! Thanks to Becca for letting me stay with her. It was so fun to see my friends and even go to my old ward.

crappy picture of me but we stopped at Sonic on the way home and each stood at our own little windows to order!

And I was so lucky to be able to see Karrissa and her beautiful new baby boy that was only days old! I got to visit a couple times and hang out with them. We miss everyone so much!