Family Pics

Family pictures are a pain no matter what. The kids (and the husband) always whine, but when you're taking them in 20 degree weather with 100 mph winds then it is pure joy. We had the kids all bundled up then on the count of three threw off the coats and hoped for the best. We brought the fake smile to a whole new level. The kids were quite the troopers and my cousin's boyfriend, Kimball did a great job working around the hair whipping in our eyes and chattering teeth!

Thanksgiving '09

While growing up I loved Thanksgiving at grandma and grandpa Jolley's house. There was always so much yummy food and a house full of cousins to play with. Living in AZ I miss being close to family, but especially during Thanksgiving. We've had several Turkey dinners all by our lonesomes and it doesn't feel much different than a Sunday dinner, so this year I was so excited to go up to Utah and spend Thanksgiving with tons of family and let my kids make some of those same memories that I have. As is tradition at Grandma and Angel's house, everyone is required to eat as much food as possible, play as many card games as possible and stay up as late as possible.

(our cute table buddies, Tyson and Dawn on their first Thanksgiving together as Mr. and Mrs.)

(our 10th Thanksgiving together as Mr. and Mrs.)

We also braved the cold and crowds for Black Friday. I may be cheap, but I'm not cheap enough to want to spend hours in lines just to save a few bucks, but I couldn't say no to some good crazy girl fun. We got 2 hours of sleep and it definately showed, oh good times. My prized purchase was my topiary tree (my heart belongs to Tai Pan) and I think everyone especially loved it since I was nice enough to let them hold it for the hour long drive home in a car packed with 9 girls and about 50 shopping bags. I amaze myself with how nice I am sometimes. After 5 hours of shopping and leaving our mark at Ihop we decided we had done enough damage for one morning. (Kylie and the girls set up a boutique selling free hand made creations and everyone, even Grandma, ended up sporting a hair bow, necklace or bowtie) (Maddox didn't understand the concept that everyplace isn't 70 degrees in November and he spent the majority of the days standing by the door crying to go out and play with the dog and cats) (I was so excited to wake up to a white world and I thought the kids would be thrilled to see snow. I thought they would be begging to go out and play in it, but I was the only one doing the begging. I couldn't convince them to even touch it because it was too cold. Whimps. I guess I'll settle for a picture up Cedar mountain. After driving 20 miles an hour for like 2 hours, we all decided snow is overrated.)

It never gets old

We could never get sick of our overnight visits to Tucson when Jason's working there. It is definateley a legitimate excuse to skip school and spend the day at our favorite zoo. It's nice to see animals that are actually awake and up close. The monkeys put on quite the show, swinging on the vines and shrieking. It was definately worth the hours of make-up work!

New Moon

Great friends. Great movie. Great werewolves. Not so great vampires. Great food. Great fun.

Jolley time!

We got spoiled when Grandma Jolley was able to come for a visit. My aunt works for an airline so my mom was able to fly stand by, which is great in theory...but after spending days and even a night at the airport we didn't think she would ever make it, so we were so excited once she did (and couldn't believe all she went through just to come see us). The kids of course soaked up every minute with her and I loved having her there to help me get ready for another boutique. I was feeling so overwhelmed with orders so her and her crocheting expertise couldn't have come at a better time. I never thought the day would actually come when I would be sitting there crocheting with my mom, but I absolutely loved it! Besides crocheting, we had fun going to the kids' soccer games, shopping, the Science museum, eating out and just enjoying some one-on-one grandma time. Thanks for coming, mom, we loved every minute and miss you tons!